001Good evening everyone. This is a regular meeting of the Ferndale Schools Board of Education held fee Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Our meeting is being video recorded and will be posted on the Ferndale Schools YouTube channel. All meetings in the Ferndale schools are held in public in compliance with the Open Meetings Act. Printed documents discussed in tonight's meeting are available to the public upon request with the exception of any information protected by student or employee privacy rights. Board meeting information is posted on our website at www.ferndaleschools.org. If you do not have internet access and need information, please contact the board offices at 248-5868652 by Thursday of the week prior to the meeting and district staff will do their best to work with you. Miss Shepard, could we do roll call? Breai >> here. >> Dookie >>
002here. Hart >> here. Nman >> here. >> President Delar >> here. >> Thank you. >> Um approval of the agenda. Any comments on tonight's agenda? >> All right. Hearing none. Um move to second item presentations. First presentation is coming to us from Oakland County Commissioner on a resolution. You can just introduce yourself. >> Thank you, Mr. Board President. My name is Yolanda Smith Charles and I'm the Oakland County Commissioner representing District 17, which is uh a portion of Southfield, all of Oak Park, all of Royal Oak Township, and all of Leford Village. And um the month of January, as most of you probably know, is uh recognized as schoolboard recognition month. And you're right, it's not January, it's February. However, life be. So, here we are. I I know you had a couple really packed
003agendas over the last few weeks and so working with staff. Just wanted to make sure I didn't find myself here at a time when you had hundreds of things to vote on. So, uh, board members, looking at your faces, for those of you who are unaware, I spent nine wonderful years on the Southfield Board of Education where I was board president at a time, vice president, uh, treasurer, and secretary. It was a goal I had. I was like, I want to check off each one. And so, um, I also went through a couple iterations of school board, uh, school superintendent searches. So, um, I've been there, done that. I happen to have grown up with Camille, um, which is a very, very nice thing to be able to say. So, if I may, just want
004to read a few things from here uh to encourage you all to keep up the good work. Uh Ferndale Public Schools Board of Education. Whereas it is an honor to recognize the dedicated public servants who ensure that Oakland County Schools maintain standards of excellence in education and continue to nurture the minds and spirits of our students. Oakland County is home to 28 local school districts and administers educational opportunities to more than 175,000 students. You all are responsible for guiding uh everything from school funds to approving curricula and courses including standards for what students must learn to be able to do. You guys employ school leadership including your superintendent, staff, teachers, support personnel. You levy taxes. I see something coming on your agenda. Uh creates a safe and orderly climate for learning and teaching and you
005track the progress towards the goals of your students to report those out appropriately. Schoolboard members represent the views and priorities of the community. They serve and reinforce the principle of local control over public education. And under the guidance of your seven board, seven member board, Ferndale Public Schools educates more than 3,000 students each from Oak Park, Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, and the Charter Township of Royal Oak. With a hometown small school atmosphere, the district provides a wide range of curricula and offers maximizing students participation in maintaining a community feel. So, great job to you all. And in celebration of schoolboard recognition month, um myself, Charlie Cavell, who's uh the commissioner for much of Ferndale and other parts of Oakland County, uh as well as the Michigan Association of School Boards, the Michigan Department of Education, all
006of your students, all of your staff, uh here at Ferndale Public School. We want to thank you guys, you seven folks, uh for everything that you do tirelessly. I remember those cold chicken sandwiches um and no pay and you know you might get a little laptop from time to time. So really from the bottom of my heart and from all of the students in Oakland County, we thank you and this is um on behalf of the chair of the board, Mr. David T. Woodward, myself, Commissioner Cavell, as I said, and we do proclaim January as schoolboard recognition month here in the county of local. So I'd be happy to present this to you, Mr. Board President. >> Thank you. You want a phone? >> What was that? >> Yeah. >> Where should we stand? Right
007here. Just because you had a resolution. >> All right. Bye. Thank you Charles. >> Thank you, Commissioner Charles, for your previous service and everything you do for Oakland County. It's greatly appreciated by by all of us. Um and uh you also have a lot on your plate as well. So uh it's it's uh really appreciate it. Um next item uh presentation code of conduct revisions committee. Mr. Rickman. >> Good evening. today. >> Uh, real quick, it's always a pleasure to come up and present to you guys and just kind of, you know, hone in on some of the things and stay connected on what we're doing and up to dates. So, our code of conduct revision committee again as as part of our ongoing commitment to maintain a safe, supportive, and equitable learning environment for
008all students, we'll be convening our annual code of conduct revision committee to review our current code of conduct and determine if revisions and updates are necessary. The purpose of the committee is to evaluate the effectiveness, clarity, consistency, and equity of our current expectations and disciplinary procedures. We will also examine whether our code of conduct remains on pace with our current priorities and student needs. Our code of conduct revision committee uh will consist of school administrators, teachers, support staff, students, PTO, PTO, PTA representation, district level representation and community partners. So roughly around 20 people. Next steps, selection of our code of conduct revision committee. code of conduct survey the stakeholders and initiate our code of conduct revision committee meetings starting in late March. Uh proposed revisions if any will be submitted to superintendent Hibler uh before
009the end of the school year. >> All right. Uh any any questions for portion of code of conduct? >> Uh just a quick one. How how often will we be doing the we do revisions? And we look at it every year just to see if we need to do revisions or not because you know as kids are constantly changing the needs are constantly changing. So we just want to make sure that it's flexible and we evaluate every year our code of conduct on what we can do better what's working. Uh a lot of times you get new violations. For example when vaping came out right like you needed to revise your code of conduct to make sure that vaping was implemented as well. So excellent >> on the NIL. >> Yeah. Let's go to next
010presentation which is the MHSA NIL guidelines. >> I was excited that you know many people wanted to know about NIL. So NIL stands for name, image and likeness. Uh the MHSAA calls it PBA which is personal branding activity. So in January 2026, the Michigan High School Athletic Association expanded his rules so athletes can make money from their own name, image, and likeness through individual deals. So uh that we are the 46th state to have that approved. So it is um I think the MHSA did a really good job of honing in is very very restrictive as well. Next. So, things that they could do now. So, now student athletes can earn and monetize through social media promotions, autograph signings, appearances, camps, lessons, and trainings, seller merchandise, sports cars, apparel, and modeling and ads, and any
011way they can use their personal branding and marketing as they see fit and be monetized for it, which is a big change. Now what they still cannot do Michigan's model is very restrictive as I just said compared to college is no pay for play no NIL collectives many people if you know what an NIL collective is in college right now they have NIL collectives where alumni are sponsors of the school pull in their money and essentially treat it as a salary cap and give kids uh money to pay to play okay so we can't have NIL collect ives. No boosters arranged deals. No school logos, uniforms, and facilities promotions. No deals during school practice and games. Coaches and schools cannot help or facilitate deals. Money cannot be tied to performance, stats, awards, or wins. And
012at no time can it be for any attended school or in excuse me, be incentivized to attend a school or remain at a school. So this this protects our competitive balance right now in uh MHSA in Michigan. Who actually benefits the most? In reality, the mainly this mainly impacts high-profile athletes, mainly football and basketball recruits, athletes with large social media followings, elite prospects, and big markets. They now have legal ways to monetize their visibility. most athletes will see little or no financial change. It'll be it's almost like an anomaly. You have some of the top ones like last year I believe they projected that maybe only seven or eight athletes in Michigan would have been able to monetize off the NIL in Michigan for student athletes high school. Concern from ads and coaches. Some Michigan
013schools are worried about the following. Competitive gaps, bigger markets equals more opportunities, small and rural schools, fewer deals, administrative workload, which is me, monitoring deals, compliance, reporting, making sure that we stay in compliance as well. Uh shifting focus, fear that athletes start chasing money over development and that's parents too. uh prioritizing brand over tech and uh many people in terms of public versus uh private many people are concerned that the private schools with more money be incentivizing students to come there. So again I uh I put on you guys's uh on the table for you guys. Again it's just an NIL PBA overview. You can read it at your leisure. It just has the what's allowed, what's not allowed, and like I said, we're continuing to educate oursel as we go. I'm pretty sure they're
014going to be modifying and revising things as you know, people see fit. Any questions about NIL, PBA? >> Yeah. Um, so just so I'm understanding, um, so any deal would have to be approved by the MHFA. That's right. >> Yes. All approved would have to be transparent and everything has to be disclosed to the MHSA. So they have to approve it too, >> right? What you said you have a a role in some of this oversight. What does that look like? >> So well first and foremost we have to make sure that our anybody associated with Ferndale public schools whether that be coaches, myself, partners are not facilitating these deals. So a kid for example that plays football, he is able to go facilitate his own deals but we cannot broker it. Anybody that's a
015alumni that donates money to us or any of the capacity cannot be the ones facilitating this then when they get one we have to we have I would have to uh go through the compliance through the MHSA and ensure that it's transparent disclose all money all contracts all documentation >> that's it well I know most of it would be some of our kids that have like huge followings online. Those are the ones the businesses are going to target obviously. Uh we've had to my knowledge it's about 12 kids already as soon as they approved it got some type of deals already and usually it is local businesses. It's just can't it just can't be facilitated by me or anybody associated with the school. And when they do get the deal they cannot have logo on
016for Ferndale. They cannot do anything on Ferndale grounds. It has to be their identity, their name, image, and like list on on its own. >> More questions. >> Excellent. >> Thank you, sir. >> Always appreciate the opportunity to come talk to you guys. >> Thank you. >> Is that for public comment? Did you want She pulled out the sheet for public comment. >> Kim. >> Um, all right. So, we have some folks here for public comment. Uh I'm going to read the introduction of public comment and then Miss Shepard will uh run through who signed up for public comment and then we'll take any additional public comments after that. This is the time for public participation in the meeting. The board of education intends for the public to have many opportunities to address the board
017and administration of their school district. These include email, phone calls, face-to-face meetings, community gatherings, public hearings, and other public meetings. We welcome individual and group input into the important issues that confront our schools. As noted at the top of the agenda, this is a meeting of the school board open to the public. We want to provide fair and impartial guidelines for participation as required by the Open Meetings Act and to encourage transparency and equal treatment for everyone in attendance. We also recognize that an effective meeting facilitates better discussion, better decisions, and promotes openness by allowing more people to stay for the full length of meeting. To meet these goals, please note the following. We ask that you identify yourself in this contact information on a comment sheet to help administrators follow up with you on
018your comment. If you don't wish to do it in writing, please identify yourself at the podium. And if you need a response, please provide contact information with an administrator after the meeting. I will call on people who have completed comment sheets first. Each person will have one opportunity to address the board for up to three minutes. Comments or questions should be directed to the board president. The secretary or vice president will raise your hand when your time is within a few seconds of expiring. This period of public comment is for both non-aggenda items and issues that are on the agenda. Public comments will end at the close of this part of agenda. In the event that the number of people wishing to comment fires longer than 30 minutes, public comment will be temporarily postponed after
01930 minutes and time will be added to the end of the meeting for those who not did not have a chance to speak. Complaints about staff should be made outside of board meetings and should follow the applicable board policy. Please contact the superintendent's office if you have any questions regarding this item. The board cannot respond to complaints about employees in public. This is meant to promote fairness to the staff person and the in play. The Ferndale public schools community acts with great civility toward one another. Please help us to maintain that tradition during public comment. Okay, so I've got one form for public comment. Uh additional public comment. All right, with that I'm going to close public comment um and move to the consent agenda. We have four items on the consent agenda. Uh request
020to approve the minutes of the special comm meeting meeting committee of the whole Monday January 5th 2026. Second request to approve minutes of the special meeting Monday February 2nd 2026. Third request to approve new hires resignations and leave of absence. Four request to approve bills and accounts uh January check register. I have one minor change. Uh, David was not at the February 2nd date. The minutes show him in attendance. So, we just need to make that change. >> I was there in spirit. >> I You were Yes. >> taking cold shower. >> Okay. Motion to approve consent agenda. >> Go ahead. I'll second. >> Moved by Trustee Hart, seconded by Trustee Newman. >> Secretary Roll call. >> Right? >> Yes. >> Dookie, >> yes. Hart, >> yes. >> Newman, >> yes. President Devar, >> yes.
021>> Thank you. >> Okay, let's move on to action items. We have seven action items to evaluate. First one being request to approve the Oakland County Regional Enhancement Village Resolution. >> Assistant Superintendent Wright. >> Uh good evening everyone. Uh so this board agenda item was presented to you in the committee of the whole. Would you like for me to read the resolution? >> Uh if you could just give us a highlevel update. >> High level >> or just overview? Sorry. >> Sure. Sure. Um um earlier it was mentioned that there are 28 school districts in Oakland County. Um among those 28 districts u um there's an opportunity for districts to take advantage of a regional opportunity for an an enhancement mill. Um the mill will be passed based on majority vote. uh meaning that not
022necessarily by individual school districts but the majority of those school districts that encompass the uh majority of students in the county and I believe that's we talked about Novi being one of them and I think Troy >> so if those two school districts were to pass this millillage that means that all the other uh school districts in the county would also be afforded the opportunity um so uh in August I believe this will be presented on the ballot um for local communities to vote on. Again, it doesn't necessarily have to pass just within Ferndale, but overall within the county, the majority vote is among those two communities I mentioned previously, then all school districts will benefit. >> Excellent. So again, this is just for our support of putting the millillage on the ballot. >> On
023the ballot. Yes. Uh any questions? Uh can you get a motion? >> You want to discuss it? >> Oh, sorry. We'll do discussion after >> after motions. Yeah, >> I can do that. >> Okay. I move to approve the Oakland County Regional Enhancement Commission. >> Second. Motion moved by Trusty Hart, seconded by uh Trusty Croy. Any discussion? >> There's there's already like a vote yes committee being formed or like the the plans are moving ahead. the the plans are moving ahead and I I think I failed to mention that um for those school districts that thought to have the resolution on the ballot um will be they're responsible for the campaign right on their independently on their own. Um but certainly this is moving forward. >> And then just for the public's knowledge, are we
024aware of how much money our district will get if this does get on the ballot and is approved? >> Yes, we are. It's not here. So I I'm going to go off of memory, but if I remember correctly, it's close to 759,000 something like that. that we would be awarded. >> Do you remember seeing it done? >> Seven is the number of its impact. >> Yeah, I remember the seven9. That's that's >> I can get that. >> Good. >> Okay. Thank you. Yes. >> Any additional discussion? Assuming that this is approved and on the ballot should do so. >> Miss you like to do roll call, please. >> Duki, >> yes. >> Hart, >> yes. >> Newman, >> yes. >> From Ryan, >> yes. >> President Deliver, >> yes. 5 to Z. >> Uh, second
025item 5.2, request to review and approve schools of choice for the 202627 school year. Good evening everybody. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Uh Tom Shelton, director of HR and uh enrollment for the district. Uh bringing a proposal to you this evening um which has been uh revised since I since we last discussed it at our committee the whole meeting. Um what I'd like to do is briefly summarize it and talk about some of the changes that we've made since we had our discussion at committee the whole. Um so as you know uh uh our annual selection or our annual election to participate in school of choice uh is typically done around this time. Uh and uh we are recommending limited school of choice in our K12 programs uh as well as participation in 105C
026through 105C uh which is our continuous county school of choice for University High School. Uh so since we discussed this at committee the whole of the revisions that you'll notice uh are first of all at the kindergarten level uh we had significant discussion about kindergarten uh the original suggestion of kindergarten level was five uh however in discussion both with Miss Schmidt at FECC as well as leadership at Ferndale lower uh we have 20 students 20 Oakland County students at FECC right now um who would like to transition to Ferndale lower and we so we revised our recommendation for kindergarten upwards to try to accommodate those students currently at FECC um that we would like to accommodate in kindergarten. Um the first grade number 12 you'll remember is reflective of uh first of all some available
027seats in that grade level but also uh 12 students who are currently under superintendent waiverss in the kindergarten class uh that will be going up to first grade that we would like to provide the opportunity uh to participate in school choice. Um, currently at FECC, uh, we have again 20 Oakland County, uh, residents, uh, not Ferndale residents, uh, five with siblings, and we have, um, also 32 students in our first five classrooms. So, kindergarten is always the tricky one because we don't know what our resident enrollment is going to be uh, for incoming kindergarten. We obviously have some indications. Uh we have our historical trends, our participation in some of our early events at Ferndale lower like our kindergarten orientation program. Um and so uh the general trend especially at the elementary level you'll notice
028is that our resident enrollment is strong and has over the last several years shown itself to be strong. Um so beyond kindergarten and first grade uh we are we've revised those uh projections second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade uh we are not recommending school choice uh at this time at those levels. Another trend you'll see is um in terms of building capacity, in terms of staffing capacity, a good number for us is 180 per grade uh K12. Uh so as we work with our numbers, we try to manage that number as closely as we can um through resident enrollment obviously, but also through school of choice. Uh our current fifth grade moving up to sixth grade at the middle school, our projections show that we have a capacity for 10 additional students at
029that grade level. Current sixth and current seventh, which will be next year's seventh and eighth grade. Uh we do not see capacity at those grade levels. So we're not recommending school choice for seventh or eighth grade at that time. at that grade level, excuse me. Uh and then Ferndale High School 9th and 10th grade. Uh traditionally we have not done school choice past the 10th grade. Uh and uh in working with Principal Griffin and the staff at Ferndale High School looking at numbers and moveups, uh we can accommodate 10 students at each of those grade levels. Uh as you know if our interest during our school of choice window exceeds um these numbers that you see in front of you tonight we will have to do lotteryies uh to determine uh to determine placement. Um
030and so we are prepared to do that in the enrollment department. Um so again the big factors that we look at in making these projections first of all managing our staffing and our building constraints. Our building constraints are a big deal for us, especially at the elementary level. We're currently at our new Ferndale lower. We are bursting at the seams and and uh those numbers are creeping up to our upper elementary in the next couple years. So, we're trying to manage those numbers very carefully. Um I talked about maintaining a target enrollment of 180 per grade. Um and also ma taking some steps in terms of that transition from the early childhood center to Ferndale lower. uh making sure that we're communicating appropriately with parents um and also making sure that we're welcoming students to
031the district uh where we can. So I can answer any questions anybody have. I hope I hit the broad headlights, broad highlights there, but I can answer questions that anybody has. Questions for Mr. Shelton questions. Uh, get a motion. >> I'll second. >> Moved by Secretary Newman, seconded by Trustee Harts. >> Hart, yes. >> Newman, >> yes. >> Crumbai, >> yes. >> Duki, >> yes. President Delar, >> yes. >> Thanks a lot. Awesome. Thank you. All right. 5.3 request to approve the fiber structured cabling rate project. >> Good evening everyone. >> Evening. >> Uh I'm the senior technology coordinator for the district. I'm Andrew Hollyy. Met you all at the committee of the whole meeting earlier in the month. Um tonight for the board for your consideration is the uh fiber structure cabling project as
032we discussed at that meeting and then uh kind of an overview of that project. Uh it's just to replace two fiber cable runs between network closets at two of our buildings, University High School and Ferndale Upper Elementary School. And then also to replace one of our network racks at Ferndale Upper Elementary School. Um we are using the federal funds to help offset the cost of the remaining portion that would be covering from our bond and then the technology allocation portion of that bond. Uh for the actual bid uh we had three responses and then we are recommending the lowest qualified bidder which is division 27. Uh their bid included uh fiber cables, optics and labor for the install and then also the triplet 26U wall mount uh replacement rack over upper. Uh does anyone have
033any questions questions? Mr. Holden. All right, request a motion. >> I move to approve the fiber structure cable rate project. >> Second motion by trustee Duki, seconded by trustee. Any discussion? All right, roll call. >> Newman, >> yes. >> Crumb, >> yes. >> Duki, >> yes. >> President de Le, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> All right, on to 5.4. request to approve the network electronics - project. This one's me as well as you can guess. Uh for your consideration, uh it's the network electronics - project. Uh this project has two separate components. So it's a little bit bigger than the other one. Uh the first component is to upgrade the aging network switches across uh most of our buildings including the district core network and the building level network switches and all of our
034district buildings including the high school and the middle school excluding sorry about that. Uh the second component is for additional uninterrupted power supply units which is basically our battery backups for our closets. Um to address the updated power requirements of these new switches that we'll be installing. Um we are also using the federal rate funds for this project to offset the cost the remaining portion that we'll be covering under our bond and then technology fortune allocation. Uh for this one we had four bids and then we are also recommending the lowest qualified bidder which is Delta Networks uh with their extreme network switch solution to upgrade our aging equipment throughout the district and then also Eton UPS units uh to supplement our existing UPS units. Anyone have questions? Are we or are you responsible for
035post install support or is the company that does the install? >> So Delta Networks will be doing the install and then afterwards they hand it off to us to support. >> So yeah, once everything's installed, it's on you for updates. >> Yep. >> All the >> Yeah, we do have license terms. We have a perpetual license and then they do support us, too. >> But we're mainly >> Sorry about that. Good. All right. Making all the motions second. >> I move to approve the network electronics key project. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion from Trusty Duki and seconded by Secretary Newman. Roll call. >> Crim. >> Yes. >> Dookie. >> Yes. >> Hart. >> Yes. >> Newman. >> Yes. >> President De Levar. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. >> Awesome. Thank you.
036>> All right. Uh item 5.5, request to approve new AP classes. Mr. Maize, >> good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> So, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, um we are interested in having a few new advanced placement courses approved for our high school students. AP pre-calculus, AP Seminar, and AP business with personal finance are the three courses that we are hoping you will approve. Questions? All right. And I get a motion. >> Approve the new AP classes. >> Second. >> So, we got a motion from Trusty Hart, seconded by Trusty Dukie. Any discussion? >> All right. Roll call. >> Dukie. >> Yes. Hart. Yes. New. Yes. Crim. >> Yes. >> President. >> Yes. Item 5.6 request to approve project rise. >> First of all, thank you for approving the advanced placement courses.
037Project Rise was again presented at committee of the whole um initially drafted by staff at University High School, but we're asking for approval at all of our high schools because we think it's it's a great course or great opportunity for students. >> Right. Just share a little bit more just for the public to know what RI >> Sure. So, so Project Rise is a multid-disciplinary course where students will be together with um three classroom teachers for a period of two hours during the day. They will receive science credit, social studies credit, and sorry, I should have had this. Sorry, ELA credit. It'll be a 10th grade course. So students will be working on real world projects while learning ELA standards, science standards, and social studies standards. >> Thank you. Any additional question from Mr. M?
038>> All right. Motion >> to adopt the approve the project R. >> Second. Uh motion from Secretary Newman, seconded by Trusty Commer. Any discussion? Um I I'll just say I know when I say like you're excited about thing and you don't say excited about the other things. Makes seem like you're not excited. I'm excited about the other things, but I I really do like this idea of doing you know cross functional classes across each other for kids to really see like how all this stuff needs to to work together. So uh really really excited to see this get going and what the impact is. >> Me too. I I think we spend too much time as as we say in the education world in silos. High middle school and high school students spend way too
039much time in silos. They learn math in isolation of all of the other you know. So having these multidisciplinary opportunities I think is a a great application of learning in a much more authentic setting. So thank you for that. >> Roll call. >> Hurt. >> Yes. Newman. >> Yes. >> Grimai. >> Yes. Duki. >> Yes. President D. >> Yes. >> All right. Item 5.7, request to approve project lead the way. >> So this is our our last request for tonight. Um at the again at the high school level um project lead the way principles of AI. We believe firmly that if we don't get ahead of the learning curve on AI with our students that we are leaving it up to chance that that they will learn things on their own. So we want to
040make sure that that we are helping students learn proper uses and correct uses of AI artificial intelligence. Questions for Mr. Nice. All right. Entertain a motion. >> Move to approve project lead the way. A I >> have a motion from Trusty Duki and seconded by Trustee Crumbai. Any discussion? >> Um I'll just obviously I hope that we can I don't know if you have any feedback that maybe would have been a question, but if you've had any feedback from the school committee, I know this is a very hot button issue. So, just hoping we can have um something that explains to students and the community why we're adopting this and what it would actually entail. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. Take a roll call. >> Newman, >> yes. >> Crim. >> Yes. >> Duki, >> yes.
041>> President, >> yes. All right. Thank you. >> All right. Item six, superintendence update. Unfortunately, our superintendent uh had some challenges traveling this last 48 hours. So, uh deputy superintendent, right? >> Yeah. >> Love the update from you. >> Sure. So, I agreed to to step in for her. I miss her. Um so, tonight's uh superintendent update is really exciting because it highlights progress on the impact initiative supported through the out of school time grant. Um, the initiative continues to expand meaningful learning and enrichment opportunities for students beyond a traditional school day with a focus on academic support, engagement, and safe and structured programming. Early implementation efforts have centered on strengthening partnerships, refining program logistics, and aligning activities to students needs and district priorities. With this in as with any large-scale rollout, the team has
042encountered operational challenges related to scheduling, staffing, and coordination across sites. These obstacles are not unexpected in the early stages of implementation and are being addressed through ongoing problem solving, communication, and adjustment. Leadership remains committed to the continuous improvement and is using early lessons learned to build a stronger, more sustainable framework moving forward. Overall, the impact initiative represents an important investment in student opportunity and access. The district will continue monitoring progress and stabilizing operations and strengthening systems to ensure the program delivers on its intended outcomes for students and families. Next steps, uh, stabilize program operations to ensure consistent scheduling, staffing, and site coordination. Secondly, strengthening uh communication to support program delivery and family engagement. And third, uh continue monitoring implementation and refining systems based on early lessons learned. And then tonight we have our partners in
043the room with us. Uh so uh Royal Township is represented by Miss Anna Capella as well as Mr. Don Jackson. So if they both can take the podium to give an update. Okay. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> Uh my name is Ann Capella and I'm here representing uh Supervisor Squaz of of Charter Township of Royal Oak and I thank you for having us here uh just to have an overview. My my role is to present to you an overview of the fiduciary. Um, as you are aware, the township was awarded $780,000 in afterchool programs in a grant from my leap. Um, I understand that this was uh out of the $78 million that the governor put aside and I believe the next year availability of funding is $139 million. So, um, while we look
044forward to working together, I bring a lot of partnership partners with us. Um it is a program that's a little bit um township was eligible to apply for the program and on December 22nd right in the middle of our holiday season we received the award and says we are we have been awarded $780,000. Um it poses a few challenges. We are a township a local government and um we are grateful for the partnership of Ferndale School District because we without you we couldn't do it. and I bring with me a whole team of uh people. Um without them we couldn't do it either. Um and briefly um we um met with the school district superintendent and we are grateful for her support. Um and lo and behold in the last week or so we found
045out we are very grateful to Oakland County. Once again, Oakland County comes to the rescue of Royal Oak Township and we're very very grateful in the form of with us we have Jessica Wallace. She's with you uh youth friendale youth assistance and they have kindly stepped in to assist us. So we have a third partner. Um our goal my goal in all of this is to watch for the program that we meet all the laws and enforcements and and we are compliant. My partner is Miss Ena Rankin. She's a township uh finance director. So, um the two of us are kind of at monitoring the money and and the pro and the structure and making sure that we comply with various reports and regulations. However, the most important people are our program managers and directors
046and support staff. Um and the role that the uh Fdale Youth Assistance is going to play is they really will be the employer for the many many staff that we need to help us. So we are looking forward to the program. We are very grateful and um I'm glad to see uh my best commissioner of Oakland County. Hello listen. You can't even imagine how many times that commissioner has stepped up to assist us. So we do have with us. Let me introduce you to the team. Uh Mr. Toby Tonsel. He is um also on the on the uh board of u uh parks and commission um parks and recreation for the Royal Oak Township and our chair Mr. Arman Respris. He's also here in support. Um Donovan Jackson, the director who probably is most familiar
047to you. um he is um quite the supporter of this program and probably without him we wouldn't have um ventured into this but he really talked me into it. It's a lot of work. Um also we have um Jessica uh >> Wallace and um um I'm sure some of the other supporter Mr. Johnson is here. He's done EYDL with us. So uh we have a great crew and we thank you for it. Um if you have any questions I have eight binders of material in the office and but the most fun part is to give opportunities to the students and that's probably uh the most important that we should remember in this program. So I'm going to invite um the gentlemen or ladies are going to give you the program. Thank you very much. >>
048Good evening everyone. >> I'm Donovan Jackson, director of parks and recreation for low township. Um, as Miss Anne stated, I cannot um express how gracious we are for Ferndale School Board and Ferndale Public Schools cuz without y'all this definitely would not happen. Um, this is going to be a huge program for the community and we're just we're just really excited. Um, secondly, I want to especially thank Miss Wright, Superintendent Hitler, Mr. Maize. Um, they have been tremendous. I mean, words cannot even describe how tremendous they have been working with us to even make this happen. Um, after a month of barriers and perseverance, we're finally to the fun part where we can actually impact some students. So, today I'm not gonna be long- winded. I have some documents that I'mma pass around. I brought some
049of the vendors that'll be working firsthand with our students just so you can get a character who will be around our students public schools. First, I'm going to introduce Martz Coleman. Martz Coleman is a phenomenal human being. Um, he's the regional director for the National Society of Black Engineers. Um he's going to start the first chapter right here um in Ferndale. If I'm not mistaken, it's two chapters. It would be Ferndale and Cast Tech. Am I right? So Ferndale Cast Tech I believe is the first one and Ferndale would be the second one. Um he has some next level opportunities that the kids in Ferndale can really take advantage of and really create a career, high paying career. Um so I'm gonna bring Martz up to say a few words. >> Mr. Jackson, may I
050also implore you to explain exactly where the program is going to be taking place. >> Okay. And when we're we're proposing to start, right? >> Okay. >> That Yep. So, we have five locations. University High School, Ferndale High School, Ferndale Middle School, Ferndale Lower, U Tce. Um program is looking, we're looking forward to start Monday, March the 2nd. Um one of the biggest aims that we're looking at is credit recovery. Uh me as well being the football coach here at Ferndale, um I just take a look at transcripts on the on the daily and it's a lot of kids that are failing classes that failed classes from two semesters ago that continues to move forward and they don't understand you're not going to graduate or you can't even play sports, you can't even reach your
051maximum potential without getting those classes made up. And some of them don't know the first where whereabouts to how to make up those classes. So we're really targeting credit recovery. We're really targeting kids who's under 2.0. you know, we want to get them up to over a 2.5 and we're just we're looking for everybody to come join this program. We're really looking to make an impact on every human being that's in front of other public schools that wants to join the program. Um, any other questions? So, I'm going pass y'all off and I'mma introduce our vendors so y'all can they can tell you a little bit about >> Um, good afternoon everybody. My name is Martz Coleman. I will make a correction. I am only the but not only I am the regional um treasurer
052for NESBY which is the National Society Black Engineer. So for the entire Midwest I'm the treasurer and I am currently also the pre-ol initiative chair for the Detroit Professional Chapter. So what NESBY is we are the National Society of Black Engineers. We're founded in 1975 by six men from Chicago at Purdue University. So essentially we are a completely studentran organization. This student was this organization was founded by students and is completely ran by students and we essentially act as a community and develop each other and pulling each other up as engineers. So I got involved with this organization in college where I was actually a charter member for Central Michigan Mission University and it changed my life. I would say that. So I went to my first conference in national convention in Boston 2016. That
053was the first time I've ever been in the room of just professional people that look like me. There's 15,000 people at these annual conventions. So as far as how they can help our students, we have NESBY junior chapters. So they are just like any member like professional member, a collegiate member, they are a member of our organization. So they have all the resources. they can come to our professional I mean our conventions where they're able to interview and get some internships. I want to say at least 80% of the Fortune 500 companies are at our conventions. So a lot of students don't know that in high school internships are a possibility. We do a lot of informing students like hey just because you're in high school it don't mean you can't go get an internship
054with Google or Apple. They're at our they at they're at our conventions and you can get your foot in those doors and you're just surrounded by a lot of excellence there. So I've met a lot of my mentors are VPs of like Rathon or Apple just connections that I would not have gotten being not being involved in it. So, I would say it is an amazing program. And when I connected with Donovan about a year ago, I said, "Hey, I'm I'm going to do the good work and just kind of help students get to where I'm at." Because I didn't have anybody to tell me what it meant to be an engineer. I was good at math and they said, "Go be an engineer." >> So, I'm I'm just want to do my part and
055bring the next generation of kids up and help them be engineers. >> Amazing. Thank you. Matt asks, "What area of engineering do you practice?" >> Um, so I have my bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. I have a master's degree in robotics. So currently I am a manufacturing project engineer for Fanic America. We are the first robotics company in the world. Um, and essentially what I do, I I don't do much engineering on a day-to-day basis these days. I'm more so operating capacity or project manager. But I can say right now, if you follow car news, Ford just announced they're doing a new electric truck. My company is working on redoing their entire final assembly line for that plant to operate that to to build that truck. So, I get a very I say I like
056I live in the future at my job. The things that I'm working on won't hit the general public till like 2028. So, I'm I'm able to that's what's that's the fun part. I get a glimpse into the future. Nice. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> We got one more vendor I want to uh introduce, but I just want to say something about Martz. He keeps me in the future. So, when I want to know what's going on, what the kids should be in, where is the jobs, it's going to be the high paying jobs in the future, and how to motivate them to do that. I give Martz a call. He's he's right there for us. And I'm sorry I could not u go on without giving a special thank you
057too to Jesse Wallace. We wouldn't make this possible without you Toby Tazzle, Miss Ed Capella and our rest. But our next big vendor right here is probably the district favorite. Every kid in Ferndale public schools loves Coach Anthony. He's the freshman basketball coach. He works with every age range. So we got also got >> Hello everyone. >> Good to see you all again. Always a pleasure to be before you. Um, there's been some exciting conversations around this grant. So, I'm extremely excited to finally be at this stage. I'm Anthony Johnson, president of the Empower Youth Development League, Ferndale, class of 2012. My organization works a lot with Royal Oak Township. I've done a lot of programming there impacting the students of Charter Township, Royal Oak. So, I'm extremely excited for the opportunity to work directly
058with the students of Ferndale Public Schools. Uh we offer a wide range of programming focusing on education, mentorship, and sports. Our flagship program is technology Tuesdays where we partner with organizations such as NESBY, uh Code 313, Animation Discovery Studio, a host of others. I have a list about 20 vendors that will be coming in to provide programming on Tuesdays related to STEM activities. We also have a curriculum called Wisdom Wednesdays where we break down practical life skills for the students that will be participating as well as impact Thursdays where we'll be bringing in highpaying career professionals such as doctors, lawyers, entertainers and such um to show these kids a different u lanes of career paths. Um I'm extremely passionate um about this program. uh I did a soft uh pre-ervey and I took a look
059at the uh voices of the students and what alarmed me and it's a problem that I really want to solve here is their reading comprehension, writing and sentence structure. Uh those are just a few of the problems that I've identified that I want to help the district improve. Um as well as some of the issues I've heard around chronic aism. I want to help the kids get back to school, be present in school, and understand the importance of uh being in school. Um that's really passion of mine. I got the surveys I'm carrying around my briefcase um just to keep the mission near and dear to my heart and I look forward to moving things forward over this remaining school year. So any questions for me, I'm available to answer. >> Thank Thank you all.
060>> I don't have any questions. I just want to thank you all. I mean, I tend to talk a lot and I know there's like at least four of you in the audience right now that know exactly how passionate I am for this. So, I want to thank you and thanks for listening to my ramblings every so often. But, this this uh this is huge. I appreciate all your hard work and it ain't ending yet. So, still some hard work to go. Thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Any other uh comments? Yeah, just want to say thank you uh both to township. Uh I know this is a giant grant uh and a giant administrative lift. So really really appreciate you all uh stepping up on on this. I think it's a
061hugely transformational grant and uh Don and Dino, you know, this is uh amazing stuff. Really really excited to see the the impacts on on what y'all are doing. So really greatly appreciate everybody here on this piece. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Item seven, the debut of board updates. Oh, >> We have one more. Okay. >> One more super up update regarding Head Start. >> Oh, we can keep that. >> Oh, no. >> Okay, we're all good. >> Thank you. >> All right. Board updates. anything for uh for update members to share uh public. >> So the uh I I think we're talking about the committee group subs everything. Yes. >> Okay. Uh so my group had uh myself, David, Jonathan, and we had the operating procedures document. Um I just shared it again
062to you all. Um so it brings it back to the top of your inbox. The only thing we looked at um was formatting because it had an antiquated formatting the way it was numbered. So we tried to uh make it bring it as close up to date as possible and formatting and some changes. There's some minor changes to like the calendar like now how we're how we've moved the evaluation um and the annual org meeting like those things are changed in there. Um, uh, we're asking that everyone, uh, read it over, either add comments or suggest edits. We ask that you suggest edits and not make edits so that we can see the draft changes. I miss anything, Davis? >> When would you like our feedback by? When when do we need to have this
063finished? >> Let's say it's committed to hold Monday. That would be a rough one. I wouldn't say Monday. Let's say we get all feedback in for next board meeting as discussion item. >> So by March 16th >> March 16th. Yes. >> You're have to run lead on that. >> Huh? >> You're going to have to run lead on that. I won't be here. Well, speaking of running late, the other committee is the uh students on the board committee and Jackie's guidance and and Lisa, we've already started to look at a document that was it's great foundation that I think Jackie and and Sandra started. Um, so we're looking to build on that with the goal of not next meeting, but I would hope to to have things ready to look at and finish and say,
064"Hey, here we are at the spring retreat." Not saying we necessarily have to take time at that spring retreat to discuss it, but the goal is is to have that document finished and and looked at by everybody so that we can turn around and and start having, you know, current 10th and 9th graders be ready for that. So, I think there's there's work to be done. I just want to make sure that the main goal is that everybody's feels included. Uh I think you know with representatives from uh TCE in here. Um but uh I think a good way to do it too is perhaps is that once that document's really tweaked by D and I then to let everybody know to kind of take a peek at it, we can do that before even
065a meeting just so that I think by the spring retreat if it's all good to go then we can really move forward to having to implement them implementing it for next year. >> Excellent. Um, Jack and Jesse, do you want to talk about the communications for you today? >> I had it up. Sorry. >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, we put together a calendar of just all the local events. Uh, a lot of it's just the stuff that Jessica, David, and myself cover with the local things, but then also as things start ramping up in the spring when the weather gets out, opportunities. Um, I think we've gotten a framework of things that we'd like to do. Uh, I think now we need to kind of put some more meat on like what those would entail
066and sort of what the responsibilities would be. Um, and then also talking about bond progress stores as well with uh both elected and for the public as well. >> Great. Anything else? Anyone wants to share? Um, just I was able to attend the Pale City Council meeting to give some updates from the school district and it was greatly appreciated. Um, and I'm looking forward to >> Same same with Thompson. Appreciate you both making the extra time, extra night to to go out and do that. >> It looks like we could use someone park or >> Oak Park I think has the exact same days and times. That's the challenge with the >> apartments. >> Sometimes the ferndale meetings. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> All right. Uh let's move on to information items. Uh budget to
067actual report. >> Good evening. This is the budget to actual report for January uh 2026. If you will look at the first column, it now says first amended budget since that was approved at the last um but there's nothing too much to report. We still haven't gotten too much federal revenue yet um because they weren't approved but now they're approved. Um and then in transportation the current remaining is kind of high because we haven't received delicate buses yet. Are there any questions? >> No, no questions. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Item nine, consideration of any consent agenda items. We did not pull any. Item 10, uh, next committee of the whole meeting will be Monday, March 2nd, 2026 at 6 PM here. Item 11, next regular board meeting will
068be Monday, March 16th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Uh, and now our Eagle Points of Pride comments. >> Go for it. >> I'm going to take um, I had an amazing time with the TCT students a couple was it last week? I think it was just last last week. um just amazing group of kids. Um really candid discussion and um it was just I felt like we are doing some good work here in the district because of the feedback we were getting from the students. They all really felt like they belonged, which was huge. >> I'll go next. >> Uh um I'm going to mine's actually going to push for what is actually a March point of pride, but since I'm not going to be here, I'm going to do it now. Uh Carol Diggby. Um
069longtime uh musical supporter, marching band supporter, past employee, past parent. This is her last run at the musical and she's hanging up her she's hanging up her scissors and she's going the she's moving away. Um so if you have a chance to get out to the musical, they're doing a special um the last show, which is also like senior recognition night, they are also going to do something special for her. Um, so I just I I I had the opportunity to work with Carol. Um, and um, I really appreciate all that she has done and given to the district. So if you happen to get a chance to see the show or see her, um, a good pat on the back, well wishes. Uh, it's more than she's more she's more than deserved that. The
070show will be March 14th, March 15th, March 20th, March 21st, March 22. The last show is the show. Yeah. >> 2 seconds. >> Well, my point of pride's still going to be the meeting the meets. I love those and it just further proves like these kids just want to be heard. I think that it's part of I think it it's just really cool. They they are it was just a good event. I I love going to them. I could I could do that every week. >> Um my point of pride is the fact that our school of choice numbers are going down and almost non-existent anymore. So, I'm really excited that um resident enrollment has gone up to the point where we're stabilizing, not necessarily needing as much school of choice, even at the middle
071school level. It's time. >> Yep. Great. Five minutes. Yes. >> That's awesome because I want to go next. Okay. So, I'm going to give a huge shout out to Alicia Bird of Special Education, Juan Rickman, our athletic director, director of culture and climate, and the entire special education department because we had our first unified sports game. And when I I tell you, I almost want to cry. Just I was so excited. The kids were the students were excited. Uh what do you say? Nice nice outfit to play basketball in as one of the students said. Um just it was just a it was just a great time. And I think our next game is coming up. Is it next week? Our next game is next week and it's away. >> Okay. Well, I'm going to
072get the dates out because it was just it was phenomenal. The parents were supportive. The other the kids were our the other students were supportive. They were patient. We played against Berkeley. Obvious been playing a long time, so they they kind of beat us. But nonetheless, uh just a good time was had and I'm just really proud of and I want to thank you so much for putting so much time and effort into recruiting the students. Um the parents just couldn't be out further. They were so proud to see their kids play. So thank you for >> really really excited. Um February is Black History Month. uh and just want to really just say, you know, what great black leadership that we have. Uh whether it's at this table, in the school district, administration, uh
073our community, uh it's what makes this place so great. Uh just so thank you for uh just, you know, folks that we get to serve with, but just, you know, such a strong part of this community. uh done I feel like a really good job of recognizing uh our black leadership through the social media not just on here but through uh the city uh the programming that's been done. Uh it's just a really really fantastic celebration. We should be celebrating this every month but uh just want to just make sure we call that out. And with that, we are adjourned at 8:10