001on some of the items. That's because we've seen and discussed these items um at multiple times prior to the meeting, mainly uh at our study session and then again at our committee of the whole meetings. If you wish to hear more uh regarding these items, we ask that you go back and watch the committee of the whole meeting. There you will find much richer discussion and many questions. our committee. The whole meetings are recorded and they can be found on our website and via YouTube. One other item I would like to briefly mention is one of our community with character traits, respect. Our students learn, model, and follow this trait every day at school. Our board also follows and models this important trait here at the table. We do not always agree with one another
002and we have very differing opinions at times, but we treat each other with respect for our differences and in the way that we convey them to each other. You have our word that this board will treat everyone in this room with respect and we will ask that you do the same for us. Um we feel that that's the best way to do our business is by modeling uh good behavior. So thank you. um and that we've got a great agenda this evening. We've got some wonderful guests. So, uh this is one of our exciting uh events that we like at our regular meetings. Um we're going to go on to item three uh communications and item 3A is the recognition of National Merit Scholar Finalists. And Mrs. Jenkins, good evening. Good evening. Thank you. Good
003evening, President Bradford, members of the board, and Superintendent Oakquist. Tonight, it is my pleasure to recognize a special group of students who have excelled in the National Merit Scholarship Program. National Merit is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships and has been in existence since 1955. High school juniors take the PSAT National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Exam, which serves as an initial screening for program entrance. In the fall, more than 16,000 semi-finalists were designated, which is less than 1% of all high school seniors in the country. From there, the semi-final finalists competed uh completed a detailed scholarship application, which included an essay and information such as extracurricular activities and awards. To be considered for the finalist de designation, students must have an outstanding academic record, demonstrate leadership, have a qualifying SAT or ACT score, and be
004recommended by a high school official. Each of our three honores this evening are indeed national merit scholar scholarship finalists. So huge, huge feat. Um, this year we are recognizing three LPS students who have scored in the top 1% out of approximately 1.6 million students nationwide. I always enjoy this presentation each May because it not only highlights the students accomplishments on the test uh but this also is a chance for us to really be wowed uh by some truly amazing students and you'll see what I mean in just a little bit. Um, so students, as I call your name, um, will you please join me at the podium. Um, we're going to go alphabetically. And first up, we have Luke Condo. Each student will receive this certificate, which reads Leavonia Public Schools certificate of recognition. Here,
005let me read it. Um, outstanding achievement. Uh, National Merit Scholarship Program Finalist. Uh, selected Luke Condivos. uh selected by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation for Outstanding Academic Success on the Preliminary SAT, National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. It's dated today's date, May 19th, 2025, and signed by Superintendent Andrea Oakquist and board president Karen Bradford. So, this is a little souvenir to add to your collection, I'm sure, that you have. So, Luke, if you can just stay up here with me, I'm going to brag about you for a little bit. Okay. Um, okay. So, first we welcome Luke Condivo. Luke is a senior at Churchill High School, uh, graduating with a 4.5 grade point average. Luke is a student in the district's math, computers, and science program, and throughout his years at Churchill has been involved in
006many extracurricular activities, including National Honor, the National Honor Society, the National Math Honor Society, the National Science Honor Society, the National English Honor Society, the National Art Honor Society, the National French Honor Society, Rotary Interact Club, and the DN and D club, which I had to confirm does indeed stand for Dungeons and Dragons. Luke plans to attend Michigan State University and has career aspirations in the field of scientific research. He has earned the MSU Special Merit Award Scholarship. Luke says his favorite aspect of attending Leavonia Public Schools has been all of the opportunities through the district's gifted and talented programs throughout his school career. He said, quote, "Lps has been instrumental in the success of my academic career." Congratulations, Luke. And we would like to thank um your family for being here, including um Mrs.
007Condivo, Melissa. She is just happens to be a sixth grade teacher at Cooper Upper Elementary. So, thank you so much for taking time out of your busy May schedule to be here with us tonight. And congratulations once again. Next up, we have Rooney Kurab. I won't read through the whole certificate. It's the exact same with the change of name. So, there you go, Rooney. Um, Ron Krab is a uh Church Hill High School senior. Uh he finished his high school career with a 4.77 grade point average and is also enrolled in the district's math uh computers and science program at Churchill. He has re he has been involved in many activities through his years at Church Hill, including being a founding tutor in the ConnectMe tutoring program. Uh he he has been a uh lead
008strategist with the Leavonia Warriors robotics team serving uh he served as national honor society vice president, executive board member of the national English honor society and is a member of the national French honor society. He is also a member of the National Science Honor Society, the Rotary Rotary Interact Club, and he's involved as a mentor in Charger Connect. Uh Charger Connect connects freshman uh underassmen with upper classmen and in a mentoring program year-long. Um he's also a member of the Marinite, is that how we say that? Marinite youth organization uh where he holds a leadership role and he is president of the MOU alphatheta um organization and oh yes he is also a secondderee black belt in taekwondo. Wow. Uh Rooney plans to attend the University of Michigan and Arbor and uh major in computer
009engineering with a minor in entrepreneurship. His future, excuse me, his future career plans include making the world a better place through computer engineering and robotics. Not surprising, uh, Rooney has amassed several scholarships, including the U ofM Sydney J and Irene Shipman Scholarship, the Rudolph um, Hino I believe is how is that right? Okay. um people helping people scholarship, the national society of high school uh scholars Nobel Academic academic excellence scholarship. That was a lot of words there. The U ofM regions merit scholarship and he was the winner of the um NHSS uh be more grant for world um world benefit betterment, I'm sorry. And that's a that was a competition. Uh lastly, he was a finalist in the Georgia Tech uh two programs that Georgia Tech was offering um stamps presidential and the gold scholar
010award programs. When asked about uh his time in LPS, Rooney stated, "From the administration to the students and staff, LPS has always provided a welcoming and fostering community to learn in. My time in in AAT, MAT, and MSC has made me the person I am today. Congratulations, Rooney. And we'd like to thank Rooney's family also for being here tonight. Congratulations. And next up, we'd like to welcome Lauren Martin. Make that long trek up to the podium here, Lauren. There's your certificate. Thank you. Lauren is also a senior at Churchill High School and is wrapping up her high school career with a 4.77 gradepoint average. She has also enrolled in the math, computers, and science program at Churchill. She has been involved in several activities throughout her high school career, including serving as president of the
011National Honor Society, vice president of the National Science Honor Society, member of the National English Honor Society, MOU Alpha Theta member, and the National Art Honor Society. She also keeps Oh, I'm sorry. She also served as a senior class publicity officer on Student Council. Um, she is a Charger Connection mentor, is treasurer of the Rotary Interact Club, coordinator of the Leavonia Touch a Truck event through Rotary, and she serves as captain of the Leavonia United girls hockey team, as well as captain uh she served as captain of the Churchill color guard, and she also played on the Churchill varsity tennis team. Where did you find all this time? Wow. Um Lauren plans to attend the University of Michigan and major in electrical engineering. She is the recipient of the U of M regent merit scholarship,
012is a Renelier medalist, is an AP scholar with distinction, and was a nominee for the US presidential scholars program. Her future career plans include research in the fields of physics and engineering in order to innovate solutions to address major problems in the world. Lauren said, "Lps has given me great opportunities to show uh to grow as a student, a leader, and a citizen, and I would not be the person I am today without the support and encouragement I have received from LPS." Congratulations, Lauren. And thank you, Lauren's family, for being here as well. Okay. Yeah. Do we have any comments or questions from any members of the board? U Mrs. Burton. Um we are thrilled to have you here this evening. Um many of us have been serving for many years on this board and
013it's always a highlight um for for all the the hard work we get to do. It is a joy when May comes around and we get to celebrate so many cool things going on. uh as we are this evening, we have a number of them on our agenda, but we're absolutely wowed. Um and what impresses me beyond the academic achievement, which is huge, is the interpersonal relationships that you have demonstrated and those kinds of of activities, those are the ones that are going to carry you uh far far far in this world and help you take all the academics that that you've been gifted with and that you've worked so hard for and make them really really be beneficial in this world. So, thank you not only for for what you've academically achieved, but what
014a fabulous way you guys are already putting it to great use, and we're really excited to see where you go from here. Thank you, Mrs. Burton. Mrs. Oakquist, thank you so much, President Bradford. Well, it's wonderful seeing you all again. We loved seeing you on honors night. um be honored in many different ways and to hear about your accomplishments and how you've contributed to the Churchill community um and really taken advantage of the opportunities that you've had um throughout your schooling. And I really want to echo what um what Mrs. Burton said because one of the things that struck me is I believe at least two of you are part of the Churchill Interact Club which is connected to Rotary. Um, and then all of you, I believe, have been part of one or more
015national honor societies. And we know that an important pillar of that is service. Service to others, service to your community. And the fact that you have chosen that to be a place where you've given of your time in addition to all of your academic coursework in other areas where you've been involved in your school. That sense of beginning to give back to your community at your age really sets the foundation for who you are as a person. Um, and that speaks to what's important to you at your core. And I'm certain that has something to do with the wonderful people sitting around you as well um, in your families. So, congratulations to each of you. Make sure you pop back in and um, and let us know how you're doing because we're excited to watch
016um, your stars rise. Thank you, Mrs. Oak. Uh, Mr. Johnson. Thank you, President Bradford. Um, yeah, I had the opportunity of being at your honors night and I was just blown away by uh, you know, your accomplishments. Um, and you're looking at your grade point averages. I couldn't add up my all my high school years to get to those. U, so it is it's so impressive. Um, and I look at what each of you have a goal and where you're going and you're so smart and you know, I think Mrs. Jen said, "When do you ever sleep?" Uh because you're you're doing so much. One piece of advice I would give you as as driven as you are, stop and smell the roses along the way. Yeah. And enjoy. Um you got your whole life
017in front of you. You guys are going to do great things and we're so proud of you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Anybody else? Uh Mrs. Jarvis, thank you. It sounds kind of redundant to to say congratulations, but I'm going to say it again. Congratulations. You guys are amazing. I know you've worked really hard for this. Um, sometimes it seems that you, like Mr. Johnson said, you you need to take a break. You do a lot and I think that all three of you are go-getters. Um, it may be daunting when you go to college here up at university and you don't have that same opportunity. Um, but you are the type of people who will create your own path and that's a great thing. Um, I hope that LPS serves you well in
018that and that you come back and tell us where that path has taken you. Um, because you guys are going to be amazing. You're going to do some wonderful stuff. Thank you for representing our district. Well, I'm thanking you in advance. So, congratulations. Thank you, Mrs. Jarvis. Um, on behalf of the board, congratulations. And and remember to thank your parents. I see the they're beaming pride behind you and they ought to be beaming with pride. So, so congratulations to the parents too for all the hard work that you put in uh to getting your students where they're at today and and I echo all the sentiments. You guys, congratulations and and just keep working hard. Keep working hard. So, thank you. Can we do one more round? Yes. I should mention a couple of them
019have to scoot off to the robotics uh and year end celebration. Great. Um so don't feel feel free if you have to exit the building. We are going to take a break. You're going to come back though, right? And finish the meeting. We have some exciting agenda items. Um we're going to take a break after C, I believe. Yes. All right. after district update, but feel free if you do need to leave, uh, go right ahead. We won't be offended. You're welcome. Thank you for taking the time. Sure. Have a good one. Thanks, guys. Okay. And we are going to go ahead and move on to item 3B. A great point of pride. One of my favorite points of pride. The power of the unified. Oh, we love it. We love it. Okay. and and
020Mrs. Jenkins, you're gonna start us off and I think we're going to hear from some really great students. I am so excited. I wish the audience at home could see Oh, the shot is showing that the empty the part of the audience that just How about if we fill it in? Can some Yeah, come on over, guys. Can some people The other side of the room is packed. Come on over. All right. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, President Bradford. Um, I think the name of this agenda item, the power of unified, really says it all. Um, I'm excited to introduce our awesome student services director, Megan Sprout, and her team of staff and students who are going to bring this topic to life for us tonight. As a district, we are so
021proud to offer so many opportunities for general education students to work and have have fun alongside their peers who have special needs. from playing a season of unified basketball or any number of other um unified activities to building personal relationships through intentional planned activities and clubs. We can't wait to hear all of the great things that are putting the word power in our unified programs. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Mrs. Sprout. Hello. Well, look at this crowded house. This is fantastic. Good evening. Um, as I was getting started here this evening, I walked around with some of our um, peers and our students and our staff and what and our families. What an incredible crowd we have that have joined us tonight. And I know that you are going to be thrilled
022with what they're sharing with each of you about the wonderful things happening with unified sports and with peer-to-peer programs here in our district. So, just to give you a little context, back in 1975, um, we were charged with providing students with disabilities with a free and appropriate public education in their least restrictive environment. So, we've been doing this for 50 years now. This is nothing new according to 50 years. However, I think what has changed is we're not just talking about an educational classroom. We're talking about a community. We're talking about a belief that all students belong, that all students are included, and that all students are part of the culture and climate of their individual schools and their district. So, like I said, a school is more than a classroom. And your high school
023experience, your middle school experience is more than just what you learn from 8 until 3. So, we're going to hear so much about that. We were fortunate enough here in Leavonia um a couple of months ago to have the Michigan Department of Education come into our district to see the great work that we're doing with providing um students with an education. Um they came here and they were blown away by the wonderful programs that we have. They visited visited and spoke with our staff, our special education staff and general education staff at both Roosevelt and Frost. And we have some Frost friends here today that spoke with them. In fact, they were so impressed with the initiatives that we have here that our team received a least restrictive environment token that um acknowledged the wonderful
024work that's happening here in Leavonia. And that didn't come along across lightly. Um few districts received that, but we are so proud that Frost received that for Leavonia. So, um, one of the things that, um, MDE was looking for was some qualitative measures of what providing an, uh, education in a student's least restrictive environment looks like. And I can't think of better examples than our peer-to-peer programs and our unified sports. So, you're going to hear a whole lot about that. And that's a whole lot more exciting than listening to me. So, if we can get that PowerPoint on the screen, awesome. Um, another thing that we were doing this year is, as many of you know, um, April is autism awareness month, but we decided that, um, we wanted to do more than just acknowledge
025individuals with autism. We wanted to help acknowledge all of our students that have unique challenges with their learning. So, we're going to show you a couple videos that are um, spliced in throughout this presentation that just highlights some of the very unique talents that many of our students have. So if we can go to the next [Music] slide. My name is Alex. I have autism and it never stops me from doing everything. Plus, plus it makes me think differently than most people. [Music] We're all different, which is great because that means we're all unique. Without diversity, you like to be very [Music] I'm good at talking to others. I'm good at what? So, you're good at saying cheese. What else? Dancing. I can do a job, isn't it? I'm a genius. [Music] A part of
026kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve. [Music] So that kind of sets the stage a little bit for you with some of the very unique talented students that we have here in Leavonia. We were thrilled um last month we have an aspiring administrator program where um individuals who work in our district who'd like to be administrators come together monthly to learn the ins and outs of that role. So, for our special education edition of that um academy, we took our show on the road and we went to a unified game. And for all of our aspiring administrators to see our student athletes working together um and learning together, it was fantastic. And what I said to them at the end of our presentation was regardless of what they learned from hearing about special
027education and the indicators and blah blah blah blah blah, it doesn't really matter. What really matters is that unified game and seeing the joy and excitement of all of our students working together. So, we're going to show you a little video. And these are some uh cross town rivals here. We were we played against Northville High Northville um Hillside Middle School. There you go. Uh against the Frost Falcons and it was an incredible game. Um lots of smiles, lots of good times and Risa helped us put together a video that just shows a little bit more about that experience. So take a look at this video here. [Music] I have been involved with unified basketball since I was in high school. I was an alumni of Northville High School and I was one of the
028first members of the high school's unified basketball team. When I was a student, it was a place where I felt welcomed and belonged. So, being able to recreate it as a coach is just fantastic. And getting to provide that experience with my students and their families is awesome. Unified is a couple of things. Uh it is a a combination of you know various forms of student engagement with uh you know students with disabilities and those without. So it's kind of a way to um to just give them a more uh typical school experience when we're able to offer opportunities whether it's in theater whether it's in sports uh inside the classroom and outside the classroom. every child, every child should have those opportunities. And unified athletics has been a tremendous way to see that happening
029and come to life at all levels throughout our school district. As a a principal is probably one of my the favorite things that I see and that we do. um as a dad, as a as a father of a student with a disability, to see my daughter have experiences that I didn't think she was going to have to play basketball in front of her peers, uh and the roar of the crowd when you know she makes a basket and those kind of things. I think sometimes if you don't have a student with a disability, you kind of take those things for granted that any kid can do that and a lot of them can't. As a parent of a child with special needs, having an opportunity that the GenEd students have like this to get
030some exercise and learn teamwork and team sports and just having that camaraderie with the students means everything to us. You know, it can be kind of isolating sometimes when you have a child that has special needs. So, this is just embraces them and brings them right into the community. And you can see the smiles on their faces and they love it. They love it. Our son loves it. One of the very universal human traits I believe is a joy of play and a joy of competition. And that is no different depending on uh if you have an IEP or not. Unified is is a natural fit into that concept of least restrictive environment. Uh you want a student with an IEP, a student with a disability to have the most, you know, normal typical student
031experience that they can. as a parent of a child with a disability, I think it's a really great benefit for her. Uh, but it's also a really great benefit for all of our other students who serve as peer links and peer mentors. They realize that other kids have different struggles and they're compelled to to help and assist and put their needs secondary to somebody else. These programs give our kids an opportunity to learn all kinds of skills, gross motor skills, teamwork skills, and you can see the progression year after year. They may not have a concept of dribbling or going just back and forth up and down the floor. The things that um people take for granted and they know they're learning. You can see it on their faces when they you know maybe they
032couldn't even get a a shot through the hoop and now they can and it they're on the top of the world and we are too as parents to see that growth. I mean that's all we just want for our kids what everybody wants for their kids is to grow and be the best version of themselves that they can be. I think one of the core foundations of our country is a free and compulsory highquality public education that anyone can access. And if you need a physical manifestation of it or if you want to see it in action of of what that means to people like me, go to a unifi game and ask yourself if we didn't have public schools with the ability and resources to an organization to do all this, would they have
033that opportunity? I think I'm just grateful to work in a district in a county where unified is so important. It just lifts your spirit when you come to a unified basketball game. No matter who wins, everyone leaves excited and happy and feeling welcomed and that's the most important [Music] part. It's the best, right? So, that's a little highlight of what a unified game looks like. and it is truly the best to see all of our students working together. So, we're going to talk a little bit more about unified sports and also about peer-to-peer opportunities that are very intentionally created in our secondary schools and then we're just going to give you a little sneak peek about some of the things that happen in elementary. But our focus today is really on secondary. So, with that
034being said, we're going to turn it over to Frost Middle School with our fantastic students and staff to share more about their opportunities. [Applause] I'm just quicker than they are. Good evening. Uh thank you for having us here tonight at the board, members of the board and um Superintendent Oquest. Uh this is and I'm going to try not to get the vapors because the work that we have done with our peer connections program, our peer links program and inclusion sports is is un is unbelievable. It has changed the entire culture, climate and complexion of frost. Frost would not be what it is today without the programs that we have put into place for all students. And when we say all, we mean all. So without further ado, it's not me. It's this awesome team behind
035me that does the heavy lifting. So, Ean Stevens is our unified coach. Sherry Brown is our team lead who oversees everything special education at Frost. And I mean everything special education at Frost. Miss Labowski is also in charge of Unified. She runs our peer connections class. She runs our unified club and she does our peer link. So, we could not do that without her. and Brian Jensen is the assistant principal that has to, you know, follow around the crazy principal and make all this stuff happen. So, we uh I'm so happy to be here with them and to honor them. And we have some amazing peers and students to introduce you to tonight. So, I'm going to turn it over to Miss Brown. There was a few um points. There we go. Peer connections and
036peer link elective. I'm not going to talk a lot about them because we have a really cool student voice video that you're going to hear next before you hear from our amazing students and family. But I want to talk just a little bit just to give you a background. Peer connections elective was actually an elective when Tony was principal. It goes way back about 10 years. And this is one of our inclusive classrooms. Um peer connections is an elective that our gened students can take and it's a year-long elective and they they push into all of our centerbased classes every day. Well, except for one. They have a planning day that they work with Miss Labowski planning the activities. And in that uh peer connections class, they go to the library together. They go to
037the gym together. They might do an academic task together. They might um they go to our school store. We're a PBS school, so they go shopping together. They they teach them how to spend their money and save their money. Maybe they put something in layaway. So, they're working for the whole year. And at the end of that year, the relationships that they build are invaluable. You just can't measure it. We used to do we we've grown this program over the years and we used to do like maybe a semester and then they switch but we've found that that whole year relationship is invaluable. Um next up that you'll hear about in our video is peer link. This is a new one Shannon we like had this summer idea. We're like let's do peer link. How
038else can we incorporate an inclusive classroom? So now all of the special ed electives we have uh gened peers linking into them. So whether it's art, whether it's gym, whether it's a music class or a shop class, every student has GenEd peers in all of their classes. So it's pretty incredible. And this one has taken off. And I'll just give a little story because all of the GenEd teachers, they want these, they want students in there. And so um our our students with autism, they have an art class now. And so their gened peers together, they created a monster and they wrote a story about it. And then our our foods teacher, she wanted she's like, I want to be a part of this. So, she has a sewing club after school. So, her sewing
039club, GenEd students, created the monsters to life by sewing them. One student was like, "I was up to midnight making these." So, they're pretty incredible. If you take a look at our website, Shannon posted them. Um, I'm going to hand it over to Mr. Stevens to talk a little bit about our unified basketball before we show the video. Good evening. Good evening. Um, our unified basketball program has done amazing things over the past few years. We have grown the program where this year we had 36 players on our team. Um that included eight peer um athletes. So our um unified athlete partner athletes who did an amazing job. Um I'm super proud that I can see a lot of these go to Churchill and continue being partner athletes um and just working hard with our
040students. We have inclusion unified on all of our jerseys, on our t-shirts. And it's easy to have a buzzword, but this really is the life of Frost. If you walk the hallways, you'll see it. You'll see the high fives. You'll see the friendships that have been made through unified basketball and our peer programs. It's truly an amazing thing. Um I don't want to speak too long because we have some amazing players that are going to tell you much more about the basketball program. Um but for me personally, it's a point of pride. Um I've coached at different levels throughout the district. Um and this is definitely the most proud that I've been and the most fun that I've had coaching basketball and it comes down to these amazing athletes I get to spend every day
041with. So again, you'll see a lot more in the video about our program and you'll hear from some of our amazing players. But thank you for your time. [Music] A peer link is an individual who takes their time, effort, and energy into into helping students in need. The role of a peer connection student is to like be their friend and include them in um everything. We read with them in the library and we plan and help them do crafts. A peer link is someone who includes everyone and likes to help out with the kids that need extra work. I signed up for peer connections because I like helping the ASD students in the class. I signed up for peer connections because I have multiple people that in my family that are on the autism spectrum.
042It's also my dream career to work with people in special ed. I signed up for peers because I wanted to be able to connect with the peers. I signed up for Peer Link because I want to make new friends and new opportunities. I signed up to Peer Link because it's a great opportunity to make new friends. I signed up for Peer Link because I wanted to help other students who needed more help than others. [Music] I signed up for unified basketball because I thought that it would be a really good opportunity for the kids. I also uh support my brother in unified basketball cuz he has autism. So, I just wanted to support the community and the society around school because because I was good at basketball and and I had good teammates. I joined
043unified basketball because I'm in Pure Connections and I really like Pure Connections and I also like basketball a lot. I love our team. Basketball is one of my favorite sports and I get to make a lot of new friends while playing. So, in peer connections, I learned to be patient with myself and with others. And I have a new perspective on people. In peer connections, I've learned how to make connections in from friends with people I wouldn't usually know without peer connections and also how to work with a group more effectively and how to treat different situations that I wouldn't usually be confronted with. What I've learned about myself in peer connections is from the outside perspective, I used to think that we were different and because the way we talk and the way we
044act, but once I get to know them that we're all similar and we're all just human. Peer connections has made me be more aware of disabilities and more inclusive. [Music] What inclusion means to me is everyone is able to feel belonging and never felt left out or alone. Inclusion to me is bringing everybody together no matter the difference. [Music] All right, now the real fun. We get to bring up our peer athletes, Troy, Eric, Reagan, Graham, and Adrien. Come on, Reagan. You're gonna Reagan's gonna go first. She has some pictures to talk to you about. I had fun with the team. I play against all the teams that Wait, let's start. Let's start over. Let's go slow. Ready? I I like playing basketball. Anna on the road. I like playing north. Is it hillside middle
045school? Yep. Hillside and Novibe. Good job, Avery. Uh, I play we when the peers peers come and we go to the gym and make crafts and basketball. We was so much fun. Nice job. Ready. Hi. Hi. My name is I like basketball. I swore like Yes. Basketball. I play with my friend. Play practice. I play games play. My family comes to watch Iowa's unifies. I love unifies. And this is we we we do we do author's chair. This is our writing that we um celebrate every week. And he picks this one every week to to share in front of his friends. So he knows this one well. Good job. Thank you, Adrian. Next up is Troy. Troy's one of our partner athletes. I am Troy Gink and I have helped with the unified basketball for
046the last two years and it has been a memorable experience due to making so many new friends playing sports and making a difference in their lives. During Unifi, it has taught me to have more patience and acceptance for others. And this is why I like to help with Unifi and thank you for all your support. I wanted to mention Troy's mom is also a teacher in the district and she's here. Eric Maine also is up next is a peer and he's in peer connections and he's a peer athlete. Good evening. I'm a peer athlete and I uh also take peer connections. It's a lot of fun to me. It means a lot. I've built so many different connections with the students. I don't They're my friends. I wouldn't not do anything for them. They're the
047best. [Applause] I had a few brave parents that were willing to say a few words. If you're still willing and want to come up, come on up. [Applause] Uh hello. Hi. Uh thank you for your time this evening. Uh my name is Adam Lef Fever. Uh my wife and I and family have lived in Leavonia for a little over 12 years now. Um actually my son is Adrian who just spoke to you all. Um I can't say enough just amazing things about the unified program. Uh going to the unified basketball games, it's you could have the worst day and you walk in there and everybody is so positive and so kind and genuine. Um from the the peers that volunteer their time to like work with kids like my son. Um it's it's hard even
048now to kind of hold back tears. Um it's just so amazing and I'm so proud to be a part of this school district. uh and my family can you know definitely um get along with that sentiment but it it's I just can't say you know enough about how amazing it is and when the current climate is a lot of negativity and being divisive. It's just so amazing to see the opposite being practiced and it's just so good for the soul and just thank you everyone for um allowing that to be a part of this school district. Thank you. Next up is Heidi Maine. She's a teacher at Cook School in Northville and Eric Maine was her her son. Hi. Um, I'm gonna try to do this without crying and I am a terrible public speaker,
049but I'm going to do the best I can here. Um there is a lot that I could say. Um Eric gave me very strict parameters of what I was allowed to actually talk about. So I'm gonna um honor her request. But um when he says that um the kids who are receiving special ed services who are participating in unified sports are his friends, he is not lying. um he has come home and talked about how he's going to miss the students who are not going to Church Hill, who are going to FTP. Um it is the one hour a day I know when he's in that class that he is good. He is having fun. Um any anxiety that I might have about his school day is non-existent. And watching him play basketball, Eric's very
050competitive, um to put it mildly. and to watch him play unified basketball and he is just having fun and he is at ease and he is just confident. Um it's really I think easy to see the benefits for the kids who are receiving special ed services who are participating but it is equally as beneficial to our students who are not in special ed. And lastly, Mr. Janos Reagan's dad. Hey, good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Um, I I don't have any prepared remarks, unfortunately. But I I do want to say thank you to all of the peer buddies. Uh, you don't know how much that means to my little girl to come home every day with that that big smile on her face right there. And you know, having
051a neurotypical son who played hockey, you know, I coached coming up and the amount of time and involvement at ranks and everything else to not know if my daughter would ever get that opportunity to to have her be part of something special and part of a team is is so much and and to the staff, the coaches, I thank you. It means so much and you know, it's just a beautiful thing. So, thank you, please. Thank you. All right. So, I'm going to close us out, but I would like to recognize um some other Frost staff. Frost is a family. We're a big family. Um and we're all in for each other. So, Shelley Ravenette, our secretary, is here. Kimberly Kazy, our unbelievable multi-teer, is here. Mary Butler is sitting next to Miss Robinette. She
052lives in our local center, but it uh it definitely takes a village. That's what we are at Frost. So, thank you again for your time this evening. Oh, thank you. Oh my goodness. I don't know how we all need a box of Kleenex up here. Oh, we're not done. Oh, good. There's some more. Great. Well, keep the clears flowing. Yeah. So, we're gonna move on to talk a little bit about Churchill. uh athletics and what's going on at Church Hill with pure programs, too. [Applause] Hello, my name is Kristen Spencer. I'm a one of the teachers at Church Hill Center and also the coach of the unified botchi ball team. We're currently having a great season. Um it is it is such an inclusive community at Church Hill High School. I know you know that
053mystery too. Uh when we started this program in 2018, we started with just basketball. Our program is so large. I've only bought brought a few of our players and partners here today. Um we have three sports, a club, and a spirit squad to get us through the day. So, with that, I'm going to let the students tell you more about their experiences. Wonderful. All right. Ready? I'm ready. Hi, I'm Jake from Churchill. I I'm on the I'm on the Unifi basketball, botchi, and soccer team. And what I really like about Unifi is that we get that that we include that we include everyone and we get to play with our friends. [Applause] Thank you. My name is Connor Carla and I'm a senior of Churchill High School. Over the past four years, I've been playing
054unified sports at Churchill for a long time. I've been playing basketball, botchi ball, and soccer for a few days ago, but now the time has come for our unified players to give a special congratulations to all. At this time, I would now ask that we will be asking you that all unified players will be graduating. But all but all that we we've been a good sportsmanship after all. Mhm. And it's because of that we believe that unified is part of their teammate and we'd like to give a special thank you to everyone who participates good sportsmanship. Okay. Uh, first and foremost, I'd like to thank all of you for your time and for us to be able to present in front of you all today. My name is Zach Algy. I am a senior at
055Churchill and I have been a unified partner for the last two years participating in basketball, soccer, and botchi. And just to sum up why unified is so important, keep it nice and concise. It brings in students from GenEd, ASD, and the center program and puts them in a place where they all can show their true personality outside of a classroom and thrive. And you build so much more friendships that way. And you see everybody thriving, making friends, and competing. And it is truly beautiful. [Applause] Good evening. Good evening. My name is Evan Keaton. Uh I'm a junior. So I want to tell you about some sports. I play unified soccer, basketball, volatify club. I like to hang out with my friends. Uh, so I used to do Unifi Club uh um because uh we do
056San Francisco and and and then Unified Halloween Party as well. Yeah. [Applause] Um, hi, I'm Satie. Um, I'm a part of all the unified sports and a part of unified club and I'm in peer connections. Um, unified really just it gives me a reason to want to come to school. I love coming to school to see all of my friends and I spend most of my time in peer connections if we're being honest. Um, just I just love being down there and it's something I hope to pursue in the future. [Applause] Okay, I'm back. Um, through Beer Connections, we have a ton of different uh, activities, opportunities. Um, we do chill zone. I love chillzone. Um, we have open gym, which is great. Uh, lunch with peers and pop-up parties. Oh, pop-up parties are so
057much fun. They're fun to play in and they're fun to participate in. All right, I guess I am back now. So, throughout the year, we have had stuff such as the musical. We have unified club meetings once a month, sometimes more if we're planning something more special like being here, planning for the musical, or any parties we're setting up like our silent disco and our Halloween party. I believe it was uh I heard there's a shark at the silent disco. I don't know who that was. Apparently there's a shark. Uh we have PBIS parties once every month which students can save up their points for and we hang out two hours, watch a movie and we have a good time. And finally, we have some field trips. Like last year, I believe we went to
058LCA and got to tour. Nice. And I think the the most impressive thing about peer connections coming up through Frost, we have gotten so many peers that are just so excited to join right away when they become freshmen. Um, and it's it's grown uh incredibly through the years. But the connections to the the future of our peers, they become staff members here at LPS even. So here's a just a couple examples. We have a pair professional, a special education teacher, and a caregiver to our students here um in our programs that have just come through peer connections. So, pretty amazing. Anyway, thank you for your time. Okay. And then our final contribution tonight, we have Franklin High School. Franklin transition program is going to be sharing. Unfortunately, there's also a physics field trip today to
059Cedar Point, so a couple of our peers couldn't make it to join, but we have some of our wonderful unified athletes here to share. [Applause] Hi, my name is Kate Lipsky. I'm um a teacher at Franklin transition program and the unified basketball coach um and the unified botchi coach and I have to say it has been one of the best opportunities of my entire career being able to have this chance. Um I have with me two of my um players. They are seniors so they came to talk to you guys today and tell you a little bit about what they enjoy. I thought maybe we could do a little question and answer. So you want to start off and tell them your name? Yeah. talk. Tell me your name. My name's Dale. Hi Dale. Hello.
060My name is senior. Hi Michaela. Hi. McKenna. Oh, McKenna. Hi, McKenna. All right. So now I'm gonna say, what is your favorite thing about Dale played on the unified basketball team and McKenna plays on the unified basketball team and the unified botchi team. So Dale, what is your favorite thing about basketball? Unified basketball. Okay. My favorite thing is is to score points. Okay. Right. Yeah. I know ball and you're the woman and you help my friends a lot and a great time together. You help your friends a lot and you have a great time together. Yes. That's great. Okay. And can you tell us Dale? Can you tell everybody what you're wearing right now? Okay. Your what? Your what is it called? Yes. So after um students participate in unified basketball, they can get a
061a varsity earn a varsity coat. So this is Dale's varsity jacket and he's very very proud of it. Um and it's kind of a really great experience because we're a varsity sport too. So I think that gives our students such a great opportunity. Is there anything else you would like to share about unified basketball? What about the partners? What do you like to do with Owen and Natalie and some of our other partners that help you play basketball? Okay. So, Hu say hi have been great partners today and they helped me a lot. Yes. What do you like? What do you like to do with your partners? Do you like to pass the ball? Because a ball and my friends and a suit and and a net and it did so well. Yeah. Do they
062say hi to you in the hallway? Yeah. Hiding down my hallway. Yeah. So cold friends there and so the great times have great time together. [Applause] Okay. And as you can see, Franklin has been a um part of Special Olympics Unified since 2018. So, they're the OGs. If we go on to the next slide, uh we have just a quick little video right after. We have um a quick video after this slide that shows our peers that weren't able to be here today just talking about their experience. Hi, my name is Natalie and I'm a junior at Franklin. Hi, I'm Owen. I'm also a junior at Franklin. Unfortunately, we couldn't be here in person today because we're on a Cedar Point field trip for physics. But we'll never give up an opportunity to talk about
063Unified. So, I'm going to read off the speech that we wrote together for the meeting today. We're excited to share experience with you today, which has been deeply meaningful. Unified is something we learned about this year that opened the door for a new way to get involved in our school community. I chose to participate as a unified cheer partner where I had the opportunity to teach to teach and practice simple cheers with our cheer team leading up to performances during halftime. Owen was a basketball partner, so he taught simple basketball skills to the players and got to play alongside them during games. Our roles quickly became one of the most rewarding experiences of our time in high school so far. Being part of Unified has made a lasting impact, not just on us, but on
064all of our peers that participate. We take great pride in working with students who show up every day with enthusiasm, positivity, and school spirit. They truly embody what it means to be a Franklin Patriot. We're incredibly grateful to be part of a program that celebrates inclusion, teamwork, and joy. And we look forward to seeing how Unified continues to grow in the years ahead. Go Patriots. Nice. So, just in summary, we're going to stop with our uh secondary teams today that we've shared a little bit of information about. Um, you know, this board, I am so grateful that we work in a district and we support students in this district where we believe that all means all. All of our students are included. All of our students are valuable to our community and we want to
065make sure we have great opportunities for everyone that we serve. um you had the opportunity this year to go and visit many of our schools that had gone through renovations and to hear from teams and that's so impactful I think to be able to for you to see the policies and procedures that you put in place and to see that in action and I'm so proud to be able to showcase all of these amazing folks here tonight and uh what a great turnout and I'm so thankful. Oh my goodness. Okay, I'm sure that we have some comments uh along this board table here. That was so wonderful. I It just warms my heart and I want to thank everybody for for parents for bringing your students in and all who work with our students every
066single day. Um it just it just makes a huge difference and you're making a difference and it it's just very heartwarming. So, uh, who would like to speak? Uh, Mr. McFarland. Yes. So, thank you all first off. Secondly, I could talk for far too long about everything I just loved about that presentation. Amazing. Uh, secondly, I don't know that I ever expected to get misty at a board meeting, but thank you for that. That was so powerful. And then lastly, I know from my personal experience, so many of the soft skills that I use every day at work and in life were learned from athletics. So seeing all students have that opportunity and to be able to work together with kids who may not have the same uh skill sets and abilities and find that
067teamwork uh is just so powerful and I'm so proud of all of you for participating and staff and and parents especially, but just fantastic. Thank you guys so much for this tonight. This was awesome. Anybody u Mrs. Jarvis? Well, I'm just going to echo what Mr. McFarland said. Thank you for coming tonight. Um, but I'd also like to recognize that when we have our unified program that there's two teams involved. There's the teams that are on the field and then there are teams that are behind them offering support. And I just want to commend both teams. Um, when we play together, we learn together and we grow together. That's so evident. And I just want to remind you that when next year's schedule is out, please share it with us so that we can come
068and support you during those games. Yes. All right. Anybody else? Uh, Mrs. Burton. Um, I'm just again I'm one of the several missy eyed people in the room. Um, I am so excited uh to see the the the teamwork and the friendships that have been built here. And the thing that just kept going through my head over and over and over is that first off what a fabulous experience this is for all of our students. All of them. And as several have mentioned, the adults that benefit from from being the support staff, whe whether that's staff in our district or whether that's parents in our in our room tonight, um we all benefit from something that's that is this heartwarming and and that's this good for kids, which is what we all need to have
069as our top priority every day is what's good for kids. This is one of those things right at the top of the list. Um, the second thing that just kept going through my head over and over is in a country that is so divided right now, I wish every single person could come and be in this room and witness what inclusion really looks like. Congratulations, people. You do it really well. Mrs. Oakquist, thank you so much. President Bradford, Mrs. Sprout, thank you so much for bringing this gift to us tonight. I don't uh think I can remember a points of pride presentation that has moved us more. Um and I want to say that this starts with people who care deeply about other people. And when I see our staff who are in this room,
070I know that at your core, this is what you believe. and to hear from our parent partners, some of our parent partners who were here. Thank you for coming up and sharing your perspective. Um, as a mom, there's nothing more important to me than my children. Um, and and I know every parent feels that way. and the fact that together we have a group of people that care so deeply to build these kind of opportunities whether it's peer link or peer connection or um unified botchi or unified cheer or basketball um there are so many hearts and hands that made this happen and that includes our our unified athletes, our peers that partner with them. Um, I am so proud to be part of a district um that this is at our core and at
071our foundation who we are. Um, and I can tell you that inclusion reigns strong in Leavonia public schools and it will always continue to do so. We are so proud of you, [Applause] Mr. Johnson. Thank you, President Bradford. Um, this is an area that really hits home with me. As Heidi is well aware, I have a special needs son. Uh, unfortunately, he's not uh capable of doing this. But, um, it just, uh, sometimes we hear, and I think every generation has the same thing that our young people, uh, you know, we're not quite sure about them. I know my parents wondered about me. Uh but when I look at our our peer group, um it gives you a lot of hope that you guys uh see what's out there, become involved, and are willing to
072partner with um our kids. Um I think that's the real uh the real point here is that as Mrs. Burton said it's the inclusion um that you are willing to step up become partners uh with these students um and it's not just the sports uh that's just one vehicle um it's the overall attitude that you have um and the f exactly the friendships that that you create um these are things that are going to be with you for the rest of your lives um it's just wonderful to see and we really really appreciate it and thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, wow. We're I don't know how we beat that, but Mrs. Oakquist, you're going to go on to do the district update from our superintendent. I don't know. These guys are a hard
073act to follow. I'm not sure. Um but after this, uh we are going to take a break. Yeah. And we'd love to get a great group photo. So, I'll only take a few minutes for the district update. Are you guys up for that? Stick around for a few more minutes. Okay, just a few more minutes. She's going to wow us with the district. Oh, goodness gracious. All right, here we go. Well, we're going to start off as we always do with sharing a little bit about some learning and growing. So, it should be on all of the screens in the room. Here we have some of our uh eighth grade scientists, and I believe some of the members of our foundation and our board were able to be there to see this as well. Um
074the dissection of owl pellets. I don't know how many of you remember that from your um days in school. Um, but it was great to have those dissection kits which are really an extra um provided by our LPS education foundation. Um, who was a they were able to provide a really unique experience. Um, at homes I know they dissected owl pellets at Frost. They dissected squid. Is that right? And and owl pellets. Squid and owl pellets both. Um, so some great pictures here of our students um, appreciating what the LPS Education Foundation was able to provide. We'll move on. Really, really cool day. There was a family um parent cooking event um at Garfield Community School. So, families came in and worked with their students um for and made some delicious uh homemade meals, meatballs
075and potatoes and green beans. Doesn't that sound good? Yeah, it does. That sounds good. I'm I'm ready for dinner. Um, and the the students really love showing off their skills and the things that they've learned over the course of the year and to be able to do that with their families. So, thank you to each of um our parents and family members who were able to come in and join us in Miss Liz's culinary class for that experience at Garfield Community School. Uh, a number of us were just loved having a chance to celebrate Earth Day over at Hayes. Uh, Mrs. Lados, Mrs. Broom and their team and all of the green ambassadors um so many of our students um and our haze huskys who are really committed to the environment and so they had
076a great planting day. They were able to um use their new raised beds um in the Hayes pollinator garden and those beds were built by members of the scout troops um from hayes. And so we're really uh excited to see um what grows there over the next few months. And you may you may recognize this spot. Um it's on the property of Greenme and thanks to the Leavonia Historical Society as well as um I believe the Leavonia Foundation as well. Is that correct? The community foundation. Yes. Yes. um provide support for the field trip for for the buses and for some of the costs that go along with all of the second grade students in LPS had a chance to spend a day learning the oldfashioned way. So bringing lunch in their lunch pales um
077no thermoses, no um no Gatorade bottles um but really did things the oldfashioned way. they were encouraged to dress um in character and then they um learned with their teacher uh their their their teacher momm um at the front of the classroom. So a great experience. Each of our students have had that experience across all of our second grade classes in Leavonia. So thank you especially to the Leavonia Historical Society for helping provide the funding for this experience. We had here we had a phenomenal turnout for the summer literacy and learning open house. um over 50 of our Emerson Eagle families attended. Um so it was really to emphasize the need for continued learning and reading and and participating um in those activities during the summer so that we avoid learning loss. Um they were
078able to shop a book fair. They were able to get information from our local libraries and had some great prizes. So we were thrilled with the turnout. I'm certain that Mrs. Maguire um the media specialist at Emerson was a big part of helping create that as well. So congratulations um to all the families who were able to come out. We had our first Young Fives field trip. So you know our with with our full day classes. So this year was the first year that Young Fives went to a full day program. It's previously been a half-day program and we have 133 little ones um who are in Young Fives this year. We already have 150 registered for next year. Yeah. Um, and so all six of the Young Five classes came from across the district
079and they were able to play at the Ben Chelani playground at Bsentennial Park. Um, and then of course, what's better than a firet truck arriving? Is there anything better? Um, so they got to uh visit the fire truck and the rescue unit and our kiddos did a great job together. So, thank you to the teachers and to the pair of professionals who helped make that happen for our kiddos. And speaking of unified champions, we had some great young athletes from Randolph and Roosevelt. Um they had a blast. They had a play date together for um unified champion schools. Um and so they got to meet earlier this year over at Franklin when there was a big event out on the field. Um lots of our schools participating in that. So they were able to come
080together a short time ago. um and they were able to bring um students from our ASD program and our multi-age resource program to come together for a young athletes day. So um it was it's really the first level of Special Olympics as you know um our district participates in that and Franklin has been an amazing host for many years. So great to see our kiddos um from Randolph and Roosevelt together. And I know many of us were also able to participate in Arbor Day. So, um, the city chooses the Green Leaf Commission and the city of Leavonia is always very generous in selecting an LPS school that hosts Arbor Day. Um, so our little ones at ECC were the host. They put on a great program. Um, and they were able to give us some
081special performances and then they helped plant trees and put down some wood chips. There are three new trees along Newberg Road. if you passed by the ones that are on the boulevard, those are planted by the Green Leaf Commission. And then all of us left with a seedling that we could plant ourselves. Um we had Webster's mini Martian marathon. Um so they do a great run each year that's held in Dearbornne. Um we're excited about how many of our Webster Wildcats were there as you can see. Um a huge crowd. So and they had a great day to do that. a few of you were able to attend um at the band stand. So, we have a theater class at Emerson um and they put on this production and they were able to utilize the
082Franklin PAC, which is always really cool for the middle schoolers to um spend some time in that um beautiful auditorium and to perform a really neat performance for um their friends and families. Um, and we are really excited because we know a lot of those kiddos will go on um, at Franklin and probably become part of the Franklin players either on stage or in the crew. And this is getting further and further or my eyes are getting a little uh, harder to read. Okay, thank you. Um, but I believe this um, these are our amazing um, Frost Falcons. Is that correct? Yes. Um, who traveled to Chicago. They were able to perform at the Symphony Orchestra Music Hall. Um they attended a clinic with members of the Chicago Symphony and they also got to do
083a little bit of sightseeing in the great city of Chicago. Um so they uh the Churchill music students also traveled to Nashville where they attended a clinic at Vanderbilt University. They visited the RCA Studio B and the Grand Old Opry. So that always takes I just want to note that anytime whether you're talking about a Young Fives field trip to the park or something as significant as this or our three middle schools who took the time to take our students to Washington DC and have that amazing experience. The amount of time it takes for our staff behind the scenes to do that planning is unbelievable. And so these kind of things don't just happen but they are some of the most memorable things that our students will do during their school years. So, thank you
084to each and every person who helps make experiences like this happen. We hope our kiddos had a great time. And another uh I thought this was really cool. Both our Stevenson Global Ed and our law classes um were able to go to law day which is hosted by the bar association um at the Theodore Levven Courthouse. So, they were able to our students were from those two programs were able to attend a career fair. they met with law professionals and they had a chance to see um almost three dozen individuals take their oath of citizenship um during a naturalization ceremony. So I just think those are the types of things again many of the things we're highlighting are the extras are the above and beyond but they add to the classroom experience. And speaking of
085Charger Connect, we know we had a ch we heard about that a couple of times tonight from um our first students who were honored um and then throughout the evening. Um so their mentor sessions wrapped up um this year. Are you guys in any of the picks? Do you see yourselves in there? No. Oh, bummer. Um so they had to they ended the year with some volleyball, some basketball, and ice cream sandwiches. It doesn't get much better than that. Um so great year um between freshman and mentors. So terrific. Uh we had a beautiful day for the Matsuri festival. It's a very traditional Japanese um spring festival and Nijiro holds this each spring and the students u make these amazing floats and they have them on um wooden bars and they together each class carries
086them out and then they do some special dances and um enjoyed some great snacks. The kids were really excited about the snacks. Um, and it was really neat to see some of the traditional dances and the parade floats were amazing. So, thank you to Mr. Duca and his team for helping put that together. Friday was a a great day um for for the festival. And we're going to share some congratulations. I'm really excited to share that each one of our elementary schools after applying for this distinction has have been named PLTW distinguished launch schools. There are certain criteria you have to meet. Um and thank you to our PLTW teachers and our leader Ryan Krueger um who applied for each of our schools and all were honored with this recognition. and they honor schools that
087have instituted a STEM program for students um beginning at the early grades. And we know that our students have the opportunity to attend those STEM special classes each week. Um and they are doing a tremendous job. And so our idea factories are rocking it out and we would like to congratulate each of our teachers in those areas and all of our students. Best music district. Pretty cool, right? Um so there is a designation called the best communities for music education. It comes from the um National Music Foundation and it really talks about districts who have a really outstanding commitment to music education. So um Leavonia was just one of 21 recognized in the state of Michigan. Um and we are so proud to receive this honor for the 2025 school year. How about this? Is
088this cool? Now tell me $2,000 Falcon dollars would be a lot to correct, right? Falcon. Okay. Yeah. I love it. I have to buy some stuff. I'm like, go buy it. So, yeah, he banded them all up. It was kind of neat to see them all and all the different teachers, but he saved every single dollar over the course of That's amazing. That is amazing. It sounds like it. It it it shares here that he's a natural student leader, an allaround incredible Falcon. And those $2,000 counted out there. I can't quite see what he's holding. I think one was a pair of earbuds, right? Oh, how cool. So, that's a lot of amazing things to have done to earn 2,000 Falcon dollars over the course of the year. And if you don't know, um, Frost
089personalizes them with the Bitmoji of each staff member. So, they have personalized Falcon dollars um to give out. But that takes a little bit of self-control because there's some pretty cool things in your PBIS store. So, you know, once you get a few hundred, you're ready to spend. I am going to take some lessons from him. All right, we'll keep moving. There you go. Yeah, Mr. Oakus will be so happy. Um, so um and as as a number of our schools do, um have girls on the run. It really promotes that um that great physical lifelong physical fitness and um building grit and resiliency. Um, and so we had our students at Randolph who are in the Girls on the Run Club, um, complete their season with a 5K run. So, I think that's pretty
090cool. I love that picture in the middle with all of them, uh, gathered together. Staff appreciation was a wow by just our PTAs and administrators and um, for our staff across this district. And so, um, tons of really cool things and our PTA and PTSA units just do a tremendous job. And so, um, as you know, we love our LPS staff, every single one of them across the district for what they do and what they give to our children. So, um, nothing can ever be enough. Those doughnuts look pretty darn good. Um, but really some amazing treats and we know how generous parents have been to donate many of these things, um, over the course of the month. So, thank you. Here was the FTP celebration. Pretty cool, right? Um, so we want to congratulate
091our Franklin Transition Program students. Um, they are recognizing our seniors in the program. Um, who will now move on to the Garfield Community School. Um, and we see our board members up there so proudly recognizing each of our senior students. And I think one of the neat things um about this and I was so sorry to have to miss this this year because I think one of the things that's so special is the individual nature of what the staff does in sharing about each and every student. And so um just thank you to the FTP staff and leadership for making such a special moment for each of our students. And I appreciate all of our board and cabinet members who were able to be there. pretty cool Eagle Scout project. I uh I I know
092Churchill is excited about it. So, um we recently had a senior um complete for his Eagle Scout project um a he designed, built, and delivered a percussion instrument rack for the band room. It took him over 60 hours of work. Um he collaborated with engineers to make his plans, fundraised for materials, um coordinated a building day with over 40 volunteers. Um, but he led this and really one of the cool things about the Eagle Scout projects are that they we are the beneficiaries of their hard work, their determination, and their care. So, thank you, Graham, and congratulations um for earning that Eagle Scout uh honor. Unified Lacrosse, I know someone in here shared that they were that they played lacrosse, right? Was that earlier? That was at the very beginning, I think. One of our
093Yes. Um and so both our um unified boys lacrosse and unified girls lacrosse were were KLA East champions. So very cool and congratulations to them as they um move through a great season. And our PBIS um program showcase and so a wonderful showcase was held last week at LCTC. Um we had 14 of our schools that use PBIS. Um that stands for positive behavior intervention and supports. um that really work toward building the school culture that we've heard so much about tonight. So, it was an opportunity for them to share ideas with one another um and with members of our community. So, thank you to each and everyone um who were represented there. Okay, just we're going to move through these quickly. Mark your calendars. Passport to Safety coming Saturday, June 7th. Join us. The
094Education Foundation golf outing is set for Saturday, July 19th. Um, I believe we are still looking for golfers. Is that correct, Mr. McFarland? Filling up fast. Yes, filling up fast. But we still have a few forsomes left. Say that quickly. Um, that will be at Fox Creek. And thank you so much, President Bradford, for letting us share some of the awesome things happening with our staff, our students, and our schools. It's always exciting. Thank you, Mrs. Oakquist. And I bet you can't wait. We're going to take a break so we can congratulate you all. All right, we're on a break. We'll come up. We'll take a big group picture. Sure. Come on up. And we're on a break. Thank you. All right, we are back and we are going to move through our meeting here.
095Uh we are on item 3D, audience communications this evening. I do not have any blue slips. Uh no blue slips along the table here. So we can move on to item four, our consent agenda. May I have a motion, please? Mrs. Bradford. Mrs. Burton. uh move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district approve of the following consent agenda items as recommended by the superintendent. 5A minutes of the regular meeting of April 21st, 2025. 6 C approval of the 2025 2026 leases. 6 D approval of appointment of auditor. 6E approval of Wayne Resa budget support. We have a motion by Mrs. A Costa or by Mrs. Burton supported by Mrs. Aosta for the consent agenda. Um I don't see any or is there any board member that may would wish to
096remove any items from the consent agenda? Seeing none, we can go ahead. Um uh Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving down to item six, business matters. Uh 6A, the approval of sale of property. Uh may I have a motion, please? Getting ahead of ourselves here. You want that? Okay. Okay. President Bradford, Mrs. A. Costa move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district approve the sale of property on Ann Arbor Trail to Infinity Homes and Company LLC. Infinity Homes and Company LLC has offered to purchase 10.33 plus or minus acres of vacant land located on the south side of Ann Arbor Trail, west of North Marman
097Road, Westland, Michigan. Sidwell number 56-012-99-000017-00001 for a total of $235,000 support. We have a motion by um Mrs. Aosta supported by Mr. Johnson for the approval of sale of property. This evening we're going to hear from Mr. Francis. Good evening. Good evening. Um before I speak to this just very quickly at last week's committee of the whole the board had asked me a question regarding the leases and the insurance levels that are are new into that whether that was the standard amount. I did contact our attorney who created that template for us and basically she said that is generally what they put into lease agreements with uh with the landlords. It could be lower if that would made more sense uh etc. But that's just the the general number. So, I just wanted to give
098the board that answer and that response. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. With regard to Ann Arbor Trail property, uh, as the motion lays out, it's a little bit more than 10 acres. And in the discussion that we had uh last week at the committee the whole and even a little bit two weeks prior at the study session, we we talked about uh this this piece of land which is located across the road from the former Ford Skill Center is a piece of property that the school district would not have a great ability to build on. This isn't large enough. it doesn't have a buildable enough space to put a school, even the the smallest of schools that we might have as a K4. It it's not large enough. Not only because of the 10 acres,
099you might be able to squeeze a school into something like that, but uh as we discussed, there's there's wetlands there. There's also quite a bit of cleanup that has to be done. uh and the developer, the home developer is willing to take that on and working with the city to get um some funding grants to help with that cleanup. So, this is really a piece of property that we don't foresee the the district or the board ever being able to actually utilize for a facility. So, to that end, uh this is a developer that that the board is very familiar with, the district has worked with in the past. Uh and we do recommend for bringing the $235,000 of the sale price that those dollars uh if this this sale goes through would be going
100into our our capital projects fund. Thank you, Mr. Francis. Are there any questions or comments? U Mrs. Burton? Um for all the reasons that Mr. Francis just stated, which I won't repeat, um I'm in support of of selling this property. uh as we've kind of joking around but but seriously said we are in the education business not the real estate holding business. If if real estate could have some current or future educational value then that's a whole different story. But if this one can cannot serve our educational purposes now or in the future, I'm in favor of of uh selling it to a developer and therefore homes will go on it with with families and we need more homes in our community and uh and those that's also potential students to come into Leavonia public
101schools. So that is uh a win for the district. Um, as far as the price on this, which is lower than other prices that we've sold land for, um, as we discussed at length at the committee the whole meeting, the considerable amount of work that's going to have to be done to get a whole lot of items out of that ground before building can even commence. Um, that's going to be a significant cost to the developer, which which did come into play with the amount of money that, you know, the value that was placed on that land. So, um, for that reason, I'm in support of selling the property for that dollar amount. Thank Thank you, Mrs. Burton. Any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. A. Costa, supported
102by Mr. Johnson for the approval of sale of property. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 6B, the approval of sale of bonds. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mr. McFarland. Move that the board of education of the Leavonia Public Schools School District. Approve the attached resolution to ratify the sale of the third series of the 2021 voter approved bonds. Support. We have a motion by Mr. McFarland, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the approval of sale of bonds. This evening we're going to hear from Mrs. Allison Smith. Thank you. I do have some wonderful news to share. Um, as you know, the market has been
103quite volatile uh the last number of months and uh so we were watching it very closely, working very closely with our financial advisors PFM as well as our uh bond council trun um we had our salepricing take place this past Monday on May 12th and we did well the it was timed well. So we got uh good interest rates, a lot of interest in the bonds. Um this is our third and final series. The total bond was 186 million and this final series was for 38 million. And we had orders of $84.8 million in orders. So more than double what we actually had to sell people wanting to buy our bonds. So that allowed us to make some adjustments to interest rates which will save us some money on interest costs. So um all in
104all, I definitely recommend the ratification by the board of this sale. Um, and we have also the recommendation from PFM that this is a good deal for our district. Awesome. Thank you, Mrs. Smith. Any questions or comments? Mrs. Bradford, could you explain to the public why we're going to kind of hear this? Oh, that we discussed. Oh, yes. We we are this is our regular meeting. If that we did discuss these all at length. Um, so if you're not hearing a lot of questions or uh comments from the board, please tune in to the committee the whole meeting. and you'll find a lot more richer discussion on what we spoke about. So, yep. Thank you, Mrs. Burton, for that reminder. All right. Seeing no questions or comments, we have a motion by Mr. McFarland, supported
105by uh Mrs. Jarvis for the approval of sale of bonds. Uh Mrs. Aoster, would you take the role, please? Mr. McFarland? Yes. Mrs. Jarvis? Yes. Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mrs. Burton. Yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. We will move on to item seven, instruction matters. Uh we're on to 7A, the approval of purchase of everyday math journals. Uh may I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Uh Mr. Johnson move that the board of education of the Leavonia public school district approve the recommendation to purchase everyday mathematics student essential sets for kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grade classrooms from McGra Hill in Columbus, Ohio for $129,245 16. This purchase would include print and digital sets for students as well as teacher license licenses. The first through fourth grade teacher licenses
106are being provided for free. Support. We have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the approval of purchase of everyday math journals. And we're going to hear from Mrs. O'Brien. Thank you, President Bradford. This purchase is for one year of student journals and license access for our everyday math program, which is the math curriculum we use K through fourth grade. Um, as we talked about at committee of the whole and the study session, we are in a um pilot year. We are reviewing materials and we will be continuing our look at materials into next year. So, we had hoped we'd be done by June, but we have another set of materials we'd like to look at next year. Therefore, we need one more year of everyday math journals. Um, these funds come
107from the elementary textbook budget and that has been supported by the Wayne County Enhancement Village money. Thank you, Mrs. O'Brien. Any questions or comments regarding the purchase? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the approval of purchase of everyday math journals. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item eight, personnel matters. Item 8A, a teacher for tenure. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. Burton. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the superintendent and acknowledge that tenure status has been granted to the following teacher effective on the respective date.
108Hatsumi Thoren August 21st 2024 support. We have a motion by Mrs. Burton supported by Mrs. Aosta for the teacher for tenure and we're going to hear from Mrs. Keat. Hello. Hello everyone. Good evening. Good evening. Our teacher for tenure on this agenda has successfully completed the district's requirements for probationary teachers, including years of service evaluations, overall performance and documentation of student growth. We have carefully reviewed all supporting materials along with the recommendation of our building administration and have verified that tenure status should be granted. We wish to congratulate our newly tenure teacher for reaching this milestone and look forward to their continued success working in LPS. In addition, it should be noted that um the teacher for tenure, she was missed earlier in the year. So, we are the date yes in fact does read
109August and that is accurate. That was going to be our question. Thank you. I read your minds. Yes, you did. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Keats. Any other questions or comments? Congratulations. Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Burton, supported by Mrs. A Costa for teacher for tenure. Mrs. A Costa, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to 8 uh B, leave of absence. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mrs. A Costa move that the board of education of the Levonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the superintendent and approve the request for a leave of absence as listed below. Stephanie Scrogggins effective 2025 to 2026
110school year support. We have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mrs. Burton for the leave of absence. And we are going to hear from Mrs. Keats. Yep. if it's just me for the personnel. Yay. Uh the staff member listed in your board documents is requesting a leave from Leavonia public schools for the 2526 school year. This request has been made in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement and I ask that you please consider approval of their leave time. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mrs. Burton for the leave of absence. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton. Yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on
111to item 8 C, resignations. That is for board information only. Uh, moving on to item 8 D, retirements. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mr. Johnson, this may take a while. moved that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for services rendered by Rebecca Barnes, Matthew Bentley, Peggy Brousette, Melinda Bush, Aaron Cassuchi, Deborah Elliston, Rebecca Yulu Hurula, excuse me, Angela uh Angela Jackson Irvine, Judy Long, David Mitchell, Kimberly Mitchell, Diana Peterson, Barbara Posel, Jacqueline Price, Donna Wringler, Michelle Ryan, Pamela Sirulu, Sir S, excuse Siru. Geez, OP. Uh, Jeffrey uh Shoemaker, Kevin Stafford, Deborah Trombbley, and Heather Wickman. support. We have a motion by Mr. Johnson, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for retirements. And this evening, Mrs. Keats. Yes. Thank you. And what a sight
112in the audience as we have two of our uh soon to be retirees looking on. What a Thank you. Thank you. Uh tonight, we honor and congratulate 22 members of our LPS family who are retiring from their positions with Leavonia Public Schools. As these staff members leave the district, they take with them a combined total of 564 years of experience. On behalf of the administration, I would like to thank these wonderful staff members for their dedicated years of service they've provided the students of Leavonia public schools. And we ask the board to please adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for our retirees. Oh, gee. Okay. Do we have any questions or comments? Oh boy, I think there might be a few. Mrs. Burton, um, this is always one of those difficult things to vote on.
113I didn't even want to support it. U, but somebody has to support it or it doesn't get put on the table. Um, that would be okay, too. We have such mixed emotions and I'm going to speak specifically to two of our retirees who are sitting in our audience looking right back at us today. But there are a number of folks on this list who who have taught my children personally who have reached the lives of so many hundreds and hundreds of students, every one of these educators. Um we we wish you well. We don't we don't want to stop your next exciting chapter of your lives, but our hearts are a bit broken. to see you walking out the door. Um, you can't replace a person. You can refill a position, but you can't replace
114the impact that individuals have on kids' lives. You are some of those people. You will be dearly missed. you who are sitting here in our room and you many many many many folks who comprise this list. Uh it is one of the worst things we have to do is to vote to let our good people go. Congratulations. We'll be missed. You will be missed. Um Mrs. A Costa, um it's been an emotional evening um already and I'm kind of shocked that I have my voice to speak at this time, but I just want to say thank you. Thank you so much to um the staff that has contributed to this exceptional um community that we have built here in Leavonia and you are definitely a part of that feeling. So um thank you for leaving
115the imprint that you have and um we will continue to think of you fondly as you move on. Congratulations. Thank you. Um I would also just echo the sentiments of my board members up here. Um, congratulations to everyone on this list and yes, many of them they've all made a huge impact on the lives of the students that they have served and on the parents and and long-standing friendships that have been made uh throughout the years. Um, one of these people on the list I had the pleasure of working in her classroom uh and uh it was such an honor and and she will be missed and both both of them will be very missed and along with everybody on this list. So I want to congratulate you on your next endeavors and um thank
116you for your years of service and uh we really appreciate you. Uh Mrs. Oakquist, may I pop in? Yes. Even though I'm not a board member, I appreciate you letting me pop in. Um this is uh this is a rockstar list of people. I will tell you that. Um it's it's it's never not. But I will say when we get to the end of the year and you have a list like this of educators and um transportation personnel and folks who have been part of our maintenance department for decades. Um this is a list of people. When you hear those years um all together it's it sounds extraordinarily impressive. But when you look at each one of their resolutions, that type of longevity and loyalty to an organization, to their colleagues, to our students, to
117our school community. Um, I I think we will see that changing over the years. We won't see as much of that. I think that's just the nature of of work these days. Um, but in Leavonia, one of the things that we're so um that make us so lucky are the human beings that are behind these names. Um, and I do want to call out David and Kim Mitchell, um, who have been a really important part of my life, who are here with us tonight, um, who have, uh, had such an important impact on both of my children in, um, immeasurable ways. And for that, I will be forever grateful for your friendship, for all that you have given way beyond um, the school day each and every day. So, um, our hearts are happy for
118you both in your new adventure. um as you head off to South Dakota um drop us a line or drop by it would be even better. So we will miss you greatly. Thank you. Want to share anything? Do you want to share anything? I just want to say thank you. Thank you to the board and LPS has been wildly like um amazing to our family. being a product of LPS growing up, my family and then our family, our kids. It's an unbelievable place to raise a family, to grow. We decided to live where we work and it could not have been worked out better if we wrote a script for our lives. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart. That's the biggest reason why we're here is to say thank you to all
119of you. Thank you to LBS. Thank you. Thank you both. Thank you. Oh, Mr. Johnson. Mr. Johnson wants to speak. Gee, thank you, President Bradford. You are so welcome. I I know I'm hard to easy to miss here. Um, is uh Mrs. Oakquest indicated when you look at the number of years, it's always difficult uh to lose uh people with this kind of of longevity. And it it's more than the average is over 25 years for every one of the employees. Crazy. Um, and when you personally know some of the the people on the list, it it makes it even more difficult. And and David, you you're much more than just a teacher uh to our kids. You were a mentor uh to all those hockey players over all those years uh that went on
120to do great things. Um, so it's it's goes well beyond the classroom uh with you and and we are so appreciative for everything you've done for all the young men uh of this community. Um, and just from a a personal standpoint, I see Heather Wickman and sometimes we don't realize the impact um that teachers have on our children and I just personally go back to to Heather Wickman. Um she was such a a huge uh influence on my daughter um who went on not only uh to go to college but to get a music education degree um to go on to get her master's degree from Butler University and uh then to be appointed the director of athletic bands at at Butler University. um it it really has a lasting impact and a lot of
121us we don't necessarily see. Um but it's it's there. It's palpable. Um so we thank each and every one of of these uh retirees on everything they've done for for our students and the community. Thanks again. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations to all on this list and best wishes for a happy happy retirement. Uh we have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Jarvis for retirements. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role please? Mr. Johnson, what if we say no? We've tried that. We tried that. It doesn't work. Okay. Uh yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford yes and we have a quorum. No, the motion. The motion. We have something. We have something going on. We What it is, we're not quite sure. Oh
122goodness. Motion is carried. Okay, here we go. Oh, I tell you. Item nine, hearing from board members. Item 9A, the approval of resolution for Wayne Rhysa board election. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mrs. Burton, move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district adopt adopt a resolution to designate board of education executive assistant Terresa Ga as the as the local district's Wayne Resa election representative and board member Mark Johnson as the alternate. Also move that votes be cast for Wayne Resa board candidates James Barry and Linda Jackson. support. We have a motion by Mrs. Burton, supported by Mr. Johnson for the approval of resolution for Wayne Resa board election. And um that we're just going to that just is going to go off to Wayne Rhysa. Uh once
123we have this done and taken care of, um we'll be able to they'll be able to be voted in. And this is just a prepuncter thing that we need to do uh every year for the election. Your vote will be cast. Our vote will be cast. Okay. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Burton, supported by Mr. Johnson for the approval of resolution for Wayne Resa board election. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9B, second reading, board policy GAC, staff job related accident injury assault. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. A. Costa. move that the board of education
124of the Leavonia public school district accept the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language per the attached document for board policy GAC staff jobreated accident injury assault support. We have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mrs. Burton for the second reading board policy GAC staff job related accident injury assault. We're going to hear from Mrs. Keats. Yes. Thank you again. You're welcome. This is the second reading of this policy GAC. There have been no substantial or any changes for that matter made since the last time we met. Um the corrections that were previously made were discussed at uh previous meetings. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. A Costa supported by Mrs. Burton for the second reading board policy GAC staff job related accident
125injury assault. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9 C, the removal of board policy GAB, assaults on employees. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mr. McFarland move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the policy committee to remove board policy GAB assaults on employees as its language has been incorporated into board policy GAC staff job related accident injury assault. Support. We have a motion by Mr. McFarland supported by Mrs. Sak Costa for the removal of board policy GA AEB assaults on employees. Um we're going to hear again from Mrs. Keats. Yes, Mr. McFarland stated it
126very well that we have recommended to remove the contents of GAEB to fit within GAC as the policies were similar and we were looking to streamline them. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mr. McFarland supported by Mrs. A Costa for the removal of board policy G Aeb assaults on employees. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role? Mr. McFarland? Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Mrs. Jarvis? Yes. Mrs. Burton? Yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9D, second reading, board policy GAF, workplace violence. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. Jarvis. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language per the attached document
127for board policy GF workplace violence support we have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis supported by Mrs. Burton uh for the second reading of board policy GAF workplace violence um Mrs. Pete. Yes. Again, this is the second reading for workplace violence. There were minor corrections that were made over the previous two meetings and nothing has changed since our last discussion. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis, supported by Mrs. Burton for the second reading, board policy, GAF, workplace violence. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role? Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9E, the removal of board policy GBBA, qualifications and duties. May I have a motion, please?
128President Bradford. Mr. Johnson. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the policy committee and remove board policy GBBA qualifications and duties as its language is redundant with that of board policy GBC selection and recruitment of professional personnel support. We have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the removal of board policy GBBA qualifications and duties. And once again, Mrs. Keats. Yes. Uh, as Mr. Johnson stated that this is a redundant policy. Uh, the information can be found in the board policy that he listed and we recommend to remove it. Thank you. Questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mr. Johnson, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the removal of board policy GBBA qualifications and duties. Mrs. Aosta, would you take
129the role, please? Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9F, the uh first reading of board policy DFF, postisssuance tax compliance. Um this evening, since this is a first reading, uh we will not be taking a vote. So we are going to hear tonight from Mrs. uh Oakquist. Thank you so much, President Bradford. So I'm going to step in for our chief financial officer, Mrs. Smith, and review these policies on policy DFF. This is regarding fiscal management post issuance tax compliance. So these are the steps that need to be taken um once we have sold bonds. Um as it states at the start of the policy our director of business services in this case um
130it is our chief financial officer um shall serve as the debt compliance officer for the district. So I am going to actually note that title there um be changed to CFO. Um and I'll just give you the highlight since it's a lengthy policy. Um, first I'd like to say that uh, Trun has been very helpful. They are our bond council and they have reviewed this policy um, and made just really some very minor changes. So I'll just highlight what those changes are for each section if that's acceptable to you. Yes, that sounds great. So under the debt compliance officer again um this is our CFO that serves in this role. Um it talks about this policy um applies to all debt obligations designated as having tax exempt or tax credit status issued on behalf of
131the district. And so really it talks about monitoring the proceeds of those debt obligations and following um and being in compliance with all of the codes and regulations and also in number seven establishing establishing procedures to address and remediate non-compliance with state or federal law. Um, under the section of external advisors and documentation, it talks about the district consulting with bond counsel and other legal counsel um and other professionals while an obligation is outstanding. So, while we have those bonds that we are still paying back um as you know, we do have um a separate auditor who comes in and audits our um does not need to be a separate auditor. we choose to do that as an additional level of compliance um and accountability. Um so we do have separate bond council that will
132come in um and review our expenditures to be certain that we are meeting the timelines of the 16 six-month 18month 24-month etc obligations that we have. Um and the final sentence that is uh changed is on the second page. the district will provide such adviserss with any reasonably requested and available documentation and disclosures for such purpose. Um the the third section talks about arbitrage, rebate and yield. Um and so it really just goes through the process um anytime there is an issuance of an obligation um what the pieces um for which the district is responsible. Um and it talks about being um as applicable not later than the time of completion of construction or acquisition of the project paid for with proceeds on an obligation and depletion of funds from the project fund holding the
133proceeds. So it really is as you can see just some semantic changes um to have that flow and to follow the course of the law. Um there are two strikethroughs on the next page in 2D and 2E um which are no longer um applicable for those sections. And then finally the use of bond proceeds and bond financed or refinanced assets. Um there are no changes to that section as we go on to the next page. And then finally the recordkeeping requirement. Um there are no changes to that section, but when this is when and if and when this is adopted by the board, um that final line um where it says adopted on September 17th, 2012 and effective on that same date, uh that will be changed to June 23rd, 2025. Um should we assume
134that this being the first reading, next month being the second reading, um with no other changes that we would go forward with that, those dates will be changed. Okay, that sounds good. Um any questions or comments? It looks that looks good to us. Uh so that would count as our first reading. Um and this will be brought to the uh June regular meeting for a second reading and adoption. Yes. Thank you. All right. Moving on to item 9G. The first reading of board policy DID uh audit published statement. Uh Mrs. Oakquist. Thank you so much, President Bradford. So, this is also under fiscal management. Uh the subheading is audit financial statements. I'm going to go ahead and read it since it is relatively brief. The board of education shall appoint an independent auditing firm to
135conduct an annual audit of the district's financial records. The auditing firm shall present a comprehensive report of its findings to the board and provide additional reports as requested. The second paragraph, the audited financial statements shall be made available to the public on the district website and at district offices following the acceptance of the financial statements by the board of education. And this legal reference is still applicable. Yes, and we did talk about this at our committee of the whole um and it looks like uh they made some good corrections on that. Any questions or comments? All right. Uh moving on to item uh 9H, the first reading of board policy DJD, expense reimbursement. Uh again, Mrs. Oakquist, thank you so much. So on DJD um this is also under fiscal management the subheading of expense
136reimbursement. We added a new paragraph to start the policy and it reads the board of education authorizes reimbursement of approved reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by employees while performing official duties on behalf of the school district. Employees who are required by the school district to use their personal vehicles for approved workrelated travel shall be reimbursed by the district for mileage in accordance with IRS guidelines. So that second paragraph has certainly been our practice for decades. Um and so we've we also added under the expense reimbursement the approved reasonable and necessary expenses. And I want to be certain that does capture the changes that you had asked us to make. Yes, it does. I believe we're all in agreement for that. All righty. Then if we could please put that on for a second reading for
137the June 23rd board meeting, please. Thank you very much. And that goes for item uh 9G also. Yes. And statement. All right. Okay. Moving on to item 9 I 9 I hearing from board members. Uh this is a time if any board member wishes to make any statement uh this evening. Does anybody have uh something to say to this evening? Mrs. Burton, I would just like uh to pass on on behalf of the board of education our condolences to Liz Jarvis and her family on the passing of her mom. Our prayers, our thoughts are with you. We appreciate that. Thank you, Liz. We send our love and prayers to you. Um Mrs. A Costa. Um this is uh the end of the school year for many of our seniors. They just have like one more
138week to go and the next time we gather will be after their graduation. So I just wanted to wish them all congratulations to our class of 2025 and look forward to seeing how they shine bright um carrying our district forward. Thank you. And we will see them at commencement. So that's coming up uh in goodness just another week and a half. Another week and a half. It's unbelievable that the end of the year has come upon us. I think May just flies right by. It does. So um we are all looking forward, this board of ed is all looking forward to seeing all the graduates uh at our upcoming commencement ceremony. And uh we wish everybody everybody the best. We also want to wish our teachers a happy uh end of the year and hopefully
139they can uh get all their gather all their things together and and get ready for uh for the next year I suppose and a nice little respit for sure. Um is anybody have any more business before the board this evening? Seeing none uh we wish you a good evening and uh take care. Good night.