001Uh, I want to call to order our special meeting of the board of education on Monday, February 6, 2026. Miss Shepard, could you do the roll call, please? >> Here, here. Roger >> here. >> President Zabar >> here. >> Thank you. Um, looking through the agenda before meeting, anyone has any comments, suggestions, feedback, right? Approve the agenda. Public comments. Anyone here for public comments? Fantastic. Public comment is now closed. All right, moving to item number three, presentation of buildings, the trienal update of secondary school. It's been uh good evening. Um so I'm very pleased to um begin our uh second set of trienal updates. Um we will we have our secondary leaders who are here to present. Um just as a friendly reminder I have um asked them to really focus their time with you
002today for answering questions. So they are prepared to provide a highle executive summary um but spend the bulk of their time in front of you answering questions. Um and we'll begin this evening with Julie Patterson for University High School. >> Hello. Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. Um so I am going to focus uh most of my remarks today on the two areas of the strategic plan that really relate to the individual buildings that is engaged and empowered students and aligned instructional vision. So for engaged and empowered students one of our areas of focus um annually reduce chronic absenteeism. So last year our current status 64% of students with 10 or more absences 39% with 20 or more absences. So it is absolutely um an area of need for improvement for us. Um we have
003so far this year the data is looking better. So last year at as of January 13th last year we were at 51% of students considered chronically absent. Um as of January 13th this year that had dropped down to 43% of students. So we are seeing some movement in the right direction in that area. >> Pause. Um >> Julia, excuse me. I'm so sorry. Can you pause just for a sec? We're having a technical difficulty. You got to disconnect from there cuz it's not It's displaying here but not there. It might be the internet connection. >> Okay, here we go. >> Sorry about that. And principal Patterson, tell me where we are. What slide? >> Okay. Um, keep going. Okay. Uh, yep. This is the one. And you can actually go to one more slide after
004this. Um, just to talk about some of the opportunities that are out there. Um, we're looking at some different ways to help parents with transportation, some creative ways. Um, so that's an area that we have been exploring. Um, and then we're also just really working on the student engagement piece, encouraging teachers to enhance communication, collaboration, and movement, which were three things that our students really lifted up as areas that were important to them um to increase that engagement in the classroom, that sense of community, and um then increase attendance as a result. Um, so like I said before, when asked, families often cite transportation um or their work schedules as being some barriers to getting students to school. So those are areas that we're trying to look for creative solutions. Um, we've also been expanding
005attendance incentives. We do extra cords at graduation, extra graduation tickets, um attendance breakfasts to reward students, and um attendance raffles for engaged and empowered students. On the next slide, um next area of focus was reducing number of out of school suspensions. Um I feel like this is kind of a relative strength for us. Our suspension rate is fairly low. Um last year we had 31 male students and 38 female students suspended. We generally try to keep suspensions only to severe issues, things that present a safety concern. Um we generally do not suspend for lower level issues. Um this year that number is even lower. Um we were at 26 out of school suspensions so far this year total. Um we do we did try this year we've been looking at vaping prevention. And one of
006the things that we read was um doing some vaping prevention with students is shown to be one of the more effective things versus out of school punishments things like that. So um when if our students are caught vaping they do serve a half a day in school suspension but that is for the purpose of doing some vaping education modules. >> Um so that is the inschools are a little bit higher this year as a result but we have seen some effectiveness with that. uh there do seem to be fewer incidents this year. Um moving on to the next slide um talks about dual enrollment. We have 19 students in fall semester that were in enrolled in dual enrollment. Um and that actually represents about a 300% increase over the year before. What we did last
007year, last spring, was we had the current ACE students go around to our CPC classes to talk about the ACE program. Um, and we found that to be very successful with increasing awareness. Um, you know, the students listen to other students, sometimes more than an adult coming in and droning on. So, um, we were able to increase enrollment there and we are looking to increase continue to increase enrollment. Um, additionally, we have the U ofM Dearworm program that kicked off the ground this year. So, we had five students enroll in that this um, winter semester. And then we are looking at some opportunities with OC outside of the ACE program to do some dual enrollment programming as well for next year. Um the next slides if you move on to AP um we really have
008been pushing dual enrollment over AP and the reason for that is the dual enrollment they are guaranteed to get that college credit as long as they pass the class. Um with the AP test they could take the AP class, get an A, do really well and still not pass that AP test and not get the college credit. So um we offer AP through CASA. So we do have some students who opt to go to CASA. um instead of doing an ACE or a dual enrollment. Um but currently that is one student who is at CASSA in terms of AP. We have some other students who are are at CASA as well, but those are for advanced arts programming. >> Um moving on to increasing the percentage of students that report that they feel that they
009belong. So, in our spring assessment last spring, we were up to 44% of students um who report that they strongly belong or um feel like they belong or strongly belong. So, that is an increase over time. So, in 2024 that was at 30%, then we jumped up to 38%, now we are at 44%. So, we are seeing improvement there. um that number also jumps to 80% when you consider that middle number, that somewhat number. Um we also see an increase grade over grade. So 38% of 9th graders jumps to 54% by the time they're in 11th grade. Um which makes sense for a place like UHS where everybody comes in nth grade not knowing anybody. Um some things that we're doing to improve that. Uh we do some stuff programming during the school day to
010try to increase that sense of belonging. One of the highlights of that is our Eagle activity time that we do. Um it's like special interests. It happens every 3 weeks or so where students can go meet with like-minded peers to do things like anime or learning to crochet, things like that to to help them connect in other ways. Um moving on then to aligned instructional vision. So, our SAT uh benchmark scores are low. Um 16% hit the benchmark in reading and 1% in math. Um our biggest issue is our students come to us very low. So, when we look at I Ready data, um our ninth graders last year came to us in math at a third grade level and in reading at a fourth grade level. So we saw a lot of growth on
011the I Ready. We had 80% of students exceed one year of growth in math and 84% exceed one year of growth in reading for our 9th graders. Um and then 69% of 10th graders in math and 76% in reading. So we're seeing a lot of growth. Uh the average growth for ninth grade was three grade levels um in math or I'm sorry in reading and then two and a half grade levels in math and then for 10th graders it was 2.8 grade levels in reading and 2.3 grade levels in math. So we are seeing a lot of growth on the I Ready. We're just not seeing yet that translate to hitting the SAT benchmarks. Um and a lot of that has to do with the distance that so many of our students have to go.
012But we are doing some things looking at some opportunities. One of those is looking at the scope and sequence of our math courses. Um really to make sure that those standards that are tested on the SAT that we are covering them prior to the SAT. So that is one of the big areas that we are going to be looking at. Um we're also looking for reading at um enhanced opportunities. Just making sure across subject areas that students have abundant reading opportunities. And then also um making sure that they're doing we're doing some really like specific vocabulary building with students across content areas. So those are some of the things that we're looking at. We also are developing a cross-curricular course for our sophomores that we're really excited about that I think um you'll you'll be
013hearing about soon. Um and I think that that will increase engagement, increase opportunities that are relevant to students um because we know how much that relevance piece really matters to uh students and their work and their level of engagement. Um, so do you have those were kind of the ones I wanted to focus on as the other ones are all kind of districtwide numbers. So what questions can I answer for you? >> I got a question about the suspensions. I saw that it was >> 31 male students, 38 female students. Is that the [clears throat] number of students or the number of incidents? >> That's the number of students. Okay. Yes. Okay. So the number of incidents is probably higher like >> is number of incidents is usually lower because for example this fall we
014had one incident that when it was all said and done about eight students were involved. >> I see. So gotcha. Okay. Thank you. >> To kind of pick up on that. You said this year that there were only 26. >> Do you know which ones are male and which ones are female of that 26? >> I did not break it down by that. Um, I actually I can know kind of off the top of my head because I know that our two biggest incidents were involving males this year, which is unusual for us. >> Okay, we can get that specific that for sure questions I can answer. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. >> All right. Thank you so much. Um, next up we have Derek Adams for TCE. >> Hi
015everyone. Good evening. >> Evening. >> Um, I'm here to talk to you about TCE and I was going to highlight the areas of engaged and empower students and aligned instructional vision. An area of um success and an area of growth. So, just to explain to everybody, I like to um you know, this is my first year at TCE, so I'm learning new things about the building all the time. Great opportunity to talk about it. We have two main programs. We have about 350 what we call participants. Those are our adults from our adult education. Um including one 80year-old grandmother who takes meticulous handwritten notes on every assignment and won't take any shortcuts. So, we run all the way from 22 year olds all the way up to that 80y old. Um, in regards to our
016alternative education, we have about 367 what we call pupils. So, participants are the adults, pupils are students, and their age range is 15 to 22. Of that group, that's the group that I'm going to be talking to mostly about our high school age students and a little bit older. We have kids from all over. We have kids who are from Pontiac and Auburn Hills as well. So, you can see they're not coming in every single day. We have our regular faces, kids that we see every day. And then we have our virtual students, the students that we hardly ever see, maybe once or twice a year, and I'll talk about that a little bit in our opportunities for growth. Um, also, most of our students transfer into us. We have very, very few students who
017start out as ninth graders at TCE. Most of them are transfers or students who've had um academic or behavioral issues somewhere else. So, they're coming to us with those negative school experiences for the most part, not all. Um, so they're missing connections. So in regards to engage and empower students, that's something we really looked at this year is making sure that there's a sense of community that we're bringing students together. I have a couple pictures, I think a couple slides later on, um, of one of our events that we put on. We've been trying to put on an event a month um, for our students to have time to get together. We have fun Fridays. Um the pictures that I have are from our holiday meal where our teachers probably about another three. There we
018go. Right there. Where our te and one more. Yep. Where our um teachers, our staff members were serving food for our um students. Chartwells was able to cater that event for us. So that really brought in a sense of pride, a sense of togetherness. We also hosted our first online assembly for our virtual students. They were able to connect in with a Google Meet. Um, so again, as you can see, that's the uh percentage right there where they're trying to get um a sense of belonging. So we're that is an area of positivity for our school. I'm going to move on to aligned instructional vision. This is definitely an area for growth for us. As you can see, um our uh test scores um are not where we want them to be. Again, I will
019say that our students are coming to us with negative school experiences and for a lot of them, they don't see a reason to come in to take the IRA test. So, that is a struggle for us. This year was the first year where we turned off their egenuity accounts until they came in and took it. Obviously, we gave them a lot of forewarning about that. Um, if they had a district laptop, they were able to take it at home within the window of of time. Um, but if they had did not have a district device, they were having to come in. So, that was an issue. That is something that um we open back up. We don't keep it off forever. So, we don't get 100% participation on our IRA tests. Um speaking of the
020bottom two scores there where you see the asterises, um again, since we don't have a lot of nth graders starting, we don't have cohort data. Um this year, we had four ninth graders >> from our last year's group. So, our current 10th graders, only two um were with us last year. So, we don't really have that data to really show individualized and it would start naming those students if we did, but that is an area of growth. Um last year, uh as part of my job, I was over at TCE to monitor the assessment, the SAT. Um that is an area of issue as well because our kids can't normally get to us on a regular day because again, the distances that they travel. So on this one day for the SAT, they're not coming
021in for that either. So our participation rate is low as well as our scores there. So again, that is an area of growth that we're aware of and that is something that we're definitely looking at improving um over years. Any questions? >> Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Next up, we have uh Ferndale High School, Michael Griffin. >> Good evening, everyone. >> Um I'm going to jump right in and I think I will go on ahead and jump over to engaged and empowered students as well and um discuss and highlight some of the things from that area. Um so the first measure of success is um uh the adjectives and so our current status is at 60% um that is our baseline data. Um it's definitely a celebration um to show that um
022we've definitely decreased those numbers. So currently right now at our last check we're at 15.2% who at the 10 or more and then um 6.32 um who are at the 20 or more. Um and we definitely want to say that these early gains reflect the impact of some of our targeted interventions. Um you can go to the next page. Um which pretty much consists of this year um we implemented an early intervention model. Um so per grade level um we have pretty much um I would say champions per grade level who are dedicated to working with a specific group of students. So we have um leveraged the resources of our community programs. Um, so we have our restorative practice coaches um that have a grade level. Mr. Greg has a grade level as he works
023specifically with the seniors um because he also works with those of them that need to kind of hurry up and catch up on that credit. And so he works specifically with those seniors. And then we have um our Ferndale youth assist or our community in schools who has a grade level as well. Um they're reaching out to those students early on. uh we have a strong system of first the teachers make contact with the parents, then the counselors make a contact um and then it automatically goes into their early interventions. And so they're reaching out, they're having meetings with those students, um just identifying the root causes and providing supports and of course um our community partners are helping them to eliminate any barriers that are preventing them from attending school. So um opportunities are
024areas for growth with that is just incentivizing perfect attendance um and positive growth. Um we want to begin to host semester celebrations rec recognizing students. We have already began to recognize them at grade level meetings. Um and then strengthening collaboration with district community partners. Uh this one here yes we'll speak to the suspension data. So um this is definitely an area for celebration. Um this baseline data reports out at 16 male students and seven female students. Um the suspension rates um are below baseline at this point of the year. Um and we definitely believe that this improvement reflects um the implementation of our inschool suspensions. um we have implemented that system at our building and students are you know and you know kind of like what Julie spoke to depending on what what do they
025need to be outside right everything doesn't warrant them being outside of school and we found that when they're there they're focused they're working on their work and most of them don't want to come back and be up under Casey myself all day and so there may be those changes um to not have to come back but it has been really really impactful uh for that we've implemented the in school suspension Um this just continues to speak to um you know how we have managed to bring these numbers down. Um again we're utilizing our restorative practice systems um and our available resources. So you know everything does not necessarily result again in an out of school suspension and a lot of that is being proactive. Um we also additionally we have those grade level meetings. We're
026going over expectations. Uh, we are having those RP coaches bring smaller groups of kids in. They're meeting with students one-on-one. Those, I guess, the the behaviors that are persistent that lead to the conflicts, they're being proactive and getting ahead of those behaviors so that we don't have to result in suspensions. Um, just intentionally talking to the kids, asking how they're doing, recognizing them for soaring, um, and then just affirming that they are valued and that they're cared for. Another thing I want to speak to on that slide is through our MTSS system. Um, we've definitely gotten um the MTSS system up and running. And so we have um we have developed our SST team to be able to recognize champions for students. And so we're actually um doing that. We're pulling kids through the SST
027[clears throat] process trying to identify making sure that all of our recesses are being used properly. We have a plethora of resources and we want to make sure that kids are not abusing. We sometimes find kids are going over here to the RP coach, then they're talking to a counselor, then they're talking to a support, you know, a social worker. And so, making sure that the the resources are being streamlined, and then for the kids who kind of keep them showing up in conversations, hooking them up with a champion to make sure that someone's checking on them all the time. >> Pause one second for me, Principal Griffin. I just wanted to do a acronym check and make sure everybody was good. [laughter] >> Everybody, we like we like acronyms. I'm sorry. No, no, no,
028no. It's okay. >> Are you guys success team? >> Student success team. Mhm. Multi-tier system of support and soore. >> Um, >> that's that's the like the champs like our behavior matrix kind of a situation. So, >> yeah. Okay. >> We like all good. >> Um, we can go back in. >> Yeah, we're it's the Wi-Fi. Yeah, the Wi-Fi keeps kicking us out. So, >> I think the only other thing um that we wanted to address um or or bring out from this is um I wanted to let me see if I can just get it on here. Um we can um an area of growth is definitely our line um instructional vision. Um if you the uh we're not we're not performing where we should be. um performing pretty low on our benchmarks as
029well as our SAT. Um we have identified um strategies and put some things in place um where we are working to um increase proficiency in ELA and math. Um and we are um leveraging um or start working to build a culture of data relevance. Um what I found is that I think we and I've had the conversations with teachers about sometimes I think we all use that data driven right you've heard it in interviews right teacher said it in interviews um we I've said it in an interview oh we data data driven right and so are we really being data driven we are really learning to walk the walk and not talk the talk so we are having intentional sessions looking at the data but not just looking at it revisiting talking about interventions I
030also um interviewed or survey staff on what are their beliefs toward data and what are their beliefs toward kind of that combination of SEAL there's another acronym right social emotional learning and the impact that it has on students academic achievement and so really trying to um have teachers reflect and understand that the two go hand in hand um and if they believe I believe in whole child and you may have heard me say before that I believe you got to mass flow before you bloom right more teacher jargon, but you know, meet those mass loads hierarchy of needs before you could reach Bloom's taxonomy. And so teachers getting them to understand we do have to actually um pretty much meet the kids where they are and and provide them with that so they can grow
031academically. And then again changing their beliefs on are we really doing what we say we're doing with the data? And we aren't doing it if we're not revisiting the data if we're only like having these data digs. But we definitely our monthly staff meetings, we're going in, we're looking, we're talking about the interventions, and we're monitoring the interventions. And I think that's um making the respect for data grow in in our building. Um I think those are the one the main ones that we wanted to highlight. Um unless you all have questions for me, that's just the aligned vision. what are some of the things that we're doing um to address the MSTEP and the or more so SAT um doing the the data digs or you call it drilling down more jargon you take
032something and you drill down and figure out what's the what does this data really mean right we found that our kids struggle withformational text so as an intervention um across every uh curriculum we are utilizing our res resources of newella which is a resource where they go in and they can get informational text um in any area of content, math, ELA, social studies, science. The great thing about those Newella articles is they can be um tiered to different levels of um skill levels, right? So, we can deliver the same message to different kids and one might be at a ninth grade reading level and one might be at a seventh grade reading level, but it's the same article, right? And so um as a buildingwide intervention, all teachers are implementing the use of these newella
033informational texts. So that we found our kids, not just our kids, many kids find reading longer passages daunting. Um and so if they're not reading passages on a regular basis when they go to take these assessments, it's going to be hard for them. Our kids talk text talk and they do everything shorthand. And if you think I'm using the acronyms, imagine what they do. And so uh we're putting this in making them comfortable with reading these longer texts so that when they see them it won't be such a daunting path or task for them. Um we also have restructured our eagle time to focus directly on we don't want to say teaching to the test but at the same time preparing them and exposing them to what they'll see on the test and utilizing um
034which is pretty much paired with IE. So that is the intervention that we're making in terms of math and ELA. Now >> uh thanks questions for M. [clears throat] >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. [laughter] >> Last but certainly not least, Hernill Middle School Principal Bruner. Good evening everybody. Good evening. So before I get started, does anybody know what the acronym of Ferndale Middle School is? Let me ask you because that'll that's going to entail what I'm going to talk about this evening. >> I know >> what Wait, wait, let me ask the president. There you go. >> It's great. >> Great. There you go. Growth, resilience, integrity, and tenacity. And so if you're a follow Lions, you know that that's something that Dan Campbell believes firmly in. And I believe in Dan Campbell.
035I believe in the Lions. So punishment or not, with that being said, it is something that we live true by. Everything we do at Ferndale Middle School is built on uh building a strong culture. Our hiring, not just our teachers, our peer professionals, our uh custodians, our secretaries, whoever entails must align with our vision and we all our security guards must align with our vision. So I'm very fortunate to have a team that understands what grit means and uh they're all in together. Right? So uh the data I did my data a little different. It's the slides just like everybody else. So you just have to go through the slides. You got specific question. I'll explain some but I didn't I'm not going to go to slide this slide. I'll explain some things that we're
036we're doing. If you want to ask questions I can answer those for you. So this update reflects who we are as FMS. We're honest about our data, committed to our students, and confident in our plan. We validate it wherever it leads, just like it says in the plan as a flashlight, not a hammer to drive growth and improvement in all areas. We are seeing measurable progress in cares like reduce suspensions, reduce suspensions by close to 20% at this time of the school year as compared to last school year. increased student belonging which in fall data was at uh it was 55% now it's up to 69% we've identified the students that say they don't have a strong sense of belonging we're like we said we identified those students through our SST process and we're going
037to work with those students to help them understand what belonging is and offer that extra support as well um we in our trusted adult we had 55% of our student in the fall data that said they had a trusted adult we just completed our mid- winter. 88% of our students said that they had a trusted adult. One of the things that we had to do with our students is explain what this means. And so what we did with the winter data, for example, was we put all the staff members on a uh on a a form and said, "Who do you trust? Is there someone that's listening?" And the students could choose up to three. The data we got back was that wasn't enough. It was more student. So now that they see it visually
038and they can see like they know it's they feel like they can relate to and they can talk to Um, in our, uh, early ELA mid- winter I Ready assessment data, I'm proud to report sixth and eighth grade are both showing high level high growth. And even our seventh grade is crossing over to high level high growth at the Midwin reading. We got work doing math. Math is not over yet. So, I'm still waiting for that data to come in. But, we do see the needs and we are uh sticking with our plan to grow, continue to grow. Um at the same time data clearly identifies area where more work is needed particularly around equity and academic outcomes. This balance celebrates and urgency keeps us focused and grounded. What are we going to do about
039it? We stren strengthen instructional practice through small group instruction and the workshop model and math. A lot of time teachers think that that's an elementary thing but no we meet kids with that and that means different differentiated instruction. Somebody got some water versus water. differentiated >> instruction and uh that carries on all through um as far as I'm concerned it goes through college. >> Um we structure ego time like the high school said intervention to support self-efficacy. Think time behavior and belonging. We structured it to meet the needs not only in math and LA butCAL as well. We already see good data in our as we continue to see progress in uh student self- advocacy self-management through SST and support team process. Students are intentionally matched with adults and resources to ensure no one falls
040through the cracks. So if you're aware, we've been uh supplied very well, which we appreciate through the district with a restorative practice coach, restorative practice facilitator. Uh we have two counselors. Uh we have a mental health specialist and we also have a social worker. Um so we are very team oriented uh student success team which very appreciative of those resources. Professional learning is increased staff driven relevant align to student needs. So one of the things in uh professional development was like 55% of staff saw professional development as relevant. So what we decided to do is because they work well as a team is create a professional development committee. And so it's important for not only what the district needs of us, but to have that voice from the from the staff as well. And so
041with a combination of us working with professional uh with teaching and learning to have the same mind, same vision, and hopefully we'll make sure we got the same course and the same structure as as far as building our professional development. We can see the change. Uh we believe in our staff, our students, and our plan. This is grit the FMS way uh growth and reflection resilience through challenge integrity in our decision and sustain the course. Our commitment is clear for every student, every parent, every staff member. You have any questions for me? >> Questions for Miss Mar? >> Thank you. >> Make this too easy. [laughter] >> Uh >> thank you all. Before we close out, any just general questions, comments, feedback, discussion or group, administrative? >> I just want to say that I appreciate
042that you're using data to inform the decisions and I appreciate you telling us how you're pivoting based on the data that you're finding and the results that you're seeing. So, thank you for your leadership. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of positive stuff. Maybe I'll sugar coat it. I there's things that, you know, we need to work on and it's pretty much the same thing across across the board. Uh and but I think just being able to like this this presentation compared to last presentation where it was like apples, oranges, and nuts that we were sort of seeing versus like we're getting close to being able to see see these things uh is really really helpful. So appreciate everybody's commitment to the the database as well. Appreciate it. >> All right, we are on to
043item four of the consent agenda. There are five items on the consent agenda. Item one, request to approve minutes of the special meeting, Monday, December 1st, 2025. Item two, request to approve minutes of the special meeting committee of the whole Monday, December 1st, 2025. Item three, request to approve minutes of the regular meeting, Monday, December 15, 2025. Item four, request to approve new hires, resignations, and transfers. And item five, request to approve bills and accounts December 2025. Can I get a motion to pass the consent agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Moved by Jessica, seconded by Jonathan. Any discussion? Right. Roll call. Miss Shepard, >> yes. Hart, >> yes. >> Kaiser, yes. Newman, >> yes. >> Turner, >> yes. >> President, >> yes. >> Excellent. Moving on to item five, action items. First action
044items, request to approve UAW collective bargaining agreement. Superintendent Hibler. >> Good evening again. Um, so we are very excited to present this um for vote this evening. I'm going to ask Mr. Shelton to come up. Um, but before he does, I want to thank him for him. Miss Spur, Miss Schmidt, um, for being a part of the negotiations team. Um, lots of hours, lots of work. Um, and just thank you so much. I'm so glad that we're here this evening. So >> awesome. Thank you so much, Miss Hib. Uh thank you also board members. Uh we started negotiating this contract in mid November and uh had uh I I would what I would characterize as a very positive negotiations process with our UAW group. Um great teams on both sides. Thank you, Miss Heagen. And
045the audience was part of the WWT in our negotiations and uh uh we feel very strongly that the uh the tenative agreement that we came to is a very fair one for employees and also in the best interest of the test rate. So uh I prepared both an executive summary as well as the finer details of the contract. Um, this was ratified by the UAW uh two weeks, correct? I Yeah, was was supposed to be for last Monday's board meeting, so it was the Thursday before that. Um, and I believe 94% of OAW membership, uh, voted to ratify this contract. So, um, it's a good deal and a fair deal. Uh, and I can answer, as you look through the specifics, I can answer any questions anybody has. I'm pleased to present this contract for
046approval to the board of education this evening. >> Thanks Tom. Any questions for Tom? All right. On that entertain a motion to approve the UAW collective bargaining agreement. >> So move. >> Moved by Jackie, seconded by Sandra. Any discussion? >> Thank you for all your hard work. >> Thank [laughter] you. >> Yeah. appreciate >> quite a few. >> Appreciate you. Uh appreciate everybody from the UAW side as well. Uh you I mean this is a group of folks that >> are so critical to uh our school district and don't always sort of see everyone sees sees all of them. So really appreciate uh everything they do uh in being a part of this so that we can uh get going. >> Awesome. Mford, let's entertain a vote. >> Hart, >> yes. >> Kaiser, >> yes.
047Newman, >> yes. >> Turner, >> yes. >> Duki, >> yes. >> President Dear, >> yes. >> Thank you, Tom. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Item two, request to approve the resolution for budget amendment number one. >> The budget amendment one was presented at the January committee of the whole. It was presented and discussed at the January committee of the whole. So we are asking therefore to approve approve budget amendment one. >> Any questions? All right. Entertain a motion to approve the resolution for budget amendment number one. >> So move. >> Second. >> Moved by Lisa, seconded by Jonathan. Any discussion? >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. And it's just good to see that you know fund balance [clears throat] is still moderately healthy. So 19%. >> Yeah. Thank you. All right,
048roll call. Miss Shepard >> Kaiser, >> yes. >> Newman, yes. >> Turner, yes. Suki, >> yes. >> Park, yes. >> President Dear, >> yes. >> All right, final action item of the evening. Request to approve the recommendation for construction manager for the 2025 bonds. >> Deputy Superintendent. >> All right. Good evening, everyone. So, this item was discussed at the committee of the whole uh in January. Um the district um conducted a competitive bid for construction management services in which uh four companies actually uh submitted a bid. Um the district is making a recommendation to continue its relationship with park uh construction which serves as the construction manager on the 2020 bond as well. Um we thought it was very important for um the district to uh retain continuity of services um and also um take
049advantage of all the um institutional knowledge that the contractor that Clark Construction has gained being in the district for the last five years. Um, we thought the pricing was competitive and uh we're really looking forward to continuing the relationship. Excellent. >> Any questions? >> If approved. >> All right. Entertain a motion to approve the recommendation for construction manager for the 2025 bonds. >> Move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Oh, sorry. Moved by Jonathan, seconded by Justin. Any discussion? Yeah. Clark Construction by the Chip Kaiser, senior project manager. want to say honor people in the district. Thank you very much. >> We got a motion by Jonathan, seconded by Jessica. Uh, roll call. Sheepard >> Newman. >> Yes. >> Turner, >> yes. >> Park, >> yes. >> Kaiser, >> yes. >> President Devar, >> yes. >>
050Thank you. >> Okay. Item six, superintendent update. >> Um, good evening. Um, before I begin, I know that it is the [clears throat] very beginning of February, but I do want to thank the board and give honor and recognition for schoolboard appreciation. We did not have our January board meeting in January. Um, but we I just want to start by thanking the board for all of your service. Um, we are much appreciated. I don't know if we have all the words. Um, but I just wanted to begin my update with saying thank you. So, um, you can come out of that one. I'm actually just going to discuss, um, a head start. Um so there were some questions um the board had from the last um the committee of the whole um there were some
051specific questions about the amount of resident um three year olds um currently in our head start program um so you can see here a thread from directly from um director Schmidt um where she says that of the 29 Head Start students seven that are ageeligible for GSRP were four. So 22 of the 29 GSRP students were three years old. 12, which is about 41% of our current Head Start students are Ferndale district residents. So I did want to make sure that that part um in particular was very clear. I know that that was um a main question of the board um as we solicit guidance on our how we will proceed with Head Start or without. Um so um I'm going to pause just to determine if the board has any any other questions that
052I can answer regarding Head Start. If we were to enter in an agreement, can it be short-term? like what what are the uh guidelines like if we decide this isn't for us? >> My understanding that's a great question. My understanding that it is annual. So um I from what I understand you could do it for a year and then say no thank you. Um I will just I'm trying to I want to say this well um my experience with OLSHA is that um um sometimes things change and we do not have enough time to get ahead of the decisions. Um, and with Head Start being a federal um federally funded program, I'm just going to I think, you know, fill in the gap there. There's just um just major concerns with the programming all around.
053Um, and OLSHA just has not made us feel any more confident. Um, so I kind of gave you more than what you asked for, but appreciate it. Would these I know you don't you wouldn't have that tonight. GSRP has a strong beginnings program that's for three year olds. Is it possible for us to get 15 slots for next year as a pilot strong beginnings program? And looking at these 12 kids using them as a sample size, would they qualify for strong beginnings? like could we pilot a strong beginning to get out of the head start business altogether? >> I would love I would love that. Um I would love that. I'm happy to work with Director Schmidt and research that. >> I will just name that um we intentionally pushed back the um FECC open
054house for this reason. So um we will move um pretty swiftly, but I think it's a great idea. Great idea. So my next update will have that answer. Strong beginnings is what it is. I kept calling it early GSRP. >> When is the FPCC open house? >> It is the final Wednesday in February. So when we get back from break, so gives us enough time. Um, of course when the parents come to those, we want to be able to give them as much as we can. Um, but I also will name that last year we did have an open house and we had some fluctuating tuition rates. Um, so um, there have been times where we've been able to, you know, we'll give them as much information as possible. >> Do you feel like you
055have enough direction and feedback on us? >> I I think so. Now I do. >> Excellent. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? Okay, cool. Uh item seven,formational items to actual reports. >> Um this is the budget to actual for December um 31st, 2025. Um we're rolling along. There's not too much variance um going on from last year. Uh we do have less federal revenue and that's because our grant funds were not available but now available. Most of them are all available now. So that's so we should see some money rolling in here in February. Um and then our transportation expenses have been a little higher this year. bought new cameras for the new buses and there's been some more just repairs and whatnot. But other than that, any questions? Amazing how you can stay if
056[laughter] I can post this on my side. I'm tired. >> All right. No, you don't. >> Thanks. >> Okay, we have no pulled consent items, so we don't have to worry about item eight. Uh, item nine, the next committee of the whole will be Monday, February 2nd, 2026, 7:30 p.m. Groundhog's Day. Take it out you will. [laughter] Item 10, next regular board meeting will be Monday, February 23rd, 2026 at 7 p.m. Uh, that is the third the what's it second night? It's a fourth Monday due to mid-inter break. So, just as a a reminder. >> Okay. Uh item 11, Eagle Points of Pride comments. We're an extra week. >> I'll do mine. Mine is a little bit backdated, but January 24th was National Day of Education. So, I just want to take the time to
057just give a shout out to every single person that has to work with Ferndale Schools from the superintendent to the board members all the way down to our bus drivers. Just thank you everyone that all you for all you do in educating our students and building a brighter future. >> I'll go next. Uh January is board member recognition month. Uh and I just want to publicly recognize and appreciate all of you for joining us at this table. Um I don't think uh you all make it easy to come sit at this table after this. So thank you. I'll go next. Um I want to give some love to Deputy Superintendent Wright. Um we just went through some deep freezing in this great state of ours and there were closings and not closings all over the
058state, people, students and teachers alike watching the closing list very closely. Um, and uh, Deputy Superintendent Wright sent out a really proactive message to the district. Um, that I really appreciated uh, from like my perspective as an educator. It was a, like I said, really proactive. Hey teachers, here are some things that you're going to see. Here are some things that we're going to do as a district. here are ways that you could partner with us and be flexible and you know just prepare and like help us. Um I just really appreciated that uh as a heads up to staff and um like expressing gratitude to staff. Uh I just really feel like you hold this district down in in great ways. And I learned today that if you're having trouble at home as a
059board member, [laughter] Deputy Superintendent Wright can also help you with like your other things that are going on at home. She'll give you some pro tips on how to deal with uh contractors. So like you know she is every woman. [laughter] >> So thank you for all you do. >> I'll go next. Speaking of amazing communication, I one I also want to say thank you to all the folks I've been so lucky to serve with. So, thank you for for you all. Um, but also I really appreciated um, Camille and Superintendent, excuse me, the note that you sent to our community um, in these troubling times. Um, it was um, I'm going to get emotional. It was really lovely to see. Um, and I know that I spoke with other community members who felt the
060same way. So, thank you for your kind, proactive, wonderful communication. >> Thank you. Um, Sandra stole mine. [laughter] Again, Jessica said, uh, it's been an honor to serve with all of you over the past, you know, few months and being in this seat the longest. Um, seeing the transition of the board. It's just really warms my heart to know that we're all here for the same reason for the, uh, betterment of our students and our district. And I as a mother of two graduates, it just warms my heart and a shout out to our graduates and two alumni members on our board that when you look back and you see what they've done and what they're doing in the world, it's it's a good feeling to know that we had an impact sitting here in
061these seats. >> Go next. >> Okay. I want to thank you for that. But obviously, you know, I don't do that alone, right? So I I have to give a shout out to the complete operations team that's including food service, transportation, maintenance, custodial. It's been a rough winter and all of us are like when is this going to be over? Like what is happening? Um the really really early mornings um getting out uh to push and salt. Um our vendors have really been great and really flexible with us. Um they are a tremendous group of people to work with. I say that to their faces all the time. And I'm telling you this here, I obviously, you know, uh we really work well as a team and um I I absolutely adore them. They're hardworking
062people and they're really committed to this district. Okay, I'm going to say it really fast so you won't notice that I'm about to do two. Um, so, um, I want to go back a few weeks, um, and, um, just give a huge shout out. Ferndale High School's, uh, pinning ceremony was lovely. It was just the excitement in the room. Um, it, you know, we have some soon tobe graduates and it was just a a lovely event. Um, and so I do want to shout out uh, Ferndale High School for their pinning ceremony. That was back on January 12th. And then also really quick, um I had major anxiety because we had a snow day on skate night for the elementary schools. Um and um I was worried we we it it changed it uprooted all
063of our plans, but to see the amount of families that still showed up to skate night all the way in Troy, it was it was just um amazing to see. Um, so that is a huge shout out to our families and to our students and to our strong elementary PTO. So, just want to give a shout out to those groups. >> Cool. Uh, I'm going to talk about snow as well. Uh, you know, it's been really rough. Uh, and you know, you start just at the the most top level of making the decision of whether to cancel school or not, which is a very hard decision to make. Uh, and you know, I don't think you're ever going to make a decision where everybody's like super excited. Uh, and it's just a tough part because
064people have different different needs. Um, and obviously making decisions uh [clears throat] in the best uh for the best of our kids here. Um, and it's tough. And then the operations piece, you know, getting everything cleared. Uh, it's a rough winter all around. uh salt is low uh across the board. If you can find some and you love to donate, please, we'll take it. Uh and and [clears throat] then just, you know, teachers and kids making it in. I mean, I think it's just been great, you know, on these these tough tough days where it's been really cold or there's been some snow on the ground to see kids and teachers making it making it in. So, uh we're not even close to out of the the winter, so uh it's going to continue [clears
065throat] to be rough. Um but really just appreciate everybody uh being being part of this and and you know doing what's what's best for our kids. All right, with that uh we will adjourn this special meeting of uh board of education.