Portage Public Schools Board of Education Regular Meeting - August 21, 2023

001okay thank you it's probably been yeah [Music] the meaning of the board is now called the 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 welcome everyone to our meeting tonight and we'll start by approving our agenda is there a motion please on page two president Benny and short by move that the Board of Education approved the agenda as printed thank you Terry's our second second any discussion all in favor please say aye I opposed the motion passes we'll proceed with our agenda as printed and start with the superintendents report thank you Mark yeah thank you Randy we have our first update

002as a brown project I'll take and Johnny Edwards will prevent that thank you superintendent B Lang as well as members of the Board of Education a person wanted to share that Thursday night for the mccamily night dedication Thursday is the first home football game at Puerto Central High School there will be a pre-game dedication to the new mccamily night the game has been moved to 8 o'clock P.M kickoff due to the anticipated temperature the ceremony will start around 7 40 P.M a commemorative plaque has been installed once you enter the stadium in front of the Mustang the flag includes the bio local MR mccamley as well as coach Knight along with a brief history or description of the of the field we're still awaiting some materials for the panels as well as the letters to

003arrive for the entrance Archway we inspect the installation of that portion to occur in the next several weeks also at Portage Northern uh we have a curtain wall project although the siding has been completed that project was designed to complement the exterior look of the natatorium as well as North Middle School the windows that were formerly had the red trim have all been replaced there is some work remaining to Caulking and selling the last portion of the project it will be the painting of the red brick and that painting should begin any day now for those who've asked by that that red Brooks brick sticks out now so I've gotten a lot of questions but yes the brick will if you paint it also at Norm we have our parking lot project that project we

004had top coated today striping should be done by the end of this week and we are a couple of weeks out there's some fencing required as well as some work around Landscaping at Central Elementary School the sanitarian water line are now past the south side of the existing school where the temporary playground will be the temporary playground is being brought up to the current elevation contractor for that playground will be setting up the equipment this week temporary power is coming in this week we will continue the work of the water main and the storm work if all goes well we hope to start on the footings as well this week moving over to Haverhill the water main on site is almost complete the Manhattan Street water main is subgrade and that sewer is undergoing a

00530-day testing period which includes work around chlorination and water the playground at Haverhill has been relocated it will be finished by the end of this week and we will also hope to finish the water and storm work within the next couple of weeks so that's a brief update around some of our projects now I would like to just to show a little video to the board and the community of some of the work that's been done this summer so there's no music or anything so I'm narrated for you as it plays we've broken ground on our new schools this is a rendering of what Central Elementary School will look like as well as Haverhill Brown breaking occurred in May for Haverhill last June for Central here's a photo showing the relocation of our playground the

006board also allowed us to purchase some furniture this is just a sample of what some potential Furniture could look like in a new school so Haverhill and Central Health teachers a couple of Select teachers will have an opportunity just to see some of that work this is a before picture of Northern High School as you remember it working with one of our contractors to replace the rear trim window and now you can see how the new entrance or exterior look and that brick will be painted here's work with our contractor for the northern aaf with some some asphalt there more to come also we refinished some of our floors this is the igloo at Portage Northern this is the before picture here you'll see one of our contractors sanding the floor this happens roughly every

00710 years is how the floor looks now stable gym floor which has three basketball courts four volleyball courts and now this is how the stable looks now after being refinished the board also approved weight room equipment at both high schools this is Northern High that's Central High that's what those spaces looked like before we started the renovation and now this is work during the installation of a new floor as well as new equipment fresh paint jobs for both schools and some new lighting at northern's weight room this is what the new equipment looks like now Northern and Central both schools have the same quantity of equipment and then lastly we put in some new way findings at Portage West Middle School so that's a brief highlight and we'd like to thank our community for their

008support for building site and sinking fund as well as for work around our bond and supporting that and then lastly we will unveil to you tonight 3D rendering that will be at both schools see if this one works I tell it to work I was on a row and it won't come up but let me explain what you would see um we'll have it ready by Wednesday but essentially we'll have a QR Code system for both schools and students and parents will be able to scan the QR code see elements of the school and they can use their phone to kind of do a virtual reality but actually we're going to have a virtual reality goggles for the students and they'll be able to walk in an empty room as if they were in the

009actual school so that's what's coming and we'll unveil those tomorrow at the open house and Wednesday for the staff that concludes my presentation maybe afterwards I can show you what I intended to show you I'll be happy to answer any questions you can't even sure know what you've been doing this summer thank you yes most certainly thank you very much thank you thanks Johnny um the second uh our second update is uh at our website uh revamp and our app from Michelle karpinski is here to take the lead on that Michelle hey trustee good to be here tonight to give you an update on our new website and app [Music] um I think I'm getting some feedback here we were before you to talk about um our Communications audit that was conducted by the national

010school public relations Association they provided us with a number of recommendations on how we can continuously improve to communicate with our constituents our community our teachers and our students and staff and so we've been plugging Along on that as we've as the months have gone by and over at the summer and I hope at some point we can give you more in-depth presentation about that but tonight we really wanted to focus on what was the biggest project so far in that communication audit and that was updating our website and implementing a new app and the person who really did much of the work on this is Kayla Miller our Communications coordinator and so I'm going to turn the floor over to you but before I do if you have your cell phones on you please

011take them out we don't normally encourage that during class but tonight we're going to make an exception and um you might get a little message from us here in a second so and so um which is part of our um our new updated Communications Kayla was able to cue that up right on her phone as we were standing in the back of the room and hopefully now it's in your on your phone it has a text message so um but there's a lot more great features and functions and so I'm going to turn it over to Kayla so she can explain thank you board and Community for having me this evening like Michelle said my name is Kayla Miller I'm the communications coordinator I've been in this role for just over a year um and

012what we have ahead of you here is the QR code for the app so whether you have an apple or an Android it'll open your app store and you can download the app for PPS so far we've gotten some really great feedback from the staff who are responsible for posting to our website and sharing alerts to families so I have one staff in particular who doesn't consider herself to be very tech savvy at all and she was super excited about the new system and the way that we can share upload things to the website She's like this is really easy really user friendly so I was really happy to hear that from her um so nope I got a couple people scanning here and I want to move forward without okay we good all right

013so I launched all the marketing materials on August 9th the week of August 9th and aptitude provided us both digital and electronic marketing materials so um we have like Social Media stuff website promotion things um we also have posters that were printed and sent to all the buildings so those were up for like open house and orientation this week so families can be introduced to the app as well and I did want to mention so we're really proud of our app download number so far so a couple days after we started promoting it we had already 1900 app downloads only six days later we had doubled that and it was up to four thousand and then I checked in today and we have 4 390 app downloads so that's only since August 9th so we're

014really happy with how the community is responding to that and they seem to be very excited to have that other a way to get information from PPS so we also had a video um that we shared via social media and on the website and then again the posters to hang in the school building so we're going to kind of dive in this is um what your app would look like on your home screen on an iPhone um right there in the center when you open it up this is the landing page this is the home screen and you have your feed which is kind of a news feed that you can get things like um we've been sharing things about the app but also things like back to school at PPS with a page with

015lots of information about orientation and open house we put news up there about free meals for students so that they could understand why they're getting free meals from the state of Michigan budget we promoted the ELA English language arts night that's coming up soon so that news feed gives us a chance to promote directly to our families you also see right on your home page your events so for me personally I have it set to the district events so you have your board of ed meeting the ELA family night there if I was in angling Road parent I might have the angling Road events and the district events there as well so this is our menu um and again this is the District menu each of the schools have their own kind of menu but

016you've got your feed events staff directory which was another big Improvement that we were able to sync that with our HR department and their system so that rather than having to manually update those and having them be outdated oftentimes when teachers change buildings things like that they were always being left incorrect so this gives us a way to more quickly and more accurately keep that staff staff directory going we've documents well we included a visit website link on there as well and then notifications another huge high point for us are the language preferences so the new website and app are translatable into any language you can think of more than we probably have in the district but it's you know they're just all out there so in the app families can set their language preference

017in this case I set it to Spanish and this is what the home feed looks like in Spanish so we don't have to do anything to translate the the communications that we're putting out it's automatically translated in the app and I can show you on the website as well how to do that translation there so that the whole website is in your preferred language um another cute uh important piece I want to cue up here is default organization so if I'm a parent and I have one child at Morris Bridge I can set the app to always open to the Moors Bridge home page so that I'm all automatically seeing Moore's Bridge events Moore's Bridge staff directory all that kind of stuff if I have parents or if I have children in multiple buildings like

018a lot of our families do I can set multiple buildings to be like my favorite right so I have a North middle and a Northern High student I could have both of those right there rather than having to go to the district site then always navigate to your individual school building families can also set push notifications so they can opt in to receive push notifications from every building if they would like uh like me and if they have again a Morris Bridge child and they want to get notified from lordsbridge they can opt into that as well another thing from the internal piece so for us if there's a snow day we can push that notification to all the buildings so whether parents are opted in for Moore's Bridge or Northern High or wherever we

019can make sure that they're notified of a snow day things like that so this is your feed and again a few of the things we've talked about recently are the school meals getting free into the 23-24 school year the ELA family night and kind of just introducing that out so that's the feed that's what that looks like the staff directory um so this is what it looks like from the district side and then each of the buildings have individual staff directories as well when you click on someone's name it gives you the option to call and or email directly from your phone so when you hit email it'll open up your default email or app whether that's whatever Gmail whatever you have it opens that up automatically and then you can call them as well

020events kind of self-explanatory you can share it you can add it to your personal calendar you can open it in maps so when we set the um the location for the Board of Education meeting you hit navigate and Maps or open in maps and it'll take you to Central High in your bird map app so the event calendar was another one and we made sure that the district calendar and the was fed to all the buildings as well so they have things like Labor Day and Board of Ed meetings and all that kind of stuff in addition to their specific schools um so the last piece is the documents so um right from the app families can view the board approved budget for that year they can see all of the transparency reporting stuff that

021we're required to post that's all right there in documents they can also find their school supply list those are listed in documents on all of this the elementary pages so right from their phone they can find that school supply list um and view that right from there so um yeah before we dive in is there any questions before I hop over to the actual website here so this is our new home screen um we put up a back to school at PPS kind of Banner in response to lots of questions we were getting about open house and things like that um similar to how our old site was in terms of your menu you have your school choices here district elementary middle high here's that translate button so again if I want to see the

022whole website in Spanish I can hit that will take a second now the whole website's in Spanish um so that's a really good feature it's a really good um it's an equitable piece that we were missing for a long time and so I'm really proud of that piece for our families so I'm not going to keep it in Spanish I hope that's okay um I'm gonna go back to English so right on the home page we have quick links for enrollment the calendar and students parents families Community Board of Ed and employment so those are the things that we identified as being the most frequented by families and I made landing pages for students and parents and families so if I'm a new family in the district I come here I've got some commonly requested

023things like food service Transportation Skyward access curriculum all that kind of stuff we've got other helpful links on there as well so those quick links are good for families here's the board of edges so everyone can see where your pictures are so you got your board I've got your agendas your live stream policies bylaws all that stuff it's all migrated from the old site but just it's a little bit more user friendly um and easier to navigate around the other um so the home page you have your events again with board event meeting tonight Ela thing later this week first day of school Labor Day some of these upcoming events you have your news feed um same things we talked about earlier and then you have the live feed which is kind of like a

024Twitter feed um kind of for shorter little Snippets of things [Music] section so I don't know what that is [Music] section that kind of is just a few um family and you come and you click on our website am I loud enough everybody hear me okay so you can come to our website your prospective family you're like oh what's Portage all about you can kind of hit these high points right there on the thing um we also um I've linked okay to say on all of our district sites which if you're not familiar is the state of Michigan kind of hotline for students in crisis and they want to report something so that's on the bottom of every school page as well as the District page so that students have a way to find that

025very easily over here you've got how to download the app and you have our Social Links as well for Facebook YouTube and Instagram um menu pretty self-explanatory staff directory news events dining that's a one that people want to see often documents quick links Board of Ed stuff be informed that's all the same things that were required to post on that website things like bids and proposals mandatory notices things like that so I'll just show you one of the schools just so you have that um what's my favorite s'mores Bridge not my favorite this girl's just really cute it was a good picture I was trying to take a picture of the little boy in the back and then she just kind of it's one of my favorites so all of the elementary sites are going

026to look really similar all the middles are going to look similar and the highs are going to hopefully look similar too just to give our parents an easier experience when they move through the district every site has a school year calendar the student health and well-being is a new page and I can show you guys that they've got an information page and then the school supply lists are right there on the homepage because that's what we get calls about and you guys know that so people love to know their school supply lists events News live feed all kinds all that kind of stuff so I'll show you the student health and well-being page um from the district site here um student health and well-being page was something that I kind of dreamed up after realizing

027like we have a lot of supports for students that people don't know about and I had been approached by the elementary engagement specialist and they said we need to have a place where people can exploit where we can explain what we do and why we're here and what kind of resources are for people so I gathered a bunch of things and we thought okay we need a place for this so um this is these are supports that live through the educational supports and intervention site Elementary engagement Specialists have their own page to kind of explain that okay to say then Brad galen's favorite the emotional support dogs and then we have all their important student Family Resources there and that can grow but that's things like the first issue fund food banks things like that

028that are external organizations that support our students so that's kind of a good spin through the website I don't know if there's anything else you would like to see or have questions about uh before I hand it back to Barb I like it I think it's great thank you very excited about it lots of good work on the internet thank you very much I have been visiting various pages over the last couple weeks you've seen that and I have found it much easier to navigate so thank you very much for all you've done yeah you're welcome and we did we um how did you kind of by default just migrate your old site onto a new site and I knew the old site needed to be like the menus needed to be changed and we

029needed to really think through and be proactive about how you're presenting that information to families and so that was my labor of love for the last few months so for to be finished and this isn't working you know this is something that can always grow and change we have the complete control over it so uh which is also exciting so we can change up the pictures if something isn't working right if people aren't finding something we can move it somewhere else and so I think we'll find it to be really flexible and um adaptable for us so and at some point we will do a like push notification test way before the first snow day so everybody can make sure it's all working right we thought we'd wait for school to get started before we

030do that so yeah thank you thank you appreciate it thank you very much um one other thing I uh Johnny did mention that the Thursday night games I think I believe both at Northern and at Central have been moved to eight o'clock starts the weather the family literacy night will remain the same as it has uh six o'clock over at the Portage District Library so that opens up that time slot without as much conflict there and uh if you've driven up and down Westnedge here in front of the school you'll notice there's construction going on we're told that those uh instruction will be done tomorrow however the final Paving of that road will not take place until after Central L opens up so there'll be patches there they took out that one pedestrian Island it

031was located in front of Central Middle and then did some other improvements along the way including changes to the bike path so hopefully we'll get traffic through there a little more easily after Wednesday or after Tuesday excuse me and with that can we move into board education let's do it all right as you know from time to time we we bring topics to the board that that are helpful for your decision making and maybe questions that you get tonight we want to talk a little bit about our efforts around diversity equity and inclusion and Dr Janine Matson Gerhart is here to do a little update on that why thank you I brought a lot of fans with big night had I known that this was a couple of jokes and stuff but today's no jokes

032um I am very pleased to to be here thank you superintendent biling and more trustees it's been a while since I've been in front of you to talk about Dei I see I look at Bo and I think the last time we spoke Beau said don't be a stranger and it's been two years so I'm not a stranger any longer again so um so thank you for the invitation there have been um a lot of work there's been a lot of work that's been going on in the district that I'd like to highlight it's going to be at a 30-foot view Whole 30 000 foot view now we're not going to get into the weeds today I could but I'm not going to um so just a reminder for all of us and we have

033a lot of new board members so you did not see me the first time around so I'll just start with a little history I can give you some information on what we're working on today and some of our goals for the next three to five years okay so and if you have questions I'm happy to answer them if I can and if I cannot I will definitely find an answer out for you later um obviously our mission at Portage Public Schools is we're going to educate all students through their potential and we definitely are focused on an exceptional continuous Improvement learning culture for all with high expectations coming to you as a special education director of course we definitely believe with that we believe in that as well as all my colleagues so while I'm

034the only one here presenting now I do want to give recognition that we do work very closely with the curriculum instruction assessment Department I am just the one that gets to be elected to speak today um a couple of years ago probably in 2017 and I'm just going to get my notes I do not forget anything um we started we started um a relationship with the Great Lakes equity center which is a nationally funded center that is centered around the Midwest there are other places but we focus uh with the Great Lakes Center in the midwest we had multiple people participate in trainings to take a look at our systems and to help us identify and organize our system in a way that we were reaching all students so with that we don't think that's

035a lofty goal but we also know that all students are not coming to school exactly ready to sit down and learn and and take in everything that we have to to be still on them and I'm sure that most of the people here would say that was the old days so we have focused a lot on student engagement looking at our student advisory committee that superintendent velang holds on a monthly basis looking at their feedback looking at the feedback both from the high schools students we also have student engagement surveys we use that data so we have a lot and we also use the adult the parent engagement survey for the perception data from from a perspective lens what I will I'm not going to get into the weeds but I want to just kind

036of put it in there is that we do have data reviews multiple times a year where we are also looking at academic data we're looking at attendance data we're looking at disciplinary data we look at how many students are eligible for special education we look at disciplinary results in in tandem with a special education data as well as any student who may have identified a disability so there are while I'm not going to cover that I do want to just kind of throw that in there you do see some of that data but it really is from a building in a district level something that our teams both our general Ed teachers and our special education teachers in tandem with the ESI educational supports and intervention and curriculum and instruction assessment take a look at

037on a regular basis it's very important for us to look at that reception data and we also need to take a look at our academic data and our performance data making sure that we have practices that are engaging for our students um fast forward a couple of years we've had multiple opportunities work with mte mde with the African-American student initiative which they have presented many opportunities for us to work across the state level to learn about different ways to engage our students and also thinking about how do we provide an opportunity for all of our students to be Champions wherever they come from whatever um wherever they come from and and and who they are we want to celebrate everybody that that comes through our door so um without data assists so fast forward a

038couple of years um you have listened to um Dr Pasco Dr McKenzie Sheehan and Dr Kelly jensenius talk about our continuous Improvement plan so what has happened over the last couple of years with our connection as we have aggregated the data that we have we've brought all of our buildings together along with our administrators to set some goals that we are focused on in the district one of them is we're looking at academic academic data making sure that all of our students are academically successful but we're also looking at the culture and climate there are two extra those are two ex overarching umbrella goals so looking at culture and climate means something different just about everybody if you ask you know we all have our perceptions and we all have our experiences of how we

039come come to schools for our purposes for the board education today what we would like you to know is that we are exploring honoring and championing all of our students we're focused on inclusionary practices so that students who are in our classroom feel wanted feel loved feel a part of the community and also have some meaningful engagement when they are in the classroom no matter what classroom you're in to do that we worked with Dr Holly and his organization which I wrote down because I know you're going to be surprised but sometimes I can't remember all of the acronyms that we throw around but it's culturally linguistic linguistic responsive learning and engagement for students so we have worked with him last year we provided all of our staff including our administrators three opportunities during the

040year to have an introductory course through Dr Halley's organization with a culmination coming to together in May with his with his visit to Portage Public Schools We are continuing that work with Dr Holly organization he is not coming at this not not right time not this week he's not coming but we do have a three hour PD that is going to occur on Thursday that's going to further get down and unpack how do we engage all of our students that we see in our classroom so these are really good research-based strategies they are something that probably all of us as teachers learned at one point or another but as we all know the the day gets crazy and sometimes um time gets away from us and we always need some good reminders I kind of

041liken it to a health Journey okay I know I'm supposed to eat healthy I know I'm supposed to work out and I know that if I do so then I will have long-term health benefits same thing with children not that I follow that of course but same thing with children we know engagement strategies that work with students we know that we need to implement them and we need to check ourselves to make sure that we're implementing that for all of our students on a daily basis so that they have the inclusionary and experience that all students deserve um okay there are some other technology there um I do want to highlight a couple of other leadership academies that we are sending our administrators to this year that we are working with mde once again to

042participate in the culturally responsive School Leadership Institute Academy with Dr Muhammad Khalifa that is a three-day conference that we had a couple of our administrators participate in May and last year or last week we had three other administrators participate that really helps us as Leaders understand how to support our teachers so that our teachers can support our students the plan for the year is to be sure that all of our administrators are participating in that Academy with a longer term plan that we bring that Academy right to Portage Public Schools so that came everybody in Kalamazoo County can benefit at one point or another the last thing I wanted to highlight um for you is the um I mentioned at the beginning with the historical perspective the Great Lakes equity center is now online again

043not that they weren't running but covet put a damper on um live in person going to trainings so they are back online providing in-person trainings and so we do have Dr Erica driver we have Sydney Bailey and I think Tama I'm not sure but I think there's a representative from Central High School that has committed as well that we're going to continue to start having those trainings become a regular booster if you will to help all of us remember the good practices that we need to do for our students okay lastly I did promise a little bit more on that and Kayla made it look so easy while she's flipping through all of the technology and the old gal here bit forward today but that's okay um blessing that I would say is that our

044work as Educators has never done kind of like our health Journeys we're never done we're never we're never done learning instructional practices change populations change schools change we get new schools we take schools offline we have new people coming into our community we have people leaving our community there's always change that we can expect so what I would like to say is that um we have a comprehensive plan but it's never enough It's never enough for our students that's why we have that continuous Improvement Journey we're not on a journey to get to a place that's going to be the end of the journey we're really in a mode of a continuous Improvement so as I mentioned to you the continuous Improvement opportunities that we are providing this year for our staff we know that

045that will look differently and it will change over time based upon what is needed and what is identified by our teachers and our administrators so with that continuous journey I leave you with a little bit of an opening for questions or if you don't that's fine too I do have a question has there been any focus on the increase of diversity in the teaching staff and its impact of students and urban ideas thrown around to attract more diversity yes that's a great question and yes we have we have the last I would say three years although that's always been on a Forefront that we've definitely know the value of teachers and and adults looking like the student our student body I would say the last two years we've done a concerted effort to recruit and

046retain students who may not look who I I don't know the percentage but we have worked very hard to increase the number of people of color who are coming in or people who are connected with students in a way that maybe we haven't looked for in the past so there is a concerted effort I would also defer to our human resource department because he does have a love foreign not a question we just say this is this is hard work and it's very important work and what I hear is happening are efforts that are in harmony the values of the community which is very appreciated it was such a complete overview thanks Jenny thank you okay we'll move to our comments and Communications section first of all our comments from citizens and uh we have

047some uh folks that would like to speak tonight Terry will read our guidelines for public comments Portage Public Schools Board of Education public comment and board meetings Ward welcomes Community input at our board meetings and recognizes the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on District matters permit fair and orderly public expression please conform to these guidelines when addressing the board attendees must register their intention to speak during the public participation portion of the meeting by completing the speaker registration form at the beginning of the meeting individuals may not register others to speak speakers will be recognized by the presiding officer and may not be called in the order in which they have signed up to speak speakers are requested to State their name address and group affiliation if applicable limit comments

048to three minutes direct all comments to the board and not to staff or to other participants speakers may not yield any of their speaking time to others write a written copy of your comments and supporting documentation to the board secretary if available present your comments in a respectful and professional manner to model the behavior expected of Portage students refrain from mentioning any student by name contact the superintendent directly regarding Personnel matters Board of Education meetings are held for the purpose of conducting the business of the school district and are not considered to be Community meetings board members are not obligated to respond to issues raised during public comment normally such issues are referred to or followed up on by our administrators before we start tonight I just want to inform everyone that the Pea has

049elevated the angling Road situation to a formal complaint and that is governed by a board approved policy 9130 which speaks to the procedures that need to be followed in matters regarding a complaint against a professional staff member and we haven't discussed this as a book at all but I just want to say based on my experience on the board I welcome this development because it begins to address the matter at the appropriate level putting people who are forces to the situation and uh and focus to your family issues and I think it's a it's a good step I just wanted to let everybody know that because we may have some speakers about angling world this evening and we want to welcome our first Speaker Lisa Cooper the right thing good we're not good oh fancy

050music here how far from home Gracie we'll use the clock just go ahead my name is Lisa cope I live at 5615 Texas Drive I've taught first grade at Lake Center since 2004. I'm getting ready to start my 23rd year of teaching and I'm here to talk about the financial how financially my family has been impacted in the last couple years in the summer of 2022 I was diagnosed with celiac disease I had to begin a gluten-free diet right away if you haven't had to eat a strict diet like that then you may not know how expensive it is to eat gluten-free on top of that my husband and I have two teenage boys one beginning his senior year here at Central and the other is a sophomore this year they are both very active

051and participate in marching band one is there right now they just left water polo so they're very involved in Portage activities um on August 7th my 10th grader informed me that eating season had begun um meaning the number of calories that they burn goes way up so the number of calories that they need to eat also goes way up um we laughed at the way that he described it and then we stopped laughing with eating season and the gluten-free diet our grocery bills are incredibly High during each pay period there are at least two trips to Meijer one trip to Costco I'm happy when the Meyer receipts show less than 250 dollars and the Costco receipts show less than three hundred dollars inflation and eating healthier has made a significant impact on our finances so

052why did I decide to speak tonight I wanted to give a personal story to you guys of how important it is to receive a fair contract before school starts I am also very hopeful for a financial increase that will truly make a difference for your teachers for their families and in my case two of your students the free lunch is greatly appreciated however if you've seen the portions they're not that big and so they'll still have to bring lunch and buy more lunch on top of what's free um I love my job I can't imagine doing anything else please give us a fair raise and do it soon so that we can start the school year without the no contract yuckiness hanging over us and then in closing I just want to invite all of

053you into my classroom like I said I've been in Portage for a long time and some of you probably didn't even know my name before tonight so please come visit see the incredible things that happen thank you for your comments our next speaker is Nicole ails please I'm Nicole ails I live at 1448 Ashmore Ridge Trail Kalamazoo and I teach at Portage Northern High School in the educational supports and intervention Department more formerly known as special education I've taught for 16 this is my 16th year and I just want to share with you my thoughts and emotions right now as a teacher I love watching my kids learn I've taught Elementary I've taught high school I love watching them grow especially in the high school level when they start becoming young adults and they start

054discovering who they really are I value the time I really do value the time I have with them and I know that I can make it a measurable impact in their lives whether they sometimes know it or don't know it my son's teachers have made him smile and laugh and discover his passions and have been there to help him navigate through Elementary and Middle School I've embraced my students as my own I model patience I model compassion I model learning from my own mistakes and Beyond I've been very grateful to have these authentic relationships with kids that positively impact their future and when you spend 40 plus hours a week with students who are homeless or supported who are stressed or happy who are anxious which a lot of them are right now who are

055confident it can be a lot to handle mentally some days we struggle more than others but we're not going to quit and it can be difficult for families to find Community Services or get off wait list so they can get desperately needed resources in my career I help manage those every day in my job and so many others we just love unconditionally and we love our students on the days they just need to sit and cry and on the days they need a cheerleader to root them on and I'm saying all of this just to remind others in our community that we are here to make change and I teach our kids that they have the power to do the same and all students need to be valued and I know we agree on that

056I just want to also agree that all teachers be valued as well and that we can be respected in that manner we want to be heard just like we sit and listen to our students and the love and respect will trickle down I'm just asking the district to please consider the positive changes that we're asking for within a contract I create contracts with my students as well and I try to make sure that their voice is heard and I value their needs and it's a team effort and I know we can do this together I'm really looking forward to having the subtle so again so we can have that calm start to the year and just be focused on kids thank you our next speaker tonight is I think good evening my name is Dennis

057kozan I live at 5139 Maple Ridge and I'm very lucky to be the band director at West Middle School I'm here tonight to share my concerns with the current state of contract negotiations between the Portage Education Association and the PPS Administration PPS teachers are asking for a fair and Equitable contract for the 23-24 school year our bargaining team has submitted over 10 proposals with each proposal falling within the constraints the overall budget currently at PPS unfortunately our admin has not shown the same urgency at the bargaining table as we do not have a contract in place the admin team took the entire month of July off no negotiations took place since the start of the covid-19 pandemic inflation has skyrocketed yet the raise offered to our teachers is minimal like many people in the community

058we have children some of us have older relatives that depend on us we are paying student loans a constitution for our kids and for our own continuing education we are paying more for our rent or mortgage and all the other Rising costs of living like everyone we deserve respect and to earn a wage that can sustain a family the current proposal by the Admin team would give the bulk of our employees an extra 38 dollars per paycheck think about that that's only 76 dollars per month yeah one of my colleagues just had their rent raised by 250 dollars how can that teacher afford to live this way and this is a teacher with a master's degree due to the historic increase in student funding this year BFS will gain an additional 3.9 million dollars in

059our budget with this huge increase we now have over 14 million dollars in our rainy day fund this money is simply sitting unused our admin team is refusing to spend this money in the classroom and on all of our students while all of us try to build a savings account in our personal lives PPS can and should spend some of this money we've been bargaining since May it's time for the admin team to settle a fair contract with Fair wages thank you thank you Mr cozy and our next speaker this evening is Beth Taylor please hi I'm Beth Taylor my address is 522-19 Sheridan I've been teaching for 33 years and I want to talk about the contract I was born to be a teacher I have been lucky enough to love my job for

060most of my years my greatest joy in my job are the connections I make with my students and families I have a strong commitment to making all my students feel loved and valued and part of my classroom in the past five years my life has changed a bit I went through a pretty tough divorce naively I thought well I'm lucky I have this great job guess what you can't really survive on a teacher's salary my son my son told me it was the worst financial decision I was heartbroken at this thinking happiness as a person's goal I was never focused on money well guess what money matters I have two other jobs the economy I know stinks money consumes me now I have a career not a job I have a master's I've won awards

061it shouldn't be this way the idea that the administration contracts can be ratified before teachers secretaries bus drivers and custodial staff is ludicrous to me without any of these positions schools don't operate if you don't have the funds to pay these people then you should not be taking pay raises this means you didn't do your job we continue to get higher class sizes and get the job done not because it's good for kids it builds animosity between teachers when they are paid the same but in one first grade it has 17 students and in the other 26 when did 26 students in a lower L classroom be okay with you it is that the cost of your teachers mental health and the profession you have teachers leaving the profession at the highest rate ever I

062believe it is students and teachers and buildings with temperatures in the 90s at full day of school obviously have no idea's bad things respiratory problems human exhaustion and all the offenses teachers go home and they're absolutely tapped for the day they are useless to their families it just didn't used to be this way I believe communication and respect between the administration building and teachers is at its worst I remember when I was first hired and Mr Rickers came to me middle of the year to visit and see how I was doing how my first year where it was going a year or two later he was in the office with a huge bouquet of flowers when I asked at lunch what it was for he said he was visiting a secretary that had made it

063to 30 or 25 years and he wanted to commemorate that Milestone does that happen now I don't think so building relationships and making people feel valued matters this year I found out that cafeteria staff cannot work in the same building as their children I was shocked and saddened I emailed many administrators about it Mr beeling Pasco did you say I'm finished three minutes more than three minutes are up did you summarize your point I emailed Mr Pasco Mr B Lang Miss jensenius no one responded to me that one person I grabbed Mr Ricker's law or Mr beeling them all and told him about it I still haven't heard if it was resolved that makes me sad because all of our staff work with their children and it builds community I invite any of you come

064to come to my open house tomorrow from 5 to 6 30 in room 10 at Morris Bridge it's see what I did over the last two weeks to get ready for open house what everybody here I'm sure did thank you Beth our next speaker is Jeff White Grant I'm Jeff weikrant I live at 3407 Croydon Avenue Kalamazoo Michigan we talked about not about the contract not about anything that that sort I'm here to let you guys know that I'm The Woodworking teacher over at Northern uh later on on the agenda you've got some discussion about a machine that's going to be hopefully purchased for my classroom um letting you know that I'm here to answer any questions if you have any for me name plates that you have in front of you that's all of

065those are made by my students most notably the machine that we're going to be replacing is the one that was used to make the seal on the governor Podium for her inauguration so it's things like that that we do in the classroom with the kids and the experiences that we give them so I'm here to answer any questions you have thank you for your time thanks for being here Jeff our next speaker is Vicki Hoover the Hoover 10481 Woodlawn Drive I am a recently retired Portage teacher young five so I brought my pictures and a member of this community and I'm here this evening to speak about our fund balance sometimes referred to as our rainy day fund over the years when I sometimes attend board meetings I've heard the board congratulate Administration about our

066fund balance about our fiscal responsibility which has led to this fund balance but as a community member I take a different view of this I vote for our Villages I encourage my family and friends to support Bond issues but I want to see my tax dollars being used in the way that they're intended to be used why should our tax dollars be sitting in the district's piggy bank by the board's policy I understand that it should be that our fund balance should be at about seven percent but even at our lowest point in the last 10 years it was at nine percent and currently as I understand it our unassigned fund balance is near 12 over 14 million dollars of our communities money is sitting unused I've sat at the negotiating table for the Pea

067for the past four contracts and every year we have to beg for the most minimum pay increase as inflation continues to rise food costs for the schools rise fuel costs rise for our buses building costs rise and we're told that we can't afford to be paid better but we're just expected to accept that these same costs that increase for the schools don't affect us we have the same costs we're trying to support our families with increasing gas costs increasing food costs increasing housing costs and we're not given the same respect that the district is expected to have to cover these cost of living and inflation increases and again as you sit on your piggy bank it's as if we're asking to take money out of your personal pocket instead of our own tax dollars as

068members of the community an increase in our salary also benefits this community we want to buy cars take our families out to dinner and purchase houses in the community and yet the one and two percent increases that were being offered doesn't allow us to do this let alone meet the cost of basic living expenses as several people have shared our unassigned fund balance that you're sitting on should be used for the purpose of our children things like reducing our class sizes so we're one of the few contracts in the area that do not have class size language in our contract I looked at every school in our County and a number in West Michigan and we are one of the few who have no class size language it should be used to help reduce the

069workload for some of our teachers it should be used to increase the pay for our teachers and counselors and custodians and secretaries and all of our staff that make our schools work it's called a rainy day fund I think a rainy day is long past tsunami has a right in our community Community Education community a time when trying to hire and retain teachers is more difficult than ever our Board needs to look at our fund balance and put it where it benefits our students and our staff thank you Vicki our next speaker is Chris furlong [Music] I'm Chris ferlon I'm representative Education Association is the president tonight 711 Gladys Street Portage Michigan last week or last scoreboard meeting you praised superintendent B Lang for being the gold standard and superintendents he talked about all the

070great things he did and how oftentimes other superintendents reached out for him if we're the gold standard in Kalamazoo County how come our teachers aren't funded correctly how come people around us continue to get contracts 10 percent five percent and we continue to get nothing our teachers want to be appreciated teachers want to be valued and our teachers want to be heard if we're the gold standard then we want to be at the top of the podium not barely crawling to get there thank you Chris our next speaker is Daniel Morrison my name is Danielle Morrison 5226 Gross Point Street Portage Michigan here I am again letting this go we as parents of England Road students are here again asking for new leadership at our school I really am trying to understand the thinking behind

071you backing one administrator instead of an entire school full of teachers and parents you keep saying show us proof give us evidence but how are we supposed to show proof when there was no communication nothing written about violence no parents allowed inside the building are you saying that our teachers and children are lying I talked last time about how my five-year-old daughter witnessed a friend get choked any student gets slammed on the floor I didn't even get to how my fourth grader also was in a violent Class A student would repeatedly come into the classroom and when he was mad and throw anything around he could get his hands on and he broke a window out in the classroom when he was mad and the rest of the class was repeatedly evacuated into another classroom

072but according to you they're making this all up and here we are again getting ready to start a new school year this has always been an exciting time at our house are my friends in my classroom what teacher do I have this year we've had nothing but anxiety my fifth grader's first question after receiving his class placement was is the violent student in my class again I have no answer for him as of now since there's no class list posted for him but as for my incoming first grader yes the violent student is once again in her class and so is the kid that he choked sadly her best friend will not be in her class because her parents pulled all four of their Elementary age children not only from England Road but from Portage

073Public Schools altogether also I'm curious how much funding is that loss in just one family that I know about that's left so how is this first day of school going to go I can't even imagine how toxic of a work environment this will be for our teachers with no contracts not only do they have a leader who they do not trust but one who knows they all spoke up against her plenty of the kids whose parents broke up have repercussions from her one of the main things over the years that's really bothered me about Miss Yankovic was that she never takes the time to get to know any of the kids or their families I've been at this school with her as principal for 11 years now and she has no idea who I am

074although I think she does now I would like to say something to her personally how are you as an educator okay with what you have done to this school how can you walk into a building knowing that ninety percent of your staff don't want you as their leader no matter how many emails you send out or how many excuses you make about your past Behavior it cannot be undone and we send our kids to school we are trusting the teachers and keep them safe and to be able to learn and Thrive this can't happen with you as our leader and for our kids sake I would come through foreign thank you Danielle our last speaker tonight is Bob Picard maybe I'll see itself thank you my name is Bob Pickard I've been Byron Center Michigan

075I have my prayer warriors back home I asked them to pray that parents would be here and tonight I got a real four teachers who are an extra blessing this is I have a grandson and when he gets hurt he comes to grandma or Grandpa and he feels loved and protected in her arms but when he leaves for school there's nobody to love him like we can to protect him I don't want any student to come in Portage Public Schools unprotected and I don't want any teachers to comment unprotected either I mean he retired Wyoming Public School employee 22 plus years as a custodian when all these shootings started I asked God what can I do to protect my precious innocent teachers God has a sense of humor because he told me Bob you set

076a record when you're in college you hit more batters and you get getting healthy so this was my protection for my staff and my students yeah that's all I had and that's what I used to protect everyone um I work at Costco gas station right now and this all happened by accident I had a member come in when the shooting started in Texas you said why don't they get veterans in our school system I thought you know that's a great idea I didn't know how to pursue that a couple days later I had a gentleman come in he was a veteran I thanked him for his service his name is Chris Jansen he owns a protection agency I said Chris would you be willing to get veterans in our schools to protect our teachers he

077said absolutely so that's what we're trying to do I'm here tonight I've I've got some information of anybody want it board members and superintendent please look this over I've been in contact with Angela regas our state representative in Byron Center she is all on board she'll take any phone calls I've had a meeting with her this past May and her staff and uh yeah it will help you get some protection in also in Texas they passed a bill and it's going to happen probably right now they've got armed guards in all their schools and from what I understand they first the school boards went to their state capitol in Austin and made their proposal through the Senators congressman and they did pass that so we need to do that I don't want you guys to

078come in your schools any longer unprotected you deserve the protection as well as a children so please pursue this I have my phone numbers on here if you have any questions please call me Chris is on here we would love to sit down with you or talk with you and start something thank you [Applause] I want to thank all our speakers tonight for um taking time out of your reading to come speak to us we appreciate it um we'll move forward with comments from board trustees um I was it was interesting I was looking through my Facebook page and one of my friends their kid is going to the elementary school I went to and she's standing in front of this banner and it says where the love of learning begins and that really spoke

079to me because I do I have a true love of learning and I'm trying to instill that in my children as well and I think about the situation that we're talking about going into Haverhill I mean in angling sorry I misspoke and are those children getting that love of learning are they feeling that I'm glad we're going through the process how it needs to be going through and I hope we're able to get to a certain resolution but keep talking to us um we need we need to continue to hear from our community we are listening it may not seem like it the bills don't necessarily move as fast as we'd like them to sometimes I can tell you for sure at least for me I am listening I also want to thank Bob for

080coming to talk because I have been passionate about veterans in our schools my husband is a veteran from he served overseas several of his armies Buddies we have four customers there why would we not utilize this resource so I think that's fascinating so thank you for coming thank you Emily anyone else yeah I'll make a very quick comment yes sir it's it's bargaining season and um you know as a trustee I mean I find myself in the position of respecting both sides sitting at the table I suspect other trustees feel the same way hope uh folks stay at it and get there I think uh that's the sentiment of the board we'd like to see this thing brought together as well Bo thank you any other comments this evening okay we'll move to our consent

081agenda on Page Six and tonight we just have a couple of things to uh approve the minutes of the July 24 2023 regular business meeting and the second thing is to approve the student trip to Europe scheduled for June 16th through 25 2025 for the Portage Northern social studies group are there any exceptions to the consent agenda as presented by hearing none the consent agenda is approved and we'll move to our first action item on page 16 which is the Haber Hill Bond work construction contracts um is there's a motion on page 16 please Sherman van tweet the motion authorized Owen Ames Kimball company you issue notices of pending award in the amounts indicated for Haverhill Elementary School uh tractors and suppliers listed on the bid summary sheets pending confirmation that all requirements of the

082contract documents have been met furthermore upon receipt by Olin means Kimball company of the appropriate documentation Anthrax will be awarded to these contractors and suppliers like mortgage public schools in the amount of 21 million 508 180 dollars thank you Keith is there a second thank you Johnny it's all yours I'm joined tonight hopefully by some familiar faces uh Diana RAV kind of serves as project manager for only cake and Devastation serves as the assistant project manager working side by side with Dan orange rep from plan Moran no stranger around here and then also from Tower pinkster we have Doug milborn who's a project manager as well as Mike gallivan's also project manager for this project as we've been informing the board about the Abraham bids that were coming up we recommend that the board authorize

083oake to issue the notices pending for Haverhill Elementary School for those contracts attached you'll see your bid summary sheets and the total amount of reward contracts tonight equal 21 million five hundred eight thousand one hundred eighty dollars previously the board is approved recommendation of a playground relocation and early site package for Hayward Elementary School I've been apprising the board of those Updates this recommendation is a continuation of the construction for the project bids went out the bid went out July 17 2023 oek advertised on their website their monthly newsletter to contractors along with the district's website other sites like building connected building exchange for Michigan Builders Exchange of Kalamazoo and the Builders Exchange appointment scene we hosted a pre-bid meeting July 25th 2023 19 contractors award in attendance during the bid phase oik reached out

084to several contractors to gauge big coverage per the package we accepted bids on August 8 2023 those bids were read aloud and included proper bonds and acknowledge the schedule since then our team of all AK our pinkster slash Fielding International Plant Moran and our PPS staff we've executed post bid interviews covering all categories project this process was designed to select the victory with the lowest price qualifier being to complete the scope of work in each of the categories each contract had the validated bid pricing confirmed their ability to schedule and have qualified resources performing unique complexities with this project we also expressed a high level of expectations from us as an ownership group of what we have for this contract as well as for our contractors performance and we're confident that this process has helped

085us identify the lowest price qualified responsible contractors for board consideration and approval the interview process was performed over a three-day period until confident including this list of recommendations [Music] to the lowest priced qualified responsibility in the project we have 94-bit solar plasma is 76 local contractors [Music] we averaged three years of submitted per category this analysis can be found on the attached B detabulation summary information for each project there are things with these results and it's just largely due to the hard work of the entire team and the entire process leading up to the destruction before this recommendation allow us to execute contract agreements and proceed with work in the categories that will continue in September of 2023. we've also included a a summary from oake in terms of their work with this process and

086I'm going to turn over to Dan Rathburn to walk you to the various categories okay as I go through the bid tabs if you have any questions feel free to interrupt me and stop me and I'll answer those and I'll just try to point out anything that is worth pointing out on this so we start out with big category seven for concrete and purchase Concrete Construction it's our low bid at 925 654 dollars cost for alternate three of twelve thousand eighty nine that alternate three is for radiant heat in the floors category eight polished concrete Burgess Concrete Construction at 533 552. get a very nine Precast structural concrete fabcon it's a little bit at four hundred and four thousand dollars February 10 masonry Tracy jar Incorporated is a little bit at 2 million 800 135

087thousand dollars been category 11 Metals Builders iron it's a low bid at one million three hundred and eighty six thousand nine hundred eighty five category 12 General trades Hall Builders is our low bid with a big cost of nine nine hundred fifty four thousand dollars you'll notice that for alternate four and five they had zero cost um and they will perform that work under those two alternates at zero cost category 13 for metal wall panels Arena closures is low at 329 600. in category 14 Great Lake systems is low at 618 000 of 656 dollars big category 15 for joint CLS Premier Caulking is low at thirty five thousand dollars February 16 doors frames and Hardware essay Mormon and Company is low at 517 big category 17 Overhead Doors partition systems is low at 37

088650. in category 18 aluminum glass and glazing reliable Glass installers is low at 917 with alternate 4 being 65 770 and Alternate five being 22 340. the category 19 laugh plaster drywall and acoustical soapy company a little bit at one million seven hundred and fifty thousand nine hundred dollars in category 20 painting Ward Brothers Painting is low at 275 thousand dollars I am going to stop here if you below or other two bidders even much higher than Fork Brothers Halligan painting is that 487 000 H was at 544. we did spend a lot of time working with fork checking the numbers that they were carrying um so we had takeoff done extra take off done at oake Tower picture also looked at it and did some takeoffs on it we shared our numbers with the

089contractor and the contractor felt comfortable with holding their category 21 flooring Richmond Associates these bid up 715 865. another contractor where they had zero in for their alternates but with the dollar monster we were looking at the category 24 for signage Universal science systems is located at 35 in category 25 food service equipment Great Lakes West low at 254 650 dollars been category 26 gymnasium equipment Biermann and Associates is low at 52 000 20. category 27 playground equipment that play Craft systems and play environments design is low at 422 000. then category 28 window shades triangle Window Fashions is low at 35 486. in category 29 educational case goods Custer is low at 539 703 alternate four they have an ad of 1 612. we did have an adjustment on them being the only bitter

090you know we should work with them on their performance plan costs which they did not have included in their bid at four thousand fifty eight thousand category 30 elevator Schindler Elevator Corporation is low at 92 000. their bid is for a voluntary alternate product than what was specified no but with the savings that were shown there and after reviewing the bed we're recommending more to them uh category 31 Aspire protection Grand Rapids fire protection base bid of 243 198 dollars in category 32 a DDC controls the first bid there um from control Solutions that was not specified installer we did read the bid we elected not to accept it to maintain your standard with control net so we're recommending award to control net at 176 000 is that an alternate degree at 0.6 900. been

091category 33 mechanical and plumbing RW Lapine it's bid off three million eight hundred and forty five thousand alternate three um 153 000. and then bid category 34 testing and balancing control Solutions that a 15 800 with an alternate three of eight hundred and fifty dollars that category 36 for electrical high-tech Electric bid of two million four hundred and thirty five thousand alternate four is an ad of 3500 and Alternate five is an ad of one thousand five hundred category 37 for audio visual systems Parkway electric and Communications is low at 97 750. system Sports view televisions low at 30 432. category 39 public address systems Sports view televisions low at fifty seven thousand eight Ambit category 40 structural structured cabling systems the Kendra system they had to drop their bid because they did not have

092a completely bid they dropped out and we went to Parkway electric and Communications at 180 067. big category 41 access control and intercom entry systems high-tech Electric thousand hundred any questions yeah I know you've um addressed this in years past but I forget that so in some of these categories where we have one how do you look at that do you kind of test it for reasonableness and have some additional stuff that you go through so most of these where we have one bidder It's really because um you guys have specified one bidder or one subtle products so essay Mormon is is typically your own competitor or door springs Hardware was it your Hardware system other bidders cannot your spec and be competitive so they won't fit um control that or temperature controls is a

093single spect entity coming in Custer or the educational case goods that's a very special case it's kind of like in between casework and furniture and they are it's a single product and and that's the only distributor that would have been on it foreign I find it amazing that playground equipment costs 422 thousand dollars I remember a long time ago when the PTO raised the money to build a playground at one of our elementary schools and it was in the area of twenty thousand dollars so that just seems wow I'm old I remember the swing sets in the concrete barrels was all like the wooden structures and the parents built the whole thing and it was quite an amazing thing at that time but times change it's um maybe more for Johnny but um so now

094we've done the second building with a lot of the big packages and is it too early for us to start asking kind of how we're looking towards budget or we're a few months out from that or just looking for any kind of you know sense of tracking and numbers [Music] personality we have a longer is done we're now better able to show where we are in relation to our design development budget and also to look at where we look at for overall total 175 billion dollars as well and my question may be a little premature but but at some point kind of you know having a look at the budget but absolutely um yeah we can we will certainly do that and also the board will get ongoing budget updates throughout the project for both

095buildings also just want uh just to bring that because of this process of some of our savings in various categories we were able to accept the alternates radiant flooring and I'm not the expert but I can tell you from our facilities perspective this has a substantial savings on our energy and also Comfort during the school day and then the alternate four and five was about the partitions and sliding partitions between classrooms or into the comments this was an area at Hayward you know that we listed as an alternate to see how our own privacy came in so for all intents and purposes they are they're educational uh work within the commons will look more similar to Central so we were able to take those alternates as well you might have been premature but I was

096wondering the same thing so thank you for asking yeah the classic trustee yeah we're talking about the budget so yeah I appreciate you going through the process again I think is good for the community to understand this process and they can feel good that it's a thorough process a lot of review points and a lot of good people looking at these bids and you know the word thank you thank you okay any more discussion and I Haverhill buying work construction contracts okay then all in favor of improving Abraham find work construction contracts please say aye aye aye op what was uh the motion passes and the contracts are approved this next action item is a great one we have to approve the hiring of some new teachers and is there a motion please I move

097that the Board of Education approved the appointment of the following teachers reporting to Public Schools Aiden Alexander's shared time teacher and that's Cindy Moore angling Road Elementary teacher Kristen kite angling Road Elementary teacher April Dellinger North Middle School studies social studies teacher Danielle Whitaker Lake Center Elementary ESI teacher Lucas Trierweiler Community High science teacher Mark Hageman Haber Hill Elementary music teacher Audrey Cripps Central Middle School ESI teacher Aisha Lockette Northern High science teacher Ashley Everts ecsc teacher Sarah Lee Northern High ESI teacher Mary Catherine Miller Amberley elementary teacher Courtney wiersma Community High teacher Denise Brothers Northern High teacher Jordan tubaro Central Elementary teacher Kristen kovalt Student Success coordinator Andrew Marvel Central Middle School teacher Suzanne kiskov ESI academic support specialist Alvin Littell work-based learning and transition coordinator Stephanie Johnson school psychologist Jessica Benoit Orchestra teacher

098West and North Middle School Stacy Smith West Middle School Math Science teacher thank you for offering that motion Terry is there a second please okay thank you Keith red good evening trustee superintendent B Lang uh thank you that uh as I warned you back in June we brought our first batch I would have yet another large batch coming here before the beginning of the school year and have these uh 22 teachers before you to approve um just a couple I just want to point out a couple um with Jordan tubaro and Suzanne kiskar actually return these to our teaching ranks so Jordan had moved to the other side of the state but is now back not only is she back at the same school in the same grade she's actually back in her same classroom

099that she left so truly is coming home for her and then as Suzanne kiska had stepped out of the teaching Rings had done a couple of other things for us for a couple of years but is now returning back to help our ESI folks and provide academic support across the district and she has a skill set that is very excellent for that so but very excited about this group thank you to trustee Snyder for joining us last week at our lunch for our new teachers as we had that we had during their orientation last week so it was a full room in here as we were set up for lots of people and I will be coming back to you in September with a smaller list but a list still the same because I think

100even since we finalized this list believe I've added three new staff as we continue to get our last minute fills done so foreign how many have we hired so far Brad right now I believe we are at 42 I believe wow thank you very much any discussion questions for brand thank you sir I'm in favor of the new teacher appointments please say aye aye opposed uh the new teacher appointments are approved and now we have a new administrator appointment there is a promotion on page 57 please curve make the motion that the Board of Education approves of Jeannie Webster's EFI Superior as presented thank you Keith is there a second thank you all right and um as I promised again earlier this year we were looking to add to our ESI Support Program remember the

101Portage staff support not only Portage and ESI but also Vicksburg and Schoolcraft so pleased to bring forth to the board Miss Katie Webster Katie has been with us here in Portage it's 2016 and uh mainly work first as a speech language pathologist and then working as a coordinator within our early childhood special education area so she brings a wealth of knowledge not only from her time here in Portage but her prior positions out of state Illinois as well so Katie will be primarily supporting Vicksburg but I know Janine will have her pulled into various things here in Portage as well especially gaining the knowledge that she's gained here so we're excited to bring Katie in as an administrator and um happy to answer any questions and Katie is in the audience stand up for a

102minute Katie and she is here to do with the opportunity so yeah we're excited and Katie's uh two boys are both Portage students so and he's also married to another school administrator in a district to our South that's getting ready to open a new building that's occupying a lot of his time I see so thanks Brad thanks Katie for being here tonight nice to nice to meet you um all in any discussion questions okay then I'm in favor of appointing Katie Webster as ESI supervisor please say hi hi opposed the motion passes congratulations and welcome our next action item is to approve a partial District calendar all right so you have at your uh your place is a recommendation uh that the district approved it approve a calendar that allows us to operate through October

1032023 which is within the framework of the 2023-24 school calendar and it reflects the board of education's current school calendar proposal as you know we're in the middle of negotiations and the school calendar is subject to negotiations but the board has the right to establish a portion of that school calendar when it's necessary to do so even though it's not there's not a formal agreement at this point with Association so what you have there is uh our opening opening uh first day of school which is not subject to bargaining the other dates are and they're they're upon us here this week September is uh I don't believe there's any contention on any of these dates so in any case this is for your recommendation for your approval so we can notify our families and our

104students of stay off of what our dates are would you mind reminding me of the times for the open houses please I don't have those in front of me I'm sorry check your ad yeah check your app they're all on me I know we start with tomorrow I think at the elementary level and uh 5 to 6 30. Middle School's after that and then High School's Wednesday School's after I think Elementary like it backs up like it's been 36 30 I think and then our assistance eight yeah 6 30 tomorrow middle six to seven thirty tomorrow High School 6 30 a.m Wednesday professional support hps.org thank you any comments or discussion about around approving the partial District calendar or the end of this like October 27th is it possible to another partial yes I think

105we found ourselves in this situation a few years back where the board approved encounter I don't know if we got into the second round of that but yes this is uh we would do that a little bit at the time three months at a time or whatever we thought was necessary to really get us through that Next Period of time okay okay then um oh we need a motion uh I'll pick up the queue [Laughter] this is the smallest motion we've ever had and it's throwing me so um turn to the next page and when you get the handout yeah there you go now you're sorry now you're set yeah um Mr President uh I have moved that we prove [Music] so uh Mr President I moved the board approved the calendar place before [Music]

106very good is there a second second thank you any discussion all in favor please say aye aye opposed the motion passes and uh the calendar is approved through September October I'm sorry October and now uh we're going to our first discussion item on page 60 and that is all about the masb delegate assembly and annual leadership conference if you recall we changed our bylaw to require board approval to attend these events so we would be approving that at our next meeting and uh I don't know if you've read it I don't think there's a whole lot of discussion involved here but I encourage anyone who can to certainly go it's a it's a it's a good good meeting lots to learn there and very helpful in board work so we'll take that up at our

107next meeting okay and finally our next discussion item is the Northern High School CNC router purchase so thank you my colleague Dr Michael joining me as well I'll tee off this particular recommendation so you can have a little contact we recommend that the Board of Education improve the purchase of a CNC router in the amount of seventy six thousand two hundred eighty dollars from new CNC and approve an additional 5 500 to be used to hire a third-party company to install the new equipment at portishe North Northern High School for a total amount of eighty one thousand seven hundred eighty dollars the funds of which will come from the 2019 bond fund proposal one unallocated contingency which you see there is a chart that displays the total cost for the machine as well as an

108allowance for the installation Dr Pasco will talk a little bit more about the educational reasons for this particular purchase and I'll talk about the bidding process at the end thanks Jenny good evening superintendent B Lang trustees so just curriculum wise the overall Vision it's in your packet here as well it allows for students to learn transferable skills from woodworking cabinet making curriculum could be used in industry college and in life in general teach your students about opportunities And Trades degree programs and construction industry that they'll learn you know in training once graduated so this is the CTE program it's supported by K Risa currently until the new facility opens up then it will become something different and Jeff's here thanks for being here too he can add anything that I miss but then we intend

109to transfer it's called a sip code that's attached to the course itself and adopt that as a PPS offering and open it up to work based learning as well as Co-op so this is uh this is exciting for us as we don't have enough of that in the district this is a State Certified curriculum include CNC Millwork Machining operative industry recognized credentials to those that complete it so Jeff and his team they partner with local businesses they aid in the development and implementation of the curriculum through an advisory panel I know I don't want to speak for Jeff but what I'm hearing particularly from Nate is that when Jeff talks to those in the field there is a huge gap between the amount of kids that are are being prepared for the vacancy of the

110spots that are in these trades and they have a hard time employing qualified folks so we're hoping through Jeff's program and through this class that we serve as more of a pipeline and a pathway for more of our students to get into these fields and that would be wonderful if we start seeing that so K Risa moving forward they're going to focus more on commercial and residential construction what Jeff and his students do they do more architectural woodworking furniture making the foundational skills that someone would want entering the trades so the CNC is computer numerical controlled woodworking Machining that teaches higher level thinking so they get into design with computers project management before they ever get into the material handling which I think is pretty cool and then they do a lot of abstract Concepts

111you see in her XY grid plotting points measurement conversions fractions geometry cost analysis and they do a lot of material research and then the students learn communication which is a good employability skill they communicate with suppliers they communicate with the community they communicate with one another as they work to a common goal to complete a product in just class but most importantly according to Nate and I'm sure Jeff will say the same thing this course builds relationships it's another one of those factors that brings kids into Northern every day they're excited about it just like some of the extracurricular reasons why why folks come so it's it's exciting it's just one of those classes that kids have a passion for and it brings them into the building on a daily basis so we appreciate what's

112happened over the years and appreciate your consideration for the new machine I know it's going to serve the program well we appreciate Jeff being part of the team and being part of Portage Northern to help facilitate the curriculum portion of things so that's just mainly the curriculum into things and Johnny I'll bring it back to you all right just in terms of bids we received four bids this was sent out through our formal bidding process this this and for your reference we've included those for companies along with their cost the bid that we recommended was this new CNC with the 76 280 dollars and again an allowance of five thousand five hundred dollars for the installation and the removal of the old CNC router any questions about this particular recognition just a comment over the

113years I know that this class has been something that has just been an amazing experience for all kinds of kids so you have IB kids taking this class and you have other kids who are interested in woodworking as a long-term career but it gives them skills the leadership opportunities that I've seen put forward from this and the fact that girls and boys are interested in something like this I think it's fantastic and that you know you have a teacher that's enthusiastic about it too though so that sometimes drives the train but it's just been pretty amazing to watch this happen over the 20 plus years that I've been involved at Portage Northern so very cool jet took his time out today I forgot to open it up Jeff anything you want to add that maybe

114I missed or something that's essential you want pretty much touched on everything the one thing I will add the company new CNC They're Up in Holland so they're look as local as you can get for a manufacturer they've opened their doors to us throughout the course of the years that we've had their machine their old machine that we have um to our students to come up and check out their facilities do job shadows and just be there for another slice of that pie of what kids do After High School yeah so that's a that's a really good question we're working with our business department to figure out the cost of so we have a couple of things on the table some were telling us that the reselling this old machine you have to have the

115right person who really knows its value to actually use it one of the vendors have proposed to do the install and removal for free and then they would all essentially junk it so there's a likelihood that we may not have to pay the fifty five hundred dollars but it's that cost benefit of do you go through the hassle of trying to sell it and you may not even get what you're asking for versus taking the service for free in exchange for the the equipment but my understanding is the the equipment is beyond its useful life cycle uh from from a manufacturing standpoint excellent and then as far as what the students are going to be doing just because I'm curious with what I get to work with my job um are they learning how to

116program the machine as well they do everything from maintenance on the machine programming on the machine so we start off with CAD software and learning how to draw a simple shape and then they take it from there and like I said it when I spoke they've created things like the seal that the governor had on her poding awesome I'm glad we were able to find some money and unallocated contingency to buy this equipment because this is a great program and we need to support it I'm really excited about it it was up to me I'd approve this thing tonight I mean Jeff's here I don't know why we couldn't do that you know I have a comment and a quick question um comment first of all my mother's address wasn't drafting for years my sister

117taught drafting both kvcc and at the high school level my daughter is now a machinist my younger daughter is also choosing to go into trades I highly support this this is awesome um my question is what about the old machine needed replacing it you touched that briefly as in such that we need the new machine so the spindle which is the motor that drives the the able to be it's a good reason out of the machine we've had to remove a panel off off the spindle in order to access a uh pneumatic relay in order to allow the bit to be dropped out of the machine so I'm putting my hands inside of that machine in a way that's not designed to be used it's past the point where the manufacturer is supporting that it's

118on it I've got an email from the manufacturer stating that and it's just you know I'm I'm doing Band-Aid fixes you know 90 of the time so and and that answered my curiosity perfectly thank you so much whether it be a motion to bring this item to action yes may I recovered [Music] uh Mr President uh I move that the Board of Ed moved the purchase of the CNC router to an action item tonight thank you well is there a second second very good all in favor please say aye aye the motion passes the CNC router is now an action item is there a motion please okay I get this one too sure uh Mr President I move that the Board of Education approved the purchase of a CNC router in the amount of seventy

119six thousand two hundred eighty dollars from new CNC and approved five thousand five hundred dollars to be used to hire a third party company to install the new equipment at Portage Northern High School where a total amount of 81 780 the funds for which will come from the 2019 bond fund proposal one unallocated contingency thank you is there a second second very good all in favor of purchasing the new CNC router please say aye aye the motion passes and the router's on the way when might it be available to the students um I think the company said they had it in stock and we were looking at probably at least a four week turn around it's amazing that's great so proving this tonight helps expedite we appreciate that especially with his description yes how well

120this company works with our students when it is installed and ready to go they're coming down and giving us three days of training rather than just you know me going up there or watching a video that's awesome very good thank you guys appreciate it thank you thanks Jeff too yeah okay our next discussion item is the Central Elementary educational case goods uh in our last recommendation Dan how to explain what educational case could encompasses uh as he talked about some mixture of furniture and Cabinetry so I recommend the Board of Education authorized oake to issue notice the pending more or in the amount of 709 835 dollars to cost for to Custer the educational case goods for Central Elementary any confirmation that all requirements of the contract documents have been met further more informal receipt

121by lak of the appropriate documentation the contract would be awarded to Custer by Portage Public Schools funds will come from the 2021 bond this recommendation is a continuation of the construction related items Central Elementary and you know educational case goods include storage units sliding marketing boards with teaching Wall reconfigurable Storage Cabinetry and other related countertops for the learning Studios or classrooms due to the customization of the furniture case work the Custer was the only leader to be able to work and Dan or I would be happy to answer any questions anyone have any questions thank you our last discussion item tonight is the food service van under the agenda um tonight I bring to you a recommendation that we purchase a 2023 t350 Ford Transit all-wheel drive van from Hoekstra Transportation and the amount of

12272 695 dollars if you will recall during my budget hearing I touched on the fact that our food service fund balance is at an access level and we've had to implement a spend down plan this purchase is part of that plan spend down plan this van would be used to help us get things to our six satellite Elementary locations it'll also be used doing during our summer food service program and in times when we don't need to take the big box truck out for food service it's going to be more fuel efficient that way so hookster was the only bidder we did go through a steel bid process and hookstner was the only company that did I would be happy to answer any questions that you have and relay them to Susan on a funny

123what's the disposition of the we getting rid of that one or will there will supplement we don't have one I have one of them like this we have a larger panel I don't know if you call that a panel truck or what the liftgate that moves our equipment around food around any other questions about the food service van purchase about the delivery date in June is next year there are reason or what's I know that uh we this is the second time we went out for bid for this item and nobody bid on it the first time through so I believe that suppliers are having a hard time meaning demand was not the person that was fun what that is ask a question like that I'm sorry it was just a situation with all kinds

124of Autos um charging way over sticker price for things waiting uh unbelievable amounts of time for delivery so it is sad but true thank you okay we've reached here at the end of our agenda please turn in your evaluation forms thank you and we are adjourned um you know he um