001This meeting is called to order at 7 p.m. Good evening. This is a regular meeting of the Ferndale School Board of Education being held on Monday, August 18th. Our meeting is being video recorded and will be posted on the Ferndale School's YouTube channel. All meetings in 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.fernenddalechools.org. If you do not have 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. Item 1.1 roll
002call. Miss Shepard >> Crumb >> here. >> Tiburn >> here. >> Kaiser here. Wner >> here. Turner >> here. >> President Duki >> here. >> Thank you. Item 1.2 approval of agenda. After review of the agenda, are there any items that anyone wants to update? Then without objection and with unanimous consent, the agenda is approved. Uh brings us to item two, summer school update presentation. [Music] Good evening everybody. >> Good evening. >> How's everybody doing tonight? >> Great. How are you? >> Pretty good. >> So, real quick, we'll try and give you the highlights of our summer school programming that we wrapped up June 31, sorry, July 31st. We had the elementary program, middle school program. Those were full day in-person sessions. We did offer a couple of high school in-person classes. We wanted to
003pilot that to see what the demand was um and and to see what the difference in success rates would be compared to online. And then we had our special education extended school year programming. We'll focus on elementary, middle, and credit recovery uh for this presentation. As you might remember, our our criteria for being invited to summer school, both at the elementary and the middle school level, was um being behind either in credits or behind grade level on benchmark assessments. So, it was really a a needs-based program. We had 104 students enrolled at the elementary level, heavy focus on reading and math in the morning. and then enrichment activities during the afternoon. Some of those enrichment activities would be kind of the fun kind of enrichment activities while others were academic in nature. Go to the
004next slide please. We sorry the uh the enrichment component was really meant to kind of complete the whole child picture. So we had the academic and the social emotional and making sure that we tried to meet as many needs as we could for our students. So that's what you're seeing on that screen. Many of the enrichment activities that we did. Next slide is our pre and post test results. This year we had really nice gains from pre-est to post test. And the pre-est was in the first two days of the program. The post test was during the last week. So you can see we had some significant growth in 23 days. The post the pre and post test for elementary and the middle school students is a test put together by the curriculum company called
005Levvenia. So it it's a test that the students haven't seen before, but it is aligned to to grade level standards. Um it's a nice third data point. When we look at our spring I ready and our fall I Ready, we'll be able to do some triangulation of the data on the students who participated in summer school. One significant change that we employed this year was we brought on-site coaches uh that were provided by Levvenia. Lubinia is a if you're not familiar with them, they're a turnaround company that focuses on low achieving schools and school districts. And so we were able to bring them on site to help us coach our teachers and and really focusing on those students who were struggling academically and um you know really tried to stress the importance of treating summer
006school different than the regular school year, right? We can't just do things faster or louder. Like our students need us to do something different and that's what Levvenia provided for us both through the curriculum and through the coaches. So we we definitely feel that the coaching played a significant part in our success. Sorry, can you scroll up just a little bit? So in our elementary, we had some third-party again enrichment providers come in that that provided academic support as well as the the entertaining enrichment opportunities. and we partnered with Ferndale Youth Assistance to provide some some of those enrichment opportunities as well as some of our field trip opportunities were either funded by or at least organized by Jesse Wallace and Ferndale youth youth assistance at the middle school. The enrollment criteria for invitation criteria
007was the same. You're trying to target students who who showed a need. Again, full day programming 84 academics in the morning, enrichment during the afternoon. One slight difference for the middle school is we actually included some science programming and we had two middle school science teachers participated in the program. So they tried to incorporate some reading strategies but through the content of science. So students got some science content this summer at the middle school. Every day during the afternoon students had at least two opportunities or two options to choose from for their enrichment activities. Um and again there were some Ferndale youth assistance coordinated and funded field trips during the program. We tried to have one field trip each week for elementary and secondary. During the program, we had 115 students. We tried to encourage
00890% participation knowing the importance of of attendance and we had 88 of our 115 students meet the 90% mark. So, pretty happy with that. Like the elementary students, we had pretty impressive growth for 23 days at the middle school level. So pretty pretty happy with the results. And we will track those students to make sure that the results that they showed are long-term and not just shortterm. Um but for the the data that we do have, we're very pleased with with the growth growth that they showed. uh high school credit completion, trying to reframe the the name previously credit recovery, really trying to focus on, hey, you know, you you're somewhere along the journey. Let's just finish or complete that journey. So, um trying to refer to that as credit completion from now on. So
009again, we had some in-person biology 1 and biology 2 as well as algebra 1 one and one two. If you're not familiar with those courses, each of those is a one semester course. So we had students able to to complete, excuse me, to complete one full year of biology and one full year of algebra. So that would be nth grade algebra. The biology courses would be ninth grade biology at UHS and 10th grade biology at FHS. But same content just covered in different uh different grades at at the two high schools. And then we had online credit completion in in many other subjects through the subject platform that you approved back in. Okay. Um like I said at the beginning, we were you know piloting the the inperson. Unfortunately, the the student demand was not
010great. We had six students participate in biology completion because of that number. I really can't go into the details. Some students were six out. I I just can't get into the details without risking the student identification. Okay. Um for algebra we had 10 students and for those 10 students we had 14 passes class. So um basically what that's showing is is A few of the students actually were able to get first and second semester credit whereas some of them just only needed second semester. So pretty decent success rate. We just would have appreciated a few more students taking advantage of the opportunity. Okay. Uh then for online we had 114 students participate. Um altogether we had 182 high school classes that were passed completing the half credit for those classes for those 114 students questions.
011>> What's uh one thing you do differently for next year? >> We're going to start a lot earlier. Um, so I've already got it on my calendar to reach out to the building principles after the winter benchmark period >> and we're going to involve building principles and secretaries much more heavily in the student identification process. We've realized that when when a building principal or secretary reaches out to a parent, there's a lot greater response rate compared to when the summer school coordinator, especially for the elementary students, the, you know, the parents, the families don't know the the middle school or excuse me, the elementary coordinator who is a middle school science teacher at least this year. So, so when Mrs. Mortyn reached out a lot of times there was no response whereas when we asked
012the building principal or the secretary to reach out there is there's pretty quick response. So earlier in involving the the building principal and secretaries people that the families are familiar with in the identification process. We're going to actually hope to have not only those students identified right around mid- winter break, but also have staff identified a little bit earlier, assuming we get the summer discovery grant again next year. And there will be some teacher onboarding, but I've already had conversations with Levvenia to have some onboarding earlier than just the week before so we can go a little more in depth and we can do more coaching ahead of summer school starting so that the teachers can can kind of get into the flow of the intended application of Levvenia versus starting and then have the
013coaches come in week three or or make some changes and then uh you know so hopefully those changes will get even better results as well as uh increased participation. >> Great. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I just want to add Mr. May has already scheduled a debrief. So, we're going to talk with the administrators of the summer summer school program under Mr. Maize and try to get their feedback and the process. >> Thank you question. Um this um it looks like the progress in such a short time is really great. Um the do we have a sense of like how many like what the uptake was I guess like of of how many students were eligible or invited like what percentage >> um took advantage of it >> and does that differ a lot by like
014elementary versus high school? It was uh so I'm trying to remember off we we had depending on the grade level between 70 and and 90% of the families that we reached out to responded and accepting the invitation. >> Um there was no it wasn't like the younger the student the the greater the it was very you know if we looked at the the bar graph of participants compared to invitees >> it was all over the place. So there's no grade level that was more responsive. There was no age band that was more responsive. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Thanks, Tom. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Doesn't look like anyone's here for public comment. So, we're going to skip that one. Public comment. We're not going to skip it.
015We're going to close it. Um, which brings us to item four, the consent agenda. Uh, item 4.1, the request to approve minutes of the special meeting committee of the whole, Tuesday, June 3rd, 2025. 4.2, request to approve minutes of the special meeting Monday, June 9th, 2025. 4.3 The request to approve minutes of the regular meeting Monday, June 16th, 2025. 4.4 request to approve approve minutes of the special meeting Tuesday, June 17th, 2025. 4.5 Request to approve new hires, resignations, and transfers. 4.6 request to approve bills and accounts for June and July. Uh 4.7 request to approve the new administrative salary adjustment. 4.8, 8, the request to approve the University High School furnishings school specialty. 4.9, the request to approve the Nuzella proposal renewal. And 4.10, request to approve the secondary reading intervention proposal. Does anyone
016wish to remove an item from the consent an item from the consent agenda for questions or discussion later? Seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. So move >> moved by Lisa >> seconded by David roll call sheepard >> yes >> Kaiser >> yes turner >> yes >> presidenti >> yes >> thank you with six yes votes the motion passes and the consent agenda is approved brings us to item five action items 5.1 1 request to approve board meeting schedule for committee committee of the whole and regular board meeting. [Music] We reviewed that at the committee of the whole and check the dates. Does anyone have any other uh comments about the meeting schedule and committee of the whole for committee of the whole and regular board meeting? >> I
017have a question because I wasn't here. um for the committee of the whole is there a reason some of them are bold >> maybe they're change from like the >> it's probably got it thank you >> I'll entertain a motion to approve item 5.1 the request to approve board meeting schedule for committee of the whole and regular board meetings I'll >> moved by Jonathan Second. >> Seconded by Aaron. Roll call. Miss uh roll call. Miss Shepard. >> Deliver. >> Yes. >> Kaiser. >> Yes. >> Mner. >> Yes. >> Turner. >> Yes. >> Crumbai. >> Yes. >> President Dooi. >> Yes. >> Thank you. With six yes votes, the motion passes. And item 5.1, the request to approve board meeting schedule for committee of the whole and regular board meetings is approved. Item 5.2 two uh
018the request to approve the annual financial resolution. >> Good evening. >> This is the annual financial resolutions and um the first thing that needs to be approved is the um approval to designate depositories for school district funds. And we have five different banks that we use. Well, really four. Um, so our request is to approve to authorize treasurer of the board to deposit school district funds in the institution above. >> And then we have a designation of persons authorized to sign checks, contracts, agreements, and purchase orders. And that is um per our policy. It's the board president and the superintendent and um I I sign all orders. Um additionally, it is necessary to authorize immediate interest right to transfer funds among district bank accounts. Um we also have authorizations to sign checks or oh so
019the request is the authorization to designate um the superintendent of the purchasing agent for the district in accordance with the terms of board policy 2202c [Music] and the authorization to designate the superintendent director of finance and treasurer of the board of science school district checks Um for class C authorization to designate Don Huntley the representative of the school district to authorize transfer funds within district bank accounts. Um then um the appointment of the school election leaison is Felicia Wright, deputy superintendent. Um each year the board designates medical facilities for employee physical exams and we are using concentra and IEP this year. And then um approval of board memberships to Michigan Association of School Board and Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity and National School Board Association. And then our legal council is going to be Prune
020Dickinson right and Miller Campfield. Any questions? So the recommendation is to approve all [Music] I'll entertain a motion to approve item 6.2, the request to approve the annual financial resolution. Sorry, 5.2. I wrote a fixed 5.2, the request to approve the annual financial resolution. >> Moved by Lisa. >> Seconded by Jonathan. Any discussion on the motion? >> Roll call. Miss Shepard, >> Kaiser, >> yes. Mner, >> yes. >> Turner, >> yes. >> Ry, >> yes. >> Bellar, >> yes. >> President Duk, >> yes. >> Thank you. With six yes votes, the motion passes. And item 5.2, the request to approve the annual financial resolution is approved. Item 5.3, the request to approve the school loan revolving fund annual loan application. So um last year we borrowed from the school bond loan fund and this year
021we can repay the school bond loan fund. So this um resolution is just stating that we will um pay pay the money back we borrowed last year. Right. I will entertain a motion to approve item 5.3. the request to approve the school loan revolving fund annual loan application. >> I'll move. >> Moved by Jonathan. >> Second by David. Any discussion on the motion? >> Roll call. Miss Shepard. >> Monner. >> Yes. >> Turner. >> Yes. >> Deliver. >> Yes. >> Kaiser. >> Yes. >> President Dukie. >> Yes. >> Thank you. With six yes votes, the motion passes. And item 5.3, the request to approve the school loan revolving fund annual loan application is approved. >> Thanks, Don. >> Thank you. >> Uh item 5.4, the request to approve virtual days plans for 2526 school year.
022>> Oh, hello again. >> So, the proposal that you'll be looking at this evening is basically the same proposal. However, I did link in an FAQ document that defined what a virtual day is, staff expectations, and student expectations. That said, I almost pulled this from the meeting tonight because last Thursday MBE announced that they were doing away with work keys, which is a part of our virtual day plan and replacing it with a primarily online assessment called win. But I thought it was probably best to move forward with the plan knowing that I'll have to come back to you and make some modifications. It might be that we get to keep the same virtual day for for the win that we would have had for for workkeeps. One thing that we have to keep in
023mind is that most of the time when when we're given online assessments, the vendors in the state give us a window. Paper pencil tests are are usually a one day you have to do it this day. Okay. So until we know what our window is from MVE for the win, which I apologize probably give you a little bigger overview of state assessment, right? So 11th graders have to take a college readiness test, which is the SAT, and a career readiness test, which up until this school year was the work keys test. Now, that career readiness test will be the win assessment, right? So that's why we have to give it. It's it's part of the state requirement. Once we know the window or the specific date for when, then I'll come back, the reason that
024I I didn't want to pull it. I think we need to communicate as much as we can to parents as soon as possible. So hopefully you agree with that, feel okay with that. But if you have any questions, let's talk about otherwise, you know, hopefully you'll approve it and then we can share it with principles. they can get it shared out to parents as soon as possible. And hopefully that potential change for the wind test will be the only adjustment we need to make throughout. >> It's not really a question, it's a clarification. We're voting on the virtual day plan, not necessarily the specific days because you don't need our approval for the specific days. You need our approval on the virtual plan. So, according to MDE, you do need to approve the date. We
025can't call a virtual day without board approval unless it's an emergency closure. >> Okay. >> Um otherwise, >> okay, >> when when George does his end of year >> pupil accounting, he has to submit to MDE or open school, whoever, at least he had to. He came in say, "What communication did you tell your parents and when did you give it to them?" >> Mhm. >> On the the days and when did your board approve the plan? >> So, it we're going to approve it, but I don't think it's the actual dates. I think it's just the I mean, we're going to discuss it and potentially approve it, but I don't think it's the actual dates. I think it's just the plan. like you have to communicate out that we as a board said yes
026we are okay with using virtual days in place of emergency or for testing but we don't it was my understanding that we don't have to get give the specific dates. >> Okay. So >> fair enough. >> So if if and when that date comes I mean we need to know but we don't have to revote because we're approve if we approve it today then we're approving it. >> Fair enough. Okay. >> Good to know. Thank you. Anyone have any questions for a motion for question? >> Yep. We're about to do that right now. >> I I have questions. Okay. Hold on. First. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Uh so, uh I'll entertain a motion to approve item 5.4, the request to approve virtual days plan for 2526 school year. >> Moved by Mark. Second. >>
027Second by Aaron. Any discussion on the motion? >> I'm sorry, Lisa. is really good. Uh came like the things that people are going to have English which is great. Um, are we going to modify the district calendar file on the website to include virtual days >> like maybe like shaded like to >> we'll just say have them on there, right? Because right now if you look at the 256 it says >> it says half days >> half days. Yeah, >> it it was my intention you so in my mind for approval hopefully then we involve Mr. Shelton and the FBA president and hopefully they can come to an agreement and you know sign a letter of agreement because the technically it is a calendar modification so it does require agreement. Again, we we did have
028a conversation with the acting president of the FDA. He did not see a problem with the the calendar change. >> So that will be the step before information gets rolled out to broadly. >> Correct. >> Yeah. Yeah. As soon as possible. >> Yep. >> So I have a question or clarification. So for the state testing those would be sorry virtual days for the grades that you have listed in this presentation. >> Correct. So basically on state testing days students who are testing would come in person and then at the conclusion of the testing they would go home. and the rest of their days would be virtual. Okay? >> If a grade level is not included in that testing on that day, they would have a full day virtual day. >> So, this is there are
029six virtual days on here or some of them are partial because they only affect certain grades. Correct. Okay. And then I I read in the FAQs, sorry, I I know I missed my question time last meeting. Um I read in the FAQs that we didn't have meet the um attendance levels for a few of our Friday half days last year. >> Correct. Um, is that typical or is that only a recent development? >> And and if it is typical, what have we done in the past when we didn't have virtual days available? >> Attendance on half days, especially district-wide K12 half days, has been tough for a number of years. >> Mr. Michelle, I don't know if you remember at one point we actually removed half days from calendar. >> Yep. >> Right. So, so
030it's hard to answer your question because half days are a relatively >> new re addition to the calendar. Mhm. >> But but 10 years ago, we did as a district remove half days. Like there there there were no half days other than high school and middle school exam dates. Um but wherever possible, half days were removed because of attendance issues. >> Um I notice all these half days are on Fridays. >> Yeah. >> It seems like that would increase the number of absences. [Music] Is that >> the evidence correct assumption? >> Okay. >> Would there has there been any discussion of of mitigating this half-day attendance issue with something other than virtual learning >> with it? I can if I could just jump in real quick. >> Um I'm trying to because I want to
031make sure I'm not so um Yes, at the negotiations tape. Okay. Yes. And um at the Yeah, I'll stop right there. >> Yes. [Music] >> Okay. >> At this stage of the game, the virtual day option is is really the only option we could think of to to mitigate the risks of those half days. And I will say for whatever it's worth, the the half days that we used to have as a district weren't on Fridays >> and attendance was was still an issue. So yeah, I agree. Having half days on Fridays probably makes it a little bit worse, >> but it's not like attendance was fine on a half day that wasn't a Friday. [Music] >> Okay, I think I'm done. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Roll call.
032Shepard >> Turner. >> Yes. >> Ry, >> yes. >> Vern, >> yes. >> Kaiser, >> yes. >> Wner, >> no. >> President Dookie, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Uh, with five yes votes, the motion passes. And item 5.4, the request to approve virtual days plans for 2526 school year is approved. >> Thank you. Thank you. Which brings us to item six, the superintendent's update. Good evening. Um, >> good evening. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Um so um I included in my superintendence update um I um was lucky to have time with you all last week but since then um I think that the biggest highlight is that I've had uh two opportunities just last week to engage with media um and um share our um more about our brand. I'm very excited
033to um share that um Chalk B Detroit is um very interested in potentially doing a actual like full uh multi-story um story um on Ferndale schools specifically. They were very interested in our dynamic plan. Um they are very interested in the demographics of our um population and the nuances with having um several different municipalities in one school district. So, I'm excited to see I'm just excited to build relationships with media um and they were um all very um open to please share news with us and you know very wanting me to be proactive as well. So, um very excited about the potential with both of those organizations. um for Bridge Detroit, Bridge Michigan, I did make a statement um regarding the lack of um state budget um which I'll talk about shortly, just a bit
034um but just um was very very clear about this is um at this point unethical and um there needs to be a budget as soon as possible. Um so again very happy about that. Um and then finally I also had a chance through um youth assistance. It was not Ferndale youth assistance but it sound like the the collective youth assistance. Um they had a bridging the gap between schools and the court. It was a a very informative um session. Um I had a chance to engage with the with mediators with the Oakland County Sheriff prosecutor's office etc. Um and I was yeah it was it was interesting to say the least. Um it feels like schools are the only ones that are having a lot of struggles. Um it was very interesting that their solutions
035involve the schools and the schools are like but we need the funding to be able to prevent them from being in your courts. Right? So, um it was just interesting the way that you know it was being um we were engaging. But again, connections and sharing the Ferndale story. Um next next, if it's okay, um I would love to jump right into the um the school funding update. Um, Don and I will just kind of go to the podium here and just um go through a few items specific to being updated. So, >> okay. So, uh we would love to share with the board and the community um what's happening with the school funding and how it affects FPS. Um this evening we'll talk about both the state budget as well as we'll talk about
036state funds as well as our federal funds. So again um thankful to the board for the approval of our new dynamic strategic plan and just wanting to ensure that we are continuing to share our five strategic priorities. Keep going. Um really want you to know about our five strategic priorities. [Music] Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. Um, so we're talking about this because as mentioned, we still have not passed a 25 26 state budget. Um, it's more than a month late. Um, and not only is it a month late, but there's absolutely no idea when we will get it. Um, we just keep hearing September 30th. Um and there it is surprisingly silent and we wanted to make sure that our community understood exactly why this is such a serious situation. Um in addition to state
037funds, our federal government froze over 6 billion in approved funds that were specifically um earmarked for education um earlier this summer. So we would like to share a few updates there. Um, and just bottom line, schools, including ours, are operating without a full picture of all of our available resources. And we want to make sure that those challenges are expressed. We also want to share some opportunities for advocacy. [Music] Kind of cut off there. All right. Um, so that Oh, thank you. Okay. Um so um as I mentioned um we were expecting a budget July 1. Today as we stand here August 18th we do not have a budget. Um I'd love to talk just a little bit about like some of the mitigating um mitigations we've taken already as a result of the state
038budget delay. Um as the board is aware um we have um sunsetted an entire central office department including two actual positions. um we had to refocus and repurpose those funds into a um more missiondriven um position, our strategic communication specialist, who I'm very excited to introduce you to shortly. Um but there have been some um direct impacts um in our central office as a result of to take the um precautions um if we should not get the budget that we're expecting. Um we've also um have already had had to articulate that we as of right now will not have back on track tutoring. Um we know that that was a very successful program in all of our K12 buildings um after school programming where our teachers were leading those tutoring opportunities. Um because this was
039funded through 23G and 23G has already been um communicated that it will not be returning. Um, so as a result of that, without the funding from the grant, we are not able to sustain the 23G 23G back on track tutoring. Um, so on to federal funds. Um, so earlier this summer, the federal government froze um a number of funding streams, titles one, two, three, and four. Um, title one was it is the most impactful, right? We have the majority of our schools. Um, which schools, Dawn, are title one at this time? >> Um, middle school, uh, and okay. Um, so with those being title one schools, that was significant funding to go to the supports um, for those students and those families um that we worried we were not going to get at all. Um,
040and while we have received some of them, as you can see on July 25th, um, there were four billion almost $5 billion that were released. Um, but there are still absolutely some funds that remain frozen. You want to expand on that? >> Well, yeah, we've gotten some initial allocations for our title um, funds and they're lower than we thought they'd be and um, now they say they're, you know, they're estimates. So there's still estimates. So we don't know for sure what what we will final allocation be. >> Um so title one um it impacts a number of things from anywhere ranging from personnel to programming to um um um curricular programs. It is um it would be a major blow if we are not able to receive all of those funds for all of those.
041Go to the next slide please. So, what I haven't discussed, I' I've been discussing K12, but I I would like for the board and the community to be reminded that Head Start for Early Childhood is a federal program. Um, and we do run, of course, a Head Start program at FECC. Um so we have been um actually had a meeting today with the director and it has been um to say it is whiplash would be an understatement because they we are getting some information and then it'll change and then it'll be like oh but you can do this but you can't do that. Um so the latest is that we have to I believe by in a couple weeks determine how we will proceed literally without understanding or knowing what our funding allocation is going
042to be. So that's very fun. Um but we are um trying to make the best and safest and uh responsible decisions as possible. Um which includes but not limited to looking at our GSRP programs, our tuition based programs and determining how we might be able to grade those funds if at all. Um but um again we are ensuring that we're prioritizing K12 as well as our early childhood programming as much as we can. Um also, um federal funding is impacting our free and reduced price lunch. I did send a letter to the community, um last week, um Monday, and um was just expressing that we are committed um to free um lunch program, but as of right now, we do not know what that will look like past September 30th. Um, so that could mean
043um that lunches are either paid for or that could mean that the district will um, for lack of better words, eat the cost. Um, so we're exploring all of those options. Um but u what we do know is they will likely need to return to um application based um which we know it it it just has a stigma associated with it having to do those applications um ensuring that we get them completed. We just see that as an uphill battle when we know that if they don't do that then we will not receive the funding. So it is just um a lot to consider about how we might do that in a um structured way. Um I just wanted to share just a little bit um about what is happening across the country. So this
044slide is just articulating um based on a ASA um survey um what other districts are doing um to help mitigate these issues. Ferndale is not of course unique um when dealing with these funding um situations. So um a number of them are dipping into their fund balance right um general operating dollars um they may have the fund balance to completely support this but as we all know it will not it's not sustainable to do that um it will that money will run out um there are doing some of the things that we've been doing so cutting tutoring after school supports reducing staff scaling back on professional development um there has been other districts that are there's disrupion keep to the head start. Um and um just the bottom line is that we are not sure
045just yet what the full impact will be. Um but we have no doubt that it will intens in intensify as the year progresses once we actually get our allocations. So I just thought it was important to understand what other districts across not just Michigan but across the country are dealing with as well and how they're handling it. Um so again um I just wanted to reiterate what we are doing. So again our priority is the classroom. That priority is the classroom. I can't say it enough. We want to make sure that the student experience is not impacted um by some of the uh funding decisions that we'll have to make. But it is extremely difficult. Um we are adjusting to the whiplash. It has been the whole summer. Um, and we continue to just adjust
046with the information that we get on a day-to-day basis. Um, and then, um, planning for possible changes to free and reduce lunch. Um, so we're having discussions about how we can make the process potentially easier for the family. We're not sure just yet, but we want to make sure that we're thoughtful about what that may look like early instead of waiting until we find out potentially bad news um on or before September 30th. And then of course um advocacy every chance I get, I'm speaking with a um legislator, media, um just ensuring that the community is aware of exactly what is going on. Hence why we're doing this today. [Music] And I said all of that already. So that's really hammering it home there. Um I u we included this slide because we wanted to
047make sure that the community understood how they can help. Um the adv the community's advocacy matters. Every letter, every call, Dawn calls every day. >> Do you still call every day pretty much? >> Okay. Um, so we wanted it to be easy for you for the community to share their story. We wanted to make sure that the community understood how it will it could impact Ferndale schools. So when you're telling your story and advocating, you have accur accurate information. So we strongly encourage the community to utilize these links um to find their legislators and advocate for releasing out of the public. So with that said, I just want to we just want to remind everyone that we know that this is difficult difficult not knowing having full information in this although I don't know if
048you have anything else to add but if not we will conclude this presentation unless the board has any questions. >> How many questions? Uh thank you for doing this. Uh it's not disgrace if there's not a budget. uh lack of leadership in Lancing right now and the fact playing with politics with school budget sort of tying it to a roads budget which just doesn't doesn't make any sense >> is really just disconcerting. So >> and you know I think it is going to take urgency right because people are going to send their kids back to school next week and you know it's not you're not going to see it. So, um, you know, continue to get this out, continue to put pressure on people because it's just this the the fear I have is, you
049know, that we're going to get to middle of September and then the horse trading all happens and, you know, things are going to get here. So, really appreciate your all leadership like the fact that we have you all sort of been focused on this for months at this point. uh makes feel as good as possible. But the idea that, you know, people aren't sure if their kids are going to get lunch come October is is just terrible. The anxiety that those parents are going to go through for the next five weeks just ridiculous. >> I will just say that um I I I have um now more than I can more than more fingers than I have like the amount of messages I'm getting from families of like, okay, how trying to prepare how much
050is it going to cost? >> Like they're preparing for the worst. I need to prepare to know if I can feed my kid when they're at school. >> Thank you. >> I didn't say that. >> Oh, >> thank you. >> Very intentional, Mark. Thank you. >> I was going to ask you later. Um, and um, with that, um, I think my superintendent Oh, no. I have a few more things. Okay. >> In the meantime, I would like to, um, if it's okay, introduce our strategic communication specialist, Miss Eileen Caner. Um, such a lovely and needed addition to the Ferndale Public Schools community. I'm going to ask her to come to the podium and just share a few words with you all. Thank you so much. I appreciate the opportunity. Uh it's lovely to be here
051and I'm thrilled to be of service. I love uh sharing and telling the story. I like to tell people I'm a recovering reporter. I did that for many, many years in Michigan and in Maine. Uh I was an anchor and a reporter. So I still have really uh deep relationships uh with Detroit reporters that I was out in the field with uh for many years when I was on air in Flint. Uh so I feel comfortable picking up the phone. It's all in the timing when we have those really amazing stories that we want broadcast, you know, using those connections. I've worked uh nationally with the Today Show as well on several occasions. So, uh, I'm looking forward to, uh, spreading the joy and spreading the story and reaching, uh, for the stars because this
052district is phenomenal. Uh, so I'm thrilled to be here and, um, yeah. Does anyone have any questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thrilled to be here. Thank you, Irene. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I um will conclude the superintendent's update with an enrollment update. And I'm going to just ask Mr. Shelton to if um to jump in. I will just want to begin by saying that this um these numbers were reported as of Thursday and they there are drastic updates. So, I would like to um just go over those updates really quickly. Um if it I'm going to go school by school if you wanted to capture that. Um so, um currently I will start with Ferndale Lower. Our current enrollment as of today at Ferndale lower is 552. For
053Ferndale Upper is 53. Ferndale Middle School 542. Ferndale High School 731. University High School 423 and TCEC pupils and um early FECC is 152. Tom, is there any particular figure or um building that you might want to hover over, give a little bit more anecdotes or anything like that regarding >> Sure. the number? >> Sure. Um, you know, as always, enrollment doesn't happen as we exactly plan it and sometimes uh um our cup runth over and sometimes we're kind of hoping that it materializes. So, I I think the numbers that we're looking at are are no different uh this evening. um you know numbers that we are I wouldn't say concerned about but watching very closely our numbers have been lower uh particularly with our incoming kindergarten class uh those numbers keep skyrocketing and you
054may recall that uh last year we made a conservative call and did not open the section of kindergarten that we really needed to and that created some difficulties for us a couple months in and so um just this afternoon uh Miss Hibler and Miss Keef and I at to review those numbers again uh to make sure that we're staffing appropriately. Uh so I'd say Ferndale lower watching very closely. Um we in terms of where the numbers might be a little bit lower than we would anticipate or would like I think University High School and TCE are are two spots where we are but but in in fairness those are buildings where we typically see a large influx of enrollment uh in the weeks leading up to and even immediately after school started. So um there's
055still reason for optimism there. Uh we are looking again closely at Bernail Lower for some uh last minute staffing decisions uh to make sure we got room for all the kiddos that are going to hit our doors uh a week from today. So um I will also add that in the spreadsheet that I've been that I've been sharing where we've been updating the numbers, we did just update them this afternoon in that same live spreadsheet. So if you click on that link that we have been sharing uh you should see an active update from today that reflects the numbers that we share with other >> and that's in your um weekly update not in the board packet. So it's a live link in the weekly update and you'll see the bottom tabs and we're getting
056to the point where we're we're updating daily now since we're getting so close to um the start of the school year. Are these reflecting the the students who completed the new reenrollment process? >> It's everybody's including those who noted. >> Yes. >> Got it. Okay. >> Yes. [Music] >> Thanks, Mom. >> Thank you. >> Were there any um questions for me? Thank you. >> Thank you. Which brings us to item seven,formational items 7.1, the budget to actual report. [Music] >> Hello again. >> Hello. >> Um I have the uh the budget to actual for June and um we're not done with June yet. We're currently um getting the audit being audited our yearly annual audit audit by PL brand. But this is um an estimation. And so we are projected to end the year with
057adding um adding to the fund balance as of right now. Um although that could change. But um any questions for you? Okay. And then July is in there and that's we're um first it's the first month of the new year so not too much is happening in July. Um any questions with July? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um item eight, consideration of any full consent agenda items. We didn't have any. Item nine, our next committee of the whole is Monday, September 8th, 2025 at 6 p.m. Item 10, our next regular board meeting is Monday, September 15th at 7 p.m. Which brings us to item 11, Eagles Points of Pride for comments. I will first go for it. >> Um, beat me to it. >> I keep mine short and simple. Mine is
058I just hope that everyone had a very relaxing summer and that I am very excited for this school year. Um just to watch us grow. So go Eagles. >> I go mine is um which I've had some experience with with my oldest kid was just seeing the pictures come across from marching bands. >> They just finished up their week. I know for a fact they work their butts off. Not easy. >> It's a challenge. And the kind of growth that that that program gets out of these kids from 8th grade to graduation is unbelievable. And I was kind of jealous. I kind of miss it up there, but I'm all right now. But yeah, those guys are amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing how they progress throughout the year. Um I'll uh shout out you
059know our administrative staff that's been grinding out all summer. Uh sort of out of sight out of mind school closes sort of just as soon as the operations of school district stopped as well. Uh but uh that is obviously not the case. The amount of work that has been done to get ready for the school year. Uh one of my summer goals was always to be top shelf at work car work every day. and only accomplished a few times 7:30 in the morning. So, uh to give you a sense sort of the commitment of the staff and the summer, you know, work work has really been done. Really appreciate everything uh the team has done to to get us ready particularly in this year uncertainty with the the budget. >> Thank you. I am looking
060forward to the welcome back celebration and it's uh just all the exciting back to school stuff happening picking up schedules and um there's popsicles with principles and all the stuff that all the staff I know plans over the summer for us to get back into school mode. So, thank you. And I'm excited for school to start. I'm really excited for school to Um, in Michigan, our summer months are so fleeting and um, I just want to express gratitude to our fearless leader, President Duke, for protecting this group of people's time in the month of July and saying no no school board work in the month of July. So, um, yeah, I'm grateful for that. So, hopefully everybody got some good relaxation and rest in this summer because it goes by real fast. I'll go next.
061Um, so I'm excited for the school year to begin, right? I just want to get it over with start. Um, but I'm also excited for the back to school blast on Wednesday, August 20th from 4 to 7 on the athletic uh facility of Ferndale High School from 4 to 7. So, please come out and support. So, I would like u my eagle excellence goes to all of the um construction staff um working on all of the bond projects that we had going on um over the summer from the FHS track um from the UHS vestibule and um parking lot, the bathrooms at FHS um FECC bathroom. It was a it it was a lot happening over the summer. Um everything is looking great. still in progress, but still look it's looking great. Um, and I
062just want to say thank you for them, especially the um superintendents and the leaders of the project. They have been um very committed and very easy to work with. You can tell that they are very focused on ensuring that um August 25th is beautiful. Um and I just feel very thankful that we have those people on our team that's working on those projects in our building. So, I'm going to shock them off. [Music] I think you all covered anything that I was going to pick. So, um, including the shout out for the back to school blast. I am too excited for this, uh, start of the school year. But I also want to express extreme gratitude for the folks that work during the summer like with no break because that's the work that gets you
063ready for the gets the gets this buildings the school district ready for the next year, the incoming kids. And when kids walk out the door in June, they think the doors are closed and no one's home. And that's not what actually happened. So, um, yeah, I'm looking forward to next Monday. Uh and with that we are adjourned at 8:02