001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> It is the mission of the Mahtomedi Area Public Schools to educate and inspire all students to become motivated, articulate, productive, and successful students for today, tomorrow, and forever. Call to order. Mr. Rupert? Here. Ms. Schulte? Here. Ms. Woller? Here. Ms. Doll? Here. Mr. Schuman? Here. Ms. Kelly? Here. And Mr. Wallace? Mr. Wallace? Here. Everyone's accounted for. Awesome. Thank you. We'll stand and I pledge 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. Did this out of order, but we called the meeting to order. Um item four, approval of agenda. So moved. Supported. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Agenda is approved. Next
002item is the consent agenda. So moved. Supported. Any conversation, discussion? >> I just would like to point out the retirement of Ms. Sarah Woller, elementary teacher at RRO. I didn't see her crowd as well. Uh for her support and many great years of service here at Montague Area Public School. She's a great asset to the district and we would like to thank her for that time as well. All right. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed say no. Second agenda motion passed. Next item is public comment. Public comments will be accepted at this time. Each statement shall be limited to 5 minutes in duration. Participants shall direct all comments to the board and not to staff or other participants. The board welcomes public comment but does not respond to
003citizens' concerns at meetings. At the citizens' request and board's direction, the superintendent or designee will respond in a timely manner. This meeting is a meeting of the Board of Education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public meeting meeting. Do we have any individuals I'd like to sign up. >> on the list? Yes, we're going to go through the list first and then you'll have the opportunity. Oh, okay. Yep, we'll just kind of run through the list and if that's No, you're good. Uh we will start it looks like Kathy Maloney. This is your mic. No, just just stand up in front. There is no true mic. Thank you. My name is Kathy Maloney. I live at 8008 Old Channel Trail in Montague. And
004I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you, the board, and your staff. Um I'm here tonight to talk about Lifewise and that's uh I'm concerned about my public investment in the children in this school district because this is my school district. I understand that Lifewise is organizing to allow students release time for religious instruction, which is allowed by law. While I know that federal and state allow it legally, the release time uh during this release time, the district has no obligation to govern. That is the only obligation that the district does have, and that is to govern on behalf of the taxpayers and the people we serve, the students in this district. Um provide the some ideas. My expectation for you is to govern, and some ideas to help you govern while you have to
005do this program or allow it. One, provide required safeguards like um all Lifewise personnel would have background checks just like the people who work in the school system are required to by state law. That is something that you can do. Two, maintain your school building schedule. The school day belongs to students and those who are administering the programs for students. So, I would suggest that this isn't for outside organizations, and you can limit outside organizations to recess time or lunch hour. Three, I would suggest that in your governance of this program that you banned all Lifewise branded materials, swag, uh merch, handouts, candy, giveaways, uh recruitment items, uh ban them from the school grounds. These are inducements. It's legally defensible, and it maintains neutrality in this environment, which is the school environment. And that is
006for non-participating students, too. They have rights just like the others do. Four, ensure families get clear, neutral communications from the district on what is and isn't your requirement for this program. What is your role? Again, and I know it's legal, so you have a legal role. I will restate your your experience here is again governance. That is what your job is, governance. It's your responsibility. Uh the Released Time program is not without cost. Staff has to check students in. Staff has to check students out. You have to monitor all of this. There is a cost. And I would encourage you to have a cost-benefit analysis that you would do because this is a public institution. So, I want to thank you for all your governance and uh just emphasize that I you do governance and
007I thank you for your public service. Thank you. Uh next, Jill Smith. That's me. Sorry. Hi, how are you? Um my name is Jill Smith. I'm a resident of Monsey area public schools. I live up on Darling on the corner of Green Street. Um my daughter attends the elementary school. I'm here today because I believe deeply in public education. Our public schools serve our children from every background, every faith, and no faith at all. That is why they must remain neutral, inclusive, and focused and focused on education. The Released Time Religious Instruction is legally permitted because of the 1952 Supreme Court decision Zorach versus Clauson, but with that doesn't come a blank check. The Supreme Court allowed release time because the religious instruction happened off school grounds with parental permission. Without public funding for religious
008instruction and without or without religious instruction taking place inside of our public schools, Michigan law requires districts to release students for off-campus religion instruction and the statutory conditions are met. One being a written request from a parent or guardian, two, instruction off public school property during public school hours and not more than two class hours per week. But the law does not require this district to promote program, recruit for it, distribute its materials, give it special access to students, or provide preferential treatment. That is where local policy matters. Likewise Academy is not just a local church program. It's part of a a growing organized effort to remove students from public school during the school day for religious instruction. When a program like this enters a school community, the impact does not limit it to just
009the children who attend. The children who stay behind can be singled out, they can lose meaningful instruction time >> [clears throat] >> while classmates are pulled away. They may be left with just busywork, just not, you know, instruction. And they can or and I lost my place, my apologies. They may watch classmates return with candy prizes and stories from a program they didn't even attend. In other communities, families have reported bullying, religious pressure, and children being told they are going to, and pardon my language, hell, or should not be friends with the non-participants because they didn't go. That is not a neutral school environment whatsoever. I am seeking or I am asking this board to adopt a strong viewpoint neutral release time policy before any program is allowed to operate here. Thank you. You're welcome.
010>> [applause] >> Yes, ma'am. Uh next, Margo Haynes. First, it's an honor to speak with all of you. I know you work really hard for us and for the children, so thank you. And um I have read quite a bit about Likewise, and uh I understand that they do things like have ice cream during the religious instruction and play games, things that are an opportunity for um bragging when you get back to school. Now, um when I was studying Chinese history, I read about something called rice bowl Christians. Those are people in China who were offered food when they were starving. And or and they would convert to Christianity because they were offered food. Now, do we want ice cream and candy Christians or do we want real Christians who are raised in their family
011environment to believe as their families would like them to believe, and when they get to be older, they can question if they want. We all know that that happens. Um I am very troubled by the image of children bragging when they return from these sessions and um minimizing the other students or bullying in any way. And um the ethos of the school should be of unity and teamwork and pulling together, and this threatens to really divide the school within the school. And um that's not going to be conducive to a good the atmosphere, I believe. Um I have some safety concerns about the kids leaving school, whether there might be injury, are they covered by Lighthouse insurance or are they covered by your insurance? What happens with that? Um and um I wonder since the
012school principal is in effect responsible for the instruction of the teachers in school, whether the principal would have a responsibility to know that the children are being appropriately spoken to in their release time when they are technically still in public school and what the duties of the principal might be. Um All of this troubles me very much and if there is a way to make sure everything is in place so that this does not disrupt the school day, I hope you will do everything you can to make sure about that. Thank you. Um next, Sheila Bunn. Hi. It's been about 40 years. I know some of you very well. Anyway, I'm I'm just honored to be here. And I just want to share with you I've been an educator for 42 years. Uh I've done
013it all. I'm certified K through uh 12. Uh I've been an administrator. I've been a classroom teacher. I substitute. Um I've been involved in and this is where I have a real concern, accreditation, especially for my kids and students. I've been a I I I'm involved in this community uh and my grandchildren are going to swim in in my home. Um, I retired after 42 years in education. I retired 10 years ago. And I just want to share with you some thoughts I have on this um First of all, I I think that it's admirable that any religion would like to share in evangelizing children. I I I I respect it. But it has no place in public schools. It has absolutely no place. I am a Roman Catholic. I've been a Roman Catholic for
01472 years. I also was a a principal preschool through eighth grade in the University of Detroit at Catholic school. And I absolutely felt it's got to be separation. Um The laws We have laws and that I have three reasons that I'm against this. We have laws and the laws are there to protect us. The Constitution the US Constitution separates church and state. Very important. Although it does that, it does it more weakly than the Michigan Constitution. And I would like you all to take a look at Article 8 Section 2 of that Constitution because it strictly forbids the use of public resources, including staff, including facilities, including organizational production, which means somebody's going to have to run this program if it's run in the school. And likewise it's going to, you know, ship it's out
015I don't know if they're going to use our facilities, but somebody's going to have to run it. Somebody's going to have to give out the permission slips, somebody's going to have to count them, somebody's going to have to make the announcements, and in effect you're promoting it. And what's disturbing is you are promoting one religion only. And and how many as a Catholic well I want to be my religion. There are I looked it up there's 370 religions in the state of the county alone. Um Christian religions. And there are more if you you know and you also include all the chance fights. Um It also further it not only is it illegal to do those things it's against the Michigan Constitution you can't do it. You can do it after school. And in fact
016we did that at Dearborn High School on that side. What we did we had a possible community and it has to be and this is the what the way the law reads. They want to do it cool. It has to be one student initiated has to be initiated by the students not by any um any multi-million dollar religious organization. It has to come from the students and it must be after school. Hey I can in fact I monitor after school. You know when they want to meet I just said cool I'll stay after school with you I'm just doing it on my time at school. So if that's what they want to do uh that's a different story. The other problem with it is that um Wow this is a biggie. Superintendent you know this
017and I know you know it well instructional minutes. I was floored that the state requires you to count up count count all your minutes. So count all your minutes and you can lose accreditation if you don't count all your minutes and they don't have that minutes of instruction. Okay keep in mind. We already talked about staff safety well duh and also the criminal background checks which are so important. Also it's a dangerous precedent. It's a dangerous precedent. If you do this to right left what are you going to do next year When another another church group comes in and says, "Hey, we want to empty our hall, too." Yeah, whatever they call it. Um so, anyway, that's about all I have to say. I respect you. Uh please consider the safety and the well-being of
018our students and and especially the pressure it puts on a family. Come home with the permission slip and say, "No, you can't go. We're Catholic. I I don't want you to practice that." And then go back in the school and hear their their faith and their religious talk. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much. Thank you. UH NEXT is Art Edward Carter. Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to speak today. Uh my name is Edward Carter. I live I'm a resident here in Montgomery. I have two kids in the Montgomery school system. Um you know, a lot's been said about religious uh or release time or religious instruction today. Um specifically around the Released Time program that we believe is attempting to set up, you know, their uh program in
019our area with our students. Um So, I've primarily I'm not going to repeat some of the things. I support what's been said today. I have concerns about it. I think it is a dangerous precedent and it complicates the school day for the kids, parents, and educators. Um just it's a difficult thing to navigate and keeping the school neutral for everyone who attends, um for the teachers, you know. I was I was going to be a teacher, you know, I was going to ask that. Um you're the one that brings all the kids back together and and navigate that. Um so, leaving that to individual families outside of school seems like the most reasonable thing. Um if there are um as as been said, you know, it may be required. Parents may submit the request that
020their child be released for this, and I do believe that technically the the law you have to figure out a way to make that work. Uh, so the request is because this is is happening now and there are um, groups trying to establish programs that the district go ahead and look at establishing a policy. How do you handle this? Um, how do you make sure that you protect the kids and protect the educational um, environment, the instructional minutes, all of that. Um, so that is the biggest request now is that take that action now. It might not be LifeWise, maybe that doesn't pan out in our environment. Maybe another group does come in. It's better to have a plan in place before >> [clears throat] >> something just starts up and slides through and governance
021is created based on that one program. So, I wanted to say thank you. THANK YOU. UH, NEXT, TERRY GAUL. AM I pronouncing it properly? Yes, [clears throat] you're right. He is signed I don't know if anybody has heard that name before. You see my address is Whitehall. However, I um, have two boys and they both graduated from Manistique High School here. One my oldest in 2013 and my youngest in 2015. Uh, anyway, um, I am here uh, to discuss the LifeWise situation. And I heard some things about, you know, uh, heard some things back there. I don't want to repeat myself, but I'll repeat that, but um, they they fund that you know, they are a well-funded organization. And does anybody know where the funding comes from? Well, Betsy DeVos is one of the major
022funders, okay? And we all know that Betsy, her whole intent is to to defund and destroy public education. Okay? Anybody paying attention uh, the last uh, you know, eight years or whatever would would understand that. Okay, um, anyway, I don't want to I got some comments I want to make with signs, if I can. Um, Can we just Can you Can you grab those to help him with those? That's just the camera and I don't want to move the camera. >> well, I'm Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, that's fine, Russell. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, okay. I just want to Yeah, can I show them back here or Yeah, that's fine. Eric, don't show them to us. You're You're speaking to them. Oh, okay. Set them up where we can see them. Yeah, you can see
023you can see my um, position on this is with the United States Constitution, and thank you to our other speaker here, and Michigan Constitution also. >> Um next on the list, uh Vicki Ibarra. No, okay. Um Martha Ramsey? I I think I put her name in the wrong spot. Okay. No, you're good. You're good. It's all right. Bill Tarr? Yes. Hi. I'm Bill Tarr. Um live on Dalway here in Montague. I put five [clears throat] kids through the Royal Oak school district. I've had uh two grandkids graduate from Montague schools and two graduate from Whitehall schools. Um and I spent around 12 to 14 years as a recreational both soccer coach. And so through all that experience I've I've learned that kids are driven by different different activities. It's not every kid will be challenged
024or excited by the STEM courses. It requires some of the additional courses. The arts, the the physical education. Those kinds of things will make a difference to some kids. Especially when I ran into the kids in rec soccer, um the kids that were academically challenged, um this gave them a an opportunity to participate and they met new people and it all rounded them out. Um if they hadn't had the other courses beside the the art courses, the music, the PE, they would not have been as well-rounded as individuals. And one of my fears of Lifewise is it will take kids out of the school time up to 2 hours a week. That's time that the kids need to really pick up all the skills. And if people talk about, well, you know, maybe the non-core
025courses that they'll miss out on. Well, like I said, some of the kids, it's the non-core courses that keep them coming back to school and keep them in the system until they are mature enough to start accepting the regular STEM courses. So, I'm worried that the whole activity of Lifewise will impact some of those kids that are challenged and do not respond the way we really expect our children to in the courses. Um now, as other people mentioned, I'm concerned about the drain on the school resources. Like they say, you got to check the kids in, you got to check them out, and oh, by the way, do can you as an an organization require the people that you're allowing the kids to go to to have the same kind of background checks and skill
026sets that you would expect within your schools? That's a big concern. For me to coach soccer, I had to have a background check. For me to even go on a field trip with my children, I had to have a background check. We need to be sure that Lifewise is as safe for our children as we can make it. So, I'm concerned that that if you let that leak and and have the kids go out go out and they get introduced to things that they shouldn't be or to people who are not necessarily as above board as they appear on the surface you guys could be liable for the activities that occur. So, think of 360° on this. It's not just for the kids going out to go get some religious training. It's also for them
027to lose an opportunity to be with their peers full day, every day, and to get the exposure to things outside of the the core courses. Thank you. UH LAURIE COLEMAN. HI, I'M LAURIE COLEMAN. I live in Montgomery. Um thank you for all that you do in guiding our school operations. It's much appreciated. Um you know, I want to just be on record cuz everybody has really said the details, but I support public school instruction that's balanced and accurate, not favoring one religion over another like many of the others here. I think it should respect all members of the public school population and not create a situation of insiders and outsiders. You know, I think at this pivotal time in our society that everything that's is on, we need to encourage understanding among community members and
028students. We need to emphasize what we have in common and not our differences, and I think that's what this program will do. Mitch Coleman, I live in Montague. I'm a substitute teacher in Montague. Former high school teacher in Indiana. And um I have a uh 7-year-old grandson in the schools of Montague. And I have pictures if you want to see them. I UM THERE'S SO MANY THINGS THAT DIVIDE US RIGHT now um as a country, as a community. Uh black and white, gay and straight Vikings and Wildcats Republicans and Democrats And that's a big one, that last one. I I campaigned for a candidate a couple years ago and the things I heard um I I um And LifeWise is one more divisive element. I could see and this is a judgment kids being divided
029into the believers and the non-believers and that kind of the haves and have-nots and I'm going to heaven and you're going to hell. And LifeWise is like a virus in my vision. It's spreading to a lot of communities and schools. And once it gets in once it infects the host um it's really hard to get rid of. You almost have to kill the host to get rid of it because if you want to get rid of LifeWise Why do you hate Jesus so much? And uh uh I think the best thing to do is not let them in. Bar the door. I love Jesus as much as the next person. I don't want my grandson to feel like, "Oh, I have to go to the Lifewise meeting or I'm going to go to hell." Thank
030you. SO, THAT IS THE END OF THE LIST. IS THERE ANY other public comment that would like to take place? Yes, just make sure you state your name and address when you when you come forward. Yeah, my name was on the list and I crossed it off. I was going to be the sign holder, but >> [laughter] >> Terry stepped in. Um my name is Kathleen Thompson and um I I wrote you an email today, Superintendent Johnson. I don't know if you had a chance to read that. But um I I'm not a member of Montague Schools, but um I live in the Muskegon County and I value public education, so that's why I'm here today. Can I just clarify address and that is 2239? Yes, 2239 East White Lake Drive. I'm close, but not
031quite here. Um The reason I'm here is like a lot of people in this room were against Lifewise and everything that was said, I agree on. And I just want to clarify a couple things. Um I've been embedded in investigating this and every time I peel another onion layer, um it's it's just horrific. So, I just wanted to share and clarify a few things with this with this um board. Um but first let me start out. I value in education. I went to public schools. My daughters graduated from public schools. My grandchildren are currently going to public schools. My husband and I have combined our families and now we are a big family of educators. I was not an educator myself, so I'm I'm one of the black sheep of along with my husband. But
032um my daughter's an educator, my siblings are educators, our aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, all educators. So you can imagine when we gather for our family holidays sitting around the dining room table, it was all about education. So I learned a lot from my family. Um a couple things I want to clear up. I don't think it was specified as clearly. Likewise is disguised as a Christian faith academy. They are pretending to teach the Bible and have a Bible study program. Likewise is a Christian national organization. They are at a national level. What they do is they come into local community communities such as your own and they recruit faith leaders and churches to form a local franchise. So it tricks parents into thinking this is grassroots local base. It is not. It is not at
033all. It is a national organization with deep pockets. As Terry had mentioned, the DeVoses. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Heritage Foundation. They endorse Likewise. Likewise is Project 2025 in the works. So I just want to clarify that when um your local pastor or your local church say we're forming this great Bible study program, they have the backing of this national organization, a well-oiled machine. I also want to point out that Lifewise is strictly Christian and let me see if I can find it cuz I want to get the facts straight. Um as my friend Sheila had mentioned, they are a Christian program. They teach one denomination of Christianity and that is the Southern Baptist Convention. It's a very strict very specific far-right Christian-based doctrine. In the United States, we have over
034370 distinct registered religious groups. Of those 370 groups, they are represented by 350,000 con- >> [clears throat] >> um congregations of countless variations of a faith. There are over 200 Oh, okay. There are over 200 distinct Christian denominations. So, as you can see, Lifewise has chosen one and it's as far right as you can possibly get. My light's over here. It says far right as you can possibly get. If they truly wanted to teach Bible study in general and general um religious teachings, they would be at least in the middle and they are not. So, um I thank you for your time. Thank you. I THINK YOU GUYS saw one other Yes. State your name and address. Hi Dan, my name is Angela My address is 6498 3rd Street here in Holton, 49425. Um I
035am a mother and a veteran and somebody that's running for State House here in District 102. So I felt like maybe I should come down here and share a little bit of my perspective of my perspective. So first as a mother, I am a little bit not a little bit I'm quite unsettled by the fact that this is a program that is only being introduced at the elementary level. At a time where children are most impressionable, at a time where they are most uh wanting to follow in with their classmates and be a part of whatever they're doing. And especially when you hear things of gifts and other tokens being offered in exchange for them going and participating in this. That again is very worrisome. Um why wouldn't they have it at a high school
036level when where people have critical thinking, where our students already have developed a little bit of critical thinking and can make a decision for themselves? Because if you don't have all the information and you're being presented one narrative, are you able to truly make an informed decision? Or are we taking that right away from our students? As a veteran, I'm sure that you can imagine I stand by the Constitution that I took an oath to uh to to defend. And I that does not end when I take off the uniform. And so I'm very unsettled to see such a gray area between the very real uh promise that we should have a distinction, a separation between our church and our government institutions. And as someone who stands deeply by my faith and will stand against
037anybody who tells me what my relationship with my creator should look like. I find it very odd that we are indoctrinating our children at a young age. That is a parent's choice, of course, but that's why we have churches on every corner and that's why there's so many options for religious activities to choose from. But as someone who has seen the effects of using the love of teaching against teachers, where they have to push themselves to extreme limits to meet these mandates for testing requirements, and now you're going to take time away from them when they could be using that to prepare the students for the testing requirements that you yourself require, seems like you're setting them up to fail. And so I just felt like it was very important to share those different perspectives
038from just one individual, but somebody that is willing to stand for anybody's children like I would my own. And so I would expect the same from our school board here in Monticello. Thank you. One One other? Yeah, can I just make a quick comment? Uh we only get one. Sorry. It's just rules of uh the Board of Education. You get one public comment, unfortunately. Sorry. Anyone else? Okay, as stated within the public comment, uh the Board welcomes public comment, but does not respond to its citizens' concerns at the meetings. Uh at the citizens' request, the Board's uh this direction, the superintendent, myself, will respond in a timely manner to individuals that spoke here today. So, thank you for that uh and that process. End of comments. Your time and effort, obviously. Like you guys mentioned,
039it takes takes time out of your day. Appreciate your concern and being willing to bring that to our attention. So, thank you. All right, yeah. Moving on to reports with the principals, meeting for a minute. I'll go first. That's all right. So, first I wanted to say thanks to the PCO because we just had staff appreciation week and they got us special treats and I'm just really grateful for all they do to support our staff and to support our students. We had our kindergarten roundup. We had some families. We had our We're going to continue enrollment. The forms and things will be on our website, so if you know any incoming kindergarteners, please send them our way. Um it was really fun and exciting to see some of the new faces. I met a dinosaur
040expert, and she is ready to teach her class about it, so it's pretty exciting. Our young fives had their Mother's Day performance, and so it was nice. Every student had a special someone that they brought in to the school, and so it was very interesting. Yeah, we had animal day was a hit. Rumor was it around the building that there was a crocodile. I think someone [clears throat] must have started that one. So we thought >> [laughter] >> there was a crocodile, so there was some disappointment, but there was an emu and lots of tractors, so we were we were okay. We didn't It didn't disappoint. And testing wise, we have NWEA coming up. We have our DIBELS assessment, our end of the year assessments going on. We have our upcoming field days going to
041happen, and then we have all of our fun special glow days and all these things at the end of the year, so we're pretty much just wrapping up everything and having a really good time, so thank you. Thank you. Well, some of this is going to be a repeat, but um yes, our staff enjoyed being spoiled this past week for staff appreciation from our PTA. They're very generous and kind and leave us lots of love notes and treats, so we thank them. Um MSTEP testing has been completed in grades 3 through 5, other than those students who were absent and need to make up a test or who didn't finish. And as Jen mentioned, we're gearing up to do NWEA and DIBELS testing. Jen and I, amongst others, will attend the dyslexia uh conference of
042the ISD this week later to find out what the new law will require us to be doing. Um specifically for us at the elementary level, but of course for K-12 as well. Um and then also next week two of our teachers, Dena and Lizzie Ellis, will join Karen Snyder and I at um the district coaching program summit. So, for all of the district across the county coaches, uh literacy coaches, they come together with a couple of teachers and myself and then it's basically a big celebration but also to kind of kick off what we're going to be doing next year. But at RRE specifically, we've had a couple of since I last seen you a couple of student celebration assemblies. We have one more scheduled between now and the end of the year. Uh second
043grade field trips are going on right now to Lund Farms and that's been really enjoyable. Um the second grade and first grade also came over to for the FFA farm day or animal day and it was chilly, but I heard lots of fun things especially about the fuzzy pig. And her pigs, I guess I should say. And um fifth grade enjoyed last week last Thursday. They went to the Whitecaps game in um Grand Rapids and that was successful. And um tomorrow our fourth grade students will play their recorders along with the West Michigan Symphony at the school in the fall. So, they're really looking forward to that. We are also gearing up for fifth Fifth grade is a big year obviously going up to sixth grade so we're getting ready to have those transition meetings.
044We have We invite the sixth grade teachers over and they talk with the fifth grade teachers and we just kind of help them understand what makes some of our kids tick and what some kids need and what some kids don't need and that kind of thing. Um first grade is going to make their way to the Montague Public Library as well as Country Dairy in the next couple of weeks. And then of course we have our end of the year grade level picnics, and fifth grade will have a celebration in the gym with videos to match. And last but not least, we're in the process of working on student placements. We take that very seriously. We work really hard to find a good match for every single student, and taking into consideration a lot of
045different things. But, that pretty much wraps it up, but I don't know. Check the newsletter that's online. There's a lot going on this time of year. It's like take a deep breath, right? But, as always, thank you for your support all year long. We appreciate it. Thank you. It's gross, you see. So, yeah, we're at MVC. Our state testing is finally wrapped up as well. So, if you see Shawn Webber, give her a big thanks. She is our testing coordinator, and that takes a lot of her time. So, I appreciate that. And for our teachers, we had one just their flexibility in the schedule as we logged on and they would have to go and test. The system was down, and so they changed plans and shuffled everything for a week. So, their flexibility and
046professionalism there is much appreciated. Our track season is almost done. They've got their last couple of conference meets here, and that will be kind of it for the school year. We've had over a quarter of our schools involved in track, so very successful there. The kids are having a great time. Mr. Patton, our high school counselor, was over and talked to our eighth graders, so they're starting to schedule their freshman classes and putting all of that stuff in. We've got things out to our eighth grade parents on that as well. So, also want to appreciate our Hope Squad. They they took some time during the week to do some some nice things for our teachers as well. And then, to thank Sturbridge as well. They also are buying our teachers lunch next week. So, we
047appreciate all of that. Um, as they mentioned, we've got transition meetings going, so in the middle school we've got them going both ways. So, we're down meeting with the elementary, we've already spent time um with the high school and started transition already this up over there as well. Um, as many of you know, we have community lunch on Friday. Um, it's a big one out there with Eat Real coming in. So, there's uh many visitors at first lunch and that's what we're going to have probably 185 people at our first lunch on Friday. Um, and there's still room at second lunch if you want to come out and enjoy good lunch with uh the kids. Uh, it is uh much appreciated and there's plenty of room. Uh, if you haven't signed up already, you want
048to go to second lunch. Couple of uh things to put on the calendar if you want to come by and see uh some great talent at the middle school. May 19th is our um middle school band concert here at the high school auditorium. May 20th is Wiz Kids at 6:00. And then May 28th is our choir concert, our middle school choir concert, that'll be at 7:00 here. And then uh our last little bit of transition is every year we send our eighth graders to visit the Career Tech Center. They get to pick three or four different career paths to go visit uh just as that sort of incentive as they're starting to think about getting into high school. This is something of interest to you, what you want to do with your classes in those
049first couple years as you get there. So, um they always enjoy the day in the Career Tech Center. They do a nice job when they have us there. All right. Thank you. Um, and Mrs. Stover is unable to make it here today, but she did want to make sure that I remind you this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. uh senior awards ceremony right here in the auditorium and then obviously graduation Sunday at 2:00 p.m. uh in the gymnasium. Uh, some other superintendent updates that I have, I just wanted to make everybody aware we did uh renew the uh transportation for Electric Forest contract with the district previously. That is June 12th and July 3rd and help you to provide some transportation. We did increase cost on that. 16 buses that will be a part of that
050process. Make sure that we're getting our cost covered and additional revenue for the district. Next, we also have some legislative updates. I know that in my board updates I did say that May 15th but the estimated revenue conference will hopefully be a final piece in order for our legislative groups to start moving a little bit moving forward on some of the budget so that we can get a final budget for us moving forward to hopefully give Stacy Brown some of the needed information to finalize the next year's budget. As you heard Mr. Corrao talk about, he real also on a Friday May 15th there was a large group of individuals coming here from all around the state. Everything from individuals from Real Farm, School, Michigan State, Kent County, legislators, legislative reps, Trinity Health, Steelcase Foundation,
051other school districts all to see a part of some of the things that we're doing. And then there is a trip field trip per se for some of the adults to Real Farms as well that kids take part in as well and then a community lunch at the middle school as well. So, if you do have any interest in going on that please let me know. It's a little fighter jet. NBC, our principal update I did update we did go through a second round interview. The four individuals all did a great job so that now creates a tough position here as to what our next steps are. I do average out to two individuals to start with them and having a further conversation. I could possibly go into even third four. I think all four
052candidates could be a possible signal for that principal position. So, I will keep you updated as we go through the week as well on that. We are back on track with our barn meeting. We had another meeting with the architects and working through them with the barn project. We hopefully within 2 weeks we'll have some numbers that we can then hopefully tweak to make sure that they fit in the right process and that we will be bringing those bids. They will go out to bid and then bring those numbers to the board as well. So, once we get that barn news over in the area we have those five people. And with that, oh, one last thing, definitely not last but one week is not enough but last week as you saw it was teacher
053appreciation week. Thank you to all our educators, all the staff for all that they do. One week is not enough but yeah, they do splendid great things and it's nice when they're celebrated. So, thank you to our staff as well. Exactly. Yes, for superintendent comments and I skipped it right over Mrs. Brown. I'm so sorry. Budget update and presentation. Okay, here we are at the final budget amendment of the year. We'll give a little recap of where we've been and where we are now. If you remember last June we had to make a budget for this year with limited information and at that point in time we thought we would end the year with 1.2 million which is 6%. Then in December more information was known. Revised budget had 2.1 million estimated in our fund
054balance, which is 10%, which is right about where we want to be. And here we are with a slightly more favorable budget. We are anticipating a fund balance of 2.2 million, which is 10.4%. So, our revenue assumptions for this budget, we know that our blended people count is 1,267, and $10,050 is the amount we are funded per pupil. Since the revised budget, we've had an increase in revenue of 285,000. Most of that is increased state categorical state grants and federal grants, including the 31 AA mental health and safety grant, 27 L2 educator compensation, benchmark assessments, title one and title two allocations. Expenditures have also increased since the revised budget. They're up about 200,000, because when we receive those grants, we have to have expenses that match with those grants. Also, we were able to move
055one of our budget items, which was the E-rate projects to the 2026-2027 school year. That's the upgrading of the stadium fiber and upgrading of the wireless access points that will take place after July 1st. So, you'll see that in next year's budget. As we look at the revenues by category, local sources are down. They're down about 128,000, and that's that E-rate revenue right there. So, we're going to move that to next year. You'll see that revenue come back next year. Then, we've got state sources that are up 270,000. Those are the categoricals I talked about, the 27 L2 mental health and safety grants. And federal sources are up 114,000, which are our title one and title two allocations. Other financing sources are up slightly. We have some devices that are at end of life. We're
056able to recycle those and receive a nice refund on those. So, that's up about $28,000. We look at our expenditures by function, and instruction is up by about $100,000. That's where most of our expenses fell for that 27 L2 educator compensation grant. Um we've got people support, which is very close to prediction. Instructional staff support is very close, along general administration. School administration is up by about 50,000. Again, we had a lot of those 27 L2 educator compensation expenses fall there. And we do have some contractual payouts for vacation time and sick time. Business services stayed steady. Operations and maintenance is up about 30,000. We evaluated what what projects would take place, what projects did not take place. We estimated our utilities for the remainder of this year. And also with that 31 double E
057safety grant we are upgrading some of our entrances, our secure entrances, and our lock systems. We see an increase in transportation of 110,000 because of savings in other areas we were able to put a used bus into this budget. We'll be bringing that to next month. We're going to get two used buses, one in June and one in next year's budget in July. Our fleet is old and aging and we do need to try to purchase a bus at least once a year so that we can keep having that cycle of cycling newer buses through and cycling our older buses out. Um other central supports saw the decrease of 128,000. That was the E-rate expenditures that will be moved to next year. Athletics is up about 28,000. We have increased cost of officials and then
058we had some pads for the pole vault and high jump that need to be refurbished and those just arrived, I believe, in the last week or so. Um community services is up slightly as that some title one activities for uh the summer for our elementary kids. So we take all this information into account. It leaves us with a fund balance of approximately 2.2 million, which is 10.4%. And there's a visual of that. It is slightly more favorable than what we had brought to you in December. Just keep in mind as we reflect on that that we still have 2 months of the year left and I have to put in expenses that we think might happen. We think that some certain maintenance projects might happen. Maybe they won't and so that would be a savings
059and then we'll realize that at the end of the year. Also, I've predicted utilities. Hopefully we won't realize all those utility costs. Try to predict gas. We'll see what happens there. So, we are hopeful that this is a conservative budget and that we will be more favorable than this is predicted. Food service fund, for those of you who've been here a few years, you know we been in trouble with the state. We had too much money in food service and Dan has worked very hard to spend down those funds. Just this year the generators arrived for RRO and NBC and we were able to spend down those funds to get them in a allowable threshold. If I look at the revenues and expenses, we should be left with about 130,000 at the end of the
060year and then moving forward now that all those big expenditures are done to spend down that balance, we'll try to be more conservative with food service expenditures moving forward. Safety and technology fund is a county wide village. First passed in 2014, renewed in 2023. If we look at revenues and expenditures, we have a fund balance of about $10,800. We're going to use those funds towards the purchase of copiers for the district. It's time to renew our copiers and that will be brought to the board here later this evening. In this fund we we fund our technology assistant, district software licenses, a portion of our school resource officer and this is where most of our devices are purchased for students. And this year we had purchases for RRO and NBC. The scholarship trust fund, we still
061have four scholarships that are grandfathered into the district. We have Griffin, Flynn, O'Connell, and Turbido. Each year we get a small donation and then each year the students are selected by committee and we pay out those scholarships. The student school activity funds are the funds housed in the buildings. Students fundraise for certain items and events and we anticipate money in is money out should leave us with around 162,000. And we don't need to give you a formal budget for the sinking fund, but I'd like to keep you updated. Currently, there's a balance of 470,000. This is year seven of 10. It does go through the '28-'29 school year. This year we were able to re-roof the middle school gym and also update the fire suppression systems at the elementary, middle school, and high school. And
062if you remember last month, the board approved a 70,000 change order that did not need to take place because our old devices didn't communicate with the new system. We do anticipate a balance of around 410,000 come June 30th. And at that point, we'll have to meet with the building and site committee and see where our next projects will be for the upcoming school year. We know we have a need when it comes to modernizing the elevator RRO, roofs need to be repaired or replaced, and parking lots need to be repaired as well. So, just know that while we're still looking at this year, which we still have two months left, we're also looking towards next year. I'll start looking into next year's budget tomorrow. And we things that we're always keeping in mind is that
063we need to meet the behavioral and academic needs of our kids, but we also have a trend towards smaller enrollment numbers. And we need to be cognizant of that. We need to make sure that our revenues and our expenditures align properly. We need to right-size the district so it's sustainable moving forward. There's ongoing maintenance and repair costs that can't be covered by the sinking fund. We always have to take that into account. And we want to be sure that it's sustainable moving forward and that it keeps us out of the red. If you have any questions or you'd like me some more clarification, just let me know. And that is where we're at with our final budget amendment. I'll second Thank you, Stacy Brown. Great job, as usual, for all the work that she does
064in that process. All right. Moving on to new business. First item is consideration to approve the purchase of new copiers. I'd like motion to approve the purchase of district copiers from [clears throat] Marco Technologies in the amount of $52,542.53 with funds from the technology and safety fund. Support. All right, discussion. Yeah, so it has been the past practice for over a decade now to buy new copy machines or re-evaluate our copy machines at the 5-year mark. So, we are coming up to this time frame again at the 5-year mark. It is common practice for copier vendors to lock in their prices, include supplies and service for a 5-year time period. For the last decade, we've used Ricoh through the Mideau consortium. This time we put out a formal request for for proposals. So, not only
065Mideau, but others as well could bid within that process as well. We received 11 responses. Marco Technologies submitted the lowest bid. Steve Dennis, then technology director, and Stacy Brown, business manager, vetted the bid to make sure it complied with all aspects of the IRP and was also checking references in that process as well. As you'll notice, their price is significantly lower than the other vendors. And once again, that does include a 5-year contract with supplies and services extended. You know, if we were to go beyond that, we would then have some flexible pricing to look at at that point in time. The reason for it being lower than the other vendors is largely due to their existing high volume contract within the state, which allows them to secure discounted pricing. Marco Technologies is able to
066extend these savings to us through a cooperative piggyback arrangement throughout allowing the district to benefit benefit from this affordable pricing that they do a lot of. Awesome. Answered all my questions. Well done. Any other questions or All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Uh item B, consideration to approve budget amendment number two. I make a motion to approve the budget amendment number two for the 2025-2026 school year budget as presented for the resolution. I'll second that. So, this is just a resolution to be certain, correct? Yes. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Support? I'll support. All right. Discussion. So, we continue to move in the right direction around issues. Budget number that it was proposed at about a 6% fund balance on the initial proposal when we had no real
067clue as to where the budget was moving for the state. So, we continued to up that fund balance for us throughout the year. We're hoping, as you heard, that we're still a little conservative on our number planning and that that will continue to rise. And we'll start that whole process over again next month when Stacy will bring next year's budget to you next month. So, we'll continue to move that, but once again, kudos to Stacy and her staff for all their work in that process. Any other discussion or questions? I was just going to say, obviously, bringing those dollar amounts out of a fund balance is not sustainable over time. We understand that, so there are some changes that we are looking for next year as well. As we do every year in that process,
068there are some retirements and some individuals that are no longer with the you know, the district. And some of those will be staffed in place in that manner. So, it's not that we have to lay off or the regular review process of attrition. Yeah. Uh I guess I did want to point out as well, obviously, Stacy does the lion's share of managing it and >> [clears throat] >> doing all that, but obviously it takes a team, right? So, the staff supports all that. It's flexible. So, great job by the entire team to manage finances of the district. All right. All those in support say I. I. All those opposed say no. Motion passes. All right. Item C, consideration to approve new maintenance support maintenance coordinator. I make a motion to approve the hiring of Tony
069Coza Coza as the maintenance coordinator for the district. Second the motion. Discussion. Yeah, so we're excited about Tony coming in. Tony Cozart. Yes, he was pre previously at Winter Sun Schoolhouse as lead maintenance, so he has a number of different skill sets that will be very advantageous to the district. Once again, he is on a administrative contract with the district. He will have some say within the custodial crew as well in this process. You will want to see him running around the district in many different capacities keeping up on our facilities. So, we're excited for Tony to come. How do you pronounce his last name? Coo. Coozart. Okay. That's as as my understanding. Tony will let me know if I'm wrong. He has yet to tell me his name. >> [laughter] >> Maybe I should
070ask. Yeah, exactly. It was bold. Okay. Got you. Yes. All right. Any other questions? Any questions? All right. All those in favor say I. I. All those say no. Motion passes. Item D, consideration to approve or disapprove the MAISD 26-27 budget. I'll make a motion to approve the MAISD 26-27 budget as presented for the record. Second. All right. Discussion. So, last week the ISD did hold their annual spring dinner meeting where the budget was presented. Thank you to Cindy and Amanda for being there, correct? And hearing. I apologize and hearing, yep, as well. Chase. Um and I unfortunately was unable to make that meeting, but they did present that. I see that this is a common practice that we do recently. Awesome. That's a different dinner. Yeah. This is the spring dinner, you know, but
071Yeah. Okay. That's a different You You went to this one? This is This is the one I apologize. No, that's all right. Good. We did it. I didn't I get fed at this one. Yes, you did not. So, you didn't like the dinner last week. I'm just kidding. No, no. Everything was good. It was very eye-opening. It was a good meeting to go to. So, yeah. Thank you. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All those opposed, say no. Motion carried. All right. Next is item E, uh superintendent evaluation. We're going to move into a closed session. So, do I have a motion? Uh-huh. I move to move to closed session for the purpose of conducting the superintendent evaluation. Second. Discussion. At this time, as we don't have any students here, I thought
072maybe at the end of the marking period we might have a couple students, but uh no signatures, but thank you everyone for coming. Uh we will be moving into a closed session and I thank you. You're welcome. Yes, yes, sir.