Portage Public Schools Board of Education Regular Meeting - January 26, 2026

001The >> meeting of the board is now called to order. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I >> pledge 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. >> Thank you. Welcome this evening. Uh we'll get started by approving our agenda. On page two, uh we have an additional action item that administration would like added to designate uh safety deposit box and that would become another action item. Any other changes beyond that? Okay, then there's a motion on page two. >> Mr. President, I move that the board of education approve the agenda as printed and >> thank you. Is there a second? Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I.

002Opposed. Motion passes. We'll get started with our meeting with the superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you, President Van Anworth as well as the members of the Portage Public Schools uh board of education. Would like to start off our first report as it is printed on our agenda with um our superintendence report. I think that is uh uh sorry about that. Getting all my notes together. Here we go. Board recognitions. Our first Thank you Bar for the reminder. Uh this is board appreciation month. The month of January. Um last month or sorry last week at our last session we approved our uh officers. So this year uh Barb I have to give all the credit to print some nice uh packages for us. So, I want to present each of you with a token of

003appreciation on behalf of the school board. There you go. >> Kimberly, >> hello. >> Thank you, sir. >> If you look at the outside, we have Portage Public Schools logo. It's our president. >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. and Mary. Thank you. >> All right. Uh in addition to that, um next to you, we have just a little token of appreciation. Uh by your legs, we have a little laptop bag. If you want to take a moment and just open up your >> So nice. Not just me personally, but on behalf of all of our employees. Yeah, absolutely. On behalf of our employees, students, staff, >> parents, we we truly appreciate all that you do for our board, as our community. And as we know, uh, you spend a lot of time outside of

004these meetings, uh, with Portage Public Schools, uh, uh, business. And we just sincerely just want to thank you for all your work that you did for us. And as one note, I was, uh, kind of serving as a model for you all with the laptop bag at a conference and I got a lot of positive reviews from other superintendent. So, all right. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh, next is our bond project update. Operation Gerber will talk about our Ambley Elementary update. >> Good evening, board. Superintendent Edwards. I'll give you kind of a quick update on the construction progress at Woodland. Then we'll jump into our Amberly design and construction update as well with members from OK here to present that to you guys. But Woodland uh old man winters brought the thunder

005this year. Plenty of snow and wind and everything. Uh construction crews doing a great job trying to move forward as best they can. Uh things are going well, but we're obviously with the uh last couple months of hard winter. We're a little behind schedule, but as we meet with OK, they kind of assured us that we'll be able to pick up time as we move forward. We're adjusting how we do a couple things. So, when we hit steel here, uh, in a couple in about a month or two, we'll be able to catch up during steel with the program that they're able to put together for that. But not worried about it at this time, but winter is hitting us pretty good this year. But, you know, they're working through it as best they can

006and they'll make it up. I'm positive of that. Um, but, you know, as Woodland goes, it's it's coming along as as to be expected with the weather. So, um, going to jump to Amberly, let these guys come up. Uh yeah got Doug from Tower Pinkster and Tom from OK. They'll kind of give you a brief update on how things are going looking for Amberly as well as what we're looking to do in the next couple months here. >> Thanks Russ. Good evening Superintendent Edwards uh board of trustees may not be on >> what's that on the side? >> Yeah. Thanks. Uh so we're here to provide a design update on the Amberly Elementary project. We've got some uh building related content and then really we'll dive into some site related content and just share some

007existing constraints the design teams been working through and kind of how we've been resolving them to provide the the best possible project long term for Portage Public Schools. So this is just a you've got a few intro slides just as a reminder of you know what we're always constantly keeping in mind as we go through the process. So, you're looking at the educational programs, the environment that we create, and then the the overall vision that Portidge Public Schools has for these projects. And those are largely that vision is largely guided by the uh guiding principles that were developed prior to any of the design team members ever being involved with the projects. But we reference these often as we go through the design process. reference them at the beginning of every design review meeting that

008we have with district leadership with you know district educators sharing those as a reminder and from them develop some Amberly specific design drivers and with each of these schools we have a a lot of commonality but then we also work with the students and staff to really understand the environment and the community of that particular school. I think you know any that have toured all will recognize there are similarities there also differences once you have the opportunity to do the same for Woodland I believe that you all experienced the same so just sharing these uh where we've been you know we have had past student and staff engagements we were actually to have a staff engagement last Tuesday due to the school closure we are working to reschedule so we continue uh you know as

009we further the design process and the the design evolution share share that with students and staff just for for feedback and further involvement. And then early on in the design process that started with Central and Haba Hill, you know, as we take the comments and the the feedback received during those engagement sessions, we create what we call design statement that really serves as the overarching, you know, path forward for each of the projects. And then, you know, our design team leans on that heavily as we proceed through the the design process. So, getting to the exciting stuff, the the design update. So, since we last met with you in I believe December, you know, we've continued, this was the, you know, kind of an initial party design floor plan program document that we shared. You

010we've been furthering that with overall floor plan development. You'll see the the first floor floor plan development as well as second floor. And then we have some 3D axonometric views just showing you all the spaces and places within the new Amberly elementary. So similar to central Haver Hill Woodland these have a lot of the same you know learning community com um programmatic components you know obviously cafe gym media center. So we're using the previous projects as the guide and informing the future. And this is the axon of the first floor. Just so you can kind of see how the overall 3D geometric shape is taking place of the the building as a whole. This is the current, you know, in progress second floor plan. And then the second floor axon, you know, just showing the

011the overall development of those spaces. and you'll see that a portion of the building doesn't have um programmatic content on the second floor. We're showing kind of that roof area. Uh so the now the exciting stuff that we want to get into tonight for anyone that is familiar with the Amberly site, there are existing portage community water wells on site and there are easements. There are currently two existing, one operational with the opportunity to have a third and then with easements that we learned of during project opportunity for a fourth. So we've been having conversations not only with the district but as well as the city of portage throughout the process just to understand the constraints both from you know a restriction from you you know what what can be built on them what cannot

012be what sort of access do you need throughout the building or sorry throughout the the day they visit the the city staff visit these wells often and I guess you know all the all the kids as they're out playground they notice avoid any personnel that are there to visit them. Uh then we started looking at you know okay so we have these those bubbled areas we have these restrictions we have the existing building so that leaves you know the northern portion of the site to figure out how we place this building on it and then coupled with that the yellow line represents what we've determined to be a new utility path for utilities for the new building. So a little foreshadowing you'll notice that comes in conflict with some of the existing building. Uh so

013and then Tom constructibility jump in any time but we were trying to also on the previous slide mentioned a 75 foot separation between new construction existing construction both for you know the ability to construct the building while also protecting the students that will be utilizing the building and the site for the you know two and a half you knowish years of construction. So this >> Yeah. And I guess one thing to add with that 75 ft buffer, that's really to keep a safety zone between the existing school and the constructibility of of the new new building uh because we've got to build scaffolding a couple stories high and so you have to have safety zones so that we can work in access. So we felt that that was a comfortable uh distance. But what that

014required, as you see on this here, the the north end of the existing school um will have to relocate five classrooms. And uh that's being done within the existing footprint of Amberly. Uh so that's been kind of worked through as far as where those uh kids and teachers are going to teach within the existing footprint. And the idea is is that we're going to remove five classrooms from that north side there to create that safe uh buffer zone from a constructibility standpoint. >> And that will take place uh this summer. So then you'll also see on this diagram, you know, the the northern site preparation area. That's some of the the first work that will go just due to the various grading of the sites. If anyone's walked that northern area, it starts to slope

015down towards those woods quite a bit. So we have to bring in dirt for the new building to be able to raise it up. So you know, it's not sitting below grade and have any sort of water infiltration concerns. a yellow area just some construction access throughout the site and around you know the new building as it is constructed during you know uh the school year and making sure that like Tom mentioned we're keeping everything very safe distance away from the children. The little red area right directly below that construction area is a relocated playground because a portion of the existing playground is in that either site preparation area or construction access area. And then just showing the you know we're modifying the existing bus loop slightly just to accommodate you know the construction access

016drive and then the you know area that we need for job trailers construction layown area so we can safely have materials be available to be installed and constructed and then the student and parent drop off. >> So what Doug's kind of going through is we had to look at this because of the tight constraints on this project. We had to really do this in four phases and so that you're going to see each type of phase as we develop through this uh which creates a little bit more bid packages, more scheduling and stuff but uh that's where we're kind of walking through the the four phases of this. So this is that first phase there that we'll actually start here um at the end of March >> and we've got some guideline slides later on

017to specifically go through that. So in phase two, you know, >> that's what I'm up here for. >> Phase two, you know, just expanding that construction access area and, you know, getting the the new utilities installed and, you know, additional layown area as the building comes further out of the ground, we have more materials on site to to install and construct. Uh, then anything else? So with this on this uh phase two here where you see construction access there, this is where we will actually start uh doing the foundation of the building uh as we've kind of moved our fence line down further close to the uh the existing building to the south there. You kind of see that dotted line with the circles there. So the the playgrounds have been relocated there. And so

018we again we try to create that safe working zone. >> We know that that phase phase two will be the phase that we operate in for about two years. So that's going to be the key phase where that's the next two years school will be operating in phase two. >> Okay. And then uh phase three is essentially the the the building is uh near complete there and then uh this takes place in the June of of 28 where we go in and start uh demoing the existing building there and creating uh the the new parking lots. So very similar to central. It's going to be very tight, very compacted. time schedule standpoint. So, a lot will be happening there in the uh summer of 2018. And then uh finally for the phase four there, they

019will be completing a lot of the landscaping and trees and the plantings and stuff that all has to happen uh after the building is removed there. So, anticipate some of that landscaping stuff going into the the fall there. But, the idea is to be very similar to Central and demoing that and getting the parking lots in. Uh and hopefully weather cooperates versus what it is doing today. >> So, we're going to keep you busy here uh over the next uh 3 to four months from a from a standpoint of a bidding process and looking for board approval. So, we've kind of outlined the packages that we've got coming out here. Uh our completed the drawings for this first phase here. So, we'll be going out to bid here very shortly with that. And then, as

020I had mentioned earlier, we anticipate starting uh right before spring break there on March 27th. And uh we'll roll into to bid package two, footings and foundations. Part of the reason of doing this is just from a procurement standpoint. Uh so, that's why we kind of broke this out this way. And then bid package three will focus on the structural steel components with that. And then the remainder uh bid package four will be the remainder of the building. So, um, and the target dates are there listed as far as, uh, needing approval. Um, and we'll have the bid recommendations on those dates for you. And then just the project timelines, uh, overall for the first four phases there. So, as I mentioned, first phase one is March 27th. Phase two is early July of 26.

021That's the the starting the footings and the foundations. Phase three is the demo of the old Amberly building. and then again following up with that restoration uh and the landscaping in phase four of the fall of 28. But the idea is is that the kids will be in their new building there uh starting in September of 28. >> Any general question five classrooms going? Just curious would it be in their like activity room space or >> so? uh Amber Elementary, just so you know, everyone, every staff member at Amber is going to have a space to teach out of do their thing out of. Um so there's a a multi-purpose room in the back of the building uh that right now it's uh used by um prime time every day. It's kind of their space.

022Uh that's the only building in the district that has that prime time space. So we'll be taking that back in terms of the district will be using that as a resource space. Uh we're juggling the resource teachers room. So, we'll be taking three RO resource teachers rooms and making that the first grade teachers rooms. We also have only three sections of kindergarten this year. Uh, seeing that trend, we don't anticipate a fourth section of fourth grade next year, so that we have a room savings there. So, we kind of tracked it all out with the principal over at Amberly Indie. And we we got it all everyone with a spot to go and we're feeling pretty good that there's not going to be anyone that we don't have a spot for. So, we have two

023city wells now. Is that right? >> Yeah, there's two city wells on site. And >> how many more can they add? >> Two more. >> And when this project is done, where will they access those wells from? Um, so if you got a chance to jump back here, ju >> just for context for the whales, um, the city has not put out a timeline or a guarantee that they will put the new whales in, but if they were to do them, they not they are already pre-identified because there's a certain radius associated with it. >> So this we're not completely done at drawing every single sidewalk and drive-in, but there will be a a way for them to access it. They'll go next to the building. There'll be a drive that goes out to the

024wells that they can get to. But there we we have that in mind as part of the design process. We actually have a sidewalk currently that goes from the neighborhood to the east of the school. Um there's a well, you can see it right there, bottom right. You can see the well, that sidewalk that goes right by it. That'll be basically one of the drives. It'll be that sidewalk drive to the well and then they just drive on the grass to the next well currently. And where will the the playground be ultimately? >> Ultimately the playground will be more situated behind the school. >> Um >> like in that green area somewhere or >> Yeah. So right there you see the two little orange light orange. >> Yeah. So jump up here and here's the

025>> Oh, the lighter orange. Okay. Back to Ry's question about the uh whales. Can you go to the slide that shows the city trucks required daily? I think that'll show better. >> There you go. >> That one there. So, that's where you can see um where where the wells would currently are. And then they're proposed well would be kind of north center of that top bubble kind of vertical and then horizontal along the model ideally. There's a certain radius that they have to have between each other. So if they were to do future whale that's where one could fall. I I noticed that the gatherings stare in the heart is sort of in a different place than it is in the other buildings. Could you just speak to that? >> Yeah. So, that's all generated

026from the student and staff feedback of just hearing where because in Woodland it's the same or it's similarly in a different spot than where it is in central and neighborhood. It's where in central and neighborhood it's more on the public what we call the public side of the building. In Woodland, it's more on the private side. And so similarly with Amberly is we hear the feedback that that guides where you know all the the various kid aparts as we call it where they where everything shakes out and ends up. So it's it's purely from a you know that building's culture. >> Okay. >> Listening to that >> they have a little bit of advantage. They get to see two completed buildings one with a bigger heart, one with a smaller heart. Um, and through the

027process they uh they they like the bigger heart with the the ability to do more things with it in terms of larger groups. >> I just want to say I love the 3D floor plans. Thank goodness. >> That helps. >> Yep. >> And having been in the buildings that are open, it's so much easier to visualize how it's all going to work out after seeing it completed. So, >> um, appreciate seeing how tight a fit it's going to be and how you're making that work. And I think, um, I just want to underscore and correct me if I'm wrong on this, but the hassle of that tight fit for a couple of years, you got to trade off because there's going to be two big benefits because number one, uh, we won't have to relocate

028Amberly to the old Haba Hill for two years. they can stay right um right in their old old building and I think on the schedule it moves things up a year because we don't have to wait for the Haber Hill to open up. It opens it gets them there two years faster. >> Yeah. >> So I just want to underscore and I appreciate folks on that campus. It's going to be tight for a couple years but you're going to get the building two years faster. >> Keep in mind Old Haver Hills was servicing 400 kids, not 500 that they have at Amberly. Yeah. >> So, that's a that's a big uh that'd be a big push for that old Haver Hill to be able to handle all of Amberly in it. So, you know, it

029is a best case scenario is that we can build it on site. Small modification to the building. We made adjustments to where people are going to be and right now on paper it seems to work out. We presented those to the to the staff that are being displaced today. We're talking to the whole staff tomorrow. And does that does that not also mean that angling goes faster than it otherwise would have been too? I mean there's a domino effect. >> There's a domino effect and yeah, we'll be talking about all that here coming February a little bit as well. The more Yeah, there's definitely a domino effect. We gain a little bit of time by being able to do this one on site. >> Thank you. That's great. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you.

030>> All right. And last for the superintendent report is Paula Johnson, our director of finance to give us a financial uh report. >> Good evening board of ed and superintendent Edwards. Included in your board packet was a financial report through the month of December, halfway through our fiscal year already. Um the first page of the report lays things out by function code. And I just want to draw to your attention again um federal revenues appear to be down compared to last year at this time. Um we're working on uh approving expenditures at this time through the end of December and we will request a federal draw down through the state of Michigan and get that taken care of. Things rolled a lot slower this year in regards to federal funding due to the government shutdown.

031So it's just a trickle effect of that. So it's a timing difference. Um, moving down again, I I searched for probably an hour to try to find good things to talk about, new things, and I couldn't find anything new. The operations and maintenance line item, it looks higher than last year because of us spending that 31A money before the end of September last year so that we wouldn't lose those funds. Um the central support services area is up slightly and that's due to costs that were associated with our bond issue that we had um last fall and there's some salary increases um coupled into that as well. Page two is uh by object code and again that points out that capital outlay. It looks like it's very skewed as being corrected in the budget amendment

032that we're working on right now. So once you approve that February budget, it won't show um so well over spent like it is at the moment. Um the financial report side is pretty boring this time, so I apologize for that. But I do want to cover some highlights from the consensus revenue estimating conference that happened on January 16th. Um it was it was an interesting um consensus revenue estimating conference if you like economics. um they always start out and they say, "Well, our unemployment rate is up slightly up to 5.5% and from 5.3 and we predict that it's going to stay that way through 2027." Vehicle sales are down and as you know, Michigan relies heavily, you know, on the big the big automakers. Um, so vehicle sales are down 3.7% but they were contributing

033that to the fact that uh electric car incentives expired at the end of September last year. They're projecting that hopefully that the that the sales will flip around to an increase of 1.3% in fiscal year 27 because they try to look at two years at once when they do the consensus revenue estimating conference so that you can see beyond just the current year that you're in and you can go one year further. They they take some time going over um the two biggest uh funds that the the state has, the general fund and the the state school aid fund. Um the general fund revenues were revised down a revised down 90 $980.5 million or 2.4% and that was down since their projections of May of 2025. Um this is mostly due to tax policy changes

034that were incorporated into the state budget. but they were passed after the May crack happened. So they weren't able to incorporate those projections at May. So they had they adjust themselves at this time around in uh January. Um it also has a it's also contributed to no tax on overtime or tips and the enhanced retirement exemptions that Governor Whitmer has put into place. Um, a portion of it is also contributed to lower corporate income tax collections and larger individual income tax refunds. They are projecting not only at the end of this year, unless something changes with the general fund, that they will be slightly in the negative, but they're also projecting next year for the general fund for the state of Michigan to also appear in. But we have good news on the state school

035a side. Um those eight school aid revenues were adjusted up $21.1 million compared to their forecast. That's a 2.3% increase. They're also projecting that 2627 will also have a positive adjustment as well. They did bring to our attention that um some of the categoricals that the state has set aside money for to pay out in future years such as the 31A safety and security and mental health money, the 27L transportation funding, and the section 29 enrollment stabilization for declining enrollment districts. Those at the current time are going to fall off at different times in future budgets unless the legislators allocate money to continue those categoricals. You may have seen in the news um the state school aid fund is funded largely by sales tax and the sales tax associated with gas was going to the

036state school aid fund until just this past January 1. Now, the sales tax from gas is being routed to road funding, and the general fund is sliding 600 $677 million back into the state school aid fund to hold them harmless. I caution the fact that that's going to continue in the future. Um, I would hope so. Um, but you never know what's going to happen while they're negotiating up in Lancing. Um, also you've probably heard that uh higher education, the amount of money that they that they put in for community colleges and universities, it's up for the highest amount I've ever seen it. Um, back in 2009, they they said they were going to loan the universities money from the state school aid fund and they've just continued to fund higher education out of the

037state school aid fund since 2009. They did skip one year, the the 201011 school year. They didn't make a contribution, but they have contributed over 11.2 billion over that time frame has come out of the state school aid fund and gone to higher education instead of students in K through 12. The state also adjusts their enrollment numbers at the consensus revenue estimating conference and they overshot their enrollment number for this year. They had to adjust down another 6,000 students statewide um from their original May 2025 projection. Overall, the state is down 12,534 students this school year compared to last school year. and they're anticipating for the 2627 year to lose another 10,100 students and the year after that another 10,500 students. So they're projecting a decline in overall state enrollment. As you are aware, um

038there's a certain process that everything an order that everything falls in in regards to the budgeting process. The governor will present her budget in early May. We don't have an exact date yet. Um we think it's going to be sometime the first week of May. Excuse me, February. Um February 25th, she's going to deliver her state of the state address in the evening. Um from there, the House and the Senate will work on their budget resolutions. Hopefully, we can see something a lot earlier than what we've seen last year. um target, you know, hopefully by early May. They'll go into conference committee and pass a budget by July 1. Fingers crossed it is an election year. So, they're going to want to get out and campaign. So, let's hope that they can take care of

039the budget before they go out to campaign. So, and next uh board meeting, we will be bringing in the general fund budget amendment. We're working on that. So, any questions? >> So, revenue is down. That's the prediction. >> General fund revenue is down, but state school aid is up and the two almost balance each other out. >> Yeah. Yeah. And the school aid fund is in jeopardy because they'll probably borrow something from that. >> You they you never know where they'll look or what they won't fund. So, I'm trying to remain optimistic. >> Oh, you are. You are. >> Yeah. Hey, hey, Paul. The um you interested in the student decline? Um you know, you hand how many students in the state is it is it about a million? I mean, is this about a

040percent a year that the state's losing? >> I can see this I can see the slide that I need to reference right now for you in my mind. from the state the house fiscal agency but I don't have that number right here for you. >> Yeah I think we're down to between 13 and 14. >> Okay. >> It was5 precoid. >> Okay. >> So >> thank you Johnny. >> Yeah. It's just kind of it's kind of stunning. >> Um I mean and and thankfully I mean our numbers here in this district fairly steady. They they wiggle around a little bit, but fairly steady. >> Um, >> we're coming up on account day again here soon. >> Hearing any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Good report. Thank you. Okay, we'll uh move to board education

041uh final presentation or monitoring report 1.1 academic success. >> Uh thank you uh again president Venet. We're uh coming around now Dr. Kelly Jini is providing the board with an updated monitoring report presentation. We made a few modifications uh prior to the meeting and then we also updated a couple of pages in your summary that she's now providing for you. Uh he and Dr. Pascal are going to kind of tag team together presentation as the board may recall and Tracy uh board may recall we break these monitoring reports up into three segments. Uh Dr. Pasco did a secondary segment uh back in December. Dr. Jensenius did an elementary segment um at our last board meeting. And now here comes our our summary report with an updated monitoring report uh presentation as well as we uh

042modified a couple of pages. >> All right. Good evening. uh like superintendent Edwards just said I will present on the final summary uh for 1.1 these are the things that we'll cover similar schools comparison for percent proficient and percent proficient improvement and then for PPS schools only we'll look at growth and then we'll look at how low achieving non-proficient students did in terms of student growth as well I know Kelly had presented that for elementary um and we were requested to put that in by the time I had did middle and high school um it wasn't there in terms of a request. So we've added it as an overall in here as well. You guys are familiar with the criteria in which we selected similar schools. U main focus was on uh total enrollment as

043well as economically disadvantaged compared to how we did it um before two years ago for about a decade or more around comparator districts. Uh so the first one we look at uh how Michigan's average results are compared to PPS. Um, by looking at this, you can see that PPS continued to outer perform the state in both ELA and math. At least for here, you're looking at a 4-year uh projection for 2024 25 fifth grade ELA and math proficiency rates were 11% 7.8%. Greater than the state's average. 8th grade ELA and math proficiencies were around 12 and 14%. and then uh 11th grade ELA and math were 20% and 18.8% greater than the state's average. So the point here is the difference between PPS proficiency and the state increases as students progress through our system and

044you can see that comparison you look back from elementary 11.2 and 7 to high school the gap was 20% and 18% greater. So looking favorable as we look at our comparison in the state which we should u when comparing 2425 state assessment results to the previous three years which is 20 22 to 24 is that three-year average um there's an increase in proficiency compared to the three-year average in fifth grade. So you can see a an increase of 2.7% 11th grade ELA at 2.6% and then 2.7% for 11th grade math. We decreased relative to the three-year average in fifth grade ELA, eighth grade ELA, and eighth grade math. All right, this next summary looks at how each of our schools rank among this its 10 similar schools in percent proficient on the spring 2025 state

045assessment. So, we look at fifth grade MSTEP, we look at eighth grade, PSAT 8, and we look at SAT uh for our high schools. um we have a pretty high threshold here. So I want to put that out there before I go through this data. Essentially, if you're not in the top three, uh we don't meet expectations. So that's uh how these next couple slides will go. You'll see those that meet expectations in blue. Those that are below expectations are in red. So when you look at just percent proficiency, we only had one out of 13 schools meeting expectations in terms of percent proficient in their similar schools list. All right, this next one is the percent proficient improvement summary. So again, it looks at spring 2025 compared to the previous three-year average again for

046fifth and eighth and 11th. Um schools ranking in the top three again meet. Those that don't are below. So overall, we had three of 13 schools that met expectations in ELA. Can't really see it on what's going on. And then four of 13 schools met expectations in math. >> Now we move on to growth summary. So looking at our student growth uh on the spring 2025 state assessment. Again, that's determined by the percent of PPS students with an SGP of at least 30. uh that's defined by my school data with average growth as SGPS from 30 to 69 and above average from 70 to 99. So we want our schools with 70% or more of our students having average or above average growth uh consider expectations and are shown in green on here and with

047less than 70% having uh would be below average um shown in red. So overall we have 9 to 13 schools at expectations in ELA and 7 to 13 schools at expectations in math. Um and then finally we'll kind of summarize the low achieving non-proficient growth summary. So again we've been asked to add this to this year's report. Uh we haven't looked at this in the past. This is kind of new data. Uh so we look at uh students that were considered uh non-proficient in their previous assessment uh whether that was MSTEP or College Board and then we look at their SGP as they took the next assessment to see are they growing to those that were proficient. And so we extracted data from students whose performance was considered non-proficient to examine their student growth from

048the previous state assessment. Evidence of annual academic growth is interpreted by the percent of PPS students who have an SGP again of 30th to 69th percentile or 70th to 99th uh which is either uh at uh u average growth or above average growth u as defined by my school data. And so you look at those are percentages of how they did. So all PPS schools were within the average growth range for ELA and math. So hopefully that answers the question behind how our low achieving or non-proficient students do in terms of like proficiency and then looking at them in terms of how well they're growing and as a favorable result they're still growing um over time. All right. So, that's kind of the summary of data. All that you've heard in the previous presentation, but

049more importantly, it's, you know, you saw some there's a high bar. You saw some positive, but you see a lot of red up there in terms of lots of work to do, and we understand that. Um, we're a team uh just like all of our teachers and our educators and our leaders um that have a sense of urgency. Uh people are working hard every single day. Um by looking at the data, no one gets discouraged. Um and we continue on our path. And so I want to bring up Dr. Tracy um Gerszheimer to talk about, you know, what are we doing about the data? What does it look like specifically for math and ELA? Uh what are the things that we're staying the course? And if there's anything that maybe we've tweaked along the way

050that we identified as not working and how that brought us maybe in a different direction. So anything you have to say about that, Tracy? You're more than welcome. Okay. >> Um I have a lot to say about it. Um so if you if you're looking at the graphic there on the slide um that kind of illuminates the key steps of our process right so our implementation science tells us that when systems are aligned we can move students forward those efforts can't be moved forward if we're all working in different directions so that is why our work is very much focused on these structures so if we're looking at professional learning and its alignment to the curriculum. We're looking at our curriculum review cycles, our curriculum meeting student needs, our students being successful with that curriculum.

051We also are embedding test prep, MSTEP prep plans, SAT prep plans. We also renewed our focus on our professional learning communities for teachers this year so they can look at instructional data in real time along the way. So, we're not only looking at SAT or MSTEP, a big assessment, but what's happening at the end of unit one, unit two, how might I go back and intervene if a student is still struggling in those pieces? And then finally, the last sort of graphic on there is about coaching. And so, we have coaches at our elementary working on reading strategies in math and collaborative teaching and learning. And we have coaches at our middle school and high school focused on ELA and math as well to support new teachers and teachers with new curriculum and just helping

052teachers implement these new strategies. Um if you kind of go there's a next I have the clicker. >> There we go. There. Okay. I so there's sort of five big levers that we want to pull when we're talking about student outcomes. So let's talk first about ELA and math proficiency. Well, you must look first at your curriculum to see if it's aligned to the standards. Then you have to look to see are teachers teaching that curriculum that's aligned to the standards. If they aren't, why is it because they've made adjustments based on needs? What are those needs? Do we need to adjust that within our curriculum? That involves that ongoing coaching and training for teachers. So, building that shared understanding around the curriculum, alignment, and instructional practices is also something we have to build with

053our leaders. So, not every principal is an expert in every content area, right? I mean that would be really fantastic if they were. And so like for example in this area we spent a lot of time last year with our principles on math and we visited every secondary math teacher's classroom and collected some baseline data. What did we see that aligned with the eight mathematical practices that we know help students learn math? And we did that because we wanted them to understand what they would be looking for when they went to that classroom. I don't have I wasn't a math teacher. I have expertise in some areas, but we have to build that capacity in our leaders as well. So that's very much part of our process and part of what we will continue to

054do throughout this year and beyond. Looking at communicating clear expectations for all tiers of instruction. So tier one instruction, right? like clear expectations for students, clear uh expectations around collaborative learning, um basic practices that we know will support all learners in a classroom regardless of where they are on the continuum. And then finally, um PLC's, which I talked about a little bit, but PLC's can really work if teachers are focusing on instruction. So if they are looking at data, how did students perform? So, a great example of that is some of our formative assessments that we're doing in ELA right now where we're all writing on a common task and then collaboratively looking at that data together to identify what are some of the students strengths in writing. What are some of the areas that

055we need to work on or go back and maybe fuse that in earlier because they missed it in a prior grade. That kind of work is so important. So, I wanted to kind of highlight, you have a long document with a lot of information on it, but I kind of wanted to highlight like in ELA, we have full implementation of our new curriculum, K9. In grade 10, we're early adopting this year. So, we have daily integrated literacy instruction. It's consistent K9 supported by common assessments where we can look at that formative data, coaching, letters and PD. These systems will strengthen instructional practice over time and we will get meaningful gains as we reach full fidelity of implementation. In math, we have the same implementation framework. So we have our curriculum review cycle. We are intentionally

056piloting three resources that our CRC team selected right now. Um, secondary is piloting in vision. They will in the fall pilot amplify and then imagine and when I say pilot I want to tell you that at the secondary level every teacher is involved in the pilot. This is very unusual. Typically it's a small like committee of teachers who were chosen to represent who pilot that resource and test it. We have chosen at the secondary level to do it with every teacher piloting in some capacity uh those resources along that way we will build our principal capacity with that. So we will have coming up soon in a couple of weeks our principles visit the teachers that are doing envision so we can see what does envision look like? How is this different from big ideas

057our current curriculum at the secondary level? What what you know how does this resource make it easier for the teacher to do their job? because what we want is a resource that will help teachers and provide, you know, differentiation capabilities, online resources, parent connections, all these things. So, they'll see what's happening. Um, elementary, which I didn't mention, is currently piloting Imagine and in the fall we'll pilot amplify. And so, everybody's involved in testing out these resources in some way. At the secondary level, everyone who's piloting is also receiving coaching through K resaura. Please be our middle school coach who works with our middle school teachers primarily and is dabbling in high school a little bit as time allows. And then at elementary, we support that through other instructional coaching efforts as well. Um I I

058wanted to talk about the long game a little bit. Um the long game is hard to play, right? Um, I have worked in a district before. Some of you know I worked in Texas for a long time where we did drill and kill. Do you know what I mean when I say that? Where you taught to the test and you taught the kids every day. You did practice test. You reviewed the answers, right? You told them which was the correct one. You taught them that specific problem if it was math or how to write that short answer for that test. And you know what? If you do that, your scores will improve, right? They will in the short term, but we're playing the long game, right? And in the long game, we want to focus

059on some other things. Yes, absolutely. Those things are important. They are very important. Certainly, when we do that, like if we wanted to do that with MSTEP or with SAT, it would build familiarity with the test. it would help kids not be as stressed out maybe about the test. Um, those are all helpful, especially when you're really close to the test day, but I think there's a time and place for that time of work, that type of work. And it doesn't, I believe, guide the work we do in CIA, in our department, um, and as a district, because we're playing this long game. And in the long game, we want to build people who are thinkers, who can read and write and defend their argument, who can organize their ideas and problem solve because those

060skills outlast the SAT score or the MSTEP score or any of those things, right? That's the goal. The test alone doesn't define the work, but making sure they're ready to do whatever is next re is really important to our department. And I always feel proud when I'm looking at the percentage of students who are placed who have to take a remedial course in college. It's very very small for our district. It's about 45 kids. Now that could be better, right? I would love to see it be zero because we can always improve and it it is I'm never satisfied with good enough. But I want them to be prepared for what they do after high school, right? And that to me is a metric that's important to look at. So I I appreciate this urgency

061around the data and the scores. It's important. Um to me it signals your belief in academics which I think is also extremely important. And I think it creates momentum for us which is important. Um but our goal is to build a system that will stay there beyond me, Kelly, Michael, and all of you, right? a system that will be in place that will keep graduating kids that are outperforming the state and that are growing. Right? So no matter where we get them, like the very last data slide where it talked about students who are not meeting expectations, we get students who are reading far below grade level at the high school. And our objective is to add value when they leave. We must grow them wherever they are. And in every single column on that

062slide, they were green. And I'm proud of that. And I'm proud of the work that our teachers do there because that work is not easy to have kids on grade level, below grade level, above grade level, sometimes all in the same room, right? If you can grow all of those students, that to me is a marker of success. And I think we will get there. But we can't focus on quick fixes. I never want to be a drill and kill. I never want to focus on tests because I want to play the long game. But it's a hard game. It's a hard game to play. >> That's great. Thank you. I appreciate you sharing that. >> Um, thank you. >> And as I hear Tracy talk, your packet could be this thick of things that

063we're trying to do. Um, but I want to address Mark's question. Uh, when I was up here during the secondary presentation, he also brought brought up in the retreat today. Um what are the things that maybe from both of you maybe think of a an example that maybe we we went in a certain direction we realized by going through our our cycle uh figuring out it wasn't we weren't getting the ROI that we had intended and then how did we change course or did we just push it to the side and then move on to something different or just eliminate it alto together. Is there any examples like I mean from elementary or secondary where you know we just didn't push forward with something that we knew just wasn't getting the gains or impact that

064we had initially intended. >> I think I can speak a little bit about that around ELA. So, prior to our new curriculum, we had created all kinds of phonics routines at the lower L and and we because we were trying to get that consistency happening um in all of our buildings as well as we were using a program called Hagerty and we were using it through I believe second grade. Well, we switched to our new curriculum. What I'm proud of is sometimes you add things in and you forget to take things out. We did not we took out the phonics routines, right? because our new curriculum um two new curriculums we had um our district but also UFly UFY covers and does that work better than our homegrown piece and so has the research behind

065it researchers creating it so we implemented UFly said thank you for your service fun and all the people who created them over time which we know was a ton of work um and then Hagerty we listened to that research that came out that said whoa whoa whoa this can't be your only thing that you do and so we listened to that and adjusted based on based on what was coming at us. So, so we do take things out, right? When we're realizing like that's not it. We need to adjust to that. Um, I don't know if you can give some secondary spot >> on the spot. There are a lot of subscriptions that we have um at the secondary level whether it's an e textbook or uh like an online remediation platform and whenever they

066come up for renewal now we evaluate um are we getting the return on investment? How many students are using it or teachers are using it? How often? We survey them to see is this something that you think we should buy? Why? Right. To try to identify what will be used because we find sometimes that we have, like you said, we add something and don't take it off. We have lots of ornaments, so to speak, on our tree. And it can be overly decorated to to carry that metaphor forward if we're not evaluating uh what is really useful. >> And sometimes those programs are family favorite, right? Or people favorites. And it's hard to remove them out of there because it has served certain students or certain teachers well. And if we're looking for a long

067game and changing that and being consistent, we those those are conversations have to happen and and we do make those those moves. >> Yeah, thanks for sharing those examples, Mark. Hopefully that helps give you some idea of some of the things that we've changed course on. Uh I think we've got a lot of things in play, but as Johnny mentioned in the retreat, um I'm helping lead facilitating a curriculum audit and so that's a big effort uh that we're taking on. everyone in this room in terms of exec team or administrators all have played a part. Um all of you have interview slots with the audit team. I'll send you um those appointments in the morning although I already know you have uh that time in mind. Um so from February 2nd to the 5th

068uh five to six auditors will come come down from the C CMSI team. Um the Monday is all interviews with all of us at central office, a few board members and then as well as the following day for some of the trustees as well. And then the Tuesday and and Wednesday of that week, they're going through all of our buildings. Okay? So there might be two different walk teams at each. Our principles or APS may be engagement specialists or reading specialists will help guide them into the rooms um so that they have a familiar face uh both from students and teachers as they as they invite um the visiting teams uh throughout those two days. And then Thursday is kind of a wrap-up day. Uh we've been working on uh a shared curriculum drive. So

069I appreciate everyone's uh effort on that particularly in this room. There's five indicators uh that they're looking at and there was a ton of work to submit and even Barb has helped uh do some things around policy governance and some board related stuff that they want to look at. So I think we're going to get a lot out of that. There's going to be things that we haven't talked about today. There may be things that we have um maybe exposed ourselves but we just haven't had um something to back maybe a change or support us going in a different direction. Uh very similar to our facilities audit that we did in terms of safety and security. We realized that our entrances and vestibules was our our most vulnerable spot in our district and we were

070inconsistent on how we were welcoming people into our facilities and we made a big change and that executive summary really helped. So, we're looking at the curriculum audit to do the same thing. Maybe there'll be some few a few things that we could really tackle to help us improve in the upcoming years and and who knows, maybe impact some of the numbers that are in in these reports moving forward. So, we're looking forward to that and um and just adding that to our continuous improvement efforts. So, I thought I'd mention that because that is a big effort that's going to take place and I'm sure uh Superintendent Edwards will will share that executive summary once we get that month down the road. questions or comments? There's a lot, but Mary Lou, >> um, I just

071have a question. Um, that's great that all and that teachers are piloting the new curriculum. That's pretty exciting. Can you describe h what's going to happen after the pilot? How are those conversations going to happen? Who's going to lead those? You know, all that kind of stuff. >> You mean how are we collecting their da their data or their feedback or >> and how are you guys meeting to discuss? Okay. Yep. Um, so throughout the pilots, we have check-ins. We have those all scheduled. They typically are taking place during the department meetings. And right now, the vendor will be present at those. We also have a Q&A document that is live that a teacher can post any time that the vendor is expected and I'm watching to answer their question as soon as they post

072it within within 24 within reason. Right. Um and then the we have drafted a survey that we will have students take after each pilot. So we will have staff uh families and students take the survey. So, the teachers have all seen this survey um and reviewed it. I think we've reviewed the draft three times and when um the pilot concludes, we will have all the students take the survey as well as staff and then also send it out to families and then collect that data. And we'll do that same method for each of the pilots along the way whenever we have a PD day that has been really focused on implementing the new curriculum. So typically those are vendor le or we have support from k rea on okay now we know what the resource

073is how are we going to organize the content a little differently because as you know Mary Lou like every vendor organizes their units a little differently and they don't always line up exactly so there is some finesse to that so algebra 2 doesn't line up exactly and so teachers have to kind of maneuver some of the units a little bit to make sure that students have skills they know they need for the next course. Yep. So, we we've got I meet every two weeks more or less with the math leaders, the three team leaders, and just check in with them as well, like what's going on, what do you need, here's what's happening, here's when the trainings are scheduled. So, we have everything scheduled and planned out for Amplify and Imagine through February of next

074year. >> Y can you help me? I I don't understand with um like when you say you're doing a like a walkth through or the snapshot of a teacher's classroom and I've classrooms but just from an an administrator hopping in for a few minutes to what do you collect from that short amount of time? >> Yeah. >> How does that turn around and help a teacher? because you could be having a crazy moment in class when you guys walk in and that's how does that benefit the teacher or is does a teacher sit in with another teacher or is that ever happening or I guess if you could just fill me in on that. >> Yeah. Well, there are lots of different ways in which we observe teachers. So, in the context of what I

075described the learning walks, it was done primarily to build principal capacity in math. So we had a rubric that um identified the eight mathematical practices and we looked exclusively at those eight practices. So for example, one of those is math discourse. So very simply, if I'm sitting next to Kelly and I say, "What did you get for number three?" >> And she says, "I got nine." Nice. I got six. >> That is not math discourse, right? That is checking our answers. And so what we're looking for is are you having a discussion with one another about how did you solve the problem? What was your approach to the problem? Some more depth to that conversation there. And that's a little art form to do that, right? And some vendors provide a lot of resources for

076teachers to structure that some not as strong in that area. And so when we did that, we looked only at trends. We did not give individual data to teachers because we did not want them to feel like they were being >> evaluated and only the folks that had been part of CRC had had a lot of in-depth training on math discourse and had seen model lessons and had read about it and were trying it out with coaching support and with kesa support. So we did it only to look at trends to see like where do we see discourse happening and when we see it what does it look like? Another practice is you know collaborative learning. When we see students group together what do we see them do? >> Often they're just sitting next to

077each other right >> but they're not actually talking about the content. It doesn't matter if it's math or ELA. And there's a lot of reasons I could explain that right? But what we want them to do is to talk about something related to the content and use the academic vocabulary of that content. Right? So those are things when we do that we know okay these are areas for professional development. These are areas for coaching. That's how we use the learning walks. Um with teachers the primary method that we work on that is through coaching and through PD. So if we know through our observations that a teacher needs help with discourse, then that teacher might be encouraged to seek the coach to maybe pair up with Laura Pleaseby who will help demo lessons or co-plan

078ideas or try them out with them. >> Team next. >> Yeah. Teach with them. Yeah. Model lessons. >> Yeah. Because you know sometimes it's just uh practicing of the skills and and having to see it that helps you get better at it. I hope that answers. >> I heard you say something um during the main part and then it was reiterated and I want to highlight that um that many students come to us or to an individual classroom with what we would refer to as low proficiency or um the term learning gaps um where they don't have that. And that's where the growth is so important. And that chart that had growth with everything green was a testament to that and to the educators who are doing the hard work of getting students who may

079not be easy to work with because of the number of gaps. and they're filling those gaps so that those students can now be proficient in the future or a lot closer to it so that in a future year they get to that point. And I think that's really important um because I want to highlight that this report even with all the red that we saw is truly a baseline. Um, yes, we've had years of Portage public schools behind us, but this is a first year for Johnny's leadership and these are not his scores and he's coming in and taking this and he's going to fly because we know you have and you've done it before and you're going to do it again and I am excited about that because this gives us that point to

080do that with. Um, I want to say kudos to you because we asked hard questions during the retreat >> and it is obvious that you guys took it and on the fly went we're going to answer these questions in a very short time and you prepared information to do that. um and making it clear that our goal is to take a district which our district that is pretty darn good honestly no ma even with colors that look the way they look. We have a really good district and your goal and what our goal is is really to make it great to make it the be one of the best districts around if not one that's known statewide as being the kind of district you want to move to. and thank you for taking the time

081to respond to us and respond to our questions the way we did because we did not ask some easy questions and um and I appreciate you taking that time to do it and I know that that's going to continue and I'm looking forward to next year where we get this again and we get to see some of those things taking effect um taking greater effect not that we've done it wrong in the f in the past But when you change things, you see things that might, as you said, that you didn't realize were there and you're able to make corrections and that only makes us better. >> Yeah, I'll speak for a lot of our admin team. We're at our best when we're professionally challenged. So, we appreciate the push, but also the encouragement. I

082think there's a very healthy relationship between our team and the board and the superintendent and the board. And I think collectively that's only going to help us improve as the years go on. So, we appreciate those questions and uh and in the way in which we do it. It's uh it's a healthy conversation in the retreats and even in the board presentation. So, we appreciate your support and we look forward to that continued relationship. >> Our job is to ask the hard questions and I appreciate your willingness to allow us to do so um in the spirit of growth and encouragement because we're not trying to be malicious in any way. >> Yeah. Thanks for sharing that, Kimberly. Well, what's on your mind? you got must have. >> Well, no. Well, I appreciate you saying

083that and we've Yes. had a thing over the years on Right. Um I'm going to piggy back um on on Kimberly. Um and so I really appreciated the retreat today and we got down to brass tax and just talking about this stuff and talking about expectations and you look at and this is the most important presentation we get all year. Let's just understood that how kids are doing in school. Um, a lot of green up there. We should celebrate it. There's some red up there that we also ought to celebrate because that red is there. Um, and I want to clarify that's not um that's not an expectation. That's a that's a future expectation. And the board I mean we purposely decided to set the bar high and to be patient. Um, and we want

084to be in balance with the administrative team. And I think I said this during Johnny's interview. Um, I want them to feel pressure, but not debilitating pressure. We need and we need to keep having that conversation. I mean, we want to be respectful and supportive, but we have set it up. So, there's a lot of red there. and what's and we're going to be patient and be supportive and we are going to celebrate as those boxes turn green and and we have some years outlook on this and this is hard work and people are working hard and people are working smart and we want to be thankful about that and and but go back to you know hey the bar is high and and every time a box turns green we're going to celebrate that

085uh and we're going to celebrate the boxes that are green now so Um, I just wanted to underscore that and um, you know, thanks for putting up with me on the retreat and and thanks for all your hard work. This is this is the most important um, presentation we get all year. >> The amount of work that's going into already being, you know, just improving and being done just amazes me. I am truly impressed. Hey. Um, and a quick comment about your anecdotes about stuff that you've tried and then pulled back. That's healthy. I mean, that's to be celebrated. You're going to have to try a lot of things and you're going to try a lot of things that after two or three years, you're going to say, "Man, okay, we got to and having

086the guts having the guts and the patience and the balance and the guts to pull back on some stuff and and try new." So, anyway, kudos for that. And there there is a lot of red up there. But I do want to say there's no teacher in this district that leaves the classroom at the end of the day and says, "Oh man, I wish I would have gave it a little more today because they are trying." And we have a wonderful instructional staff here in terms of our educators. And that's where the rubber meets the road. So, um, you know, I want to make sure that, you know, that point gets across that, you know, we're very thankful for our teachers and, um, and they're doing the best that they can every single day and

087giving giving it their all, you know, and our leaders. >> We truly appreciate that. Yeah. And our administrators and support staff. Um, that, you know, it's a collective effort. So, um, we'll just continue to push. We'll continue to continually improve. And um and like I said, hopefully the audit comes uh out with a few things that really helps us moving forward that will, you know, yield some gains in the future years as well. So it's a lot of good stuff going on. I don't want to lose sight of that. So thanks for your comments. We appreciate it. >> I want to piggyback on one thing in here with these charts that you provided. This is a single snapshot of one point in time. >> And whether it's blue or red, it's just the number and

088they're not even that far apart. Yeah. >> So, it's important for us to, you know, anybody to realize that just because a number is this versus this isn't mean that there's this ginormous gap. There's really not. It's just how how it happens because we've asked for a high high bar. >> And there's some every single one of those similar schools list has wonderful communities across the state and there we're not measuring up against um folks that are not alike uh Portage and the demographics in each of our schools. So, it's very competitive too. But I appreciate you saying that, Emily, because yeah, in some of those instances, if we weren't three, we were 1%, you know, at four% even. >> Yeah. And um >> I did some calculating, Emily, on one school, it was six

089students. >> Like if we had six more students meet expectations, >> right? >> It's very close. And we have a phenomenal plan moving forward about where we're going to get where we want to go. And we're so excited to see it. And I think the goal is just to chip away at it each time we come back as the years go on is that we get more schools within, you know, that top three category and we just grow, you know, as we go. So, >> okay. >> From something to be proud of to something truly amazing. >> All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it. >> I just want to say that I always learn something when you guys come up. I did not know about drill and kill. Now you >> you can add that

090to your speech next year, Randy. >> Yeah. Or maybe I can apply it to my own life. I don't know. >> I just uh I just want to say that I appreciate all the reporting you've done in all your work. And I'm particularly impressed with the with the uh data on growth because we all know proficiency is a lagging indicator to growth and growth numbers look very good which means in my opinion that you're winning the long game. So we appreciate that data and and all your work. Thank you. >> Thanks Randy. Appreciate that. >> Okay. Um, we're at our comments and communication section and uh we have one speaker this evening. It's a musical presentation for Mr. Kosian. >> I don't need you. >> Well, thank you board. It's a pleasure to uh represent

091the education association. Cat couldn't be here tonight, so I'm second best. So, there we go. Um, so we want to share some uh positive stories that are taking place throughout the district. uh that our members are making happen uh in the classroom every day. Uh first of all, I want to invite all of you to the Portage uh Northern High School uh drama department. They are going to uh present Shakespeare as you've never seen before in a Midsummer's Night Dream and that runs from January 30th to February 8th in the Porsche Northern High School auditorium. Don't miss it. At Central High School, the staff has been working very hard preparing newsies. It opens soon and runs from February 6th to the 15th and we hope to see you at that show as well. Our amazing

092art teacher in Northern High School, Sarah Knot, wants all of you to check out the uh awesome uh 6 through 12 Porsche Public School visual art show um taking place now through January 30 uh 31st at the Portage District Library. Students from near nearly every building in the district are represented in the exhibition. uh come to see how vibrant our visual arts programs are across the district. Our uh Spanish teacher at West Middle School, Susan Smith, um worked with her students this semester and uh preparing for their Spanish midterm by writing their own stories, sharing original ideas in a second language. It has been inspiring for Mrs. Smith to hear students express themselves confidently and creatively uh as they build fluency and pride in Spanish. A key part of our curriculum focused on major cultural

093events from Spanish-sp speakaking countries. Each uh teaching enduring values such as the San Sylvestri race which taught endurance, running of the bowls which is courage, the human towers which builds community, bull fighting which is cultural heritage, the day of the dead, remembrance and strength, and the Panama Canal global connection. Uh Mrs. Julie Stevenson at Moresbridge Elementary uh worked with two of our West Middle School teachers, Mrs. How and Mrs. McDaniel, sixth grade ELA and science. Uh they came together for a meaningful crosscurricular experience as students shared books they created uh for uh their first grade buddies from Morsbridge Elementary. The big students at West came to Morris Bridge at the beginning of the semester to interview and get to know their first grade friends. They took notes and found out some of their interests to

094help plan and create a book just for them. The end result included reading, discussing scientific and literacy uh concepts and engaging in thoughtful conversation. It was so great to see these students engaged across grade levels and connected as learners and leaders. Our first graders at Moresbridge were beaming as they listened, asked questions, and connected with their older buddies. an experience that made the learning come alive. Our first graders could not wait to take these treasures home. Uh Lori Arnold at Angling Road Elementary wants to recognize Penny Russell. She's the reading specialist at Angling Road as she has stepped in multiple times to sub in classrooms in the building this year when they've been unable to find subs. She willingly sacrifices her long to-do list to help in this way. Thank you, Penny. Uh Cat Frank

095uh wants to recognize a former colleague at Central High School um who um is a recent RI retiree uh and is an amazingly strong human uh working through a recent diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's. Uh colleagues pulled together uh here at Central some yearbooks and other PC gifts to keep keep him thinking about the staff here at Central which is good for his health and our happiness. What an awesome community to be a part of. Uh Timarie Fuller over at Central Ele uh Elementary School uh was very excited this week or last week I think uh about the middle of the year data meetings. Uh their first meeting uh went very well. Their second grade teachers came prepared, ready to dig into data, notice strengths and areas of growth and walked away with intentional plans

096to help all kids improve their reading. The rest of the meetings uh they expect to go the same. Uh Marcia Moore at Angling Road uh wants to recognize our physical education teacher Blake Schuster who organized the first annual cup stacking competition for students and staff. Uh Mr. Shu has worked with the kids over the past several weeks starting prior to winter break to teach them the rules and give them lots of opportunities to practice and improve their times. the three fastest students in grades three three through five and the three fastest staff members received rewards. The event was live streamed so families could watch at home. The students then watched at school had a blast uh cheering for all of their competitors. Everyone is already excited to compete again next year. I want to recognize

097West Middle School student Peter uh who uh was recently uh invited to perform at the Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association Allstate Band. He performed in Grand Rapids uh this past weekend. Peter's a eighth grader who plays Euphonium and it's a huge honor to be a member of the All State band. And if you're all bored tomorrow night, come out to uh Texas Roadhouse over in front of Sam's Club. We're doing a fundraiser for the West Middle School band and the eighth grade orchestra as we have about 145 students going to Meno Island coming up in May. Every dollar helps our students. Uh, and if you are bored between 3 and 8 tomorrow, come out, help uh, order lots of food and mention West Middle School bands and eighth grade orchestra. Thank you very much.

098>> Thank you for your report. Thanks for coming. >> There any comments from board trustees this evening? >> I love that there is a cup stacking competition. Uh, I remember when that was first a thing where my son, who hasn't been in elementary school now for 20 years. So, um, it was Yeah. And everybody brought their little cup sets and they did that. I'm sure we still have it at home somewhere, but that is a cool thing. Thanks. >> Just want to ask real quickly if if we can get a copy of that or somehow we got it. >> Okay. Um, I just want to thank my colleagues for the extra hours. Thank you for your time and your staff's time. I will spend talking about the most important thing. >> Thank you. Well, anyone

099else? Okay. Uh, we will move to our consent agenda on page eight. We have four items tonight. The first is approve the minutes of the January 12th, 2026 organizational meeting committee of the whole work session. Uh numbers two through four are all items that re we reviewed at our meeting uh on January 12th. The first is to approve as presented the awarded contract with Veritas Veritas Communic Telecommunications Corporation for the purpose of replacing and burying fiber optic cabling that connects all Portage public school buildings for a total project cost of $433,65452. The funds for which will come from the 2025 bond fund, the third series from the 2021 vote. Our next item is to approve as presented the awarded contract with Fiberlink Incorporated for the purpose of installing supplemental fiber optic cabling at the ported

100Central High and Northern High outdoor athletic facilities for a total project cost of 26,547.86. The funds for which will come from the 2025 bond fund, the third series from the 2021 vote. And finally to approve the 2026 27 programs of study for our elementary, middle, and high schools as presented. Are there any exceptions to the consent agenda as presented? Hearing none, the consent agenda is approved. And um we need to now go to page 35. >> No, it is 35. Yeah, it is page 35 to uh yes to approve monitoring report 1.1. Is there a motion, please? President, I move that the board of education accept as presented the monitoring report on 1.1 global ends as a reasonable interpretation and evidence of compliance with policy. >> Thank you, Terry. Is there a second? >> Second.

101>> Thank you. Any discussion? >> All those in favor, please say I. I >> I opposed. The motion passes and the monitoring report is approved. Our next stop is on page 50 to approve bank depositories. Is there a motion, please? >> All right, Mr. President. Uh I move that the board of education designate the following depositories for school funds as presented. Comp one, Flagstar Bank, First National Bank, Horizon Bank, Huntington Bank, New Bank, JP Chase, Meattowabo Bank, Merkantel Bank, Michigan Class, TFM Investment Management, and Southern Bank and Trust. Thank you, Bo. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. Motion passes. The bank depositories are approved. We added a second action action item and that's to designate safety deposit boxes. There's a

102um the memo and the motion is at your place. Is there a motion please? Um uh Mr. President. Uh, I move that the board of education designate America Bank located at 7941 southwest niche portage Michigan 4902 be as a depository for safety deposit boxes. Superintendent Johnny Edwards, assistant superintendent of operations Russell Gerbers, director of finance Paula Johnson, director of finance and secretary Terry Navaria are designated persons authorized to access the safety deposit boxes. >> Thank you Bo. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor of approving the safety deposit box, please say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion passes. And our last item on our agenda tonight is a discussion item. And uh Russ is going to lead us through that. Generator purchase. Good board. Superintendent Edwards. Um, one of

103our small projects we'd like to accomplish this summer would be adding a generator to West Middle School to service the food service department in terms of their freezer and refrigerator as well as some life safety equipments in the building. Uh, this is actually bu uh broken up into two categories. The actual purchase of the generator itself, which is what we're asking for tonight because of the lead time to get it in so we can install it this summer. Then I'll be coming to you at a later date with the uh approval for the actually install of the generator. Um we kind of broke it apart so we had time to get the generator on order. Uh we're working with Tower Pinker who did all the design of the electrical system, the upgrades to the electric

104system to make this happen and then OAK is going to manage the project. So we're looking you guys to approve the purchase of the generator if possible tonight uh for a total of $89,300 for the generator. uh those funds because it is servicing the food service department will come from the lunch fund excess fund balance. Uh so they'll be the food service department will be covering the cost of the generator and then they'll also cover some of the costs of the installation when we get that price in and then the rest of the installation will come from building and sight sync uh syncing fund. >> Is there any questions? I just think it's a good idea to make sure we have a way to save food out. >> I thank Susan for more equipment. We

105appreciate that. >> Are we okay with moving this forward? >> Sure. >> Okay. There's a motion to move it to action on page 53. >> President, I recommend to move the generator purchase discussion item to action. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Opposed. Uh, the motion passes. It's now an action item and we need a motion, please. >> Mr. President, I move that Owen Ames Kimble Company be authorized to issue a notice of pending award amount indicated to the contractor supplier listed below pending confirmation that all requirements of the contract documents have been met. Furthermore, upon receipt by Owens Ames Kimble Company of the appropriate documentation contract in the amount of $89,300 be awarded by Portage Public Schools to High-Tech Electric

106Company for the purchase of a generator and related equipment for West Middle School funds for which will come from the lunch fund excess fund balance. >> Thank you, Mary Lou. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor of approving the generator purchase, please say I. >> I opposed. Uh the motion passes and generators on the way. Thank you. Uh we've reached the end of our agenda. I need your board self assessment for the two meetings on the monitoring report evaluation. And with that, we are ajourned. Thank you.