001okay 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 like to hold everyone tonight [Music] i have a couple uh if you would please um the third report item the district report will be presented at the new meeting so that but i would also like to under those first four discussion items on those student trips answer your questions [Music] uh make some changes to accommodate changes to the end policy that's everything okay and go directly to the uh superintendent tomorrow our first item is our bond project update and uh dr johnny edwards we've got so many doctors in the house [Music] well i appreciate the compliment but i don't want to embarrass my
002credentials so thank you uh i want to start tonight first just with our 2015 bond which is wrapping up one of the projects uh on the enhancement list is the auditory and refreshing high schools uh so tomorrow an rfp is going out uh for a high school refresh uh the bid will close june 7th the scope of the projects include upgrading the sound systems rebuilding the stage floors modernizing the lighting network infrastructure and the architectural controls replacing the conventional lighting led to replace the multimedia projectors uh once we bring this to the board for action uh one of the things we're requesting in rfp is that none of the items that we're looking to replace be replaced until the new uh materials arrive on the site so we're not going to tear up the stage
003forward until the space for materials are in stock we're not going to take down projectors until the new projectors are going to stop and as you all know there is a shortage supply chain and therefore this rfp is requesting to the vendors that uh our items stay in place until they are on site and ready for installation uh moving forward to the 2021 bond uh we have now reached the schematic design final page review um provided us with a detailed narrative that included a narrative in landscape architecture structural systems mechanical systems electrical systems technology and food services this is quite a comprehensive list over the next two weeks oak will provide us with an estimate of the cost of buildings if buildings fall within the budget as it is then we can proceed to design
004development and the preliminary costs are not this wednesday this is a collaborative effort to discuss our timeline logistics and codes that we must adhere to uh [Music] and just moving over to our enhancement list and bond uh budget item um all right really the only uh the dollars are are the same based on the projects that we've approved the only item i really want to speak more specifically to uh um this is a project that we have been exploring several items uh where we landed was to uh not so much include the softball area that area um in terms of the structure um is in good shape there's also some elevation issues between the new site and this this area too and we believe the cost of substantially so now that we have taken the
005plans back once they give us our preliminary design okay we would like to bring back to the board of proposals for that project that will include upwards to 60 plus additional spaces in that area and our goal would be to do that project in the fall uh not this summer in terms of the actual budgetary items there are roughly 3.7 million dollars remain in an unallocated contingency and there will be additional items that will come to the board specifically around northern high school academic current wall replacement uh ideally that project will be next summer we would like to share plans with the design for that as well before that goes out to the irp and the curtain i'm sorry house systems items has picked up more our traffic plans to the state uh anytime you're
006looking to put in a system that would be attached to the ceilings uh then we needed some mechanical and structural engineering uh to show that what we will sustain itself once they are installed so that concludes my updated report along with the budgetary report are there any questions and the second report is passed us i don't know where it went um just to bring a few highlights to you somebody mentioned before local revenue is compared actually local revenue revenue is down from last year because of um we received our relief money up front last year and uh uh a year ago at this time our costs were higher than they are now we're buying a lot of ppe related supplies those are not being purchased at this time to the magnitude that it was a
007year ago transportation costs are up compared to last year because we are running bosses five days a week now and instead of just four support services are up because of athletics we're running all of our athletic related events again um the uh costs are up as well that falls into that category and then under child care services we are running higher than last year because uh this program has been an all school year and it didn't start late in the year like it did previously just to give you a little bit of a general update about what's going on in regards to the state's package for next year the consensus revenue listened to that and um things are looking very good on the revenue side we are surpassing projected targets on both the state side
008of the budget um billion dollars worth of funds to carry over into next year so this should be very interesting to see how everything plays out in regards to the funding for the next school year which we are bringing you know budget next month and we probably won't know our funding by the time one thing that i'd like to point out to the board is since the governor released her budget and inflation has increased now we know we have more revenue than we knew we had back in february so i really hope that um this would become a positive outcome you know for the school districts are striving to finish the budget by the third week of june because they want to go home and start campaigning for the election that's coming up in november
009so another thing to stay tuned for um but that's just all that i know at this we just time that the numbers are up and uh projected increases by all three agencies vary uh there's also other caveats in each one of those but i really feel that it will come down to some serious negotiations it could get really interesting any questions the grand opening of the new senior center across the street from here so that was a very nice event it drew about 500 people there including the governor and other uh obviously you did your job so thank you and we have what a great asset it is for uh senior citizens in our in our community and uh the place if you haven't had a chance to go over take a look at is
010just a wonderful facility some great uh some great uh uh spaces in there for for activities and meetings and stuff like that that's all i have another report uh um we have heather conning west uh representing northern high school's spanish club to take um students to peru summer 2024 french club as well talk about their progress and now be followed by kathy looking at the biology good evening i'm excited to be back in front of the board with trips to offer for the northern students um took the break like most schools had to do um we've switched companies and we're going to be going with worlds now just because of the world strikes and explorer with uh public schools the different trips that are taking place through that company they're offering a little bit more
011as far as the they're able to get their um back with that insurance last time unfortunately the families lost some money in that because the company that we were working with before was smaller and couldn't get back on everything so we're looking at these ones and in 2023 we want to go because i have juniors right now that have been eagerly awaiting a trip to go use the suspension learning class and this trip will have homestay which is always an important part with me and traveling with the students to be able to allow the students to use spanish in a more real-world situation going to um some um community service components with schools uh we're not quite sure exactly what the assignment will be there but they'll have that as well and then the trip
012to peru i wanted to start that one a little bit earlier so that we're able to give the students more time to raise that money the company that we're traveling with they will do monthly payments so by starting earlier that puts the monthly payment a lot lower because we're spending more time giving us more time this company also does financial aid for the students so it's it makes it more attainable for all of our students to be able to do that between the financial aid and the um fundraising that we would be able to do with that so i don't know if there are other questions or i think you have both of my proposals for any reason so should the students sign up right now and they decide that in a year that that's
013just not something that they're going to be able to participate in they can cancel and get their money back thank you for doing this yes thank you i don't think that rachel is here so um next year we're doing a spanish biology trip so this is and we had a plan to go in 2020 all right we had 36 students that were traveling with us fortunately the company that we went with did give them their money back had they purchased the insurance so we are going to use that same company explorica which is also world strikes with that same insurance policy in place we love the idea of doing biology spanish because it appeals to a large group of students um i of course love the spanish part because they'll be speaking spanish the whole
014time that they're there this will be my fifth trip here traveling with students and i think it is the most enriching experience that our kids can have outside of the classroom using their financials and i'm excited to go with the biology center yeah uh i'm more interested in the biology portion and the help from the spanish people especially people but obviously as a biologist uh the galapagos is the foundation of darwin's theory of and we've been talking about that in class and see the species richness the diversity amongst all the islands and the department research center um [Music] a couple [Music] maybe if they had biology last year and now they're not biology anymore they can come along so what's the math um oh yes [Music] um and i'd appreciate you guys putting this together
015okay [Music] and i'll ask our secretary to read our guidelines for public comment please the board welcomes community input at our board meetings and recognizes the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on distributed matters to during the public participation portion of the meeting by completing the secret registration form of the meeting individuals may not register others to speak speakers will be recognized by presiding by the presiding officer and may not be called in the order in which they have signed up to see speakers are requested to state their name address and group affiliation if applicable minimum comments come in three minutes direct speakers may not yield any of their speaking time to others provide a written copy of the comments and supporting documentation to the world secretary if available present your
016comments in a respectful and professional manner to the modern behavior expected of approached students refrain from mentioning any student by name context 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 needs board members are not obligated to respond to issues raised during public comment normally such issues are referred to or followed up on followed up on by our administrators thank you um our first speaker tonight is jada blake welcome hi hello um i'm a student at personal high school i'm in 11th grade and i'm here to address the issue of whitewashing and racism within our 11th grade english classes especially in the way we teach the book to kill a mockingbird firstly this book is on
017the uh of racism and ableism not only is it written by a white woman but it is from the perspective of a white family portraying a white savior complex to the reader a white savior to paraphrase to kill mockingbird is a sin uh because they don't do anything but make music for people to listen to in other words a person of color shouldn't be put on trial because they don't racism is a thing of the past the instances of racism are outdated and difficult to connect with the current state of racial injustice happening around us today in addition i'd like to add that this book uses being used by characters i'd like to propose that this will be taken out of the curriculum before next year and replaced with a book written by a person
018of color on the subject of their authentic experience dealing with racism um so uh i have three and it's the absolute true diary of a part-time indian by sherman alexie james the notes of the native son 1985 and entries our next speaker tonight um i'm going to read this right uh i'm the minister at the united community church in portage and i am also the proud grandparent of a bi-racial 10-year portage student and so first of all allow me to thank you for all the wonderful work that you've done in uh in order to facilitate equity in the public [Music] public school district um you have supported equity inclusion and you've done work in anti-racism and i'm proud of that and i'm grateful for it i'm also grateful that you have addressed the dress code
019that you are allowing students to dress according according to their gender identity you are not requiring that for students to fit in you are allowing them to belong and it is our greatest desire in life to belong and fitting in means is actually the opposite of belonging fitting in means that we have to sacrifice something that is intrinsically truly ours in order to keep the peace in order to be approved of so you by addressing the dress code are allowing students to belong and that is a wonderful gift and it should be a given really and so i'm grateful for the work you've done and i also encourage you to keep working and i have a few suggestions um there's so many and i would just suggest a few okay so i would like you
020to accurately and consistently incorporate african-american and lgbtq visibility and presence in the curriculum i would like you to introduce implicit bias training for all district salaried and contract positions and for students i would like to actively recruit and hire qualified teachers and administrators of color and address address inequitable or biased disciplinary policies and personal actions personal actions to reduce racial inequity so thank you so very much and good luck your work is cut out and uh you're uniquely qualified to meet this challenge thank you thank you for your is confidence it says thank you superintendent thanks for allowing me to be here tonight registered voter citizen parent and wife of a faculty member for learners of all ages and um but senior citizens started at age 50 and we welcome all of you to join
021um a special thank you to trustee uh for making a lead gift in honor and memory of an educational leader thank you so much i'd also like to thank the trustees for coming to a community gathering a couple of weeks ago on your [Music] just a few of us but it was very um thoughtful and i would appreciate the future more notice to be given to community members uh further on the other side i know it was advertised in the portager and on social media but those of us who live in texas township a fair number of households do not thursday may our local representative christine morris is holding a town hall meeting to talk about school violence dr pascoe is on the panel and i just think um and i've worked together for a
022while and in last conversations in december around our the oxford high school tragedy and i think it may be time for us to start pressing at the state levels to have more protection for school administrators and faculty staff to be able to have cover to put preventative measures in place when there's a prediction or threat of school violence certainly we need to protect the interests of the learner but you also have many many learners and faculty members in our school buildings and so i don't think this is just an opportunity to talk about how to create safe learning environments thank you very much [Applause] um [Music] and they were absolutely enlightening for the topics were some of the most difficult it was a great opportunity to celebrate educators and it was extremely heartwarming to see
023the passion that the students uh gave as they talked about their communicative teachers so i get really excited about it because i was in that first group where i was part of a word smithing the application [Music] i feel like the senior community this whole community has done a lot for kids and now the community did something bad because i know there's a lot of seniors in this community that support our schools and support our kids and you know this community got to give back to them about that so uh thank you very much that's a great great absolutely um and now uh officially today about 240 the school board no longer has any student any board members or students in this district now he doesn't graduate but he's done so i've i've had my
024last channel go through reporters public schools uh brad same same voters you know it's just been a really wonderful journey and there's some great great people along the way yes parents do so much to form their kids but their people within our district who touch our kids and nudge them and my kids because of anything but there's been people along the way that have done um just some wonderful wonderful things for my kids and um it's just so i'm done with this journey i know everybody on this diocese driven on the journey plus you're just starting it again thank you to everybody i just appreciate all the people i had a son who got to do the trip and had a wonderful time there was really well prepared from a language standpoint when he got
025there later on college he was six months in grid he now works at a job that he got because of his bilingual abilities so um so you haven't gotten there yet rusty but uh some of the rest of us have with kids that are out in the world in careers and i know at least one of my kids a couple of different times has had the opportunity to reconnect with portage teachers that she had because they were visiting the city where she lives sometimes with students and and my daughters have the opportunity with those students and talk to them about what she does but other times it's just been a social evening with the former teacher in their family and it's just like the coolest thing ever to see that that these people have made
026such a mark on your children that your children will never ever forget so it's pretty cool um randy uh i would just like to um thank our three uh speakers tonight for the thoughtful comments and one is a current high school student and it is extra special what the high schools do thank you very much um and for my colleagues a good retreat today it was extra time but it's always it's always a time well spent and then um with the troops abroad i was reflecting as a 16 year old i got to go to france for like 10 days yeah it was a long time [Music] um so there was a meeting a few years ago and rachel block was here and right i was challenged to counter 20 yen uh [Music] they're just
027exceptional people and it's really rewarding as are all the end of the year awards ceremonies and we've got a retirement party coming up for teachers as well and it's a real special time at the end of the year it makes you understand why you're on the school board really does so anyway that's all i have i think we can go to the consent agenda on page seven we have four items tonight the first is the approval of the may 9th 2022 committee of the whole work session and then the next three were items that we discussed at our last meeting on may 9th number two that the board of education approved the renewal of charcoal's food service management contract for the 2022-23 school year and authorized the director of finance to execute the contract renewal
028agreement third the board of education authorized the purchase of two switches from dell technologies and in amount enough to receive thirty nine thousand four hundred and six dollars there are proceeds for which to be drawn from the 2020 on the bond fund and finally the board of education authorized the purchase of 1550 chromebooks from c height computer products in an amount not to exceed 409 the funds for 773.50 to be drawn from esser 11t and a 2020 to 23 general fund is needed are there any exceptions of any of the items on the consent uh hearing on the consent agenda is approved our next um item is a required action item on page 22 and that's approval of the k resa 2022-23 general fund budget is there a motion please thank you uh all in
029favor please say aye aye opposed motion passes and the k reese the general from the budget is approved our uh next action item is on page 29 and has to set the budget hearing date for our 2022-23 budget is there a motion please mr chair uh i need the board of education set a public hearing on the proposed 20223 budget june 27 2022 at 6 30 pm and operates the uh a motion to set the budget hearing is adapted and that will be on june 27th our second action item is is to set a special meeting regarding the superintendent evaluation on page 32. we've been given a couple of different um time times to start the meeting once it's at 4 30 once that if i any president sir my own is 4 30 so
030i'm not rushed 4 30 okay [Music] okay on page 32 is there a motion please to begin the evaluation at 4 30 pm president obama board of education set a special meeting for the superintendent evaluation or june 27 2022 at 4 30 pm thank you for second place thank you all in favor of approving a special meeting for the superintendent evaluation please say aye aye opposed the question passes the date is set and now our next item is uh dan domestic item on page 86 the snap desktop computer purchases [Music] but we um have just enough windows but hopefully this is the last time windows clients to the board so with that any questions on that one okay uh before you is a replacement for our staff our books were purchased in 2016. and they
031are certainly at the end of their life we have been working very hard to find a suitable replacement for chromebooks this is actually the second rfp we've issued um we always purchase one ahead of time or repair issues because this is an hpg series we're very familiar with that i'm very confident that the tear down will uh versus uh obliged [Music] yes mr president [Music] i'll move from the recommendation line [Applause] refresh and now we're gonna go back to page 66 and take a little trip to france with rachel thanks for being here first of all at home by the time i got home gathering dinner for bed i completely forgot about school so i really apologize for that when i left school i was planning on doing my husband [Music] uh it's always a
032life-changing experience for these kids and we went four years of traveling it's time [Laughter] [Applause] um yeah yes students have an opportunity when they sign up to uh purchase an insurance policy for that yeah which is exactly what our students from good thank you very much any questions for me oh i heard you want to speak some more french town [Laughter] uh we have one more uh discussion item and that's the revision of policy 3.12 you have a packet at your places uh policy committee met on friday and is recommending that the board update the superintendent evaluation form to reflect changes in the global lands that the board made back in october so you have the copy in front of you the changes that were made and then you have a clean copy with the
033changes incorporated so anyway uh we'd like to get those back to the bar by the 21st of june that would be really good and i don't know if anybody has any questions about this one but it's basically just making the appropriate changes to the evaluation form that were mandated by the changes as possible so there's really only one change no there's a few um but they're all there went through the fine tooth combs so if we we the motion has uh has been approved and it's not on action item and we have a motion to approve revisions and the revisions to the policy are approved and on page 99 there is an emotion there will be a closed session to discuss the election bargaining strategy is there a motion please president of the board of
034education move into closed session for the purpose of discussing collective bargaining strategy as allowed under the open meetings act 15.268 section 8c thank you terry is there a second sergeant thanking kurt all those in favor please say aye opposed the motion passes and we'll be moving in the closed session right next door okay and we'll be coming back this is okay [Music] okay all right okay great thank you okay we're back in open session to approve on the 22-24 collective department agreement with the bus drivers association is there a motion place on page 100. oh um bargaining agreement with the portage bus drivers association m-e-a-n-e-a thank you thank you celeste any discussion all in favor please say thank you very much evaluation