Richmond Community Schools Board of Education Meeting on May 11, 2026

001stand for the pledge of allegiance 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. >> See, if you can please read our mission and vision statement and take role. >> Sure. Our mission statement is at Richmond Community Schools, we provide a quality education that empowers students to be successful in the global community. And our vision statement is to foster a cult I'm sorry to foster a culture of academic excellence, creativity, character, ensuring that all students are prepared for success in an everchanging world. And I'll do roll call. Uh board member Telto >> here. >> Board member Gillis >> here. >> Board member Cunningham >> here. >> Board member Michon >> here. Board member Styers absent with

002notice. I board member Fortune here. Board member Sutton >> here. >> Okay, we have a quorum. And then we also have our two um student representatives here with us tonight. Elizabeth Schaefer and Council McName. >> Thank you. I'm looking for a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. >> Support. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. I'm looking for a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Support. >> Thank you. Any discussion? >> I just have uh one question. Uh there was a question um that uh on the personnel report that a employee asked. I think it was Dr. L. I'm just wondering if the question was addressed answered. I think it was an HR question actually. >> That's the question. >> I think

003uh Dr. L on the letter that we have in the backup documentation. There was a I just wanted to make sure that it was addressed. That's all. >> I'm not sure which question. I'm sorry. >> Okay, that's okay. Well, can we check into it and just get back with us, please? >> Thank you. Any other discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. At this time, we will have our first presentation, our class of 2026 top 10. Miss Sable, you're on. Okay. Thank you for joining us this evening. I don't know how did did you guys want to >> do we go up there line up? I was going to say I think that's how we usually Yeah. What about the clicker? Thank you for joining us this evening. Um we

004are going to be repres recognizing our class of 2026 top 10 students. Um this evening we will be going in reverse order. Um and I will be sharing a little bit of information. This is like hard cuz I'm not looking at anyone. I'm going to do this. >> I was going to say yeah. I think we'll do it this way. I know it's weird. I'm the only person with my back to the group. Um, starting off we have Gwen McCle who I'm going to ask her and her parents Clifford and Brandy to come to the front. Gwen had a grade point average of a 4.03. She plans to study astronomy and astrophysics at Central Michigan University next year. She participated in the astronomy event at Science Olympiad. She spends her time doing community service and

005also has a part-time job at Target. Congratulations, Wland. I don't know. Do you want to shake in a sandwich? >> Well, you guys shake hands. Let's just get you ready for graduation. >> Yes. Next up, we have Jaden Kazowski, who is joining us this evening with her parents, Michael and Nicole. She also has a grade point average of 4.03. She will be attending Western University, which is in Ontario, Canada, and studying secondary English next year. Jaden participated in theater for the past four years. She was a three-year member of track and cross country serving as captain in her senior year and also as a member of National Honor Society. Congratulations, Jaden. Sorry, we're adding as we go here. There we go. Okay, next up we have Adrina Nater with her parents, John and Julie Nater.

006Adrina had a grade point average of 4.034. Yeah, you guys will come on up. Um, she Adriana Lancers attend Mcome Community College and study elementary education. She was a four-year member of the basketball team, a two-year member of the varsity softball team. She was on the varsity softball 2005 state championship team. She also was on the golf team for the past two years. She's in SAD, Students Against Destructive Decisions, National Honor Society, and Green Club. Congratulations, Audina. Thank you. Next up is Michaela Starns who's joining us this evening with her parents Jason and Kristen. She had a grade point average of 4.05 and plans to study nursing at Mcome Community College. Michaela was a member of the BWAC all academic team was a member of the varsity volleyball tennis and powerlifting. She was a member

007of students against destructive decisions. the student athletic advisory council and then also a member of national honor society. Congratulations Michaela. Next up is Grace Manowski and she is joining us this evening with her parents, John and Amy Manowski. She had a grade point average of 4.088 and plans to study human biology at Michigan State University next year. Grace was Miss Richmond 2025, is an Eagle Scout, a two-year captain for the tennis team, which she's been a member of for four years. She was a member of the BWAC all academic team, the Mcome County Allademic Team, Greenplum National Honor Society, I was trying to go by memory, and also students against destructive decisions. Congratulations, Grace. Thank you. Next up is Taylor Twight and her parents Jim and Shelly Twy. Taylor had a grade point average of

0084.098 098 and is undecided but attending Mcome Community College. Taylor is a two-year member of the golf team. She was a member of the state championship softball team, participated in national honor society students against destructive decisions. She was a secondyear culinary or she was part of the secondyear culinary leadership team and also a member of green club. Congratulations Taylor. Pizza for sure. >> Next up is Payton Caposo and her parents, Scott and Jessica. Payton had a 4.11 grade point average and is attending Oakland Community College next year, where she's undecided, but is going to play softball in college. She was a member of National Honor Society, the green club, the student athletic advisory council, and also the students against destructive decisions. She was a member of the golf team, volleyball, softball, and also powerlifting. Congratulations,

009Kate. Next up is Ava Whitmer with her parents Mark and Carrie. Ava had a grade point average of 4.14 and plans to attend Ferris State University for dental hygiene. She was a four-year member of the competitive cheer team as well as is on the tennis team, a member of National Honor Society, and also DECA. Congratulations, Ava. Next, we have Alexis Cisco, who's joining us this evening with her parents, Paul and Aaron. Alexis had a grade point average of 4.163, will be attending the University of Michigan to study elementary education. Alexis was a member of the BWAC all academic team, is a competitive dancer and also a member of honors corral. She's part of green club national honor society student government and also as a member of we the people. Congratulations, baby. And last up, we

010have Lucy Hitzelberger that's joining us this evening with her parents, Robert and Ann Marie. Lucy had a grade point average of 4.167 and plans to study nursing at Oakland University. Lucy was president of National Honor Society, a member of the tennis team, student government, and also students against destructive decisions. Congratulations, Lucy. picture say did you guys do a picture? >> We'd like to if our top 10 could meet the board over there in our take a picture please. I don't think Think about it. I did just want to say as in kind of the closing to this presentation um if you didn't notice this was our first well for my time here all female um 10 top 10 um we also I was looking um with Miss Honey ahead of time for the top 14

011had over I believe a 4.0 0. Um, and so we definitely had a very competitive class of 2026. And I did add to her that this was the first group that came in as freshmen during my first year. And I remember some of these same students after their first semester talking about this event right here. We had the conversations. I don't know if you guys remember them as much as I do, but I remember thinking, "Wow, they're already thinking about where they plan to be in four years." So, it's always nice seeing um those dreams and those, you know, those desires accomplished. And so thank you to all the students. Um not only the students but the families, the teachers, administrators, like literally so many people impact these students as we saw this evening at

012the celebration. Whether it was a family member or a dance coach that turned into a member of the family or a kindergarten teacher that was honored this evening, everyone does have an impact on every student that they come across. And so just be mindful of that. Um we want to make sure that um all students know that they belong and that everyone here is here to support them. So thank you and power to the women. Yeah. >> Cynthia, you didn't hear from I don't see cuz I don't see Kelly in there. >> We got a game or something going on. >> Okay, next item on our agenda was the um proposed overnight extended trip request for Franklin. I'll make a motion to table that item to our next board meeting on May 26. >> Do

013I have a second? >> Any discussion? >> Let's just make sure they're here. >> I know. I'm I'm double checking to make sure. >> No, they're not here. Let's just make sure they're here next time. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. We'll be tableabling that item B on our agenda. Um, title one presentation. This would be Mrs. Mangon. There should be a clicker up there hiding for you. Thank you. All right. Good evening. Less pressure. The crowd left. Um, I've seen a lot of um of you guys this last couple weeks and I just want to thank you because this we didn't plan on it but I heard a lot of you talk about that you're proud of the programs in Richmond and that was a lot about what you

014spoke on and then this was the um this was the presentation that we wanted to bring to you prior to that. So I'm pretty excited. I have the people that really are um the ones on the ground doing it. So I have Mrs. Basil with me and Mr. Pedry who run the Title One program. I'm going to give you a summary of what we do at Lee and then they're going to um take it over and tell you um what they do. So this is small groupoup learning. You can see the picture of Mr. Pedry. This is really that's this year. This is exactly what it looks like. So research says that the sweet spot is about four to five students in a small group for that intervention learning. This is on top of their

015regular classroom instruction. So that's just a little visual for you. Um, I'm going to start with some research because I think it's important that anytime we're looking at programming for students that we make sure that research is telling us that it's what students need. So, did you know that it takes four times longer to intervene in fourth grade than in late kindergarten? You can probably imagine, but the sooner the better. So, that's why we're here to talk about early intervention. I won't bore you with um with the research, but I did want to read one because I think it's very powerful. Um, it's from the National Reading Board. It's the middle um excerpt there. It says early intervention work supports tier systems of support where instruction becomes more intensive based on the student needs. So

016this is our tier 2 system. So we have the tier one. If we can perfect that, we typically don't need the tier 2, but when we do, then we are here to assist. Um some of the impact on the school and the community. So this is again researchbased. Um higher student achievement and growth and outcomes. When you do early intervention, there's more effective use of our resources and instructional time. So, as students can become proficient, we don't use as many of these resources. And then the long-term benefit is that it increases the graduation rate and workforce readiness, which is very important. So, what do we do at Lee Elementary? So, just to give you a little road map. So the first thing that we do, we have 500 students in front of us, K3, and

017we have to decide who's what students need what and how do we decide. So we have a multi-tiered criteria system. You can see there in the pink, we talk a little bit about some of the data points we use. So we use NWA, teacher input, beginning of year assessments, ESGI that we'll get into, and then DRRA. So I guess what we're trying to say is we use a lot of different um data points. You can't just use one. you need to look at kind of a multi-ter of that. And then after that, we decide what students are going to be um pushed in model. So these folks behind me go into the classroom, kindergarten and first grade for 1 hour every single day, Monday through Thursday, and they do push in instruction. So as you

018can imagine, if they're having a hard time with their tier one instruction and what the teacher is doing, they're in the back of the room giving them that extra push, that extra support, and that extra time, which is huge. um because again we're trying to make sure that they are not falling through the cracks. So that is what our pushin model looks like and then we do a full pull um pull out model. So you will see after that one hour is done you will see Mrs. Basil and Mr. Pedry in the hallway um they pull out students out of every classroom based on the criteria and they take them to the intervention room where they're working on the skills that they need. So again this is like scaffolding. So, as you know, um, if

019a student's struggling with multiplication, then we need to scaffold back and make sure that they know repeated addition. If they're struggling with long division, they probably need some help with some some subtraction and also multiplication. So, we're constantly trying to be the surgeons and we're trying to dig deep and see what they need to help their success and proficiency. Um, our progress monitoring. So, now we've identified the students, we're working with the students. Now, what so this is really about um the progress monitoring. So, in elementary schools, it's absolutely critical and really everywhere to have that continuous loop of feedback. So, um Mr. Pedri is handing out one of our um progress monitoring tools that we started this year. It's called ESGI. You're going to notice that if you're a parent, if you can kind

020of think about being a parent and receiving this, because they do receive it, um it's very easy to read and it's very easy for parents to support their child um in that sense because on the left hand side it's going to show you all of the phonics that they worked on in the math skills and on the right it tells you exactly what they need. So there's kind of um you know no confusion there so everybody can be a part of that. Um progress monitoring happens every other Friday so twice a month. So, we're constantly being fluid. The point really is is that if a student enters our intervention title one program, the goal is really to have them come out of the program and and get to proficiency. Um, so we progress monitor every

021two weeks. It's a fluid program. So, some students start in title one and then um they get released and then we add more students in. So, that's kind of the fluidness um for that piece. And this is a picture again of Mr. Pedri and Miss Basil in their works of everyday. and I'm going to let them talk about what they do. >> I hope you don't mind. I have a letter for you. It's just a little just an overview. Um I wanted to read you. So just good evening board members, administrators, and all of the members of the Richmond Schools community. My name is Jennifer Basil. I'm your title one teacher at Lee Elementary. Mr. Pedrick is our title one intervention specialist, and together we make that team at Lee. Um to begin, I want

022to thank you for the opportunity to be a part of the original schools. Um to me, it's a gift. Honestly, I was for many years I taught in a general education classroom. Now I get to teach title one and I get to see it through a different lens and it's honestly you think after 30 years of teaching you can see all you can and really it's now that I'm really seeing and getting to know kids at a different level. Um title one plays a critical role in improving student achievement in both reading and mathematics. Um the foundational skills are essential for success in every subject area and for future opportunities that lie beyond the classroom. Through targeted support, our small goal instruction, our ESGI progress monitoring and individualized learning strategies, Title One helps close learning

023gaps and ensure students have access to the tools they need to succeed. Parent involvement through this process is essential. Parents are informed weekly of their child's progress through a Remind app that we have. a parent teacher communication app that we keep in contact with through weekly books sent home requiring a parent log to keep track of their reading progress at home. Copies of the progress monitoring reports in reading and math that are sent home bi-weekly. Uh fall and winter conferences um we invite them to to discuss their child's progress. Um I also have been asked to join several conferences with teachers in the general ed classroom just to share what I'm doing with the parents as well. Uh we give um additional resources in reading and math for them to use at home for practice.

024We also give a monthly newsletter outlining the month's events and the family events we do. We just did a family game night in March for our title one students and our EL students. Um I also want to note how important it is and how title one goes far beyond the academic growth. One of the most powerful outcomes is the effect it has on our students self-esteem. Uh many students who receive titlement services experience frustration or discouragement in their learning and with additional support and encouragement and personal attention they begin to see themselves as capable learners. Their con their confidence grows and they begin to take the academic risk that we would like them to start taking. When students feel successful, it changes also how they feel about school. And they love seeing Mr. Pedri and

025I come down the hall again. They can't wait and they say, "Is it time yet? Is it time yet?" It's very rewarding as a teacher to hear that. Um, continued support for this program is an investment in both academic achievement and the overall well-being of our students. And so, we thank you for your commitment to allowing us to continue this program enrichment. And just to take it a little bit further with the uh progress monitoring that we do, it's an excellent tool. It's actually an educational software. It guides instruction. And what we do when we look at our kids that come to us based on their MWA scores, as Mrs. President mentioned with the DRA and the teacher input, we look at those scores and we gather the students that we'll be servicing and then

026we do I call it a digging deeper assessment. We do the ESGI assessment that you're looking at. That's just an example and that would be pretty much targeted as a at a first grade level for what we pull out. It's based on uh standards, power standards that we pull out that we feel are essential. and we assess them to look for gaps um to help them not only in their classroom but also to fill in to make them feel successful when they're taking tests because it's inevitable like the MWA and MSTEP 2. So these reports are really helpful because if you look on one side it's exactly what they know and then on the other side it's what they still need to know. And when parents receive this, it's not only teacher friendly and we

027can choose from a bank of a thousand different assessments or create our own, but parents also have access to knowing how they can help their child at home. And oftentimes they'll say, "When are you going to assess them again?" We've been working on these skills at home and we'd like to see if they progress. So, it's something we do all the time. We provide them with um you know the reports twice monthly. We do reading twice a month and math twice a month. So they're always updating on what their child children are procrastinating to which is nice for them to be able to understand and interpret that. And we just have a little data we'd like to show you um because of course it's really back to that we progress monitor. We have students in

028front of us. We use the resources and the programming and you know the budget dollars for this and so we need to make sure that it's u making its mark. So this is NWA math and reading that was just taken here in the spring. So just a few weeks ago, so it's very recent data. Um we um looked at students in title one and we did a average of the score of a student. So if you look at the kindergarten student that came in beginning of year at about a 135 RIT range, RIT score and then we went ahead middle of year. So that happens in about December. That was our second one and they're at 149. And then if you look at the end of the year kindergarten math, they've grown to the 158.

029So it gives us a snapshot and tells us that what we're doing is working. Um, and then if you go ahead and look at the right hand side, we have the reading NWA. So again, students on average started at a 133 and then ended at a 151. So that's about a grade level and a half of growth in that amount of time, which is incredible. Closing the gap so that way when they send them to the next grade level, they're feeling good about their learning and ready to tackle those next standards. Not a lot of time to waste in these levels. So in first grade um they started in math at the 141 range on average and then grew to 166. So that's 25 um skill levels and points that they grew. And then if

030you look on the right hand side for reading they started at the 138 and then they gained knowledge up to 158. So we're really pleased so far. And then we have second grade. Sorry to be repetitive. Um, this was our highest growth out of all of the grade levels, which is incredible because second grade it gets a little bit trickier with what they need to know and it continues to compile and the skills get just a little harder. So, they started at a 160 range and then they grew to 189. And then in reading, they started at a 155 and grew to the 171. And lastly, our third grade students um came in on average at 182 in math, grew to the 200. So that's plus 18 and then third grade started at 161 for

031reading and ended at 182. So you can see that it's very equitable for growth amongst grade levels. So that's important that we're putting the right things in front of children. So we would want to take a look at this and go, okay, kindergarten students are making a lot of growth, but our second grade students are not. And what are we missing? And so with this, we're seeing that on average, they're making the gates that we're looking for them to and then that's showing up in our MSTEPS as well. So we're pretty excited. >> Any questions? >> I do. >> Um just quickly, um in terms of the ISD, um are they supporting any of this, whether it's tools or any systems that you're using? Um and how are they helping out financially with any of

032this or support systems, right? with this particular program. This is um grant funded. This is federal funding for title one. Yeah. At the ISD, we do have the reading um intervention um coach that is paid for by the ISD and she's um Dina Jlowski is who she is and she's a large support to this group and to what they're doing. So there's a lot of conversation. So, when you look at those um systems of support, when we look at our um grading coach, if we have a student that we're looking and seeing they're not making the gains that we need them to, something might be going on, we meet as a child study team and she would come to that along with this group to talk about what interventions do we need to continue to

033work on. Is it a tier one issue? Do we need to support the teacher and their instruction that they're giving the students? So, that's where that would come into play. Is that the role you're maybe thinking of? thinking whether it's additional, you know, training, train the trainer, you know, >> so what she's going to be working on coming in the fall is we know like the highest effect size on kids' vocabulary. if we can do explicit instruction and vocabulary that helps students with complex text. And so, Mr. Jlowski is currently in the fall going to be working on um teaching our our teachers, which is this group as well, on um vocabulary and getting that in front of children more and how do we get them to be more proficient in vocabulary so they can

034come across this text because we're finding out students don't have the vocab they need to be able to, you know, um retain and comprehend because they're too, you know, I don't say busy trying to figure out the meaning of the word. So that's how she would support. She's also doing a book study which this team will be a part of. Um so there's a lot of intertwining going on there with a lot of teaching our teachers. >> Thank you. >> Are most of our Heidi do most of the um do many of our title one students that are receiving services are were they the ones that would be coming to the summer summer school program too? >> Yes. Y be another place that the ISD supports because they provide all of the U materials and

035content that and train our teachers for that summer program. So that's another piece where this group kind of gets looped in as well. Okay. >> Yeah, thank you for that reminder. One question I had too, um the data on these slides, is this all of kindergarten, all of first grade or is this just the title one kiddos? >> Just the title one students. Yep. Yep. So we want to I mean classroom instruction is huge. I'm glad you asked that. We we do a really great job at tracking that. I come in October every year and we do that whole data presentation, but we wanted to make sure we're not missing the you know the board is supporting this program. So, we want to make sure that we're not just for that reason, but we want

036to make sure we're looking at this group of students and are they making the gains too and being really specific. Um, but I am happy to tell you that the rest we have the data back from um NWA for um all of the other students and we've seen some really really great growth. So, we're impressed. But I'll be back in October to talk about that. Unless you really want to come visit me and I'd love to talk about it for a long time. >> Anyone have any other questions? >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item on our agenda is our foreign exchange student commencement participation discussion. Um I know everybody has seen the emails uh and everything. Is there any discussion or do we need to have a discussion or

037we will be voting on it later? Okay, no discussion. We're going to move on. Our next item is our fiscal year 2026 27 budget discussion. Okay. Um, so this is this sheet is just uh going to be a review of last the last couple meetings. Um, so we haven't added anything to this one, but just to kind of keep it in our forefront as we continue today's conversation with a couple of uh new pieces of information. Um so again keeping in mind we do have those projected proposals for the house and senate um which as far as the per pupil allowance is the same as the governor's proposal. So just as a reminder we do see that but kind of keeping an eye on scroll down that bottom line uh as far as where we

038would be as a district even with those increases. we would still be in the red if we, you know, didn't make some additional changes and and make some additional decisions. And again, keeping in mind these numbers that we see here, that 277 under that was looking at if we took out all those different pieces that we've talked about the last few meetings. Um, so again, that number does include those um potential reductions or places where we could potentially cut if we chose to go that direction. Um, so I'm going to, um, I've asked Miss Shad to put together a couple of pie charts that kind of look at our overall budget and where different pieces are being spent, where we're spending the majority of our money um, each year and as we prepare to go

039into this budget. So we can kind of, to me, I think it gives us a better idea of where we have more money, we have potentially more ability to, you know, cut in that area. some things that we are already spending a very small percentage of our overall budget um for the district on. As you can imagine, that would be a harder place to cut from if it's already a very small amount of money. Um so, we're going to look at some of those pieces to drill down into where the board would feel comfortable with focusing on cuts so we can finalize this budget. I'm not sure if they came up in the same order as you have. So, if you need me to switch to another one, just let me know. >> That was

040that's perfect. Okay. Um, just to let you know, our total expenditures, a lot of times people ask, why do we always get personnel? Looking at this chart, you can see salaries are 48% of our budgeted expenditures and benefits are 32%. So that's 80%. We're a people industry. Um, you know, we buy things, but most of it is people standing in front of students and working with students to bring them instruction. So 80% of our budget is paying benefits. The next largest portion is purchase services and then we have some supplies. We have some other expenses but as you can see that big piece of that pie is salaries and benefits of staff. So that's why when you talk about programs it always involves people. So to break it down that's total. Okay. So this is

041another look at total expenditures. You can kind of pie in many different ways. So the last one was object like object what is it how are we putting our what are we buying with our money this is for what purpose are we buying our spending our money so most of it 55% is instructional programs that means all of our elementary high school middle school special ed um title needs all of that is called instructional programs and that's 55% of our budget and you'd expect that to be a big chunk um the next biggest item is supporting services that 42% % that includes all of our speech, psychological, um social work. It includes media center um anything that's you know we're still working with students but we're supporting them. It also includes board of education um

042principal's office, superintendent's office, business office, transportation department, custodial and maintenance, technology. All of those are considered support services. we're only needed because we have students that we're trying to, you know, teach and and help advance um to college or whatever they do with their lives. Um we have a little bit of outgoing transfers. We have some community services that's primarily um our childare program and things that we do to train parents. So we have those title one engagement nights or those ELLL engagement nights that goes under community services. And then we have a little bit of facilities acquisition, but you can see it's about 0%. Um the outgoing transfers the majority of that is where we are moving that money from the general fund into the set aside for future capital projects like redoing the

043turf new computers that type. >> Y so when you if you think back to that first slide and you purchase services this is how we break down purchase services. So the largest part of it is professional and technical services and there's a lot under that umbrella. The largest chunks are our substitute teachers are under purchase services because we purchase their time through our edge staff. And then we have contracted CTE teachers that we have um city of Richmond, the Richmond Lennox um ambulance service and then the AIS group we contract. We also have the TV and broadcasting. Um so we have all those as CT teachers. um any staff professional development where we pay for them to go to workshops or conferences or we bring a speaker in all goes under those professional technical our

044speech um right now we have a contract because we have a need to have more students so we have a contracted service for portion of our speech services and our psychological services we have a bilingual program that we purchase through MCM ISD that's included in there um our red rover software system that we purchase for tracking our um absences Our superintendent search costs are in there. Election and text collection expenditures are in there. Of course, legal and audit would be considered professional. Our liaison officer is in there and athletic officials is in there. So, that's that 41%. There's a lot of things in there. Um, next largest one is communication services. And communication includes our mailing and postage for everything we send out. Um, our telephone service and a lot of the biggest chunk is

045software licenses. We have a lot of software licenses whether it's for in the classroom for supporting the technology services whatever that might be. The next largest group under purchase services is repairs and maintenance. That includes our building and grounds. It includes equipment. It includes pling the anything that we need to repair our copier costs. Um that when we have copier that breaks down or to run it, that's what where that goes under um under that repairs and maintenance. Then we have the tuition expense and tuition. We pay tuition mostly for dual enrollment. Um and that's the Mcome and St. Clair County Community Colleges. Um we also have some tuition for international academy. Um but that is actually under a different box. So just ignore that. That goes under transfer payments to Mcome I guess to

046another district in Mcome County. Um then we have our fleet property and liability insurance costs. That's about 7% of our budget. Also 7% is our utility services and our utility services. Um if you think of water and sew service, our waste disposal services and then when we have a company come into our lawn care and snow removal all goes under those utility services. That's about it. We have advertising and printing and that's pretty obvious. We pay for advertising. We pay for things to be printed. We're printing um flyers. anything like that goes under advertising and printing. Those are all of our purchased services. So you can see there are some things in there we have discretion and a lot of things we don't have a lot of discretion even with that piece of the body.

047>> Tammy real quick on the dual enrollment piece. >> Do we get reimbursed for the state for that from that or >> the students are considered our students? So it's part of the per pupil. So their time doing dual enrollment and there's a formula that we follow and it's based on the average per pupil foundation and based on how many hours a day that we have you know students in class it tells us what our cap is thankfully because our students are in the Mcome or St. Clair County attendance areas the the amount is the tuition cost is lower than it could be if they were non-resident >> so we're taking part of their their 10,000 whatever 5050 >> and it's going to the college. >> Yes. But it's a formula. >> It's a formula

048based on the state. It's everybody uses the same formula. So it's not something we can change. It's on the state website and you fill in our information and that tells us how much we can pay and and it it covers you know like if you take one class, we take two classes. So that you know the amount doubles if you're taking two classes that and we don't always hit the maximum but the maximum includes the tuition and fees and any books. So, as long as we're staying under those maximums, um, we're, you know, we're doing what our part is to make sure this gets to our college. >> Thank you. >> So, when they say free college for everyone, that's not >> it's taking our per pupil. That's a big thing for people to know.

049That's huge. >> So, we do pay a tuition. We get a bill twice a year. One for the winter or fall semester, one for the winter semester, and we get it from the two colleges, the community colleges. And then the kids also have an early college home option um that can pay the tuition for that as well. >> Tammy, where does where does fuel >> Yeah. >> cost come in? >> That's a supply. >> That's right. I think since you did say purchase services for questions on purchase services and we'll move on to supplies. Um supplies are kind of dependent. You see a lot of pieces of pie are very similar in size. We have our teaching supplies which is anything that the students use have their hands on in the classroom. Um it can

050be a pencil, it can be a calculator, it can be uh paper, whatever it is they need in the classroom and you guys have been doing a lot there to um provide those things for the students. It also includes textbooks. So when we have a textbook purchase, it's a book that goes under supplies. Um the next largest group is 27% of is energy supplies and that includes our gas to heat the buildings or electricity to run our lights as well as like the fuel to put in our buses. Then we have transportation supplies and that's a lot of things they use in the shop like the repair parts um shop supplies um that was biggest part of transportation supplies. Other supplies includes um custodial supplies, the paper, the cleaning products, um all of all that

051they need custodial services. Um it includes some GSRP supplies go there because they're not necessarily um things that students use in the classroom for instruction, but they're other supplies that we need. So if we're buying something to put on the playground, it can go under those other supplies. And then when we're printing our um bond information and we get flyers, some of that goes under supplies as well. I could start doing numbers. Where did you say fuel? Was it energy or transportation? >> Energy supplies. That's what I thought. I wrote it in the wrong spot. Thank you. Any other questions on again you see a lot of pieces of the pie and the idea for presenting this is to understand where we have room to make cut. So when you look at energy supplies we

052don't have a lot of options there. We have to heat the buildings. We have to you know light the buildings. Um we have to have fuel in our buses. when we're looking at energy costs, you know, if we can say we can dial the thermostat down. Um, in the winter months, we can put it up to run the air conditioning, but it also depends on what the temperatures are doing outside. So, inside, you know, we can set it to a certain temperature, but if it's our last, you know, January was really cold. It takes a lot of energy to get those buildings up to a comfortable level. And then we have it left supplies in there as well. And that includes their uniforms, includes the basketballs, the baseballs, tennis balls, whatever they need to run

053the athletics. And we do have a little bit for this library books. We talked about that. Um, again, trying to to figure out what is discretionary that we can look at to reduce. Um there's just a lot of those pieces of pie and those wedges just get they're not real big when you look at the big picture and they're bigger on here but again some of them still are very much a little bit out of and then we have some other um purchases. Um the biggest part of that 81% is what we set aside for our um money for future projects. So we have the the non-bound capital projects transferred from the general fund in there. Um then we have some payments to other districts and this is where the International Academy of Mcome payment

054is is in that 8% on this chart. Um then we have taxes abaded. So if um someone if we're someone pays taxes and then we find out that oh that should have been a residence and so that we have to pay that money back it goes under taxes abated. Um athletic tournament fees go under there at 2% dues and fees. that's kind of discretionary to what we pay dues and fees to, but we have to have some dues and fees as well. And then there's miscellaneous items in that as well, but not a big chunk of money. Question on that. >> You said the I'm sorry. >> You said the um I I what's the program >> comes out of here, right? >> Yes. That's that 8% in the gray. So if we if we

055don't have any students in the in our district going that doesn't go out. >> Correct. And some years we've had two or three some years we have one. So it just varies >> you know how gets accepted in the program how many spots they have in our district. >> Okay. So then my question is in line with that too. Remind me, Billy. Um, we're we're under contract with them, right? >> With International Academy, >> with the with the ISD for letting our students go there, right? An agreement, right? >> And the agreement doesn't cost us anything. It's just when kids go there, that's where Cor should be part of that, if you will. And then is that and I'm sorry that I don't remember but is it an agreement that we sign every year or

056is it once you sign you're in until you get out? I can't remember. >> I don't recall seeing that come through annually. I would have to double check. >> Yeah, I'm thinking >> when you signed up for it, you're in or until you decide you don't want to. I think that's how much Just curious. Do we know how much is coming out of the district anyway for a student? If a student's here and it goes to that program, how much And I don't remember how much that we're you know I don't know the answer to that offer but we we can get that for you. I'm just curious how much again just like dual enrollment >> you know how much is again so their portion so we get that 10,50 >> so if they're going

057to the am that portion's going out of there >> to pay for those instructors we're we're paying for the teachers >> right >> is what that what that money that's >> I'm just curious I I'd be curious to know how much >> Tammy when you get a chance and this is just more of a curiosity how much are we paying out for dual enrollment? How much are we paying out for the AM? Just a per pupil. >> Okay. And you want to know about the college and >> please just just to I'm just I'm more curious than anything else as far as you know how much are we losing out of our >> well and not only that but as a parent who just enrolled my daughter into the early college just two weeks ago.

058I mean, is there something I could do to apply from them so we could get more reimbursement somehow someway? A grant that I could do as a parent that would supplement back to her her pupil here or I mean, >> yeah, I haven't heard of anything, you know, they they base they bill us based on, you know, the total cost to one of those programs or if it's a tuition tuition. >> Yeah. to do the jewelry. >> I remember seeing on the line item it was a few thousand dollar. >> It's a big chunk and again it depends. It's based on how many students go and in the case of the early college how many classes they take and right investment. >> But would we really want to cut dual moment? >> No. No. I'm

059not asking cut it. I'm curious. No, no, no. I'm just curious on the numbers. Okay. >> When we talk the budget that comes out of you know what we get out of the state. >> Well, I guess >> that really like like kind of just >> it can be a large number. >> Exactly. Let's see. So, let's say we have a student who goes what class at the college. >> How much is going out versus what is staying for us for the other what four classes they have here. >> Just I just >> or if there is something that the parent can apply for all. Just curious >> where I was coming from on the AF is it's a it's not a steady number all the time. So what is it going to cost us

060next year? What what students have been accepted? That's where I'm coming from on how many >> how and that's why I I'm pretty sure you just >> when you and we've been part of this for many years. I think once you sign in you're in until you don't. >> But the we're paying for the the teachers. So our kids go. So I just want to know next year how much is do we know that it's nothing that students not no cutting. >> I guess for me the hard part about this format is not having numbers attached to it. It's hard if we're looking at things to cut. Seeing this in a silo by itself with nothing supporting it. I can't say cut from this pie or that piece of the pie because I there's nothing

061attached to >> and and it really wasn't to to make you make that decision and I it was more just to inform you that you know we have options but we don't have not everything is an option and you know like dual enrollment I don't think that's really an option you know you look at international academy home probably not an option so my point was not it's not an option but if we don't have anybody >> nobody then whatever is That piece is Yes, it can be used. That's where my question was coming from. You're right. It's not We're part of it until we decide that we don't want to do it, >> but we're part of it. I'm just saying what's it going to cost us next year? We've got this >> and it

062does fluctuate. You know, some years it's a some years it's a $60,000 number and some years it's a $30,000 number and it depends. And the same with dual enrollment. Sometimes it's 250,000, sometimes it's 170,000. So when you budget every year, do you want to It's hard to It's hard to plan the budget and let that number keep fluctuating. So you kind of put in, you know, this is kind of where we've been in that ballpark, knowing it could go up or down, you know, because if you you put in 150,000 and then it's 200,000 and then you're looking at, oh, we have $50,000 that we're short in this budget line. How do we handle that? And so maybe maybe the average of the last several years is how we've been doing it. Looking at what

063the average has been rather than you know this year or that year because we do have some dips and we have some highs. It's just trying to trying to find what is most recent. >> Right. When do you know when that's what I was going to ask? >> International Academy we found out I I know which students have been uh approved for this year. um a couple month or so ago I believe it was two additional I don't know that we know how much that's going to cost us well >> will we or is that does that figure >> increase based on >> we can get a ballpark based on what we paid this year >> but it'll change based on contract >> maybe with the per pupil but if per pupil but if there's

064two students then you know >> it's a better thing is this that spending it when actually we may not be spending. That's just where it was. >> I think for me the scary part is that we're getting close to needing to make some decisions and I still don't feel like maybe the budget presentation isn't done today, so maybe we're still getting there, but I still feel like I'm lacking >> areas that we can cut and what that looks like. And I know we've been asking every meeting, but I still feel like I'm missing that. >> It can be a long discussion. So my question to you is is this something we should be meeting to have a night of discussion on or is this something you know we want to continue with this format and

065just present as much as we can to you. That's always my question. >> I feel like for me the questions we've already asked for months we're not getting the answers to those questions. >> No answers to my questions yet. >> No and I feel like that's >> and the same information that Billy started with tonight is what we've seen for months. >> Yeah. That's because that's, you know, that the reason you keep seeing it is because when we're meeting with the principles >> and talking with them about what areas >> they feel they, you know, would be the least painless, >> but I think it's more of a for me it's a description of what that is. And I keep asking what does this person do? What does this position do? What would we be

066losing if we condense social workers? And I'm just not getting that substance. >> Correct. We're not getting it. And what you're talking about, you're meeting with administrators. Yep. that's what you're doing, but what are those conversations? Because those conversations can impact a lot of things up there. So, yes, whether it's um you know, we're we're getting to the point now, I mean, it's May 11th and we probably should have been having the meetings you're talking about two months ago. So, me, it's got to happen at these meetings and we're asking, we've asked for months specific stuff and we're not getting it. You know, like I I I've got a couple questions and I'll just email them to Billy for for the next time whenever you do it. But there's got to be there's got to

067be more detail. If you're getting conversations with administrators, what are those conversations done? I mean these things that we're adding each time are are the outcomes of those conversations. So as far as you know if I go back here again this was just a pulling back up from last time cuz this we didn't change for this particular meeting. So again you know there were the pieces that we started with in March we met we added things on the 13th we added things on the 27th. So there's different dates as far as when we continue to have those conversations. Um, so when we look at um, you know, I guess >> you want to just go through them now and get the questions or does that make sense? >> I mean, I've already asked the questions.

068>> I would rather have the questions I've already asked specifically for me. I think the last I mean a couple meetings now but uh the security resource officer >> she's got that information >> I am still hoping for something to come that says exactly what is ours are or her whatever what they do what we're projecting like what we're proposing to cut what that would limit how much time in each building what that looks like what their responsibilities are an actual breakdown of the position what it looks like now and what we are proposing if we're going to cut it and what that actually looks like in real time for next year. Per building and responsibilities, the social worker, if we're recommending cutting one, wait, what are they doing now? How are we condensing? And

069who's picking up that slack? Are we missing anything? Does it overload the other social workers? Like in reality, what does it look like? And then I think one of the other recommendations at the last meeting were ideas was um not backfilling to teachers that are retiring. But then I'm saying we just went to the community for a bond saying we have increased enrollment. We're cutting two teachers and we're not replacing them. That doesn't make sense to me. If our enrollment is going up so much so we needed this bond that we shouldn't be cutting teachers and not replacing them. So I don't think that's a sustainable idea based on what I'm being told that our enrollment is going up. I don't think it's sustainable. So why would we project something and I propose something that

070we're just going to have to undo? it's creating this wish list but we don't it's not likely to happen. >> So when we do have enrollment projections for our budget we try to be conservative. I don't want to start the year and say oh you know we we were you know went with a high projection and now we don't have those students or now we have to go and look at cuts. I want to plan for that low and if we get more then we can add positions back. Um, so we have two positions that are being vacated through attrition and so looking at those positions. Do we need to fill them? How could we could we get along without them? If we can, how do we do that? I know they talked about not

071in all those meetings about how the restructuring would look, how it would look like. But there are some, okay, so if this is a Dr. Vlad elective class, someone else may be able to teach that class in their schedule. If we're looking at um shifting someone from here, then someone gets shifted over here. So, it's it's kind of a long process. >> That's kind of what I want you to see a little bit more. >> And then with and then when you're budgeting for facilities, you're budgeting conservatively what that means on the high end. So, you're budgeting for if we have this many kids, do we have a place to put them all? Right? So, you're you're budgeting the opposite direction. And so, that's why you get the two different versions. until we know how

072many kindergarteners and first well kindergarteners primarily we're going to have this fall. It's hard to say we're going to need that fifth grade position, but it really isn't the fifth grade position. That's what's being vacated. So a fourth grade might move up fifth, a an elementary might move up, sorry, move up to fourth and then we would have maybe we don't need as many kindergarten or first. So >> So let me I mean so I can speak to it. So you have you know who not just hypothetically. So, our kindergarten numbers this year are 95. So, you're at about 18 to 19 students in a kindergarten class currently. Moving up to first grade, if we did not um if we took away a first grade section for those 95 students because that's not a very

073large first grade class, our numbers would be about 23 to 24 students in each first grade class. That first grade teacher who's no longer needed in first grade could fill that fifth grade vacancy. Or, like Tam said, it could be some shuffling to make sure we have the right people in the right place. but the smoothest it could potentially be that. So that's where that teacher is no longer necessarily needed based on the numbers that we were told to use. So keeping in mind that's a reduction of 28 students even though our long-term growth that we saw um from our projections is that over years of time we're expecting more students. Again my gut instinct is that probably that number of 28 less students is not going to be reality because just we've seen a

074lot of interest in our kindergarten roundup and those activities. Um so you know again kind of thinking there is a little bit of that doing to undo. So if come July August we hit that okay we have so many kindergarteners enrolling now instead of 28 less students we have five more students than we started this year with. Well then that would be the time we go get that posting out there and rehire that first grade teacher >> which makes sense. But then we wouldn't budget that as a savings because we already anticipate it's not going to come to fruition. Well, we would budget as a savings because we don't know yet and we don't know. We don't, you know, we we're looking at our kindergarten numbers. We're not there yet in what in what we

075have in the hopper, you know, >> and it wouldn't be wrong necessarily to budget that way because if we get those 28 or more students, then that money is coming with them, which should then therefore pay for that teacher. >> Well, and I think I asked last time too, >> how many students does it take to pay for an extra teacher all of their >> So, it depends on the salary, right? So again, we know that if the student comes with a budget of $10,50 right now or potentially 300 next year. So if you hire a first year teacher there with salary benefits is about 60,000 Tammy. >> Well, salary benefits you get you close to 100,000. >> Okay. So right. So that's about 10 students for a teacher, >> right? >> With steps then

076you're you know then you're higher up a little bit more. I guess that's what I'm wondering why we haven't just that stuff hasn't been yet. Well, I know Billy and I had a meeting and we discussed because I wanted to know a little bit more about the admin building and if there was more things that could be taken on or restructured or and just as a something to bring to the table to talk about also. Um, and I don't know if that was in the plan at all for >> I mean if we're looking for savings somewhere, how are we doing? >> I guess my question is how much are we looking for? Well, that's my question. How much are you looking for? >> Oh, yeah. Right here. Over like $600,000. So, what are you?

077>> It's a lot. >> Right now, our budget is in the red. $282,000. 275,000 is what we're in the red for after our first budget amendment in December. We know that we're going to increase that by 225,000 roughly. Um, that's the 27L expenditures we have to add to the budget. There's also we lost 31A revenue. We still have 31A expenditures in our current budget. So, it's a matter of how much how much the net is, you know, how much are we not covering that we're spending. Um, we have some carryover 31A from last year. So, we it's not like we're out of the water that we get nothing. We have some revenue, but it's a matter of how much more we're spending than we're getting revenue. Um, so that's another adjustment we will have. And

078there's just other adjustments that come along. Now power winter was cold. So we know we have to increase our budget for um some of the utilities. So and the price of diesel fuel and gas have gone up for our buses. So that's another line where we will um have to increase. So we're working on those changes now. We know those are all coming. Um you know so our right now, you know, we're probably in the red closer to 400,000 than probably more than 400,000. I'm doing my maths right 275 and 225. You know, we're at 400,000. Um, so next year we have another 657,000 to add to that. So that puts us over a million dollars, right? >> So, um, >> what I'm looking for, and I don't want to cut you off, but I

079guess what I'm looking for is, >> um, Sure. Yeah. I don't know that we're ready. We're not even close to being ready to having the conversation regards to who does what and what what. I I these are great because it gives you an idea of how much of, you know, what is what and everything, but I also agree. I think Sarah said it. I we need numbers attached. like I need line items and numbers attached so that I we can say okay yeah can maybe this can go and then we can discuss if it's got you know what I mean like I think that's what the that's what we have to have >> that's what we're working on is giving you the numbers that the administrator administrative team have worked on you know when they

080say if we don't replace this position how much will that save that's on the sheet if we don't replace um >> I understand that um >> go just I I understand what you're saying. Yes, I get that. But what I'm saying is like, okay, if we don't replace that, but that's the only number I'm seeing because that's the only number that I'm getting rather than every other thing that goes with it. Like like for an example, um we're only getting two things on the 30 31A, right? We're we're we're only discussing two things. What what is entailed with it? Like maybe there's something else entirely we would take from that, I guess. you know, I don't know because I haven't seen it is my problem. >> Does that make sense? >> Yes. And then to

081I guess further, so like you said, going through the budget sheets line by line is what our team has been doing. So the principles from the building budget, I mean, I have the things that are building specific. So if that could have been my misunderstanding, I guess I thought that's what we were doing. I didn't realize that was something that was intended to be done. We're not doing it. You're doing it and showing it to us. No, it's not our job to do it. >> No, we know that. I'm just >> Well, I don't think Billy did because she just said she didn't understand. >> I said we are doing it. So, I thought that you were asking that Sandy just said we need to see it line by line. So, so that was my

082clarification that I was asking. >> I think it's just hard for at least me as a board member. You guys see this stuff every day. You guys see the line items, the numbers, you know what goes in each bucket or what comes out. And for us, we only see really what you guys are showing us, right? So you guys might know it in your head. And I think that's great. We don't. And so I think for me at least, it would be helpful to see all the line items, see all the buckets, what's coming out of each one, and then what your recommendations are. But again, that practical application of what that looks like daytoday on students, on staff, in the buildings and how it impacts our building's function, whether it's cutting a program, cutting

083a position, who's taking over those responsibilities. I think for me, it would be very helpful to see what every line item is, what the recommendations are, and what the impact would be. >> That's exactly what I want. And Billy, let me just ask, I know we've had this conversation before when Brian was here. when when there's um if I say it wrong, tell me, but we we've got um staffing and they get paid out of general fund or they get paid out of grant. Okay. And looking to make sure we're not double counting somebody or no all of that. That's that's something that sticks in my head, the conversation the one time you Brian and I had. So, so where where is it? And does that make that number go this way or that way?

084Have we have we got all of that? So, what we're >> what you guys are working at is total true >> numbers. >> Here's where we're at. If splits is the right word, >> right? I understand where this person is paid out of general fund, right? >> Yes. >> So, are you looking? So are we is that is that where is that what you're given that that everything split or accounted for I guess is the better the better word bearing here would I point out like title funding that kind of thing I guess >> well it's all in the projected revenues and expenditures so I I I've not brought a sheet of This is how much we have in title. This is how much we have. >> I My question is very simple in that

085have the two of you work through and know that you've gone through everything and nobody's double counted or anything. All that's been done that was okay. >> Yes. So, we have we have um spreadsheets that have all of our staff listed. It has their salary, their benefits, um you know, all of that on it so that I can add it. It adds it all up for us. So I can look at and say this teacher's name and you know this is how much it costs. This is your salary. This is the benefits. This is the total. That's what we put on here for your the part of it could come from here. Part of it >> and in this in these cases this, you know, would be all out of the high school general budget

086and the middle school general budget. Maybe it's not the middle school general budget. Maybe it's actually the elementary general budget. So but it's that open position that started at the middle school. So we do that when we put when we know what we're going to have. We you know we put it to the right place in the budget. Sometimes it's an estimate because we don't know. So we make our best guess. A lot of our budget is built on assumptions. So we make those assumptions as okay this is where it looks like this position is going to be empty and more likely an elementary position than middle school. someone making. >> But I don't think that that's what Margaret's asking if I'm understanding what Margaret's asking because she's I think she's more asking like people

087like Mr. Pentry who is a title one teacher where >> you're not counting his salary negative from title one and negative from general fund as a it's not being >> it's not double yeah doubled it. >> No, every person has their assigned cup numbers in their spreadsheet. So I can tell you exactly what budget line and lines because it's salary and all the different benefits are all you know so someone has 10 different accounts when they're being charged to the budget and it's a matter because we have to do that by by object salary and health insurance and dental insurance and LTV and retirement and FICA and cash and move and all of those and all of those lines are in the budget so that when I go to um who's split funding we have

088a teacher right now at the high school in special ed who split And it's partially IDA and partially just general fund special ed dollars. So there's two lines. Yes. And it's a this is a one FTE equals this. And then we can you know the second line is so we have this one FTE is 29 special ed and 71 just general fun. So that's that's all in there and we do that every budget in every budget. And you know and in thinking through that overall though if we're getting those title dollars that's a projected revenue rate and then paying the teacher would be the expense. So of course this particular sheet that we have in front of us isn't broken down but that's a quick sense where it would be factored in and we know

089we're getting money from the government and these title budgets and it's going out in the form of paying a teacher you know so it's accounted for in a simple term there. Um, but like Tammy said, there's definitely the way we track it all the way back. >> So if you if you call me tomorrow and said, "Where is this person charged?" I can I have a spreadsheet? I can pull it out. I can do the filter and find that person's name and tell you if it's one all general fund, all special ed, all grant funded. I can, you know, we do that. >> So just real quick, I'm sorry. Going back to supplies and materials, the textbooks 20%. So, is that the projection for next year? >> That's a number Billy and I are working

090on. Yeah. >> But it does include so a number of our textbooks if you will include us that online subscription which is typically renewable. Some of those are consumable books for the students. So, it's not that we're getting new >> one time one use book. The way you're thinking textbook >> because I know we have just >> Are we getting any books? Are we looking at any new books here? It was two year electives. It was the two-year electives last year. So last year we did electives, but that was over a two-year span. So >> some of that was this fiscal year, some last fiscal year. So this coming school year we'll be looking at we look at social studies next up again in that five years. >> So we're cycling back around. >> Yeah.

091We started. >> Okay. So is but they're the same books or no when you say cycling >> we're just re looking at it what's happening in social studies that we've got to update that would be the next we would be looking at >> because we didn't do that for a long time and especially our social studies books were dated like 1952 if I'm not mistaken when we did them 5 years ago >> right so >> and we look at it and say, "Well, we're good. This is still working for us." So, we need to do that review. >> So, it it's debatable. >> Okay. >> So, maybe we need to know more about what those are. >> Yeah. So, in textbooks, there's two there's two pieces. There's new curriculum. So, providing a whole new curriculum

092like we've done for math, science, um ELA, social studies, and then we did the um electives this past this year, last year. Um and then there's the piece that is recurring. So every year we buy, you know, massive books. So that's those are textbooks, but they're not reusable. So, you know, the kids use them for the year and then they're full and we have to order a batch for next year's group of students. >> So there's two pieces to the textbooks. >> So really, do we have a date? What's the date that we're voting on this? >> So we do in June. >> Last meeting in June is when we do our budget hearing and and you know, have to have a budget in place for next year. So that's what three meetings. >> Three

093meetings. >> So by the next meeting, are we gonna have >> I would like to see every single thing presented at the next meeting because I'm still going to want time. >> So when you say every single thing um >> like we have 1500 lines in our general fund budget. Are you looking at all 1500 lines? >> I need to know if I don't know if anyone else agrees with me, so maybe I'm the only one, but I need to know the line items, what's coming out of each one. Like Sandy said, everything that's coming out, what you guys are recommending comes out and practical application of what that looks like dayto-day. >> That's exactly. >> So in the high school, we have maybe um say we have 36 teachers in the high school. You

094want all 36 teachers names and how much each of them is paid and what they do. Is that what is that? The detail you're looking >> I think you could just say teachers. I think it could say teachers, but I need to know if you're recommending cutting a teacher, then I would need to know how that impacts the students. Not cutting, just replacing >> spreading the wealth really of class, >> not not hiring another, not cutting at the high school, but not right. But that's that's not what's being said right now. It's talking about, if I'm saying it right, absorbing >> well, from the from Dr. after lad's retirement. >> So I guess again just so I'm clear. So beyond for that elementary level right the fifth grade the potential in the first grade. >>

095Yeah. >> What else besides what I've shared are you looking for? Is that sufficient for that particular teaching position? >> Did you understand she was saying about that? >> I did. Can we get it all in writing just as a whole clean picture >> from elementary, middle, high school? Like I just need to know what are you guys recommending? What is it going to look like? What does the school resource officer do? What does the social worker do? The secretarial staff that you guys recommended cutting at the last meeting, what does that look like? Who's assuming those responsibilities? How much is that saving us? I feel like that's a budget presentation. >> So, instead of the numbers like this on a sheet listing, what are we looking at? Is that what you're That's what I

096think I'm hearing. >> So, I would be Yeah, but I also need the numbers on the sheet like this. But what I'm saying is like I I don't >> I don't need to have every single teacher singled out. I need like this is how much the teachers at the elementary school cost, but if we don't replace X, then we would be saving this much money. And this is how that would look. >> And you've got the savings of 171,000. Now >> it's already in here. >> That's correct. that I'm using that as I guess I guess an example but she's saying it's already given a lot of information and descriptions and you're still asking the same questions and we thought it's already >> we're not asking the same questions. >> Well that one was that

097don't say we keep asking the same question. >> I'm just saying that question we have asked about the social worker since the very first presentation. So right now I have a page and a half of so I have that here right now. >> She has that >> is in our backup. >> No. It was part of my budget in the back budget talk. >> Okay. So are we saying we may need some of that or would like to physically see it? >> I would need to see it. >> Of course. >> Well, I'm just saying we're listening. Do we need to see? I don't need to see. >> I'm a visual learner. I >> I know. Well, that's what I'm saying. Some of you might need to physically see it. >> But if it's not

098in the packet, we can't digest it. And >> you've always done it this way. Why are we doing it different? >> Because you have a different person in this position. >> Okay. It does. It's not going to be the same, guys. >> So, I'm going to tell you, but we can ask what we need. >> We will get you. I mean, >> we can get you what you need. >> I want to get you what you need so you can make a good decision. I'm comfortable. >> I want to be able to vote at the end of June. And if I don't have the things I've been asking for, I won't be able to vote. >> And that doesn't get the district. So >> I guess I would like to see more options. >> I

099know. And that's what's saving. We're better than that. >> We are better trying to show I mean no matter what we do not have a budget budget, but again, no matter what we do, I mean, it's is to get that number right. So where we are, I will be honest, I'm really not sure what to tell you that we can cut that will take that number to zero. I mean, so is that what we're looking at? Is that number needs to be zero or are we comfortable with saying, okay, we're going to not have as much transferred out for non- capital bond projects, right? So I guess that truly I mean as I'm sitting here I I'm not sure how I could put anything together for you that would have this number at a zero

100and still have >> never said anything about zero. >> So I do need to know what I'm going for. >> Give us the information and we're not getting >> okay but we've asked about two things. So I mean liaison officer is is $20,000 is how much we pay now based on the conversations with the administrators. The high school feels very confident that they have their home monitor staff that could cover the things like checking the doors and making sure that the students are behaving in the lunchroom and all of those things. The elementary and middle school utilized him more for a lot more of that learning positive promotion, those pieces again. So, I have the page and a half that they put together and shared um that I could share with you today. But either

101way, that's $10,000, right? Or if we said, "Forget it. It's not worth it at all." That's $20,000. So, that's all good and fine, but it's not a huge amount of money no matter what. >> Every little bit counts. >> It sure does. And that's what I keep telling them, too. Um, again, this is based on what their request is of how it operates in their building. Um, again, the social work piece that I mean, our social workers hold small groups. They they are assigned a case load of students who have been identified with those high-risisk needs. We currently have four. They all have a full case load. None of them are going around just trying to find things to do. So if we cut one, then that means everyone else will have a bigger case

102load. I mean it's it's >> how much are their case load right now? >> I have to check. I'm not sure. >> Okay. That would be like a item that I would if we're going to look to cut there. >> I would like to know what the case load is and what would the increase be. and request answered, but I don't remember the answer. >> I'd like Okay, so I I understand the visual. >> I would like to see this document that you have right here, Billy, on your screen. >> Mhm. >> I'd like to have that as a >> that Okay. I mean, yeah, that one has been back up since >> Has it been in there? It's >> been there since March. We added >> I want a paper copy, though. >> And

103it's changed. >> Well, it has cuz we keep we keep moving. >> So, is that it then? I mean, I feel like that's not a lot. >> What about the secretary? So, let's talk about that one. Was that one of the options? >> The Yep. A non-building secretary. So, again, part of that we talked about could go out for that CTE piece. So that's right. So the pieces of um the additional secretary, the athletics, and then a CTE portion, she built that into her CTE um >> budget for the new teacher that would be working the 1 hour a day on CTE leadership. Um >> so how much did we gain? Could I get a breakdown of all the secretar secretarial staff in the district and what they all do and like what if we

104cut maybe we want to cut more than one. Maybe we want to cut two. I don't know. I think getting a breakdown of what all of their tasks are and could we reallocate that? How many um of the coaches, instructional coaches do we need? >> We've been getting by with two now. Are we going to go back to three? >> No. That was one of the things that >> and now now we're talking about >> two we've talked about that one's free >> and I okay >> yeah one's free >> well and I understand that but if we had to go down to one and I know we don't want to but we can't have this much I'm not comfortable with that number coming out >> I think that's an interesting >> it's a luxury

105and I like it I don't see it as a luxury at all >> I love having it but the district could run without it is Okay. Well, I'm going to argue that it's not >> I'm going to I'm going to argue that piece, too. >> As an administrator in a district, >> we could function without it. Yes, sir. >> Uh, >> okay. I just Let me finish. >> Go ahead. >> Yes. >> Interesting question. And that is another breakdown of >> we've been using two. >> Yes. >> If we went down to one, what would that look like? >> Quite frankly, I'm thinking it's not going to look good. >> No. >> But show it to me. or show it to people that might think that we can make it with just >> or could

106the curriculum director position take on some of that mentoring? >> Yeah. >> Could they fit it into their day? >> I mean, we're going to have to make cuts. It's a reality. >> Yeah. But I guess I was just hoping for more from from you our meeting something more >> like what are we talking at the board office >> where we could >> I know it's a >> conversation really was more so on the secretarial side looking at changing an administrative position. >> Okay. So I'm not an administrative just secretarial >> just the the building in the in that office then if roles I don't know I mean I know it's tough on you >> I mean as far as >> sorry >> are we are we talking administrative people in that office or secretarial

107>> well just looking at what all they do we have three different finance individuals how >> one strictly does all payroll and benefits one of the pieces that I think we need to be aware of and stress 10 years ago, we didn't have the paperwork that we are required to do now by the state, the benefits, the whole packages. We didn't we am I right? >> Sure you did. >> Not as much, Margaret, as we have now. >> Not to the level we have now. So, you need that help. >> But the reality is you have a business manager, you have a payroll and benefits, and you have accounts payable. Okay, that's it. >> The reality is >> you can't combine those three. It's that's my opinion that is that each one respon the payroll

108and benefits is >> is huge. >> Accounts payable and receivable is huge >> and and >> business manager is huge. I mean we shared a business manager for we did different stuff. So I'm just saying and there's nothing wrong but if that was your question probably we all should have known that you >> I was just getting a feel for that in that moment. >> And so if that is something there isn't anything wrong with laying it all out and understanding because if there are people sitting that don't understand especially in the finance area what their jobs are then so be it. show it to us and realize that that is something that we in my opinion. You can't put anything else on those two jobs. You can't you can't double it. Just to me

109it makes no sense. But again, if that's something that you're interested in that whole office, there's nothing wrong with asking for it. What does everybody do? What does it look like? >> Well, >> but if you've got that question, you got to ask it out loud or you at least got to let us all know that you asked that question. I I didn't I assumed everybody else knew and I didn't. I just had a meeting with her and that's why I'm kind of bringing it up now to see if she had thought of anything since thinking about it. >> See, so this is goes back to what I initially said when we first saw this though. I feel the same and I feel the same way like when you're talking about cutting a social worker

110or cutting a resource officer or cutting somebody in the business office like I would much rather know a whole lot more than I need to know about it I guess than before I'm able to make that decision >> because I maybe would be forecutting something else entirely over that person >> least impact on That's the goal, right? And I think that's everybody's goal should be. >> Yeah. And so that's >> and and that's kind of what we've been trying to work on. >> Perfect. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that's >> Have we do you feel like and I I don't have the numbers on my head right now, >> but have we brought that number down as far as where we were then a month ago or a month ago? >> Sometimes. Yes. for a little

111bit, >> but not we're not talking a big chunk. >> No, we haven't looked at I mean obviously as I explained our biggest impact is salaries and benefits. So, you know, while we can cut supplies, we can cut purchase services, but the biggest impact to our budget is people. And so, where is how how do we protect the people? You know, do we have less custodians? Um for bus driving, we kind of have to go with what you know, what the needs are to transport all the kids. So, you know, custodian position, but there's there's a downside to that, too. >> Buildings don't get >> I would say there's a downside to everything. >> We don't have a lot of fat and trim. >> And we're going to have to make some tough choices. And

112I know wants to cut positions. Nobody wants to cut programming. >> The biggest portion of our pie is salary. And it's going to have to come from somewhere. And one secretary here and one resource officer there is not going to make that >> it's not going to close that gap. And I'm not saying I want to cut people or support, but we're going to have to make some tough choices if we want that number to come down. >> Well, let me let me just >> I agree. I'm just not going to be able to Sorry, Margaret. >> I agree, but I I'm just not going to be able to make those decisions without the numbers and seeing how that's going to impact kids. >> And I think it's going to take some creative vision from

113you guys to say, okay, if we had one less instructional coach, what would that look like? If we had one social worker, what would that look like? And I know it seems like common sense again. Well, everyone would just take on more, but like Deb said, what are the numbers? How many students? Is it reasonable? Because we don't want I mean, the reality is we're going it's going to hurt a little bit. We just want the least impacts possible. But I think we need the the data and that stuff in front of us so I can say, would I rather have one less secretary or one less social worker? Would I rather have one less instructional coach or something different? >> And there aren't any more grants. we can apply for. There's nothing more we

114can get from the ISD like >> our revenue side is really not a lot we can do. We get mostly per student from the state and then you get grants and they're for a very specific purpose. So if you apply for a grant for a very specific purpose, chances are you're going to add someone to fulfill that purpose. So you don't really make room for funding, you know, general education. You make room, you make you get a grant and it's to use for that purpose. So, you're only covering those expenses. >> Well, let me just back in the day, we would have um somewhere in the April, May, June time frame, just a plain old budget workshop, >> right? where we sat down all the things that everybody's asking, we get it's all laid out

115like that and we get from whether administrators came, what we got from them and we had the conversation of breaking it up. That's all we talked about. You know, couple hour meeting, whatever it was. Maybe that's something >> what we need >> as opposed to it, you know, we have all this other business to take care of, which is all very important. I'm not saying it's not, but if we just spent a time strictly talking on budget between now and when we have to do it, it might settle a whole lot of stuff. >> Give them the ability to put some things together, tell us what administrators and and lay it all out because if they can it's that old thing of they can recommend and and want us to do, but really we're the

116ones that have to vote for it. They're going to do everything they can to get us >> to vote. But you know what I mean? But we may we may not agree with something here and there, but until you can actually have a really good conversation where that's all we talked about. >> I it's just we're just spinning spinning around. So I >> I know everyone can, but I'm just throwing that suggest workshop >> and just sit down and that's all we do >> when it comes to salaries. all of the data right there versus make notes and question thinking we answered the question and you know that all the data is there in front of us so we're all talking >> and you have it too and then you have it all in front

117of you too so you can look it up and say hey >> yes so when it comes to salaries um it's not broken down into substitute teachers >> they're not most of our substitutes are paid in a purchase service because we hire them through a company that you staff. >> So is that where that's the 11% only? >> Yep. >> Yes. >> Really? >> Yeah. >> It's your It's >> So can we can we just >> Can we agree to have you like to do >> Okay. So we're going to >> her question. $243,000 is what we have budgeted for substitutes >> and that's what we used last year. >> That's what we have budgeted for this. I don't know what we used last year. I don't have that number with me. I know that

118our budget this year we're budgeting 243,000 >> for just substitutes in the classroom and there's reasons for that number because if you have someone out on you know then we have have a sub position and a lot of times we don't save money because that the person who's out on leave has has saved up their their paid leave time. So they're getting paid and we're hiring a sub. So it's not necessarily a oh we're paying a sub it's going to cost less. >> You know the salaries are going down. It's not necessarily that way. >> Well, I'm just saying maybe there's an area of where we could tighten ship there. Um, >> and that would be the whole that's the whole point of doing the budget workshop. And I would just suggest whatever anybody's thoughts

119are >> give it you get send an email to Billy or Tammy or both of them >> have that conversation, >> write them down so that they can >> get it out all together. So, let's let's put a timeline here. >> Okay. So, if we um first off, if you have questions, my gut would be by the end of this week, we're on Monday, right? So, by Friday, could you get your concerns to both of them? What do you want to see? What do you want? What what areas? What you know, whatever you want to know. I want a hard copy or whatever. And then >> Well, no, we're all getting a hard copy. >> Well, yeah. Okay. >> Whatever we put together will be shared with that. >> Okay. Hard copy though. >> Hard

120copy. >> We're going to kill the copy machine or a tree. >> Um >> We're trying not to, but we're going to. Um >> so what are you guys thinking? >> Let's not talk about meeting. No, let's keep our meeting going and just okay >> come up with what works >> or maybe toss out some dates >> for them and then we could toss out some dates and we can do that. Okay. Any more questions for then our budget? Are we good? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Billy, did you have any more you wanted to share on that or >> um Oh, that'll be good. Get together. >> Yep. We're going to get together. >> Okay. Next item on our agenda is our student board of education rep report. ladies. >> Okay,

121so from Willie on Wednesday, our preschooler students will be taking a fun-filled field trip to Discovery Legoland at Great Lakes Crossing. Students will have the chance to explore interactive ex exhibits, build creative Lego creations, and enjoy hands-on activities with their classmates. This exciting experience gives students an opportunity to learn through play while encouraging creativity, teamwork, and problem solving skills. We are looking forward to a fun and memorable day for preschool students. Lee Elementary is excited to host its annual color run this Friday. Students will enjoy an afternoon of exercise, fun, and excitement as they run around campus while being sprayed with colorful powder along the way. This has been become an end of the year tradition in the district, and students and parents love the event. The district campus will be closed during the event

122to ensure a safe and smooth experience for all participants. It is sure to be fun and exciting. At the middle school, Irma students are finishing testing. They are so proud of all their students who have given their all to do well in EPS and enter VA tests. This past week, our fifth grade classes will be attending. No, this week, our fifth grade classes will be attending the one room schoolhouse. This annual trip demonstrates what school was like during the times of Wonder School Houses. Some even dressing the park. Middle school track will be at Elite this Thursday beginning at 4:00. On Tuesday, May 5th, the community was treated with an outstanding art show and RMS band concert at RHS auditorium. The artwork was outstanding and all three bands sounded amazing. We are proud of all

123of our students who participated in these events. For our high school, our spring choir concert will be held Tuesday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. For Wednesday, May 13th will be our senior's last day. Seniors will participate in the annual clapout and senior picnic where it's night to celebrate. Our senior convocations will be held Thursday, May 7 or 14th at 7:00 p.m. Prom will be held Friday, May 15th at Sucaros. Students are very excited about the upcoming event. The congressional art show will be held at the St. Clair Community College on Friday, May 15th from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. And there will be eight of our students artwork displayed at the event. For athletics, baseball moved 10 to nothing in the BWAC play wins over Elmont last week. They have a double header at North Prince

124tomorrow and wrap up league play with a double header at home against Croslex next Tuesday. Softball hosted their alumni reunion on Saturday, May 2nd. Thank you to everyone that came together and Miss Stewart and all the parents who helped put everything together. Girls tennis finished second at the UA tournament last Friday and third overall in the league. They traveled to Holly this Thursday for the MHSAA regional. Richmond hosted BWAC girls soccer tournament last week Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. After three action-packed days of soccer, the Blue Devils with the tournament final football falling down. And lastly, congratulations to John Swampa, Emma Moore, A Windmire, Logan Evans, Frankie Collins, and Cam Murray on furthering their athletic careers and committing to their respective colleges. That's it. >> Nice. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, next item on

125our agenda is an update on our superintendent search. On April 28th, 29th, and 30th, the Richmond Board of Education interviewed five candidates for the superintendent position. On May 2nd, the board decided on two candidates to come back for second interviews. These candidates are Mike Damagowski, an elementary and virtual academy principal for East China School District and Pasquali Kasmano, assistant superintendent of secondary and adult education for Rochester Community Schools. On May 7, these two candidates came back for a second interview with a 15minute presentation. These interviews are on the district website to review along with a QR code to provide input on the candidates. This QR code will remain open until noon on Thursday, May 14th. On May 12th, the two candidates will have a district tour here at Richmond Community Schools. Part of that tour

126will include time for the community to ask questions of the candidates from 6 to 6:55 is Mike Dagowski and 7 to 7:55 is Pasquali Pismano in the high school media center. For a full schedule of the day, please go to the district website under the superintendent search tab. On Thursday, May 14th, three board members will be participating in site visits at Richmond, I'm sorry, at Rochester Community Schools and each school district. And then on Monday, May 18th, the board will decide which candidate will be the next superintendent of Richmond Community Schools. Next item on our agenda is our bond update. Uh so as has been uh published, the bond did not pass during that May 5th election. It was a 34.66% yes to 65.34% no across our precincts that the district is made up of.

127Um we really appreciate everyone's support and effort. saw that was part of getting the word out for the need for the bond and I'm disappointed with the results. Um, but it was a loss. If >> I could just comment on that, too. I just wanted to thank Margaret for um leading the committee um and educating everybody and educating us on how to educate everybody also for that. Um, I know it's it was a sad loss and um I just you really have stood out the past few months since Brian's been gone to help lead the way with that. So, I just want to thank you and and all the staff that also has helped with that. Um, but I think we're resilient and we'll come up with something new. Having a new superintendent will give

128us new outlook and so thank you. Anything else? Okay, next item on our agenda is our blue double raves. We're going to start off with Margaret. >> Um, I have two raves tonight. My first one is Kelsey and Elizabeth for all the work that they've been doing through our superintendent search. They're representing us so well. Uh, they are going to be a part of touring the candidates tomorrow throughout the district during the day. So, thank you um, girls. We appreciate you very much for doing that. And just a shout out to um Miss Ael, Miss Borwick, and Miss Crarampton who put the top 10 dinner together. Next graduation is probably my most favorite thing to be able to attend. Um it's just a really cool way for our top 10 to get recognized and they

129can bring somebody here that has impacted them. It's just really, really neat. So, thank you to them. place looked beautiful and everyone seemed to have a good time. >> That's it. >> Thank you. Next one, Danielle. >> Yeah, I have two. Um, one, I wanted to thank the art department for putting the art show together. Um, we attended last week and we're legitimately running from display to display and exhibit to exhibit that this one is cool. No, this one is cooler. and then just going back to this one and the other one. Um, so that was really fun to see and some of the super cool projects between just ripping paper and making it look like something to the actual physical um our favorite was the giant bomb popsicle up laying across the um one

130table there. Um so it was super fun. Um, and then also a huge thank you to at the elementary school to every teacher for putting together um our little Mother's Day presents in whatever they chose to do for their classroom um for their students to give to um parents for or mothers or whoever acting mothers um for Mother's Day this past weekend because they were some super fun projects and every teacher every year has been something completely different, but I know they all do something. So, thank you for that. Okay. Uh Sandy, >> yeah, just fun. Um I was able to go and watch Love in All Forms Music, the music review, and I thought it was a fantastic job. Um I'm blown away. Every single thing, every single one I go to, I feel

131like it's better and better. Um so, and I think there was some collaboration with the high school um choir teacher, but I'm not 100%. But, um so that that's cool to see. Um but just special um good job kudos to uh Caitlyn Sins and Brian Braun for um putting on a great and the kids obviously for doing a great um great show. It was very very entertaining. >> Thank you. >> Uh Sarah, >> just a few. Um just wanted to say congratulations again to all the top 10. I know that is an exciting place to be in the top 10 and they all work so hard. Um, so congratulations again to them and then thank you to all the staff who've come out um and given feedback with the superintendent interviews. I know I've seen

132a lot of staff out there taking the time in their off time to really invest and give the feedback. We've gotten a lot of feedback from various staff members and obviously the reps that are also such a big part of that. Your feedback is also very much appreciated and it helps um just kind of organize things at least in my brain to see it from a different perspective from a staff. So I appreciate all the time that people are giving to that process. >> Candace, >> yes. I just wanted to give a shout out to Miss Shaq and the Richmond Middle School band, the Richmond High School band, and the jazz band that um this past week they had concerts back to back and um very entertaining both nights and um good job everyone um

133with that and thank you to all the staff for the feedback with the superintendent search and the stakeholders. um uh it's all that overwhelming and um turns this all into a much more comfortable experience when we know that we're hearing from everybody. So, thank you. Um I'm going to uh Mr. Sire asked me to share when he couldn't be with us, but he too wanted to acknowledge the top 10 and congratulate them. So, I am sharing that with you from him. Um, I too would agree with Margaret that as a retired high school principal, this time of year was always the best. Um, it's it's it's an honor and uh to acknowledge and see our students when they walk across that stage. And I can't wait to do it. Another handshake. Ready? Um I also

134want to acknowledge all of the people input uh people who staff uh community who have been at our meetings with for our superintendent search. Um I we have gotten a lot of uh input. Um I'm really looking forward to the visit tomorrow and finally making the decision next Monday. So I want to thank those people. Okay. Next item on our agenda is our interimm superintendent and legislative update. >> Thank you, Michan. Uh just a couple of district updates. I knew the quite sure the girls would would share all the celebrations coming up and again echoing how um how what a busy time it is, but what a fun time to celebrate everyone across the district. Um and and with that, there's been a number of last minute changes. So, I just want to commend the

135staff who has dealt with some of those from our prom venue being changed kind of very last minute after everything was set um due to an issue at the original venue. Um but that's so far gone seamlessly. So, we will hopefully everything will turn out just great on Friday. We're sure it will. Um even to I talked to Mr. Gibson today and I know Kelsey mentioned the trip to Legoland. Well, that's being impacted by the water outage that they're having in Oakland County. So they they pivoted and the kids will be getting to go to um uh uh Kids Empire, Children's Empire in Chesterfield as an alternate plan. So, you know, just able to kind of pick up and and change quickly. So, it seems like there's been a lot of that, but I don't

136think the kids are noticing or skipping a beat. Um and then lastly on the district side, we had our attendance field audit today. Um again, we typically have one at each uh count period. So, this was our one for the winter count and there were no findings, no follow-ups, no questions. So, a flawless attendance audit today at Leo Elementary. Um, so kind of busy on the legislative side. I spent last week uh Thursday and Friday at the home county superintendent spring conference in Lancing. Um, so just at presentation after presentation there for those two days. So, a few of the highlights um that I'll share, we had a lunch kind of talk with the MDE superintendent plano. the key pieces that he's brought up are what we've heard um coming out of MDE, but just

137reiterating that science of reading priority. So again, we keep hearing that as the letters priority. Um he talked about the understanding that there would need to be more funding to make it work as MD is really hoping to see it take off. Um some small possibility that they may add additional vendors outside of just letters. There's definitely been a push for that because some districts have already gone all in on training in a different different uh version of science of reading outside of just the letters bender. So, they're looking at how that might be able to work. Um they did one of the push backs of letters training is that it is a very it is a large number of hours of training for the teachers. Um so again, it's it's great information, but it

138is a very large number of hours. Um he was suggesting some creative professional development options. Um they are moving to letters training if it it that does stay in place as the only option. Um they're moving to kind of asynchronous virtual training opportunities. And so he suggested maybe if there was a snow day then the teachers would do some of their training on that day. So that was kind of an interesting conversation. Um they also talked about or he also talked about CTE looking into uh alternative ways for the 10-year um alternative certification waiver. So as you know most of our CT teachers or many of them are not a certified teacher. They're coming in from that industry. And so we have to pull a temporary or annual certification for them in order to be

139a year in the classrooms teaching. The the law stands right now that you can only do that for a period of 10 years. Um we ourselves have teachers that are are nearing that 10-year mark across the state. Many teachers are nearing that 10year mark. Um as we know it's a very difficult position to fill in a lot of cases to find that right fit for SAT program. So they are looking at how they might be able to come up with some some alternatives to those that waiver timing out if you will as we come upon that tenure. So hopefully we we hear something positive on that. Um and then there are a few members to go back to the letters training a few of our house representatives that are really trying to push um those

140science of reading again whether it's letters or another science of reading training to be part of those teacher prep programs so that it won't continue to be a burden for the K12 system and that should be that will be required in the state then it should be being taught there is kind of the sentiment with that piece. So again hopefully more to come there. Um, we also heard from a representative from the Anderson Economic Group. Um, again, kind of a different walking away from an education focused conversation, but um, they talked about, you know, data centers and we're going to keep hearing more about them and and they had a lot of positive things to say and how that has benefited school districts in those areas. So, that was kind of an interesting take as

141well. Um, and just that urgency for schools to continue to focus on innovation and forward thinking skill development. So again, I think we are aware that that's very important, but that was their uh focus. Um had a couple representatives from MEA. Um they talked a lot about looking into affordable healthc care solutions for educators. As we know, those costs continue to go up and up and up and so they're working on some different uh priorities around that. They also talked a little bit about 31A. uh they MEA is most at this point supporting the Senate's proposal which really that piece they've defined uh mass casualty. So that was one of our issues before was there really was no definition. It could be very very minimal incident could have been defined as a mass casualty. Um,

142so they they have adjusted that to an incident of targeted violence that occurs on school grounds or school sponsored event and it meets all of the following criteria that it involves the use of a lethal weapon. Um, an explosive or incendiary device um or a dangerous weapon. The incident results in at least one fatality or significant bodily injuries to not fewer than two individuals excluding the perpetrator. in the incident as a result of a deliberate and malicious act and not a motor vehicle accident. Um so again they've cleared that piece up. They from what I saw it was not clear on if they were removing the language for the waving of rights whereas the executive proposal for 31A is aa is no change from what we saw this year. And then as far as the

143house, it was uh to require recipients to wave privilege only after an intentional incident as defined above occurs. So all three are kind of coming at it from different angles still. So we will see where we land with that. Uh we had a presentation on special education law from Clark Hill. Um that my biggest takeaway from there is that they're finding a big shift at the state level and MDE is continuing to encourage um concerns that come forward to go to the district and seek a due process hearing. Um the concern for us on the school side of that is districts are are bound to pay 75% of the fees for those hearings. So if that was a direction that they continued to go, school districts wouldn't feel that impact. Um we are part of

144uh least restrictive least restrictive environment monitoring. So that's the other big push that uh we're seeing in the special ed department at MDE this year. Um so actually coming up on Wednesday um we'll have representatives with the ISD uh special education leaders that support our districts and our students that go out to our centerbased programs. They'll be bringing MD in um to ask our administrators and special education team some questions about what we do to provide least inrict least restrictive environment. Um I believe so far we're one of the last in the county to have our visit. So far they've found seven findings in the county um according to Mr. Mollik and um they're essentially given one year to correct any findings that come out of these and he said so far those have been

145mostly around intervention tracking irregularities. So he gave an example a student received an intervention according to a log but then when you compared it to power school the student was absent that day. So those kind of things. So they're really kind of getting picky at that type of thing as far as what they're looking at. Um, and then the other piece that I made note of that I will make sure to bring back to our team is they are also being very diligent on ensuring that district representatives have an are present at all IEPs for our students in centerbased programs. So much like we have to have a team annually hold an IEP meeting here for our students that are in house in Richmond. We know we send students out to some of the other

146programs uh around the county. Um, and so they were just reiterating we need to make sure that we are sending an appropriate staff member to be part of those IEPs annually, even if they're not housed here. Um, we heard from the Epic Research Agency. A couple of their big takeaways was that um, the uh, English learner numbers are really on the rise. They gave the example that there are currently more ELEL students in the state of Michigan than there are third graders. Um so essentially kind of getting to that 10% mark as far as how many EL students we are servicing across the state and uh at risk numbers are really increasing again across the state at 54%. Um we again we heard from business leaders of Michigan. We heard we had a bipartisan political

147recap. Uh an interesting one was the impact of AI on economics. So I I definitely made a few notes of that. he had some great insight into job outlooks in the future when we think about what AI is capable of doing and what we already are relying AI on to do for us um and how that would impact that job outlook in the future. Um so definitely something I'll kind of share with Miss Crarampton and um and again changing that effectiveness and expectations in areas and and how that really would impact employees and employers and and what you know we can do with effectiveness and again kind of that bottom line. Uh and then we had a a lengthy presentation from the MISD teams, their consultants. Um we talked a lot about professional learning communities

148and utilizing those efficiently, which was great uh as we go into that plan for next year. So I was able to gain a lot from that presentation. And they also had specifically literacy and math intervention um folks coming from University of Michigan and uh another representative out of Denver uh Colorado that shared some some insightful pieces there. Um and then this afternoon I uh stepped out briefly. The governor's lunchon was taking place in St. Clair Shores and heard a lot of the same commentary from her that I had heard um last week from uh Superintendent Mleo. Again, the focus on literacy with letters and funding for that initiative. I would say the areas that concerned me were the achievement scholarship she talked about and then the free community college. While great opportunities for students, we

149know that that ultimately impacts that K12 budget. Um so you know packaged very in a positive way but we know um on the back end that there's kind of a downfall to it. So that's that was a lot of legal stuff last few days. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Next item on our agenda is items of interest from the board. First one Sandy. >> Um sorry. Yes. Um, first thing being I'm wondering if we could get I guess if I could get a breakdown of the costs from the appreciation event just cuz I like to have that. Sure. >> Um, per year so I know where we're at. Uh, and then also um just bringing up again a committee for the contract of the new superintendent. I'm going to >> after the 14th. Is it

150the 14th? Monday. >> 18th. >> Whenever we vote >> after the 18th. You want to do it now. Okay. Well, I thought we were going to do do it this meeting. So, that's why I was asking about it. But that's >> I didn't have that in my mind. I was thinking after that because >> the 18th. Okay. I'll bring it out. >> I'm going to need to get with the attorney and see how this all works >> and how do we do it? >> How to do a committee. >> No, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> Oh. how to do a contract. >> Oh, and all the >> Yeah, I mean, yeah, I know that the attorney's involved in doing the contract, too, but >> Yeah. Nope. Okay. All right. I'm good. >> I

151think we should do it on Monday when we choose our uh new superintendent to be picked. >> We could do that. >> The committee that's work on the contract. >> Okay. >> I'm good with that. >> Okay. >> I am good with that. Thank you, Margaret. >> I said thank you. >> I'm I'm good with that. >> Okay. Sandy, anything else? >> No. >> Okay. Uh Sarah, >> nope, nothing. >> Uh Margaret, >> I'm good. >> Uh Candace, >> I'm good. >> And Danielle. Um no, I'm last. >> Oh, yeah. No, just to follow up on Sandy's, I would just be curious on the teacher appreciation event. just the status of since I'm in contact with the um comedy company just kind of the status of what's going on with that because I know they

152had to fill out some forms and submit them back so I don't know where that status is >> for them to get paid you're talking about okay >> yeah just just so I know in case he emails me I don't want to be like hold on just a second whatever um and then the other thing that's just driving me nuts is the interrupting and talking over each other is driving me up the wall like I almost just walked out during that budget discussion. Um it's really frustrating to try and listen to one person and appreciate their comments when um others are talking over and um making comments and trying to interrupt and making comments while Tammy was talking and trying to interrupt Tammy and things like that was just driving me bunkers. So just my

153two cents on listening to each other. So that's >> I'll work harder on not talking over >> you. I want to >> just I think we all I think I did it a couple times. So >> I'm sure we all do. >> We need those little buttons like some city councils have. It's like first, second, third. >> So if you're pushing your button, nobody else's can go on. >> Yeah. Or Yeah. And then it's like it's like a order, you know? >> Let's just keep in mind what we're doing when we're talking to each other to respect um people's time. Okay. Um, next item on our agenda is our act oh, I'm sorry, public comments. Since the last board meeting, the board received an email from a community member regarding feedback on our volunteer recognition

154ceremony. I know uh Billy responded to that and thanked them for their suggestions and things to look at and try out for next year. >> Did we see that? >> I didn't get an email. It came to Billy, so she responded to it. >> That was on there. I was on there. So, I came to the board. I was CC, but it actually went to Billy. >> We'll be off and I will send it to you. Absolutely. Sorry about that. I usually do not send um the emails to you that generally go to the board office or if I'm CCD on it, but if you want, I will do that. And anything that pertains to what the board's doing, if you get copy of it, we should get copied. Okay. Um, there were no other

155public comments that needed addressing from the last board meeting. At this time, any member of the public will have three minutes to address the board. Please sign in and state your name. If you wish a followup, please provide contact information on the public comment signin sheet. Are there any public comments? I wasn't planning on speaking today obviously based on my attire and I'm here quite often but I don't normally speak. However, neighboring districts they're making cuts as well today and so this conversation has been ongoing about you guys making cuts as well. So I want to address the board. So, thank you to the board members for your time, dedication, and commitment throughout the process of searching for a superintendent. The superintendent search alone has required many hours of work and time away from your

156families. So, I greatly appreciate your efforts. I really, really do. I also want to applaud Miss Shaq and the art department for the excellent event last week. This is my first year as a music mom and I am blown away on how Miss Shaq's teaching style and ability to take a child whose parents have no idea what music is and bring me to tears because it just was astounding. Also, the art department because I also had a wonderful child with artwork there as well and I am blown away at how our arts and craft department and musical era area are just excelling. I also want to thank Candace and Sarah for asking such difficult questions tonight regarding positions and job duties as well as encouraging the administration to think creatively about job responsibilities. As you

157work through necessary reductions, it is important to minimize the impact on students while also recognizing that all depart departments and offices may need to be tightened spending and revised job duties. Sadly, the revenue is not going up quickly. The cost of living is going up, but you ladies and gentlemen man have to figure out how to balance that budget. It is not easy. As was stated tonight, positions were adjusted to fill the interim position. And so look at that data to see if the district can continue with these adjustments to save money. I encourage the board and administration to evaluate each position based on the role and responsibilities rather than the individual currently serving in it. Thankfully, our community values and appreciates every staff member. I do most heartily. But we can understandably make these

158difficult decisions harder when it's on a personal level and we know the person's name attached to the role. Just look at the role. However, smaller reductions spread across several departments can collectively make a meaningful financial impact while disturb while distributing the burden more evenly across the district and make less impact on students and on the staff in the classroom. I like to refer to those staff members as the frontline employees. Mrs. Vangoodi mentioned this evening, small intervention groups and class sizes make a positive impact on data and student academic growth. These are the positions we need to protect. These are not easy decisions, but they are necessary to maintain the long-term financial stability and strengthen of our district. We are so very proud of. Once again, thank you for planning and attending an upcoming budget

159workshop so you guys can educate yourself on the future budget budget. I am so grateful for this board. All of you spend so many hours to educate yourself, request meetings of central office to learn more and attend so many district events. These efforts do not go unnoticed by my family and I greatly appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other public comments? One minute, guys. Okay. Next item on the board is our action items. I'm looking for a motion for the approval of the class of 2026 graduates. I move to approve the class of 2026 graduates who have successfully met the requirements for graduation as set forth by the Richmond Community Schools Board of Education and the state of Michigan as outlined in the attached documentation. The class of 2026 graduation ceremony for Richmond

160High School will be held at the Mcome Center for the Performing Arts at 7:00 in the evening on Wednesday, May 20th, 2026. support. >> I think Sandy Sandy first. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. I'm looking for a motion to approve uh the foreign exchange student commencement participation. I motion to approve 12th grade foreign exchange student Malina ora to participate in the class of 2026 graduation ceremony for Richmond High School will be held at home center for the performing arts at 7:00 in the evening on Wednesday May 20th 2026. Do I have support? There being no support, what do the motion fails? Motion fails. So then you move on to the next one. >> Yeah. >> Give me a minute, guys. >> For this uh we looking for a

161motion for the school district. >> Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. I'm getting there. I just I >> I thought you were asking you were asking too. >> I said hang on. So sorry. >> Hang on. I was just trying to get my notes. >> I apologize. >> Okay, here we go. >> I always say I'm looking for a motion for the approval of resolution of support for the MCOME Intermediate School District uh fiscal 2027 budget. A motion to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent and approve the attached resolution for support for the MCOME Intermediate School District's MISD fiscal year 2027 operating budget. >> Thank you. Any discussion? I do have just something to remind everyone go have attended this meeting with Billy um just again that you know they they are

162always welcoming ideas and things that they can improve and or do to help these districts and just over the next year you know think about what we can bring to the table as school board members. I know that the superintendents do go and represent us um but they really do want our input as well um for different things. They're always talking about it and I know Billy and I had they had talked about um the ISD is getting more money and filtering through to us now. Um so there's a lot of things that we don't participate with um because of you know the new building that's being built. I'm not sure how many of our students are going to go far. It's an hour and 20 minutes away. I mean, so what things can we

163uh present to them here being in this rural district? and um and they've been very open with me when I go and ask and so input from anybody whenever for things just over the next few years or whatever just because I know that they're also going to be coming for another bond extension or something soon and that money comes from our now learning all that we've learned about our bond you know if we're not using utilizing some of these services um that because of the distance maybe it's just something that we need to think about what we can do to >> Yeah. Yeah. But but our students would utilize it and go to that building if the distance means nothing. They would be transported there from special from the ISD's >> transportation. It's still an

164hour and 20 minutes. I mean, >> it's a beautiful facility. I would love I would just wish it was closer for us. >> Well, I mean, that's that's the whole problem. Nothing's ever done. >> So, maybe people from North End don't speak up when they come up with an idea to open a building, but then also that spot purchase that from the school district, all of that. So, it all comes to what kind of area out here is available to purchase land to have um buildings in the north end as well. Well, and I know one discussion I had with Brian before was about, you know, all the different other schools that utilize, you know, one of their built rooms for certain services. And maybe that's our future for something that a service of some

165>> serving that Richmond's future cuz we don't have any room for our own. >> Right. Right. I just all of these things that just instead of just always saying yes to their budget, I mean, let's, >> you know, be a part of >> maybe think about how they could >> or what how it could help the Northland, right? >> Cuz Margaret's right. a lot of the inorganic kids, you know, it's not just us, it's ours. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Looking for a motion for the termination recommendation resolution. A motion to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent. Oh, wait. Sorry, wrong one. I have motion to accept the recommendation of the interim superintendent and approve the attached termination resolution as outlined in the attached documentation. >>

166Do I have support? >> I'm going to support it just because I want to discuss it. >> Okay, we're supporting it. Um, any discussion? Yeah. So, I did email or I did talk to Billy today and ask a couple questions. So, I figured I would just kind of tell the board. Um, so my questions were in when I was reviewing the the packet, there were some workman's comp um absences that were related to workman's comp. And so, I wanted to make sure I wanted to know how many absences that equated to and if we took that off the total. And I think the answer was 159 minus 27, right? Um, so that was how many absences there were. And then I know you said she returned to work. It was like October 7th. >> 7th.

167Um, was that the date she was released from workman's comp? Like they released her. Okay. So completely released her that day. >> Correct. Okay. I think I just want to make sure we're covering our bases because I don't want if there's any sort of absences that we're holding against her because of a workman's comp issue and we're terminating, I want to make sure that we're covered and not liable for any wrongful termination cuz I don't want another. >> Yeah. So, I actually worked very closely with our attorney on this. Um, worked with them on it for about 6 months to get to this point and so we moved forward when he was comfortable moving forward. um some garden. So we wrote for the recommendation for change. >> Does the employee know that this is here?

168The employee had the opportunity to um feed it tonight and decline. So >> did they did the employee put it in writing? >> Yeah, I haven't emailed me. >> They have to do it in writing to to decline. >> No, they have to let us know by the prior. >> She did put in writing and she was declining. Any other questions? >> I guess I'm curious if anybody has any thoughts on why you wouldn't do this. That's a lot of ads. There seem to be a lack of support for it. So I'm just curious like what everyone else is thinking >> negative support for doing for the mo No in my mind I was thinking I had a couple questions you asked one of my questions. So I no I I was just about to

169support the motion when you said it for for the same reason. So, no, I my my question got answered. I did want to know because I know it was in the documentation that the person had the ability to come here and defend themselves if that's even the correct word to say. If they chose not to, that speaks to me. >> Okay. >> So, that was you asked one question, I asked my other questions. >> Okay. That's my >> Any other thoughts? Any other comments? All those in favor. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Looking for a motion to go into close session. Pursuant to MCL5.268 section 8C of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. I move that the board of education go into close session for the purposes of negotiations. >> Do I have support? >> Support.

170>> Any discussion? All those in favor? I >> I opposed. Motion carries. We'll be reporting to the conference room. Um for our public, we only have another close session after that and then we will be uh a journey. So no other business is going to be had. Heat. Heat. N.