MAPS Board Meeting of May 12, 2025

001All right. I'd like to call the meeting to order. We will start with the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Kristen Campbenzi, here. Jennifer Ray here. Jason Zadun here. Jennifer Cliff here. Cheryl Maddox Smith here. Cassidy Thomas here. Eric Smith here. Okay. I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Make a motion to approve the agenda. Second. Okay. Motion made by the Dennis, support by Mrs. Clip. All those in favor? Hi. And moving on to the superintendent report. Thank you, Mrs. Camzy. Appreciate everybody coming out tonight. Both for hosting. I have a few people to invite and I will as we go along. But

002first, I'd like to introduce Mr. Rico, principal both Middle School, who's brought some of his staff, and we'll give a presentation to start us off. Thank you, Mr. Rec. Thank you, Mr. Cedric and members of board of education for allowing us to host it tonight. Uh we know that the agenda is quite full and so we will find our presentation right away. So we're excited to share several updates about basketball and things that are going on um with our staff and of course our students. So at that right now and I'm proud to share some uh with Miss Pichu and Mr. Leandowski. I think right now we are going to be going to Bay Cliff next week and there's a lot to talk about Bay Cliff and what it entails and Mrs. Beecher and Mr.

003Leandowski they they are considered our directors at Baycliffe and they I can't even tell you the number of hours that they put in starting probably as Mr. Beer would say while they're at Baycliffe until next year at Baycliff. so much time and energy cuz they're fixing things while they're there and they're trying to improve every year and I can I can't tell you how committed they are. Um and so I appreciate everything you're doing and that's why I asked you to come present. So hopefully this will work out go here. All right, Mrs. Beer, remember you got to jump over to that other tab. Oh yeah, there's another tab I got to hit. Then hit present. We actually have mic whatever you need. All right. Actually, when you're talking, you do actually need to use

004the mics. So, the recording can pick you up. So, as Mr. Rico said, I'm Courtney Beecher. I'm Joel Leandowski. Uh we're co-directors for the seventh grade cliff camp. Uh which is a weekl long camp. We take seventh graders up next Monday through Friday. We are in the thick of it right now, but it's coming together really nicely. So, well, this is our what 53rd year of the camp. So, um with the one bump obviously being the co year, uh we were able to bring those uh eighth graders up the following year for a couple days, not overnight. So, we have been able to bring up every single class of uh students through uh Buffalo Middle School at least uh for the last 53 years. Um, the mission of this science camp is obviously to provide

005the students with this outdoor educational experience. I like to always kind of consider this to be kind of a part science camp, part summer camp where we provide opportunities for students to experience live action science. Uh, get a chance to experience nature outside here in the upper peninsula and also kind of get that summer camp experience that many of them never really get. So, we kind of combine those two things into a week-long experience that uh it's a very memorable part of their school careers through maps. Most people you ask if they went through maps and you ask them one of their favorite things, it's normally big. A lot of people have really great memories of this week, which is why I think our staff has such a passion to keep it going as well

006as it is. Uh we just kind of wanted to give you guys kind of a quick overview of what camp actually is. Um so like Mr. Lev said, it is a science camp, but we have a lot of different opportunities up there. So we get the kids up early. They have four different classes. Every kid that goes does have a science camp uh class. So, it goes from ponds to uh the bog. We have animal encounters this year. And then we also have um invasive species. Thank you. Invasive species, which is pretty cool cuz we bring up uh the DNR and they do sea lamps and stuff with them, which is really neat. Just a little, you know, we could go through and talk about may the classes that we have. We usually offer somewhere

007between 20 and 25 different courses for the kids to select. They have to take a science class, then they essentially get to pick the three others that they'd like to take. And we have a lot of classes that range from uh athletic sports classes to your typical summer camp classics like archery and canoeing and camp cooking. And then we have other science classes such as we have a uh an engineering class. Uh this year the Michigan State 4 extension is going to come up and do some uh robotics with us up at our camp. Um so we and we also have some other additional uh science classes that we do. So, it's it's a wide variety of the kids pick from and we're proud to, you know, feel like that every kid has an opportunity

008to take something that is in their best interest and gives them something that they like to do. So, just a little small tidbit there with the photos. Um, to make camp happen, we have to have a lot of volunteers. So, we take about 15 staff members from here. We take about 35 to 40 volunteers to be counselors. And then we also have additional volunteers that come up anywhere from like 10 to 15 kids or adults that come up and volunteer their time to teach different classes and provide different opportunities for the kids in all these different classes from the Apple Tech which is new this year to structural engineering. And so we got a little bit of everything. So yeah, we have um this year the the 906 adventure team is going to come up

009and do programs with the biking for kids. They actually bring up bikes and provide bikes for kids that uh don't have a bike to be able to bike the trails. Uh we've also the Michigan State Extension. We've had the National Weather Service come up before and do stuff. Uh the conservation districts come up. So actually in that invasive species class, the kids learn about invasive species and then they go around the Bay Cliff campus area and they actually help pull wildlife invasive species from the from the camp. So some service projects that we like to do for Bay Cliff also. So the classes are always important, but also giving them that summer camp experience is really important to us. So we do a lot of nightly activities. Um, some of these have been around I

010think since the first year of camp with like instincts for survival is something that I say it and pretty much every person who's ever been there is like, "Yeah, I remember that." That's when we played the big game of tag. Um, there is science related to it though. It's the whole idea of like the predator and prey game. Uh, we do have a counselor hunt, cabin wars. We're trying to build community day one so that they're comfortable up there and enjoying themselves. We do have a dance which is this is my favorite dance I think the kids get to go to in their whole school career because there's no electronics. So, they get to go up and just be kids and dance and have fun and there's no other distractions. Plus, it's the only time

011their entire class, you know, the class of 2033 or 20 30, whatever they are, um, gets to just be by themselves. So, that's really cool. And then we do skits. Um, and then we do scary story night. So, they get a little bit of everything in the evening. Along with that, we a couple years ago brought the idea of s'mores. And so we actually bring certain cabins down and they get to hang out and make s'mores and just kind of listen to music and chill out around a campfire, which anybody who's done that knows how wonderful that is. And they get to do it with their peers and a bunch of really cool counselors that we bring up there. So, and us, we get to do that. So, yeah. And if I want to plug

012one more thing, I want to emphasize um the part about no electronics and that's kind of one of the beauties of the week is you provide, you know, we don't we don't allow electronics up there. Uh so now the phones out there or any smart devices and it's a very scary thing for the kids at first uh in a lot of ways. Um we've learned over the years that Snapchat streaks are very important to them. Um so we've actually had some kids that are very nervous about going because of being away from that social media and almost always by the time it gets to the end of that week those kids are coming back to us asking if they can go back again next week because they realize like being apart from that for a

013little while was very liberating for them. And so we're that's why one of the many reasons why we love doing this camp every year and it's a chance for some of these kids to disconnect when they're not really given opportunities to disconnect for, you know, such a long period of time these days. So that's a big part of our camp. Also, uh we did put together a website this year if you are interested in looking at anything else. This just kind of has our forms, some of the information that we have. Um, so again, we do ask for, you know, help along the way, but for the most part, it just kind of gives you an overview of camp, how long camp's been going on. It also has the same presentation that we give parents.

014Um, and then the students, so they have the information if you're looking for anything else like the camp store, some of the other stuff that we do throughout the week. And then obviously all the forms and information. Uh, because we go for the amount of time we go, we have to be a state licensed camp. So we have an inspector come up. He actually uh works with us all the way through. We have to get a license. We have to follow all the state rules and regulations as if we were running a summer camp. So, we don't just put a quick camp together. We spend a lot of time um dotting, you know, the eyes and crossing the tees because there's a lot of things that have to go into it. And so, um we

015bring up some amazing counselors and I actually have to plug the fact that we have counselors come back every year and say we want to do this because of our experience that we had in seventh grade. This year was a little weird because the students coming back as seniors uh were our co year and so a lot of them actually during the interview said like I'm being kind of selfish. I want the experience myself and we were like please come back cuz you deserve this experience. So hopefully we can get them back. Um we have some counselors that have come back for four, five, six years because they want to keep giving back to this program because they have as much fun as the seventh graders if not more sometimes. Sometimes I wonder who's actually

016having more fun but they have a blast. So, it's a great full circle opportunity for teachers, the staff, the students, the counselors. It's all kind of a a really nice way of wrapping up the school year. And then there's some pictures here. Yeah. Then there's just the questions. You guys have any questions about the club or anything that you've been wondering or anything we can answer? No. My son uh uh because we homeschooled up until high school, uh my kids met, this was one of the negatives in their lives and um but the oldest was a camp counselor and it was like the highlight of his life kind of thing and also kind of made him go on to doing more of that type of stuff. So, it really sets a foundation. We love hearing

017that. And and one of the nice things too is for a lot of these kids like they get to experience what Baycliffe is and the missions of the camp throughout the year, especially in the summer. And so over the year, we've had many of alumni that have gone on uh were campers for us that have gone on to work for Bay Cliff. In fact, right now, some of the people that are overseeing our camp on the Bay Cliff end were campers for us years ago or counselors for us. So, it's it's a very helpful thing for Bay Cliff as well. So, we're just, you know, we're happy to see it going. Thank you. Thank you. They're actually off to go meet with all the counselors now. So, so I'm going to continue with um moving

018forward. So, next I would like to um I would like to introduce one of our English teachers, Adam Dapierre. He's our sixth grade English teacher, and he's been named teacher of the year by the Michigan Reading Reading Association, which is MRA, very um popular association that many of our teachers go to every single year. They go down to the MRA conference. And so, this professional organization supports literacy and reading and instruction across the state. Adam's love for teaching has inspired students to explore the world through reading and express their ideas through writing. Who would have thought that guiding students in creative writing would lead a teacher to write not just one but two novels? Mr. job here has written two books, Wild Bolts Electric and Paint an Inch thick, and has given students a firsthand

019look at writing the writing process and inspired many of them to find their own voice. Beyond the classroom, Adam is respected leader among colleagues, known for his thoughtful insights. He's incredibly quiet, but when he speaks, we listen. He's incredibly collaborative as well. His ability to foster a learning environment that encourages curiosity and celebrate diverse voices is truly exceptional. So, I'd like to introduce Adam Dier as our Michigan uh greeting association teacher of the year. For the sake of time, we're going to continue on. Um I'd also like to recognize Mr. Brentton Fitzpatrick who who brought his little one with him today. Um, he's also been named the Michigan History Day Teacher of the Year by the Historical Society of Michigan. And coincidentally enough, those two are actually, by the way, that's that's Brenton. Uh, those

020two are actually on the same team. So, they teach uh in a cohort. They teach with a cohort of students, and it's pretty amazing that these students get to have both of these uh teachers. Since Michigan History Day is a rigorous academic program that engages students in researching and presenting on significant historical topics since 2018, Brenton has uh woven this program into his curriculum, inspiring students through dynamic lessons and student driven projects. His passion for history and commitment to students learning have brought history to life in meaningful and memorable ways. Brent has also played a vital role in supporting other teachers in bringing the program to their classrooms. In fact, one of our his his uh grade level colleague is also teaching uh the curriculum and one colleague wrote in their nomination his commitment and

021enthusiasm have been essential to the program survival in the central upper peninsula. These two awards speak volumes of both the dedication, creativity, and heartbeat that both Adam and Brenton bring to our school community every single day. So, thank you for that, Adam and Brent. So, as part of um what I'm going to present is it's about an initiative called Squables. Uh many of you are familiar with this. As I know Zach has talked um at length about this and as an administrator I have I have I from day one I have stressed the idea of building relationships with students and how important I feel that is in order to um create a foundation for learning. If students feel safe coming to your classroom, feel safe coming to the halls, they're going to come here and

022they're going to not, you know, we talk about absenteeism. They they will want to be here. They won't want to be absent. they won't want to disappoint. Um, again, the culture of of uh is the foundation that you know the positive school culture. So, the idea is to improve academic outcomes by creating a welcoming, safe and inclusive school environment for all students and staff. This is what we've always strived to do. Students learn best when they feel safe and are supported. C uh culture again is the foundation for academic success. So, why do we focus on culture? Academic growth is deeply connected to school climate. A safe, inclusive environment increases engagement, resilience, and learning. Culture is not a program. It is created daily through consistent intentional actions by every adult in the building. We talk

023about the idea of understanding the whole child. And this goes back to Mr. Cedric pointing, you know, towards collective efficacy, talking about MTSS, understanding the child, talking about how you talk to that child, your tone of voice. We discuss those things amongst the staff and how important it is that these kids although they might be in middle school do understand what it's like to be talked in a positive or negative way towards you and ultimately whether they feel safe or unsafe in your classroom. So why are we doing squalls? We've been doing this I feel very well as a staff. I feel like we've been really trying to build relationships as a staff. So why are we doing squalls? Well, there was a narrative out there that there's a lot of things going on in

024Bombad that um we weren't necessarily hearing about. So, we thought we were doing the right thing. We ultimately we were every year we meet with the kids throughout the year. These are the things these are the things you know except you see you see cafeteria be respectful. We talk about that with the kids. We talk about how to be respectful towards each other, how walk appropriately in the hallways, what to do if somebody's bullying you. But unfortunately, we weren't hearing things. We weren't hearing things about I we would tell them these are the avenues you could take if you're feeling like you're bullied, such as you don't have to get up, come in front of the whole class and say, "This kid's bullying or this kid's teasing me." We we don't we understand that kids

025don't want to be known as a snitch. And so we've given them different avenues. You can email a teacher, somebody you're comfortable with. You can email one of your counselors, your administrator, but we weren't hearing it. And so clearly there was something that we weren't doing. um that we need to do better. And so um Squables gave us a structured and proactive conflict resolution tool we can use to teach students how to navigate conflict with empathy and communication. It emphasizes skill building rather than punishment. So when a kid has a is in a squabble, we actually have a form that they fill out instead of going directly to because again kids weren't coming to us. So instead of going directly or recommended that we go directly to the administrator, obviously there's things that they got

026to come to us right away, right? We encourage that, but there's going to be situations where they're kind of bantering back and forth with a friend and they're not sure how to handle it. And so they ask for support, but basically what they do is they go in, they fill out what's a squables form. And within this form, it's a big it's a self-reflection process that they're going through. And when they're doing this, they're asked specific questions such as, "Do you need an administrator or a teacher to step in and have a conversation and mediate this?" And often times it's don't they don't need us because as they're going through this, they're kind of figuring it out themselves because what's happening is we're empowering the students to communicate, self-regulate, and resolve peer issues constructively. And

027and throughout this whole process, we've trained the staff and faculty. Um, so not all everybody's trained, but the all the teachers are trained. Uh, there's parent training videos that we we just distributed. Uh, we have lessons with specific STE themes that we focus on every week and there's 24 of them. There's professional development video training to retain bullying. Uh, video training on how to intervene when aggressions occur. Teacher, there's teacher guides. So this is something. So when we start something and uh anybody who's in education would understand that there's a new initiative that's going to require more work on the teacher, it's likely not going to be implemented as well as we want it to be. So there's actually teacher guided lessons for them. So they don't have to create anything. They just have to

028teach it. Um so again, there's 24 videos covering topics such as resilience. Uh there's what's called the golden rule which is actually a really really uh interesting um really interesting. It actually this video went viral. Um there's it talks of how to handle verbal insults, physical aggressions, fear, intimidation, uh social ex exclusion and rumors. There's discussion guides for each lesson, activities uh guide for each lesson. So there's actually an activity where there's role playing involved within the classroom which involves you know gets the kids engaged. Um when Jeff Beey who was the creator of this came and visited us he had we had extra time for him so we asked him to go to the local elementaryaries. He was able to visit Grey Rat and also Superior Hills and I can tell you right now

029the kids absolutely loved him and he's really funny and he is they're looking at having him or looking at having him uh be involved in the with the elementarymentaries. We also hosted a game night where it came in and many of the elementary kids that were were there came in and visited with their parents. We had a game night to just go through really the some of these lessons what it looks like how to solve some of these problems. Uh for the sake of time, I'm not going to show this video, but uh if you ever have a chance to go and watch a video, uh go and watch what's called the golden rule. Um I I I'd be willing to bet many of you have seen it. This went viral years ago. So when

030we did a training, I kept telling myself, why does this guy look familiar? And it came back to this. And when, by the way, when when when we did a training, it was a virtual training. And if you've ever been in a virtual training, it's not very fun. And I can tell you this was by far the best virtual training. And the teachers would agree it was it was well worth it. The teachers loved it. Um, so ultimately a strong culture leads to a better academic outcomes. And we've seen that within our scores. We've had increased engagement and motivation, more resilience in the face of challenges, improved behavior in classroom focus. Are we still getting writeups? Absolutely. We're still getting writeups, but they're different. They're different rights. They're more Let's have a conversation. Let's have

031a um let's talk about how we can fix this and and and move on and uh higher student competence and achievement. So, I just want to say that your support it means everything to us and I appreciate uh Mr. Cedric in working with us and and uh we are continuing to build an environment where students can thrive both academically and feel safe, valued, and supported. So, thank you so much for for your support. That's all I got. So, next on our list is recognition of student school board representatives. President Cam Benzy, did you want to read that or would you like me to? you up to the podium or I don't think it's unless you want to. No, I don't. All right. So, unfortunately, our student reps could not be here. Um, but we would

032still like to honor them for their their great work this year. So, uh, thanks to our student school board representatives this year, Caleb Chipalooski and Nate Wood. Both Caleb and Nate are Market Senior High School student council Ombbudsmen. Caleb is the son of Jill and Jamie Chip Chipalooki and is a senior at Market Senior High School. In addition to serving as a student council and budsman for last year, Caleb is also a member of the MSHs newspaper club, the MSH golf, soccer, and track teams, and participates in the MSHs inter mural basketball league. Outside of school, he enjoys playing with playing the guitar, fishing, hiking, and spending time with family and friends. He has been on the 4.0 plus honor role all four years of high school. Was a student of the week his freshman

033year and was nominated as the Kuanis athlete of the month. He plans to attend the University of Michigan next year. Nate Wood is the son of Vicki and David Wood and is a junior at Marquette Senior High School. In addition to serving as a student council on budsman for the last year, Nate is involved in chorus and fine art events during during school. Outside of school, he loves to ski, play the guitar, and sing. He is a member of the National Honor Society and the NSHs honor role. He is starting to think about college decisions this summer as he goes into his senior year. On behalf of the school board, I would like to thank Caleb and Nate for their invaluable input they provide at our meetings. So, thank you so much for for those

034students for for being a part of our board. We greatly appreciate it. I agree completely. Thank you, Mrs. Tang Benzy. Thank you, Mr. Recall and your staff who participated. And while I have the opportunity, I'm going to go ahead and introduce all three of our presenters just so I don't forget. From left to right, Craig Harmon from IDI, former superintendent consultant, Travis Congisto, IDI architect, and Isaac Roberts, who works for GEI as an engineer. And we have partnerships with both IDI and GEI, ongoing partnerships that you'll hear me allude to even if not directly referencing either of those companies or the representatives that are here tonight. But thank you all for being here. So I have I made my presentation I I whizzled it down multiple times. I went from uh I went from probably

03530 slides to 20 to 10. I' I've got it down about as much as I can. This is part of a presentation that I've given a slightly revised version of a presentation I've given multiple times over throughout the community service groups, commissions, boards, etc. And and the board has heard me speak about some of this some of this material before. But today, what we're going to do is we're going to really hone in on infrastructure. So, anytime I present, I always want to make sure we're grounded in our strategication plan. We stay centered on that focus and we will be tonight as well. Even though we're really targeting infrastructure, it's all about students. It's all about student achievement. The our strategic plan is very intentional about ste keeping our district mission which is in the

036middle focus uh our focus on all the different groups and there are six that are working together as part of that plan. The mechanism the framework that we use is MTSS. Student achievement can be kind of nebulous. What exactly? How do you impact student achievement through all these six different groups? Like facilities, you'll hear about tonight. How's facilities help positively impact student achievement? Well, MTSS is all about a systemic approach to student achievement and also removing barriers that might be preventing them from being successful. And when you think about barriers in a system as complex as Marquette area public schools, you could argue that infrastructure is a potential barrier to student success. So that's just a little bit about strategic planning. I another framework that I use is my safety infrastructure programming PowerPoint. It's the

037same acronym as our school improvement plan. And I think it's a nice way for me when I'm talking to groups such as this to to again calibrate recalibrate our efforts on what really matters. And when you look at student achievement, when you look at MTSS removing barriers, when you think about safety infrastructure and programming, I've got Maswell's hierarchy of needs. I think we can all agree that those basic levels, physiological needs, safety needs are primary in order for students to be uh to be successful in school. And you're never going to reach those higher levels of achievement, self-actualization, and manage those hierarchy needs if they're not being fed, will be free food, if they're not in a safe environment. You heard about positive behavior, intervention, and support from from both just a little while. You

038think about Bay Cliff and that type of environment, that nurturing environment where those basic needs are being met, the feeling of belonging, the feeling of of being in a safe environment where if something goes poorly, if there's an emergency, there's processes in place that there's there's going to be a safe uh there's going to be uh folks, there's going to be mechanisms in place that are going to allow those students to feel comfortable even when the situation might be a little stressful. So safety infrastructure programming when we think about Maslo's character needs again the most basic level of of of success for students is safety and that's why uh I kept my safety slide in there. Not only did I keep safety in there because it is a basic level of support needed for students

039to reach any type of achievement but also because it's very much related to infrastructure. If you look at this list, we have invested significant dollars into safety. We've targeted grants. We've put our own money into safety. We've worked incredibly diligently. And when you walk around, whether it's the new doors and the avigilon system, which is the electronic carburetor system in this particular building, you walk across the field and you see the new PA systems. If you're in a bus or you're walking along with an administrator, you see new radios where we can communicate districtwide. We recently did a district-wide grill. I had the chief of police and the chief of our fire department sitting in need in this building in what was a simulated incident control where we had maps, which you see listed here,

040and we had radios and we had our camera systems running with our partners over at NU and their police department monitoring cameras. We were able to simulate an event with multiple departments. We were able to put this building in a lockdown, our entire district either in a lockdown or secure mode, communicate much more effectively because of the radios, see what we were looking at through cameras and maps and I believe well not believe in my experience in education I have a unique lens. It's one of the most powerful exercises I've been a part of. So anyway, safety very much related to infrastructure. And as we go through tonight, you're going to hear more about infrastructure than any other topic. We brought our guests here, the ones that I just introduced for this very for this

041very reason. I mentioned the partnership with GEI and IDI. I've I talked about our projects that we've done recently. I'm not going to read them to you. There's been many. This summer alone, $3 million worth of projects that we have going on. You have the Shyers Planetarium. You have more playgrounds going in. We have the alternative school and it's college and career readiness program along with its front door or their their uh curb appeal or their front entrance which is in severe need of of improvement. The roof at Samuel PA systems I mentioned at the high school in Samuel that's really expensive by the way building as large as the high school and an HAC unit at the high school school as well. $3 million worth of projects. And you'll hear me talk about the

042sinking fund, which is about $1.3 million a year. There's a discrepancy. I listed some recent projects on there. I don't need to read it. You and I know it's hard to read, but just know that we're covering every area, every building, heating, cooling. We're hitting safety hard roofs. We're hitting parking lots, but just with limited resources. We have over 750,000 square ft at market area public schools. You do some quick math at $100 a square foot, which is probably pretty conservative, to just update $750,000 square feet, that's $75 million. I want to mention the statewide infrastructure study, which is listed on this slide. We've been doing these internal audits for a while. Recently, the state of Michigan, they they contracted with some larger firms. They conducted a statewide infrastructure study. 22 billion dollars they found

043of critical keyword critical infrastructure needs throughout our state. They told Marquet area public schools we have 100 million dollars worth of critical infrastructure needs. Well, thank you very much state of Michigan for letting us know we actually had that same number from our own internal audits. But begs the question, now what? That's public. That 100 million is public. We did recently meet with some of our local representatives, our legislators, some of our board, our board of executive committee in particular, and myself and some of our team met with state legislators and ask them that very question. Thank you for doing the study. Thank you for telling us we have 100 million in the state uh public schools throughout Michigan have 22 billion. But now what? That's a big question. Just going to highlight some projects.

044We have the science labs on here. Outdoor learning spaces. And I don't just say that because it sounds better than playground. Maybe arguably sounds better than playgrounds. It truly is impactful how having outdoor learning spaces. As an elementary principal during co I can attest to how important it was for kids to have safe, engaging environments to learn in outside. Some before and after pictures just highlighting. Uh in the top left is our maker uh maker space which was a project we did not too long ago. You have a bird bath sink which if you go upstairs you can see some of these at both. This one was actually at Sandy Nol. The bottom left is an elevator. Let me tell you the cost of some of these projects are astronomical much more than planned. And

045then the bottom right we retrofitted a boiler at the high school. Instead of facing a million dollar replacement cost we able to do one of our boilers for $100,000. The million is probably for two, but either way, you can see some cost savings there. A lot of projects that already have already been done. There's a parking lot on here. Our security features, uh, uh, some security features with our new doors, our PA system. You can see the auxiliary gym on there. Uh, some ADA compliance and safe drinking water. All related to safety. And going back to Masel's hierarchy needs, all necessary for the kids to be successful. What could be done? This is just some of the list that you'll see or you'll hear about tonight. You hit all areas, all buildings. We have seven

046buildings. We have two high schools, a middle school, and four elementary schools. You have academics, you have athletics, you have arts, right? We think about CTE as a as a particular niche, especially in this day and age, and the importance of preparing kids for post-secary success, not just going to colleges or universities, but but also into the workplace. All the different areas are hit there. You're going to see electrical systems. You're going to hear see heating and cooling systems. You're going to see locker rooms. You're going to see uh unit vents, which is something you never think about. They're all over the place, and they are all severely outdated and in need of replacement. I like this visual. Big shout out, by the way, to Courtney Larson. She is our PR support person. She does,

047we don't have her for a ton of hours a week, but she does great work and she makes a lot of these slides for me. Her specialty, one of her specialties is using an image to express a thousand words. And I need that because I try to go really uh try to be really efficient in these presentations. But you can see the imbalance. This is just this summer. $3 million worth of projects with a $1.3 million safety fund. And that's relatively consistent year in year out for us as far as the amount of projects that we're doing. We're using capital projects which is essentially like a savings account that we've used to help with the infrastructure. We're of course using the syncing fund which is right now is completely depleted. We're trying to rebuild that

048and we're also applying for grants. Mr. Lampman has applied for multiple grants as of late and we have definitely targeted grants in my four years our four years together thus far. Another nice visual we get $3 million done this summer. let these $97 million to go of the 100 million. And it doesn't take long when you look at our facility needs, our infrastructure needs to realize that as soon as you get that 3 million done, there's 3 million more waiting. It needs something more comprehensive. We need something more comprehensive. This is basically a nice snapshot of what I mean by our internal audits. We've done these facility walkthroughs, these uh we we've done these an analyses with IDI and GDI. We then took these enormous asset management plans or reviews and then condensed them into

049a prioritized list. On the left, it's probably hard to see, you're highlighting that bottom section of the chart. On the right, on the left is that u uh that bottom section blown up. The 60 million is what we considered the bare bones must do projects, the prioritized list. And then next to that is roughly 50 million. those combined to get you to a 100 million which was our own internal audit. Again, that was separate from the state of M Michigan infrastructure study. I'm really trying to move fast so that we can leave lots of time for our other presenters. This is the result. This is the statewide infrastructure study. Just highlighting a couple key points. The 102 million was the uh cost of repairing critical infrastructure. Again, an outside party contracted by the state. And

050then next to that 346 million, that was the cost of replacement that they determined. And then they they determined that repair was much more cost effective than replacing. Just a I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, but we have timelines drafted. We have regular meetings weekly, bi-weekly, and regular meetings that include our board and our consultants. We have we have mockups, draft millage schedules, draft surveys. We have uh the audits and we have a plan really that back a backwards type plan from when we would potentially bring something to our community until back until now uh so that we can make sure that we're hitting our targets as we move forward. Here is a a proposed timeline that I'm giving to the board for consideration. This is targeting a May 2026 election.

051We have not determined yet determined what that exact cost or what that ask will be. But we're far enough out that we have time to plan to gather feedback from different stakeholders. But we are targeting approximately one year from now. And we have a plan for hitting that target. And what we need to do in the meantime is really try to hone in on what are the parameters that we're working within. What are the need the various needs and what are we going to try to do to our community with? Just a real brief overview of of how much it will cost. One mill is a 1,000th of your taxable value of your property. Your taxable value is generally about half of your home's value. An easy way to do do this is take a

052$200,000 uh home. At least that's what the uh market value is. You divide it by two, excuse me, not 200,000. I have 100,000 on here. So, a $100,000 home, pretty rare in this day and age, probably an extreme example, but $100,000 home, the taxable value is half of that. One mil is about $50 per year. I get questions about Mara's millage. I'm not here to talk about Mara's notes, but because I get that question, I threw this slide on here. Marica represents 13 LEAs. We're at one of the 13 LEAs. Um, recently did recently pass a special ed millillage, 1 and a.5 mil special ed millage that will last for approximately 20 years. I want to make sure I clarify that that's not what we're asking for, but that's something that people often confuse uh

053when we we're talking about MAPS means. You'll see here in a second how much we levy from the taxpayers, but that 1.5 mil that Marica levies does actually benefit maps. We used to have about a $2 million shortfall in special ed and now we're whole at least for special ed. The special ed costs are are increasing rapidly. So, it's going to not be long before I before I believe we'll face another deficit. But I did want to make sure I included that as well. Couple of graphs that shows comparisons amongst public schools in our area. Miller rate comparisons. Here's one that's targeting the the districts that are in closer proximity. I know it's hard to read. Guys, Burke Township, Superior Central, etc. You can see just at a glance, even if you can't read the

054numbers, Marquette has a very small levies a very small number of mills as compared to our neighbors, less than 1.5 mills overall. We have a syncing fund that's a little less than a mill and we have a bond that's uh that we're paying on it that lasts until about 2031 that's about 38 mills less than 1.5 mill state averages about 4 mill here's a broader picture a larger region again we highlighted Marquette circled it I know it's hard to read the print but I think you get I think you get the idea just from the picture of how we rate compared to our to public schools. Okay, that was about as abbreviated as I could make it in order to hit some targets uh in my presentation. I'm next going to turn it over to

055Mr. Hongo from IBI. So, if you want to share your screen uh that would be great so that as you present we can pick pick you up. And yes, please turn your mic on. Thank you for the time. We'll have some time for Q&A before it's over. So, IDI um began 1993. We got a there's a bunch of us locally here that are in town now. We've got a firm down in or an office down in Brighton as well. Um we've done quite a bit of work locally as well. But as we as we kind of get into these slides here, you'll see our our main focus really is Cape Health Schools. Uh it is our it's our expertise. Uh we're working across the state. Um our mission is you can one of the bullet

056points up there you cannot see enter uh community enhancement through quality engaging and cost effective. One of the things that we really focus on as we are doing our facility walkthroughs when we're working through either architecturally I'm an architect myself we've got mechanical plumbing electrical uh civil engineering uh GEI covering that formats here as well looking at things with the with the understanding that from a school standpoint with what Mr. Like I said earlier, so many districts throughout the state from a budget standpoint are struggling. They're they just plain and simple. That's how the their communities are relying on tax base, the taxpayers to pay the millages to support the schools or infrastructure. The school I think what a lot of the public doesn't really understand is that general funding, the funding from the state

057is supposed to go to staff, teachers, programs like to directly benefit the school. So the infrastructure really is lacking from being able to fund that and from that iceberg scenario as mentioned earlier to the slide shown earlier uh you really get into it becomes there's such a disparity between the funding that's available and what needs to be done in the district. Um we again the majority of our office is up here in Marquette. Um we've got everybody in house. It really allows all of us to know and go through the buildings and really see uh work together, walk down the hallway, chat with chat with our colleagues and really come up with thoughts, ideas, and a great understanding of what what we're seeing, what needs to be done, be able to bring that into into

058our work. Um, as Mr. Cedric had mentioned, Travis is president architect with IDI here in town. Greg's a former superintendent uh downstate uh superintendent of the year at one point actually. So he's been around uh really kind of getting through a lot of the uh understanding and even though when we're when we're architects and engineers knowing and seeing from an expertise standpoint what we're doing when walking through a building having Craig on board uh is is such a valuable tool. He's been through it with with communities. has been through with other districts and knowing how and what can be uh either things to watch out for from a standpoint when you are looking at if it's bonding or that sort of thing. Um and he he can really start to get into some of those

059items a little bit more when we talk some of the timelines and that sort of thing. Um teamwork process mission and just history in general from uh from our over an overview of what we kind of bring to the table. You can see the team sort of see again uh Nathan Kl is a local up here as well structural engineer. Uh Brett Dupris electrical Brian Ku from our civil department. Um again we usually even if we are doing physicians or anything like that we'll have a civil engineer in house. Uh and then even again with with GI on board uh as a partnership it kind of helps with that collaboration really seeing getting more sets and everything. Uh Verora Dobs is one of our mechanical engineers here at Marquette as well. Um this slide to

060me I think is powerful. I think anybody can come up and say that they're an expert in something. Um but unless you actually have proof of that it can be difficult. the list on the basically twothirds of that that slide here and all the dots over the state of Michigan. Those are all school districts that we've worked with for the last through the history of the firm. So since 93 you can see we've got we've got a cover from Ironwood Mezmer up in the copper country east of the UP central UP of course down to Wand dot thumb Elsena all over the state. We we've been through a lot of the projects. We see a lot of the communities, work with a lot of rural communities, smaller towns. Um, and really bring a lot bring

061a lot of knowledge and history to the table to be able to kind of look at what's worked for some districts, what hasn't. Um, with that, every district is different, too. So, we one of the things we really pride ourselves in is listening to the district, listening to the needs. Um, I've got I've got girls here in the district, so I I got probably a little more from a personal level. loving Kayla, my oldest here is lucky enough to have Mr. Bits and Mr. Cop here on on their team. So the the staff and everything within throughout the district and my youngest son, the staff in this district is amazing. Teachers, everybody is awesome. The the buildings are tight. They really are. So, I think you'll really see like with the the dollars that are

062coming forth, they're big numbers, but they they need to there's it's it's a a major need. Um, this one kind of hits on again K12 being our kind of our bread and butter, if you will. Um, 80 to 90% of our of our of our work uh really is is K12 schools. Um, we basically get in everything except for residential. Um but mainly outside of the K12 sector it is locally here in town a little bit down in the Brighton area which where our offices. So uh K12 is is really what we do. Um I'll turn this over to Craig. I've been I tend to a little bit so All right. Well uh pleasure to be here. Uh couple other things that I I guess uh before I get into some of this timeline stuff

063is that uh you know the the ability for infrastructure to impact some things that are really critical. So I heard about culture earlier and you know it it does infrastructure changes makes a huge difference in terms of how you can impact culture. culture is one of the hardest things to get right, uh, but one of the most critical things to get right. And infrastructure changes allows you to do that. It gets equity issues. It gets programmatic changes that you may want to make. So, there's so many benefits of being able to have that um be a part of your future vision for your district and for your students. So, you know, it is a pleasure to be part of um something that could have an impact on the lives of so many young people and

064that's still what drives me uh as a uh as a retired educator. So, when it comes to the timeline part, uh I've shared some timelines specifically with the district. Uh just going to give a quick overview though at this point of what some of those timelines uh entail. So, you know, you're kind of at the point right now where you're developing scope making uh you're you're in the information gathering stage right now of what you're going to do moving forward. So, you're you've got some information in terms of some numbers, some financial information that will be shared. Uh all of that is important, but then you're still going to have some decisions on how you're going to narrow down that scope, the process that you're going to use to narrow down that scope. uh you

065know so there's there's that information and that time period is really what you're going to be doing over the next few months going into the fall. Uh the fall now means that uh you're getting into the stage where are we actually moving forward with this um you know still gathering information still narrowing scope but now you're going to be making some decisions along those lines. Uh there's some information that uh you're going to be hearing tonight uh about your financial information. So you'll have some decisions to make in terms of if you do go forward with a bond, are you going to go qualified, nonqualified? So and that will impact some of your timelines. Uh so the board will have some decisions to make along the way as well. um you know whether you know

066um from the financial impact that you might have the scope and a lot of those things are final decisions that the board of education will ultimately make. Uh there may be recommendations that will be made to the board of education but ultimately the decisions are going to lie in terms of what this looks like with the board of education. Uh and so you know our what our part in this is to provide you with the information to allow you to make those informed decisions and uh you've got a great leadership team to assist you in uh in that process. So ultimately we're we're kind of shooting for uh having things wrapped up by the end of this calendar year. Um, so you know, that really is giving you just over 6 months, uh, 6 7

067months at this point to do that. And if you're then going to continue moving forward with the process, you're going to be um getting information out to your community, you know, sharing that information about what the financial impact is going to look like, what this project is going to look like in terms of that scope, informing your community, informing your voters, and ultimately uh the goal of getting those voters then to the polls uh and asking them the question if they're going to support this. So, you know, at this point, we are, you know, if uh if we're looking at uh a May election of 26, you're a year out. Uh but a lot of the heavy lifting is going to occur between now and the end of the calendar year. So, while it sounds

068like a year is a long time, uh at least a third of that will be getting information out to your voters, uh another third or more is narrowing down your scope and the other third of the year is getting to that point right now in terms of making some of those decisions on how you're going to proceed moving forward. So, you know, just kind of breaking that down for you. But we've got some uh detailed timelines that we've shared with the district and uh you know, that's part of our support along the way with this process. Yeah. Um the the slide we've got here. the slide I've got here. Uh part of the process as we had kind of gone through we had gone through each of the buildings with with everybody each discipline from

069from the from the office going through and we see each of us looking at different items. Um as we look through through that list uh which I think as we kind of look further down the process as far as narrowing down scope and narrowing down what what does the amount look like? Mr. I said I concluded the fact earlier that there's uh generally speaking we've got a $100 million list. We've got $100 million list from the state. They're not the same. The state infrastructure study was not the same. We had done 50 or 60 of those districts across the state with that study as well. It was really a more kind of a guided uh study on I would say safety and energy efficiency. Uh so there's items that were that were in there. Um

070they're very kind of a checklist going down the checklist and the couple of larger firms that were spearheading it from the state standpoint um had come up with that. So that that comes through that when we're going through and and having a some of the knowledge of the district itself too. We're looking at beyond those obviously safety uh and the energy efficiency are are huge. Uh we're looking at barrierfree uh ADA accessible issues. It's I think restrooms of the district are one that is very extremely popular. Um so we're we're seeing those type of items. We're see we do see some of the uh programmatic type items. If we're looking at CTE, if we're looking at the arts, we're looking at band music athletics. There there's so many different parts and pieces that that we

071uh that we see. And with some of the work that has been done already too, um the on the on the list of the college and career readiness for the alternative high school is on that list is being done this summer. So there's parts and pieces that will come off of that saying all the roof is on that list. Uh because it's it predates just by a couple of months whether or not that was going to actually happen or be able to happen. So those to to Craig's point, the list at this point is very fluid. It really is like there we when we had gone through just as a smaller group with with Zach and Isaac and Jim and I and Lloyd from the facility side looking at all right we need to take

072care of boilers we need to take care of uh lighting and controls is something that's super like we're saving money it's a quick payback for those type of items um but we want to hit the CT we want to we want to look at um look at grade and standal high school the unit events there the classrooms um those parts and pieces throughout the district are as I mentioned earlier very tight. Buffalo is the biggest as we kind of get into the list has had its biggest undertaking. Um looking at the the learning environment up the second from the second floor from a from an open pod concept and really looking at the modest addition to bring over here and be able to get that layout done in a way that we're able to kind

073of bring it up to current standards. bring it up too. We've got some areas for breakout learning, project based learning, bringing in some STEM and steam. There's some parts parts and pieces of that here. We're seeing districts incorporate that into the elementary school. High school is another big one. We we have a lot of within the the bare bones list include some program items as well. Like we like we're not going to go we're not going to be able to pass something. We're not going to get community supported if we're just changing report. So like we know and realize that we that there's it's going to take a lot more than that to to really be able to go to to a community and and ask for support on something like that. We need to

074touch touch all the buildings, touch all the kids that are involved with different programs, see see what all needs to happen. But again with uh with it really being aside from the addition of the O the oxygen of the high school and the additions at Spirit Hills and Cherry Creek um the athletic piece like the the exist the original buildings themselves really have not been touched like if you to walk through them there's not a lot that's happened through the years. So, and I think it's evidence. I think it's really uh something that needs to be gone through and when when you wait that long, it's going to be a big mess. So, to Greg's point too, there's going to be decisions that need to be made uh from the board standpoint to really get

075an idea what what what's comfortable to go to the community with like is it is it bare bones? Is it all of them? say, but like if we because if you combine both if you talk to the state and our $100 million list that list is probably closer to 150 to 200 million I don't it's not realistic to deal with voters with that but it's got to be somewhere in between I I really feel like it is um to I mean to be the biggest district in the um and really to try and kind of catch back up to to where where we should be. Um, and I say we again I I have the vested interest in it and I'm not uh I try to make sure it's separate but because we do bring

076the the expertise into it as well but it is something that being involved with a lot of things throughout the throughout the years u makes seeing that it could be so much better. So um a few of the slides here at the end there is uh just some examples of some smaller districts down state um the rand again with the millillage that's levied with within max districts that really are the it's the community sport. Um we've got this is down in Dand uh the railroad center here for some athletics fieldhouse. Um some other shots there. They are bit more powerful with a larger screen but the steam center down in Brighton at Bon High School being able to bring in a lot of the a lot of those newer technologies and spaces for the for

077the students. Again being a we've got great staff. be great teachers, but creating those spaces to to really up the game. Um, Brighton again s these quickly. Early childhood, um, elementary level classrooms. Uh, this is a fun one down state as well. Um, we have the Lake Legacy Center down there. Large facility. Um we're see we're seeing top of all the states in the indoor practice facility type and I think Lakers is about 1300 students K12 in that district just to give you an ide couple here um just to touch on it quickly um this this photo here is uh Westwood High School's uh media center. Uh so I do have these last couple slides are some photos of our neighboring districts. Um I think not only keeping up with the state in general as

078far as what we're putting into the into the facilities and into the district. I think being able to keep up with the neighboring districts is huge. Um school choice is a big thing. I mean we're you can obviously match does a great job as well. for pulling pulling kids as well. Um but when you look at the neighbors looking at the nice and um big dollars just went into uh over at Westwood this past year welding auto lab the CTE wing large the large complete overhaul of their cafeteria at the high school. Um a few shots from Nagani here, their recent recent 2020 uh practice facility at the at the football field there. Um it is used from by the community as well. Um media center upgrades. Again, they've touched all their buildings. Lake View

079Elementary had work at all their classrooms. Um middle school had had a bunch of work. So it's it's really being able to get everything. Um That was a brief ramble. So, I'm going to reset and uh just want to reiterate that we have uh Isaac Roberts from GEI and we have Travis and Craig from IVI here to answer questions. So, let's just open up for some Q&A from the board to our experts in the room and we will try to wrap this up uh here uh before 7. So why is now the time for this large of a project versus addressing this maybe in 5 years or 10 years? It's been quite some time since we've done anything. Why do we need to do this now versus let's say you're down the road? Yeah, I

080think back to the the iceberg slide. And I would say it the $1.3 million of the second fund and dipping into some of the the capital funding projects, $3 million a year, that the 100 million isn't like that's not going to stop. If we're picking away at a million and a half or $3 million a year, that that list could likely continue to grow. Maybe it's not 5 to 10 million a year, but it's going to grow. There's one of the things that we're working through with the last last few years with singing funds with the singing fund office is that list has been prioritized and we're I think the last two or three years looking at like let's let's take this off science lab let's do something that starts to affect the students learning

081environment but to be able to do that and then you know the boiler left over roof that starts raining. So those items that haven't been addressed and taken care of continue to age and hit their useful life and it's going to continue to grow. And then so ultimately I mean for lack of a better word and it chase players with how long it's been left alone. I I would fear that if you wait another 5 years it you could be potentially looking at 120. Again, between our list and the state's list, those aren't that's not 100 million is not that list is, like I said, probably more like 150 to 200 million as far as what could go into schools. I I often think too about psychological factors. Um, you know, so if I'm if

082I'm a community member, I hear one number and let's say that number is 75 million and I hear another number that's 100 million. psychologically I know what that does to certain you know to voters uh who are thinking about certain things like well can I support if I hear this number I can still support something if I hear another number because my needs grow um that number is scary because it's not something I can comprehend so you know I think that there are always those factors that play into the longer you wait and the larger that number gets the harder it is for people to be able to understand and digest certain things too. Good. See, part of it as well, just from a timeline with the with the bond, uh that's the that's route

083that the board ultimately goes. If we if we get a a bond to pass in May of 26, design and engineering getting into actually the design engineering, actually getting it out for bids happens that year. there there wouldn't be groundbreaking per say depending on what is prioritized to have first until schools out in 2027. So, and depending on a bond this large, it's likely a three-year process depending on how the depending on how the this the bonds are sold. A lot of times non districts will sell them in series. ly may hit uh sell a series of bonds at least a bond passage they get for round numbers $20 million two years later you might sell another $20 million of bonds um Rapid River did similar they had it set up so it's every couple

084years um that they were selling the bonds because it works out from from a financial standpoint with with BFM they look at what and how you can really see to be able to maximize and capture the most dollars from selling compliance and extend them to be don't do that. Um, so the process itself from now until the last flooring is set is probably a 5year process already. So if if we if we wait another 3 to 5 years, it could likely be pushing 10 years by the time like the full scope is done. And those are again those are just throwing hypotheticals out there but but it is it's a settling process till the time the construction's done with what is prioritized. Travis is there data that shows what the community's capacity is to support

085a $100 million project. I mean it's one thing to have um the need but it's another thing to know what the capacity of our community is. That's a very tough question. We we did have it's a extremely fair question. Um it's it's tough there. There's communities that are extremely supportive um of of their schools. It's a lot of times you've got communities where maybe they're not taxed either by so much by the municipalities or that sort of thing. But, um, it really is kind of getting out and and if it's the direction that the that the district goes, getting a pulse in the community if there's a if there's a steering committee that's created to be able to kind of get out there and start talking to people and see, hey, what do you think?

086If if you go through through the process and and understand what the more people you talk to to understand it, you know, you obviously you need if you got 10,000 votes, you're fine with 5,000 and one yes votes, but being able to understand what what those getting enough people to to feel comfortable that can do it um would be the main thing. Um the we had eight votes on the ballot last Tuesday. there three pass um across the state. There was say one or two that were that actually pass two two increases in the state. I think there was a point4 uh mil increase of char schools and I want to say central lake had one that was about a 1.4 increase. So um it was uh certainly uh not the numbers uh but you

087know when we uh when we look sometimes at uh you know a lot of factors probably are weighing into things right now. So you know that's always part of the uh trying to figure that out as well but there's often never a perfect time to get all of those things either. So yeah, I think with that there's a lot of uncertainty out there right now just in general as far as people people are comfortable with with voting for something and there's several uh mill extensions like without a tax increase that that fail. Um it it's not necessarily crapshoot but trying to get out the the get the information out there. I think the the biggest thing working against maps right now is how low the millage is. Like that's there without being able to um

088I think being able to look at that and be strategic about what do we think the smoke the community will support being able to get it's it would need to be an increase but being able to get an increase and then be able to keep it up versus letting it drop off again through the years. Um that's that's where it gets really difficult when that that noise levy starts to get too low is that you just you can't get Oh yeah. Um another question but it wasn't my original question. Sure. I guess what I'm maybe I'm hearing you say maybe I'm not that because our village points are so low that it would behoove us to make sure that the community is aware of that particularly as it pertains to our neighbors. Right. Absolutely. I

089mean we're if we are in fact as low as I believe that we are obviously not going to repeat that but people need to understand where we fall uh with neighboring districts and with the state. Um I think that would be a huge part of the messaging that that messaging and also like the understanding to educate and get the understanding out there of how school districts are is supposed to support their facilities. Okay. And my next question is probably another somewhat impossible one, but um does somebody who's lived in an old home that's constantly working on it. Um I know it's not a joke, but it's like a kids book. I don't know if you read it here again, but if you get them off, right? So it just becomes bigger and bigger. When we

090look at these numbers and we look at it, you know, we're in the sort of identifying stage as somebody who doesn't know anything about this. So it's totally predating your question. What is if you were to give an index of a surprise factor? I mean, how likely is it that we're going to get inside any of these smaller, you know, as we bundle these projects, get inside something, they can be like, "Oh my lord, this is we can't do anything with this. We're going to have to There's there's districts that we've gone through. If there's a building we walk through, there's one reason. It was a building that we had gone through that the loans were so bad that it was they can't no sense doing anything with it. I think um the the buildings

091within the mass district they're there's I don't mean to say salible they're they're but they need to be dumped for sure. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um well I guess I have more comment of just being owning buildings and um they're for a living and knowing that if we the longer we wait the bigger these issues are going to be and the more expensive they are and that's just and then hunting us down the road. My concern is if we do wait any longer that you know 100 becomes too because it really does. I mean it that iceberg which is out of proportion anyways for the size of what should be below the water in the visual. it there becomes a tipping point and um you you know you you do upkeep you do upkeep but

092at some point when you have to gut it even more than what you initially intended you know that those costs are just going to keep that's my concern of you know just playing playing the the the time frame here as to when and how we've already been punching this down the road um in my I mean I walk around and I just for me it's more you have the bare bones for 60 what are the pieces that you know really looking at what that consists of and the fact that it touches on every school and every child is going to benefit from this. What then you know if we do 75 what do those components look like? If we do a hundred, you know, obviously we're doing the full package, but I look at these

093photos that other smaller districts than us have and I, you know, it really saddens me that we're not there right now. And um but I'm excited that we we'll get there because we should be there. And when I look at as you talk about culture, um I mean I'm going to be the biggest cheerleader for this because we do have incredible teachers. We have incredible community and you see what NMU is doing. you know, they're they're about to open up two brand new dormitories right on um uh fourth Presc I you know we are behind the times here not just a little bit but significantly and if we don't as a I mean I think our community will rise to this it's exciting to see what we can provide for our students But I really

094would like to be able to look at what that bare bones consists of, what additional pieces um that we think are critical that you know and we're going to have to fill these gaps at some point regardless. So it is figuring out a time frame, but if we can hit that 75 mark and then at what point do we do we continue? cuz it's just a keep of brand new buildings is significant costwise let alone ones like this. Yeah, I will if I can I'll kind of just to give the board an idea as far as what's in the 60. I kind of just have some cliff notes as far as going through the 12 to 13 page document and all. Right. So Cherish Creek and Superior Hill are the the new schools. I know

095they're so um so they they need obviously the least as far as from an initial funding standpoint from our like our first go at kind of like a priority a type of list as far as keeping things up, bringing things up where they need, getting things set to last longer, but also getting programs. So, Superior Hills and Terry Creek, um some exterior doors, lighting controls. Every every building in the district is classic furniture apparently. Like there's it's so much more than your old traditional desking chair uh with different collaborative type tables. The there's so many different uh classroom furnishings out there now. They're specific to elementary, specific to middle school, and specific to the learning environments in in whatever facility it may be. So, every every building across the district, it's there's a good budget

096amount for every classroom in the district. Um, playground updates, updates, upgrades, uh, was touched on earlier for both of those as well. Again, you're talking about getting done in the meantime. Um, could change that. Grab red and sanding all a little bit different story. Both are much more tighter. Um, so really looking at restroom renovations, very free upgrades. um interior doors starting to get hit on some of the the safety items. All the buildings have secure entrances now. Um but again with with like the knob handles that are in the facility and and the older elementaryaries um lever handles, what used to be just an ADA barrier type of item, but now it's a safety item. There's classroom security lock so you can have it set up so the teacher knows that they're teaching with

097a door lock. They don't have to get up and go check and see if they remember to lock the door. So there's pieces that come into it from a safety standpoint. Um classroom flooring and renovations um at both of those facilities uh significant um units as we mentioned earlier additional HVAC and controls both have large allowances for abatement. We're going to run into that fields and in criminal facilities that um auditory upgrades at at Graette. uh looking at um potential there there's things at at both to really kind of upgrade the the learning environments for the for the locals. Um getting into Bwell again as mentioned earlier really gets a major overhaul of that on the on the list. Um the total for going in just from the priority a list is $22 million of

098the system. So it's huge huge percentage of what's what's happening the um from the last bond it was loud and clear that there's this building is staying here. So if if that's the case then we need to put money into it. We need to upgrade it. We need to bring it up to current current education standards. Um putting money into the CTE here or putting money into the locker rooms here. Um there so abandoned music uh again classroom furnishings um elevator modernization abatements again so of large overall here at um all high school again restroom renovations very free interior doors lower ceiling roof is there um classroom furnishings lighting unit fence kind of similar story as river and you know similar similar and and with a lot of the infrastructure with those, but again, hitting

099the classrooms. Um, at the high school, again, there's a lot going on there. Um, locker rooms are in very, very needed upgrades up there. um music, CTE, restrooms, again very it's one of the probably largest facilities from a school standpoint and the largest lack of ADA accessible restrooms that I've uh lacking big time. Um waste and water piping is a big one. It's not something that's the public's not going to see it as not flashing, but if that fails, there's something big. So, I think it was not too long ago that there's um we need to get a shut off valve to the entire building. There's probably leak city shut off the road basically. There's getting things updated like that. um gym floor, balding shot board, um and kind of hitting hitting uh similar items

100from the from those those programs. Uh Marquette athletics and bus garage, suppress box, city build, knock down and rebuild. Um so kind of hitting reworking that um do a little bit of work in bus garage. Uh some flooring and abatement came up there. Broad overview with that. I think just uh from a a quick thought on what still could be done depending on what what you add into it. Do you look at um I think on the list um from a priority standpoint you look at indoor practice. So is that something that it's list that's from a square footage standpoint we had like 24,000 ft on there and call it five and 52 5.2ish on there. That'll all be determined by program. Is that big slightly bigger than the guy? You you mentioned a facility

101like facility like that that the community thing also. You can't. It really does like um all joking aside, it does depend if they were shoehorn into what they built on their site. There's a district down by just landing that has a 300 meter track and a football game. I don't think it's anywhere near that size. I don't know where you put it in the first place, but but it is it really as you start to see um and massage those numbers and the the needs from a district standpoint and understanding and say, "All right, if we have a if it's a more modest track or a walking track, it's an elevated track and allowing off hours access for retirees that would rather walk there than the mall or like someone mentioned an arts last time.

102Um the dome is an option, but uh but it is like if you have you got neighborhoods in right next to the facility that I walk over and that's not part of that's not um Yeah. So there's items like that. Technology is an item that is could be uh really up that was not on a list at night. There's there are there's good things with it. So it is it's a determining what what needs are there. Um, early child care was talked as a potential open just passed one in their uh, recent bond. They're looking at a 25,000t facility that was 8.75 million. They're also bringing in kindergarten to that piece. So, I don't think that's larger than I think what you guys need to do. It's something to look at. um but maybe it's

103four. So I think like narrowing down the scope and trying to understand um what the district feels is important from being able to kind of sell it and what the what the community needs and are there any other significant from the you know the additional 40? Um, I think once you start getting into the 40, there's other NE upgrades. There's a lot of electrical upgrades, some other electrical upgrades that can be made. There's other maybe switching over from steam to hot water and stuff like that. A lot more controls work. So there's still infrastructure pieces that are needed, but I think to the point earlier, um if you're successful and you bring that that military up, you can go maybe go back out again in five or maybe it's a 10ear cycle and you can

104pick up 60 or whatever number you guys land on for this at 75, go back out again for refinance the bonds and take another 20, start picking away at it to be able to keep up with with those And my last question would be what's the average? Is it 5.5 or 5.6 for state average million? I had it right around four. Four for the state. Last last meeting it was 5.5. I I think those numbers are hard to pin. Um you know so Okay. Yeah. Either way was significantly below it. Yeah. Yeah. There are districts that are all the way up to 13 mills in the state and districts are. So, okay. I think one thing to think about too is, you know, why why now why? When you look at when Superior Hills and

105Cherry Creek were built, um they're mirror images of each other. and Superior Hills, they left off a wing because they wanted to save money at the time. And so when we went back, you know, 10 years later or however long it was, it went from like a $100,000 wing to like a $1.5 million wing. Um, you know, that and so that was a huge difference. say if we would have just done it at the time instead of saving that $100,000 or whatever it was, it ended up costing us a lot more. Um, and another thing I think to think about, I mean, I'm not sure exactly how the bonding and everything works, but I mean, the district is in a good financial position right now, and I would assume that being in a good financial

106position now that we can leverage a little bit more with with that than if we waited and kept dipping into our capital project. funds or you know we're not as fiscally responsible as as we are. I would assume that that would cause some issues when we went to go bond. You want to talk a little bit Craig? You understand better than I do with qualified but not qualified where we stand as far as amount that we levy. I know we do have a healthy fund balance if that's consideration. Yeah. So, um, when PFM makes a, um, advises districts on whether they have to go through the state treasury department or whether they can go through not qualified and not qualified has some advantages in terms of uh, not only a little bit longer timeline for

107the board to make some decisions, but also some advantages uh, when it comes to prevailing wage, although I think the the district could offset some of that because of the sending fund anyway, but Um the considerations that are generally asked of a district uh in terms of advising on qualified or not qualified. Non-qualified if your fund balance is 15% or greater and the actual amount is 800,000 or more and the third leg of that is student enrollment of 300 or more. So you hit all three of those legs currently. Um I think the question is if you wait uh you know we you know as superintendent for 12 years I've seen fund balances range from uh you know anywhere not for me personally but for other school districts uh that would be anywhere from 2%

108to 30%. you know, depending on when you're at, uh, where things are at and, you know, trying to trying to figure out how quickly, uh, you know, things can change in that arena. Um, unfortunately, uh, as an administrator in the early 2000s, I saw that those things change rapidly, uh, with school funding and, uh, we were, you know, there's never a guarantee, as much as we think there is, that you're always going to be in that same financial position. So right now uh you are in that end use position in terms of where you're at with your uh with your current scenario. So is there anything significant that you think is mapped within this sort of analysis of 100 million or that like maybe the state has that you all didn't have or vice versa

109that you think is something that needs to be addressed or will need to I'm just you know again there will constantly be cost coming at us even with new facilities. So what are some of the pieces that you know again yes our dream would be to have a brand new pool and to have an in your facility living in this you know far north with winters that we have and having to cancel traffic meets numerous times. Are there pieces in this that you see would be like this is something the district's going to need to address at some point? I think the facility infrastructure whe it's the HVAC the heating water like those type of items the critical ones in in our our mind right now are basically covered in that 60 like I said

110there's still others that are could be done from an energy efficiency standpoint along lines of the state assessment um windows would be great to do it's not in the 60s We're trying to hit the ones that are are critical. They need to happen replaceing things that could fail and will cause much issues. Are windows in the 100 or not? Yes. Okay. That's one more beyond 100 or no like there's things that you could look at for I'll use for an example from a a safety standpoint from the state assessment. you do well at least just film over all the windows is that necessary that's up but it's cost u I think the updating windows um is something that a lot of the districts you are seeing do that I think for a while there's not

111there's not a super fast payback on that window's still a window glass is still going wet heat out and cold in type of thing But um but all of those improvements like those are items that are on like the full like the 100 job. I think those in flooring and ceilings like we can look at ceilings for instance but they be redone absolutely is a high priority. That's why it didn't end up on the a list. Right. Just two things if I could jump in. I want to give Isaac a chance to check working with us longer. And also, if you could make sure you hip me for bringing the construction manager on the team, I would like to have the board hear that, too. But Mr. Roberts, perhaps you can. Yeah. So, my main

112thing is um I think uh Eric you had mentioned this or maybe Jason, but we're talking about numbers 60, 75, 100. It's more advantageous to define your scope and then see what that number is rather than try to define a dollar amount and try to figure what you do with that dollar amount. So the first step is figure out what you guys want to do, what does that number come to and then massage it from there. Um, if you take it on a large project like what we're talking about, does the sinking fund then become a maintenance fund to keep you from becoming, you know, subject to this kind of a condition in the future? That's I think that'd be the most beneficial use for the sinking fund at that point. You're able to do

113like for instance with a bond like you you can't put paint in the bottom. There's items like that that you can cover with thinking fund dollars and not necessarily bond dollars. So at that point, you're not you're not trying to do projects like the science lab or something like that. Not that that's not that that's a bad place for the sinking fund, but when you have such a large number and such a small number for the funding for a syncing fund, then I would see that as being an option. Take it like a bond would be take a big bite out of the apple and sing. Those needs are always going to be there. It's just like what somebody had mentioned earlier. If you build a new house, there's still going to be help to

114keep the maintenance on that. So, that is a good thing to punch for that be a good approach. So, if if I'm understanding you taking on that kind of a project, part of the message to the community is we get to do this once, but we also then have the funding to keep our facility in shape moving into the future. is that I assessment I don't think I oversell that yet. Uh and and the reason I say that is so the the districts that I've worked with that have had the most success with mixing the scing fund and the bond is if you get your facilities exactly where you need them um and then you're able to maintain everything with your syncing fund dollars. That's the that's the place you really want to be at.

115But the the risk of selling that the syncing fund can take care of everything right now is if you don't get to everything with the bond, um then you're still going to have those needs, which the syncing fund still won't be able to uh fully support. So it will it will greatly assist, but it may not be exactly where you need to be out of those. Yeah, I think I think you're saying what I actually meant. So, um I'd be more concerned that the bond is, if you will, uh the large bank account, the sinking fund becomes the smaller one that then takes care of your annual maintenance and the projects along the way. Right. Exactly. From a from a village standpoint, you see too that going out of a bond or like you mentioned

116Zach, but the the sinking fund amount is around call it 1.1 1.2 So, but that's on an annual basis that's going to generate that amount on the bond is going to generate a much larger amount. So, whether when when PF was able to pay some of those those those numbers, um it it's likely not a whole lot higher than that to be able to knock on the 60 to $75 million. Okay. Um, I don't know if Sean was going to get at this, but uh, PFM has a lot of statistics. I think that, uh, you know, in terms of information for boards that are very helpful in making some decisions. And one of those is just, uh, you know, the percentages of where districts have um, support if they're asking for increases and where that

117threshold is usually at. Um, and generally speaking, and this has been true for us, uh, you know, cuz we could go back to November last year where 2/3 of the ones that we had passed or, um, in fact, we had everything passed last November, other than increases of three mills or more. And PFM uh, statistics would say, yeah, those are unlikely to pass. um you know you get to asking your voters for an increase of that amount it becomes very difficult to pass those. So if you're keeping it at 2 ms or less, uh generally speaking, they're statistically you're still able to pass those amounts and we've seen you know similar uh results with a number of our issues. But uh that is one of the things that in terms of your information gathering that

118I would recommend that you look at is when you you know start getting certain numbers um you may have needs that exceed um you know your 75 60 75 100 billion but you know going back to your question will people support that? Uh it becomes less and less and more you ask for. So, you still have to, you know, do your research, have those conversations, and be, you know, if that's the route you decide to go. Um, just, you know, be as informed as possible to make your decisions. Is there a statistic on asking for multiple over the course of 10 years versus one large one? So those are um I think communities that um you know we we will often say take a bite of the apple rather than trying to have to you

119know don't go away with getting nothing. If you if you have needs make sure that you you hit the needs that you want. um you know there are other things that are maybe on that list and you wait a few years for it and go back out and ask again. So the communities that we're we're working with that have uh success or communities that are putting issues before voters frequent enough to say okay we're we're back out you've got that cycle and uh you know there there may be opportunities as debt falls off to go back out and do that same thing. um on a more frequent basis. So part of that is you know the investigation process that you're still in and what that might look like. Um but frequency does have some benefits

120uh you know and ask you know going out more frequently with smallerness uh can be advantage just as well. But the you know the other side of that is is that you know it comes back to you know something that was also mentioned earlier is that those same dollar figures in 5 years will not be the same dollar figures that you have now. So you you also have to weigh some of that as well. So when Zach was putting up those numbers about 100 million for example you're doing $3 million worth of projects. Well, none of us will be alive by the time that all of those projects will get done if you're doing 3 million a year because the rate of inflation will probably be right in that range. And you know, like construction

121will probably a little bit higher. So 3 million does make a dent out of $und00 million worth of fees. what um just uh the role that you all um would continue to play in this of it. Um exactly as mentioned you know um like who managed manages this process um with us. Sure. So with this with a scale of project as big as this depending on what you're even if it's 60 or whatever it may be. Um typically what we'll do in a in a larger uh projects that we're working on downstate uh we'll have a construction manager on board as well. Um so generally the AE firm as we're kind of leading through that side of the doing the design engineering um and kind of working through a lot of the scope of programmatic

122the design side getting things ready for bids. Um, and from a simplistic standpoint, that's kind of when generally you'd see a construction manager take those. They start to oversee the bidding process. Um, on a project this size, the the benefit of construction manager is we've got there's a lot of a lot of contractors up here that great contractors, but something on this scale, there's a lot of great contractors also that may not be able to bond. such a large piece of work. So, it allows more local contractors to come in and bid on similar work, whether it's some smaller plumbing contractors. Um, you'll see benefits of having the large packages like mechanical, plumbing, electrical. Um, see the savings on those of um it being managed and uh from a scheduling standpoint coordinated by a construction

123manager versus being held underneath the umbrella of a general contractor. So it starts to hit kind of a tipping point of uh the general the traditional designing bid build approach is definitely has its place of the bid at all. Um but depending on the size of the project it kind of some of the benefits outweigh that when you when you've got a construction. At what point in this process would you bring that person on? I think sooner than later. Um, if we get an idea of even even just a broad idea of how what size projects we want to go after, I think being able to start dialing in that scope and getting budget confirmation from a construction manager uh would be a big benefit uh just from we again with the the schools that

124we work with across the state, we see a lot of those estimates and some of the kind of uh current estimates on what we're together for different bid items. However, so we can we've got a a pretty good gauge on those costs. Um, but construction management permit, that's what they do. I mean, they're breaking down all those line items and being able to kind of get a better uh better handle on some of those numbers. I think um the other thing with the with the design firm, construction manager, and the owner, I think having all three and putting some checks and balances as well. You can if you back into again to Isaac's point earlier, you don't want to necessarily have um pick a number and it's like, all right, let's fit as much as

125we can for that. If you land on the scope, work with a work with a CN and really see all right, we didn't we're at 68, we're at 67, we're at 7, whatever it may land on as far as the priorities from a district standpoint. Um, and get confirmation from from the construction manager. We've got something that you've got a um, say you go to to the vote and get a successful bond passed, the the construction manager would be on board as well. we're going to be going through is kind of design process and each step along the way backing some of those numbers and seeing like are we still in budget? Do we need to modify some things? Um, is there a fluidity um when we go with respond? Does it have to be

126specifically that it is for these items or is there a fluidity within that there? We will write our um especially it's kind of Yeah, part of it is if you got to go qualified or nonqualified. If you go qualified, you're going to have a much more specific list that you're going to have to adhere to uh with Treasury. uh if you don't qualify, you have a little bit more flexibility still having to adhere to what's written in the pro uh the bond language and that bond language is really developed from that scope that you're uh you're submitting to your bond council that they develop for you, but you do have a little bit more flexibility uh as a result of that. Generally speaking, you know, even even if they're qualified, um when we're coming up

127with a bond a scope, um typically when we're going through that that entire list, we are that bond language is written. We say enough to allow some flexibility with that. If you've got a line item covered and I always go back to iron years ago, they put we put a bus on their line on their bond issue for like $2,000. we knew we're not going to get it, but with when there's money left over at the end, as long as you have something listed on there, you're able to spend dollars on it. Whatever dollar amount on the bond application itself isn't necessarily it's not what you have to stick to, but you have to have it shown. So, and we'll work with I think you guys work with Tum as well and between them and

128us and the construction manager and um the FM like you're starting to get those all those items dialed in to to know and allow for flexibility as you move forward and not visual ming yourself into specific things that happen. Can you talk just briefly about the programming phase? How you go about that when that occurs? Yeah, I think um if if the district decides to move forward, I would actually see a lot of time come in, there's times where I'll spend a half a day or a day um at the school camp out in the school uh and let let the staff and teachers know or administration know services know athletics, hey, they're here. The biggest thing when uh being able to come in and listen and let the staff and the users of the

129spaces know that they've got an opportunity to break things up um talk through things, get their thoughts, ideas, what works well for them, what doesn't um and really have go into it with a a clean slate to be able to see what can do and see what parts and pieces uh are needed for something. We were chatting through a multi-purpose space for we're open today and kind of discussing what uh what can be shuffled around what what needs there are if we're in a multi-purpose space everyone's looking at potentially some like uh bleacher type seating or steam type lab setup. So knowing how many kids want two to three classroom kids to be able to come in there asking all those questions to understand what those spaces and what each space is intended to be

130used for. Um some things are easier than others. I mean there's we need to replace programming side of it when it comes to it but from really from a educational standpoint that's really where you get into what the thoughts are from. And at what point does that take place? We at this point we get from a from a pre-bond standpoint we start to get some of the basic needs covered. We want to make sure that if there's if there's a need for when there's additions um those type of items. It's a lot of times kind of a two-step process. There's we've worked with districts in the past that are they'll sit down with us and spend a day or two with us and we're asking those same questions and you might have teachers and staff

131that think this isn't going to actually happen. and then it passes. So, we'll set the meeting up again. So, there's another opportunity kind of we'll we'll listen uh I would see potentially if it moves forward do something like that this fall uh to really kind of get some bring in some of those thoughts and ideas once the teachers are back in in session. Um and then once you start once we start getting our our work really begins once Don asked us to start getting into the design and engineering of everything. So early on in that process when we kind of get that confirmation from those college question I just wanted I'm just trying to drill down I'm sorry but just this construction manager is that like now before we made this decision to move how

132we're going to move forward or is it on something this I probably wouldn't um because a lot of times with ones that that we've worked with in the past we know that we're Yeah. Um, we're I would see going through an RFP process to do that. Um, there may be there may be a couple local ones that would would want to try and approach it that way. Um, there's there's CMS down state. Um, there's a couple there's a couple in Wisconsin that have been starting to come into the area as well. Um, I don't know the interest I gauge as far as what that is. and get an RFP process out for that so you can start seeing what what their fee percentage may be um and and get some of those options and ultimately

133we feel comfortable with as well. We're going to have an opportunity to speak to you guys again, right? Like we don't have to get this. I kind of feel like right now, right? So, so we got plenty of time to really kind of Yeah, it's almost like building a plane while before we're flying it right now with some of these information. Yeah. So, I think I mean this has been fantastic, you know, kind of going over all this stuff, but um so I think the next step that we're really looking for cuz we directed the superintendent to look into some of this stuff. I think the next thing would be directing the superintendent to put out an RFP for a construction manager to at least continue exploring possibilities. While we have not as a board

134decided which direction we're going to go, if we're going to go to the public for a bond or anything like that, that to continue this process that that we've already begun would be to uh to direct the superintendent to put out an RFP request for proposals for a construction manager. if there's something that we can do to assist with that. Again, there's there's RFPs that we can help with that. I think one thing to clarify too, um, IDI has always been we our business model is that like all the the pre-bond stuff is like there we're not getting paid for this like it's it's with the understanding we try to build relationships. We create that trust with the districts and then upon a successful bond issue that's when when we would actually and that would

135be something that you would discuss with the superintendent like at a different rate. Yeah. And I think a lot of the the construction managers would do the same. So I wouldn't I wouldn't see that being like an upfront cost that I don't see that risk. Right. So can I make a motion then? Yes. Okay. I'd like to make a motion um for staff Sedwick, the superintendent to um put out an RFP for a construction manager support. Great. We have a motion and support. Do we have uh further comments or questions? Would you be the one to do that RFP or would you need somebody else to do that? I would work with I'm sure our team most of whom are sitting here. We could put an RFP for construction manager relatively aimlessly. You want the

136motion to be for you to do it or to allow for market area public schools to submit an RFP? Well, I think when you direct me to do it, I'm doing it on behalf of the district. So, I think you're safe directing me to to put that RFP out on behalf of Mattis. Right. So, we have a motion and support. Do we have any further comments or questions? Okay. Hearing none. Um, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Okay. Uh, Mr. Sud, do you have anything further in your superintendence report? No, I think we're good. And I would just like to thank our our guests for for being here and for answering all of our questions and for for being so diligent with everything. Thank you very much. Um okay. So I think

137we will do the consent agenda and comments from the public and then I think we will take a brief recess after that and then get back to this. Um, so I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda which includes the minutes of the regular board meeting of April 21st, 2025, the personnel report dated May 2025 and the financial reports of April April 2025. Make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Um, motion made by Mr. Amendments support by Mrs. Cliff. Uh all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Uh moving on to student school board representatives report. Unfortunately, they are not here tonight. Um then moving on to comments from the public. We have one uh Mr. uh Brandon Bray. Yeah. Up at the point. Thank you so much for sticking with

138us much. Thank you for the Thank you for the talk. Thank you for the opportunity to to talk to the board tonight. Um you guys are doing such important stuff here. I feel bad taking up your time with kind of a little thing, but it's important to me. Um so my name is Brandon Bray. I'm uh on the Scandia Township board. I'm the president of the Scandi Alliance Club and I'm a baseball coach in Marquette. I have two kids, foremost, that are in the maps school system. Um, we love the maps school system. Um, my son Oliver is going to be coming into BAL school next year and, uh, he's in fifth grade right now in Cherry Creek and, uh, great school. He's been a drummer his whole life. When he was one, I always

139joked that me and his wife, my wife, bought him wood spoons for Christmas because he can't have pots of pans. He came home to me one afternoon. He was very, very sad. I said, "What's the matter, buddy?" And he goes, "Hey, I I can't play percussion at at what you talking about." And he handed me the requirements for the class, basically the description of the class for all the electives and the classes he was going to take next year. And I read down through it and it uh says uh beginning band. This course is offered to students who have not had experience playing a band instrument. Students can choose to play flute, opal, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, or percussion. Although most instruments have no prerequisite, percussion students must have at least

140two years of piano lessons. I said, Clay, that can't be right. I said, the school doesn't offer piano lessons. That can't be right. He goes, "No, it is." So, I got on the email, got a hold of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, the the director from Cherry Creek. And I said, "Is this right?" She goes, "I don't know, but you know, I have a meeting with Mr. Ragno tomorrow where he's going to address the students kind of a meet." I said, "Great." I got back with her and she said, "Well, I introduced Oliver to Mr. Regone and it is true. He won't be able to play percussion because he doesn't meet the prerequisite." I said, "They don't offer piano lessons." I said, 'How can you make it so that an entry level child going into sixth grade band

141has to have two years of privately funded piano lessons in order to be able to play percussion? And she said, "I don't know." So, and I have to say this too is that everybody that I've interacted with, whether it's Mr. B or Mr. Rico or Mrs. Fitzpatrick, have been great. Everybody's very receptive. And I think that this has been in place for 20 years and nobody has really brought it up to the attention of anybody. But I have a big network of parents that I interface with because of baseball, because of my kids. And there's huge concern. There's a teacher from the high school, I don't want to mention his name, but his son was told he wasn't allowed to play percussion and that he's just picked another instrument. And I understand, you know, there's

142this thought that things like xylophone and stuff require left hand, right hand. You have two, you know, different measures of music. Treble and bass, left hand, right hand. It's very similar to piano. But anybody that's ever played piano or xylophone, know they're two different instruments. And I question that over and over again. And I said, "How can you be required to learn an instrument you're not interested in just so you can be rewarded for giving the giving and given the opportunity to play an instrument you are interested in?" And what happens to families who can't afford 2 years of private lessons that are $50 to $100 an hour for 52 weeks times two years. And when you put hurdles in front of kids and parents, some kids, you know, might pick another instrument. Some kids

143just don't go into band. And I just don't know that teachers, even though they have the best of intentions sometimes, have the right to decide what your kids are passionate about or decide you entry level. This is entry level wedding. You don't get the opportunity to follow your dreams. Some kids may for know. They might not be able to to do it. But that's a risk you take with any instruments. And for someone to say you don't get the opportunity, I don't think it's right. It's very inequitable to say only people that can afford two years of lessons can do this. Now to everybody's credit to the teachers and everything they've come up with some you know constructive things but you know there was some talk about well maybe it's just a recommendation not a

144requisite and that you would have to get a hold of the the instructor and kind of give permission and what you're still putting barriers in front of kids that have a passion right and I just don't know as a as an educator that that's the best we can do, you know. Is that it? Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Well, I'll just continue on. Yeah. All right. Uh, new business. Uh, consider a plan to address infrastructure needs. Okay. So, we'll skip that one. Um, consider awarding the San Nol Elementary and Market Senior High School's PA systems project to JV Electric as recommended. Mr. Sedrick, do you have any additional for that? I provided some information to the board previously. Mr. Hongo from IDI is here.

145He's overseeing that project. I'll just make it very brief. We were looking at uh we were looking at either doing just a high school or high school in San Nol. the uh one of the contractors, I believe it was JP Electric, for uh for essentially slightly more money than uh JP Electric could do both jobs for slightly more than the other bidder could do just the high school. So, it wasn't necessarily the low bid, but the combined bid made more sense. Plus, we really do have a desire to get these PA systems in place. Uh more information is in your packet if you want to see those exact numbers. I don't want to speak off the cuff. Mr. Hy. So, yeah, I would clarify the the biders if it was just the high school JP

146would have been slightly higher. With the combined project, JP is a little more. So, with the the from a I think what to your point was as far as being able to get both done for slightly more than the high school amount was actually the original budget amount. So, the numbers came back in very good and we're basically able to get both done for But within reason of the original and this is being paid for with safety grant money also by the way. Okay. Um so I would entertain a motion to consider awarding the Sandy M elementary and market senior high school PA system projects to JP Electric as recommended. Make a motion to approve the bid to JP Electric as presented. Second. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Zadunic, support by Mrs. Cliff. Um, any

147further comments or questions? Just to clarify, this is a safety grant. 100% of this is covered through the safety grant or is there some kind of $1? Um, currently we plan on funding this 100% of our safety grant funding. Uh we did just receive unexpectedly an additional I believe it was 303,000 through our safety grant from the state of Michigan. That was a nice little surprise to us. So that um that will cover the cost of this project. Currently we have about 580,000 worth of safety grant money to spend out. Okay. And any further questions or comments? Okay. Uh all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes. Um, consider purch purchasing six insulated electric carts from Strike Equipment as recommended. And I believe that uh is also in the packet from Mr. Collins. Correct.

148Um, he was uh he is not in attendance this evening. Um, but we will be uh there will be an email going out soon to families to let them know that we're going to be hosting a non- congregate meal program out of Great Red this summer where families are able to come and and pick up food packets um uh to provide uh food to students over the summer. Um and um so these are cold carts that are going to be used as part of uh support for that uh that program. And this is uh this is also part of our spend down plan to launch fund. Um so the funds are available currently to make this purchase. Okay. Um so entertain a motion motion to purchase the six insulated electric carts from Strike Equipment and

149is recommended. Second set. All right. Uh motion made by Mr. Zadenic, support by Mrs. Maddox Smith. Uh any further comments or questions? Hearing none. All those in favor? Any opposed? Motion passes. Um consider adoption of resolution designating district's electoral representative for the ISC by annual election. I believe the resolution is in your packets. Um, this is for the Marica by annual election which would be the first Monday in June. So, um, we need to pay. So the board really someone needs to be interested in going to that and being the representative and then someone would want to express interest in serving as the alternate get the first name. It's June 2nd. We are having our um retirement teachers uh support staff of the year celebration that night um and a special board meeting starting at

1504:30, but you wouldn't need to be to Marica until 6. Can you get a chicken dinner just to entice you? Um, this is something that I usually go to, um, because I am part of the the county board. Um, so I'd be willing to to do that, um, unless someone else was interested. And we also do need an alternate vote, too. We nominate What do we do here? I nominate you to go and then I nominate Cheryl to be your alternate. That's how quickly tonight after everything. I don't know. I don't know. It's a great plan. Yeah. Really what we have done in the past is just um made suggestions that that if if Tristan is is is willing to and no other board member and Cheryl's willing to um then someone just would make

151a motion that that would that would be how we execute the resolution. Who makes a motion? Not recommendation. Not a recommendation. I'm going to make a motion. Oh my lord. Wait a minute. I'm going to make a motion to nominate Kristen Campbenzi to attend. Let me get this verbage right. Serious stuff. The adoption of the resolution designated district's electoral representative for the ISD by annual election and to have Cheryl Maddox Smith serve as alternative. Okay, we have a motion and support. Uh any further comments or questions? Thank you. Taking one for the team. All right. Uh hearing no other comments. Uh all those in favor. Any opposed? Motion passes. Thank you. Uh let's see. Uh moving on to board member comments. Mr. Smith. Um, first, uh, I think we're incredibly fortunate to have a superintendent

152who's willing to bring some really tough issues to the board, in particular, our infrastructure needs. Uh, this is consuming an awful lot of time and, uh, I just want to thank you for all the effort that you're putting in the planning of this. One of the things that wasn't mentioned tonight, but I think is important to consider as we go through the process of deciding how much uh how large of a project we might be interested in is the cost uh to our faculty if we don't do something. We're lucky here at MAPS to have some incredibly talented teachers. And we saw tonight here at Bathwell an example of two of them, award-winning teachers. the ability to attract talent is based in part on our facilities. And if we don't pay attention to that, we're

153shortcircuiting um or or shortch changing not only uh this community, but more importantly our students. And we really need to pay attention to that. I'm excited. Um I think as Miss Ray is about the prospect of a project that uh takes a holistic look at all of the maps buildings and in particular we're going to be able to do things that address technology needs. Um I, you know, uh look at uh uh our classrooms and as we toured the Buffalo building tonight and looking at the what I consider to be postage stamp size screens that students have to look at, it's a challenge for them to learn when the images are so small. We saw that tonight. You know, the PowerPoints that we're trying to read um are nearly impossible. And if you can imagine

154our students having to do that every single day they come to class. This is an opportunity with a project like this to address that. And I also think that the timing of this is important. And if we don't do it now, as we've already discussed to some degree tonight, the cost is just going to increase and we're going to regret that we didn't seize the moment and go after something that's going to be a benefit to our community. So again, Mr. Cedric, thank you. Um, this is I can't think of anything that's more important than what we're doing right now. Thank you, Miss Thomas. Thank you everybody who's here tonight. Thank you. I GI, thank you Mr. Cedric. Um, my fellow board members, I feel the same way. I'm excited to to start talking about

155all these big projects. When I was running for school board, this was a big talking point was the the the dollar amount of the projects we have. And I had a lot of folks saying to me, well, you know, I don't have kids in the district. Why would I care? And the answer to that is one, I don't either. And I still care and so should you. Our community is only as prosperous as its schools, as its teachers. We want people to come back and be engineers from Marquette and teachers from Marquette and doctors from Marquette. And we're not going to have that if there's not a place for their kids to go to school. So, as much as I selfishly want this for my future children, everybody should want this for the community. And

156I'm excited. So, thanks guys. Thank you, Mrs. Maddox. Thank you everybody for hanging out with us this long. It was a lot of information, a lot of a lot of mind-boggling information, big numbers, lots going on. But I I think the big thing that we need to take away is you know this is a critical infrastructure um that we're looking at and it was a state generated study as well as internally generated um I think the fact that we're tackling these issues looking at these issues um is is phenomenal and the leadership that we have here is just awesome. This is a great team. want to thank everybody um everybody that's uh participating and look look forward to uh what's to come this is clip yeah just to reiterate thank you so much that's a

157lot of information and think it might have been too much information I started to kind of glaze over so I had to go back and think and read over um some things lot of confidence in um what you bring to the table. I uh your reputation as a teacher is in four different districts around the state and you do of course strong reputation for what you do. So I appreciate you being here. Thank you for our speaker tonight that that Thank you. That was uh the information. I really appreciate it. Thank you Mr. Regal and Bwell. Lots of good stuff. Um yeah, thanks for uh being here everybody. Mr. Thank you. Missouri. Um I loved uh hearing the presentation uh on the camp, but more importantly the culture you all are building here and to

158take the to acknowledge and the accountability that uh we have an problem here that is not getting addressed and why is that? And you know, we all know the junior high ears are the hardest and the bullying does happen. And so, um, but you're not hearing about it. And the fact that you all are implementing this and and seeing change, um, that's just exciting and really encouraging. Um, I think junior high kids need more time away from their devices as well as an environment where they felt feel safe and heard and that there's a system in place for them to be able to address these things and learn. It's it's, you know, social learning 101. Um, and thank you for coming. That was new information for me and I appreciate you waiting. Um, yes, I'm

159very excited about um the prospect of giving our schools, our community, our kids, our teachers the respect and the um schools that that they deserve. I mean, it's it's really exciting stuff. It's um challenging because it's a a big nut, but um and a lot of money, but we know that you get in front of it now, it's just going to make things a lot more affordable and less expensive down the road. So, I do feel like it's being fiscally responsible that we're looking at this now and doing this now. Um so, but um it's going to be challenging. So, I'm glad we have a great team. Thank you both for all your work there and encourage your support. Thank you all. Thank you. Uh moving on to board president comments. Um thank you so

160much for having us. Um it's always great to hear what's going on in in the schools and in the district. Um as someone who went to Bay Club, it's also one of my favorites. Um, and it is something that I will always remember about being part of Market Area Public Schools is going to Bethl. Um, so I think it's fantastic that it's been going on for 53 years and I hope that we keep it going for 53 more. Um, and thank you guys so much for the presentation and for, you know, being such great resources and thank you Zach and Jim for all your hard work. Um, you know, it it would be wonderful if you know when the state uh did the $100 million or did the the project and found that we are

161$100 million short on critical need projects that that would also come with the funding to fix it. Um, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case. And so now we're having to explore options um to still get the work done, make sure that our students are our staff and our community are are in in safe and functioning buildings. Um so I appreciate everyone's hard work with all of that and I look forward to hearing more over the next few months year um and seeing what we can do. Uh moving on to announcements and other meetings. Uh May 20th is the Lotus Scholarship Awards in the MSHs gym at 6:30. May 21st, Kaufman Awards at Coffman Auditorium at 7:00 p.m. May 23rd, last day for seniors. Oh goodness. Uh May 26th, Memorial Day, no school.

162May 28th, uh the alternative high school graduation in Kaufman Auditorium at 5:30. May 30th, uh, MSHs graduation at a football field at 6 PM. June 2nd, special meeting, celebration of retirees, teachers of the year, and support staff person of the year in the library at the high school at 4:30. June 9th through 11, uh, 9th through 12th, early release. June 12th, last day of school, half day for all students. in June 23rd. Oh, that'll be another fun one. Uh, budget hearing and regular board meeting at the MSHs library at 5:30. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to adjourn. Second. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Zunix, support by Mrs. Clip. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion passes.