001Good evening to the Leavonia Public Schools Board of Education regular meeting for April 21st, 2025. Um, Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Oh, put my mic on. Sorry about that. Yes. Mrs. Burton here. Mrs. Frank here. Mrs. Jarvis here. Mr. Johnson here. Mr. McFarland here. Mrs. A Costa is here. President Bradford here. And we have a quorum. U Mr. McFarland, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Thank you. I pledge al to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening again. If you'd like to follow along with tonight's meeting and you are joining us in person, you can go out the doors uh to the left and find a
002copy of tonight's agenda on the table there. If you're joining us from home, um you can go to our LPS website at www.leavonchools.org, click on the schoolboard tab, go down to board meeting information, and then find the meeting agenda for this evening. And you can join us. Um, if you are here in person this evening and you would wish to come before the board to speak at audience communications, uh, you would need to fill out a blue slip, also located out the doors to the left on the table. Um, if you do have one, uh, please give it to Mr. McFarland at the end of the table and he will give it over to us and during audience communications, you'll be able to speak. Tonight is a regular meeting or a voting meeting. Um, if
003you tune in to watch this meeting, you will notice that there is not there may not be a lot of discussion happening on the items. That's because we've seen and discuss these items uh multiple times prior to this evening. Um, mainly at our study study sessions or our committee the whole meetings. Um if you wish to hear more regarding some of these items um we ask that you go back and watch the committee of the whole meeting and there you will find much rich richer discussion and many questions. Uh our committee of the whole meetings are recorded and those also can be found on our website andor via YouTube. One other other item that I would like to briefly mention is one of our community with character traits uh that is respect. Um our students
004learn, model and follow this trait every day at school. Our board also follows and models this important trait here at our table. Um we treat each other with respect. Um we a lot of times we have a lot of differing differencing differences of opinions but um we treat each other with respect and and the way that we convey our opinions to each other. you have our word that this board uh will treat everyone in this room with respect and we ask that you do the same for us. Um we feel that's the best way uh to do our business by modeling good behavior. So thank you. So with that um we are going to go ahead to item three uh communications and item 3A is our district update from the superintendent. And we always look
005forward to this. There's so many things going on in the district. So, Mrs. Oakquist, will you gladly share all the great happenings? I will. Thank you, President Bradford. We're ready to get that up on the screen right now. And we're going to always, as we do, start out with some learning and growing. This is the time of year where we measure all of the learning and growing that has been happening. Um, so we have our students, as you know, taking the MSTEP, the PSAT, the SAT. um in all of our assessments um most of those are required by uh the state of Michigan and it really gives us a great benchmark to determine how our students are learning and growing. Well, look at what the amazing folks did at Rosedale. Um individual parents as well
006as staff wrote encouraging notes to the students, hung them up throughout the school. Um parents sent in notes, uh staff uh wrote notes as well. And you'll see for each classroom uh taking the MSTEP testing this past week uh students had individual notes of encouragement um to uh to bring them along which was wonderful. We've seen lots of great things happening across our schools to encourage our students to really show what they know during this time. And next we have some students at the Leavonia Career Technical Center. These are actually students who are part of the career intern program or the CIP. um if they are part of either a vocational internship or a career internship, they are spending at least two to three hours a day out in the community in a place of
007work um that they may be considering for their future field of employment. Um so we have some great pictures here of our uh students who are out and about in businesses across the region. Um and we have some really amazing um internship sites this year and I want to thank Mrs. Corey Pacy for doing a wonderful job stepping into this for her first year following many years of leadership by Mary Pat Benois who many of you knew. Uh Mrs. Pacy has taken over. We've added some new sites and you see some of our career interns here hard at work. Next uh you had the chance a few weeks back to visit the project lead the way classroom at Hayes. So this probably looks familiar to you. Um and we see Mr. Krueger there with some
008of our Hayes Huskys who are doing a great job creating projects together um using their ingenuity, their collaboration, their creativity, and their problem solving um to make some uh amazing designs and solve some incredible problems during Project Lead the Way, which is part of our K12 STEM curriculum. Next, we've got a full house is what we have here. You might think that that's a high school performance, but that is actually our Hoover Rockets um who held their uh grade level concerts in the Stevenson PAC. Um so the families got a chance to enjoy the performing arts center, but most importantly, they enjoyed who was on the stage. Um but if you look at that, that audience is full. Wow. And that's a K4 school. So pretty cool to see that happening. Thank you to Stephvenson
009for hosting. The next few slides we're going to share with you are from the 48th annual fine arts festival. I know many of us uh were able to attend. Um it was wonderful seeing the kickoff. Um we had the opening night in early April and the both the first floor and the second floor including the gallery were absolutely filled um with remarkable works of art by our students. Um they the teachers also had a scavenger hunt going on in the library to find different pieces of artwork. Um and so families were were really checking all over um to be able to complete that task. Um we want to thank our partners at the Leavonia Public Li at the Leavonia Civic Center Library for always graciously hosting us every year because it's not just that night.
010Um these works of art will be up through the end of April. So, if you have a chance to stop by, not only to grab a few great books, um, but also to see the creations of our students. And if anyone has been around, uh, this area for a while, you know, those are Looney Baker Donuts on the left there. So, um, they were delivered thanks to our amazing Leavonia PTSA Council. Um they delivered over 150 goodie bags as well as breakfast to our bus drivers, our transportation team, our maintenance crew, our mechanics, warehouse printing. Um they asked members of each of our local PTAs and parents across the district to supply donations and uh they have been doing this for several years now as well. Um they pick a group of hardworking folks. A
011couple months ago it was all of our food service staff in the schools. Um, and this time it was all of our folks back in transportation maintenance and operations. So, thanks so much PTSA Council for uh thanking those un unsung heroes behind the scenes. Back to LCTC. Um, we had our chapter of the National Technology Honor Society um organized a wonderful collection for pet supplies for a local animal rescue. In total, they donated almost 400 pet supply items. Um, and then they got a visit from some sweet little puppies um, who were recently rescued um, to show them uh, just who they will be helping by that wonderful uh, collection there. So, thanks um, to the National Technical Honor Society over at LCTC for thinking of others. We've been sharing throughout the past couple of
012months uh, some great things happening out at camp. Um many of us remember that time sixth grade camp or sometimes it was fifth grade um when you get to head out there and um enjoy the outdoors uh try some new things archery obstacle courses um building a fire. So we had Cooper out at camp as well as Niji Eero out at camp um as well as Riley. So you'll see a picture there of a number of the staff members um helping the students and uh what a what a time it is to remember. So, thanks to all of the parent volunteers and the staff for helping our students have a great time out at camp. Look at these sweet Dalmatians. Um, so our Churchill Center program, ASD, and peer connections programs um did a wonderful
013job performing 101 Dalmatians. um another full audience uh not only parents and um staff but we had some classes from Church Hill who attended as well as uh members of the some members of the community and some schools uh who brought their classes over um to watch the play as well. So uh ton of energy really really proud of our of our students and thank our staff for putting this together. Multicultural Night was a big hit at Webster. Again, um an annual event. Um you'll see some remarkable um displays and the ability to learn about different cultures um represented at Webster Elementary um includingformational um displays as well as wares and um instruments and other elements that are indigenous to the different cultures and a lot of great food was enjoyed as well. So, thanks
014to everyone who helped put that together. That was um definitely combined effort um by Mrs. Burke and her team as well as many many parents and students who participated as well. The reflections event uh as as usual MCED by our very own Mrs. Jarvis um where we had um over 160 students um were part who had participated in reflections either through dance, art, music, photography, um music composition. Am I forgetting a category? Film. Film. Yes. Movie making as well. Um so we had 65 of those works of art uh received a district award. 18 received an award at the state level, PTA, and two have moved on to national competition. So, congratulations to all of the students who put their creativity forward and um really put themselves out there to share a a original work
015of art with others. See some lots of folks there enjoying the displays. I know many of you saw this as well. We were excited to um see the Leavonia United hockey team um receive their first varsity letters um as part of the girls united team um had a great year-end banquet. We see students from all three of our high schools there represented and congratulations to them. I know this was something that they have worked toward for a long time and the board and administration supported. So we are thrilled um to see that photo with them this evening. here was speaking of a wonderful event. Uh last Thursday uh we had Mrs. Megan Sprout, members of her team and uh students and staff from a few of our schools um present to the Wayne Rhesa Board
016of Education. Um they were able to uh present alongside Northville Public Schools. both districts were invited to really talk about the inclusion programs that exist within LPS as well as the amazing unified sports activities um for our students with special needs. Um so it was wonderful to have the Rhysa board invite our two districts and to have Mrs. Sprrow and her team there to present and uh news flash we they will these same presenters will be here in May um to share this presentation with all of you. So, um, we are very, very excited about that. So, speaking of a point of pride, there are many, um, within our programs and you will be able to see that firsthand here next month. All right. So, it's been a big weekend. Um, and robotics, we'll start
017out with a a few big highlights from um, robotics. So, first of all, we're going to go back just a little bit to the end of March, beginning of April, um when the annual district competition was held at Churchill High School. Um teams from all across the region um were there and the Warriors had the winning alliance and the highest score of the weekend. So, they brought home a blue banner. They also won the quality award and uh since that time have competed at state championships and international championships. So um you see some some great uh smiles there uh from our uh victorious robotics team. I know many members of the board and I were able to attend um the opening ceremony which was wonderful. Um, so so many mentors, coaches, volunteers, uh, parents, as
018well as of course, uh, the students themselves. Uh, and we're going to share some pictures next from these past few days at Worlds. Um, so quite a bit happened. I'm going to try to capture it all. So, I'm going to read off of my screen. Um, because there were a there was a lot that happened. It was a very, very exciting time. Um, the Leavonia Warriors were number two on the Newton field and they were one of only five undefeated teams out of 600 at Worlds. So, I'm going to say that again. One of only five undefeated teams during their matches. Um, they are the highest ranking Michigan team that competed at Worlds. Um and they were when they were at Houston and after Alliance selection on Saturday, they were unfortunately knocked out of the
019semifinals, but ended up 13th in the world out of those 600 teams. They have had a truly remarkable season. Um and we're going to share some pictures on the next slide as well of our Frost Robo Falcons who were also in Houston at the World Competition. Um they were often paired up against high school teams and they are as you know a middle school team. Um but they flew strong. They were a seventh alliance alliance captain. Um they competed in the elimination matches. Um they were also knocked out in the semi-finals but were proud to get that far. Um so they had some outstanding teams. Um and truly fantastic fantastic results. So, um, just a huge round of applause and congratulations to our Leavonia Warriors and our Frost Robo [Applause] Falcons. Uh, we had some
020Air Force honors. So you'll see here um LCTC criminal justice instructor Gary Man who was also our secondary teacher of the year um and John Hup were recognized um by members of the Air Force um for their dedication to educating and inspiring future leaders. Um so this team has engaged with the career center students throughout the year um showcasing many uh wonderful opportunities that are provided by the air force and they were proud to recognize two of our instructors and here was our final big performance of the year at Stevenson. Um we've highlighted those from our other high schools and Stephvenson performed The Little Mermaid. Um so the drama department there put on just an absolutely fantastic production. Um from the costumes and the songs and the tech work. You see the onstage talent on
021the left, you see the behind stage talent on the right. Both are absolutely necessary to making um a wonderful show for an audience. So congratulations um to each and every one of those students who were part of making um some magic on the stage at Stephvenson. I don't know if any of you had a chance to see this, but Mrs. Gustavsky's second grade class um were part of the Detroit Red Wings reading challenge. So, they logged their minutes. They logged over 55,000 minutes of reading time. Um and it was the most out of all of the K2 classrooms in the Metro Detroit area. Um, so they get to receive a Little Caesar's Pizza party and Kennedy Elementary will receive a $2500 gift um to add to the school's library collection. So, thank you Detroit Red
022Wings for recognizing our amazing readers at Kennedy um and all of our students across the district. As you know, one of the things that um uh Lindsay has been the principal um has been working on at the Leavonia Career Technical Center as well as the staff are the certifications for our students. Um there were a couple of programs for which students could receive certification, but that number has grown exponentially. And we want to congratulate 56 of our advanced medicine students who have recently passed their national patient care technician exam. Um that means they are now board certified to provide um patient care including EKGs and phabbotomy services. So these are just a few of the students. Um but we will end up with hundreds of students who have a board certification and are able to
023enter uh the workforce immediately. um which is really a tremendous tremendous uh accomplishment. Earlier we talked about some of our career interns um we have a few of them po pictured here along with Mrs. Pacy their coordinator uh who they presented at the noon Rotary on April 14th. They really had a chance to talk about being in the work site um what they've learned through the career intern program and tell a little bit about each of their work experience over the course of the year. So, we want to thank them and congratulate them for being asked to present at Rotary. As you know, Rotary also acknowledges with the vocational uh student service award. Um we have Leila Sneed here who is a senior at Churchill High School um and a student at LCTC was honored
024with the most recent Leavonia Rotary Vocational Service Award. Um she is in graphic design and engineering design. So, congratulations Ila. um her proud family are there as well as her teacher and principal um and Rotary President uh Lori Pahutsky. And finally, we want to share that April is abilities awareness month. Um we had a chance the first week to celebrate um actually the second week I believe to celebrate um neurodeiversity. The first week we talked about celebrating and understanding autism spectrum disorder. Um you'll see a wide variety of activities happening, t-shirts that schools have created um as well as uh through our communications department and in concert with our student services department, we have been sending out on social media and we'll be including in the LPS link um some different videos highlighting our programs
025that really celebrate neurodeiversity um and all of the different abilities of our students. So, this is a special month um where we're able to really raise awareness and uh feature our wonderful students. So, thank you so much, President Bradford. We appreciate that. All right. Thank you. Absolutely. All right. That's a lot of activity happening and I know uh it's April and May will be just as busy and June will be the same. Yes, we always look forward to your uh information about everything that's happening in the district. So, thank you so much. Absolutely. All right, we'll move on to item three uh B, written communications. I don't have any written communications this evening. Um we'll go on to item 3 C, response to prior audience communications. Uh we have none this evening for that. So,
026all right, we're going to go on to item 3D, audience communications. Audience communications is a time set aside for the board to listen to the concerns of our community. It is not a question and answer period, but rather a time set aside for us to listen thoughtfully to your concerns. Each speaker has up to three minutes to speak. Um, Mr. Francis is going to be our timekeeper tonight. We have a a brand new uh time uh counter. So when you hear the tone go off, we ask that you play politely finish and wrap up your comments. Um the board is responsible uh for three main roles. Hiring and evaluating the superintendent, adopting policies that give the district direction to set the priorities and achieve its goals, and also adopting and overseeing our budget. If your
027comments pertain to one of those three roles and you would like a response um to your questions, you will expect to hear a response from members of our board if you indicated it on the sheet. Um if your comments pertain to anything else or what we call day-to-day operations of the school district, you should expect to hear from our superintendent or a member of uh her cabinet team. And again, usually there's a you request a response on the blue sheet for that. Um, we thank you for being here to address your concerns before the board. And with that, um, I have one blue slip this evening and that would be for, uh, Jennifer Starks. Hi, welcome. If you want to come up to the podium here and, um, on the microphone, you just tap it
028and it'll turn green. Right at the base. The base of it. The base of it where it's red on the microphone. Microphone. Yep. Did it come Tap tap the button. Well, a little lighter. A little more power button. Okay. It always This always confusing. Don't worry. Oh, there you go. Pressing it. Sorry. Can you hear me? Yeah. Oh, we can hear you. Okay. So, all right. Okay. Um, my name is Jennifer Starks and I'm the mother and concerned parent of Peyton Herses who's a ninth grader at Franklin High School here in Leavonia. Um, I wanted to bring to your attention of an issue that happened on March 13th. Um, I got a phone call from Franklin High School that there was a threat against um some of the kids in the school and my daughter
029Payton was involved. She c the young lady, Miss Frank, called to let me know how proud she was that Payton brought to the school's attention that a student had made a kill list to shoot students at who attend Franklin High School. When Payton got home, I did ask her what happened. She did explain that she was talking to one of her um classmates and he confided in her that he had made a kill list to kill some students that were bullying him. So, Payton spoke to him and basically said, you know, that's not a good idea. This is not something you should do. you should rethink this. You can get in trouble. But he said that no, they're picking on me. They're going to pay. So, at that point, Payton went and she spoke to
030I think Miss Frank or a counselor just to let them know what was going on. And um after that, that's when um I got the call from Miss Frank just letting me know, thank you for raising a brave daughter. She came to us. We handled the situation. Um the kid is going to be suspended. we're going to do an investigation, things to that sort. And um when I got home, I did confirm that with Payton. She said that was true. Later that day, I did get a phone call from the police station from Leavonia Police Station. I spoke to an officer Al Gazi and Detective Holland who also explained the situation and was letting me know that the student has been suspended. You don't have to worry. The students Payton is going to be safe.
031We're going to do an investigation and things to that sort on Monday. April 7th, I received a text from Payton letting me know that the student had returned to school. This was very concerning to me as Payton was very um fearful and had high anxiety that day. Um I did go to talk to Mr. I think I'm saying his name right, Mr. Py. He the principal at Leavonia P I mean at Franklin and he stated that it basically was not his decision. it was the district's decision and if I wanted answers to go speak to them. I told Mr. Pacy that I would go speak to the district and also go speak to the police department to see what was going on with this issue. Um the same day I walked into the police station,
032spoke to the officer Alghazi and he did state that there is an ongoing investigation. um he didn't know that this the kid returned to school and that they are waiting for the judge in order to press charge against the student and to prosecute him because this is not the first incident with this student. He also stated me that they did try to go to the home to do a search warrant to search for guns, but the mother did not let them in because they didn't have a search warrant and they were waiting for something from the judge to do the search warrant. Y um sure. Um at that point, um I did come to the district's office to speak to Mr. E2, but he wasn't available. I wind up spending speaking with him the next
033day. He did let me know that he was aware, um that protocol was done. and they did um numerous of tests to see was the kid okay to come back to school and oh and that um at this time that he was deemed okay to come back to school. So, I just wanted to bring this to your attention because this isn't the kid's first time of making threats, kill lists, and things to this sort. And for a kid to do something like this is very, very dangerous for the entire school, for the kids, for not only them, but for the teachers as well. As you know, so many school shootings have happened. Two was last week, one in Dallas, one Florida State University. Um, I take these kind of things serious and my daughter is
034very fearful of going to school. She missed a couple of days after he came back which she missed work because she has to sit in a classroom with someone she told on and it's unfair to her. Um her like I said her anxiety is high. She's scared to go to school and um we just wanted to bring this to your attention because we feel as though nothing is being done about this situation. Thank you. You're welcome. Payton just wanted to say something quick. It's not going to be three minutes though. Is Is that okay? Yes. Hello, my name is Payton Harris. I'm in I'm a ninth grader in Franklin High School. A incident happened on March 13, 2025 where a fellow classmate confided in me about a shooting about shooting some of our classmates. I
035was brave enough to go tell so that nothing bad would happen. Everyone that I told was happy and to keep I told to keep them safe. Now this kid is back in school and I don't feel safe. What What about how I feel? What about my safety? Doesn't Doesn't my safety and life matter? Thank Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There are no no other audience communications for this evening. Uh so we we will move on to item four, our consent agenda. Um and may I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mrs. A Costa, move that the board of education of the Leavonia Public Schools School District approve the following consent agenda items as recommended by the superintendent. 5A, minutes of the board workshop of March 31st, 2025.
0365B, minutes of the regular meeting of March 17, 2025. We have a motion by Mrs. Aosta, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the consent agenda. Um, is there any member of the board who wishes to remove any items from the consent agenda this evening? Seeing none, um, we have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the consent agenda. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Aosta says yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. President Bradford, yes. And that motion carries. All right, we will move on to item six, our business matters. We will go on to item 6A, the approval of funds for Churchill LMC renovation. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. Jarvis move that the board of
037education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation from its owner's representative plant Moran Reelpoint and approve the design enhancements for the Church Hill High School Library Media Center project in the amount of $950,000 support. We have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis supported by Mr. Johnson for the approval of funds for Churchill LMC renovations. And this evening, we're going to hear from Mr. Francis. Good evening, everybody. Good evening. Um, as as the uh recommendation and the uh resolution uh reads, we are um we are uh requesting approval to utilize $950,000 of the owner's contingency within the bond program. We had detailed this um in both the study session previously and I was not here as you know for the committee the whole but that was also uh discussed in detail with regard to
038the movement of the dollars uh for the the board to approve in order to fund the the uh LMC renovation that we had redrawn at one point. Okay. And this is of course from the 2021 bond initiative. Okay. Are there any questions from anybody here on the board? Mrs. Burton, just a clarification for the public who may not have listened to the committee of the whole. These are already bond dollars that have been set aside for bond work. We're just allocating them in this manner. Correct. And I I can if you'd like I can just do a real quick couple sentences for for those who are just tuning in the first time. These are, as you mentioned, these are bond dollars that were allocated to previous projects and these were dollars that were returned to
039the district. we want to move them over to this project. So, these are all no no new money here. all dollars that were originally allocated by the board of education for renovations just from the standpoint of requiring to state that you are going to vote on these dollars to go to Church Hill as opposed to any other specific because we had we came in under because we came under before those were the dollars that came back to the district and we had them from previous projects that that were were not we didn't use all the dollars in those projects. Okay. So, these were the contingency dollars that were not utilized in other areas that we can use in this area instead. Correct. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Burton. Any other questions or comments? All right.
040Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis, supported by Mr. Johnson for the approval of funds for Churchill LMC renovation. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Yes. Mrs. Jarvis? Yes. Mr. Johnson? Yes. Mr. McFarland? Yes. Mrs. Frank? Yes. Mrs. Burton? Yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 6B, the Stevenson pool filtration replacement. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. Burton. Move that the board of education of the Leavonia Public Schools School District. approved the replacement of the pool filtration system at Stevens High School by Barazini Contracting LLC, Brighton, Michigan for a total amount of $446,200 which includes contingency. Can you repeat that um amount please? You just the amount was not correct. Okay, let me reread the whole thing. Thank
041you. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district approve the replacement of the full of the pool filtration system at Stevenson High School by Barazini Contracting LLC Brighton Michigan for a total amount of $466,200 which includes contingency support we have a motion by Mrs. Burton um supported by Mrs. Frank uh for the Stevenson pool filtration replacement and we'll also hear from Mr. Francis. Thank you. Thank you again. This is a planned sinking fund replacement. Uh this is work that we plan to do at all three high school pools. It happens that Stephvenson uh is the first of the three high school pools that we're we're going uh to be working on. Uh it it it uh is a a pretty big project. Uh Stevenson has two separated pools as opposed
042to Churchill and Franklin. So we we chose Stevenson first. And again, this is something that we had uh in our facility planning and we use those scing fund dollars for just these types of projects. So we do recommend that the board approve this project, please. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Mr. Johnson. Thank you, President Bradford. Uh Mr. Dr. Francis, can you give us a timeline on when this will be completed? The the we've been working closely with the athletic administrator and principal over at Stevenson. We do know that early August is when swim will start in the fall. So we and we've also talked with uh with regard to the use of the pool now for any PE courses, etc. So, we are going to have this project done in between when school uh
043is done using the pool this spring and be ready the at least unless anything goes ary the the plan would have it ready to go for uh fall sports. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Burton, supported by Mrs. Frank for the Stevenson pool filtration replacement system. Um Mrs. Mrs. A Costa, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Frank, 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 seven, instruction matters. Item 7A, the 2025 2022 cooperative agreement, Leavonia Transition Program. Uh, may I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mr. Johnson, move that the board of education of the Leavonia Public Schools School District
044approve the renewal of the cooperative education program agreements between the Leavonia Transition Program in the following school districts for the 2025 2026 school year. Crestwood School District, Garden City Public Schools, Northville Public Schools, Redford Union Schools, Romulus Public Public Schools, South Redford Public Schools, Van Burren Public Schools. Support. We have a motion by Mr. Johnson, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the 2025 26 cooperative agreement Leavonia Transition Program. And this evening, we're going to hear from Mrs. Sprout. Hi, Mrs. Brown. Good evening. I'm excited to talk to you tonight about the Leavonia Transition Program and all of the wonderful supports that it offers both to our students here in Leavonia and to our cooperative agreement partners. So, our Leavonia Transition Program is a program designed for 18 to 26 year old students who are working towards
045their certificate of completion. So, these are students with special education needs who continue to work on job skills, um independent living, and community readiness. Um, this program is uniquely housed at Schoolcraft College. It's an excellent partnership that we have where students are on campus with their same age peers as they're learning these skills. 50% of the school day for these students is spent at the job site. So, they learn the classroom skills, but then also um classroom uh job skills as well. And I'd just like to highlight for the board. I know we went into a lot of detail with this last week, but just I want to give a a little bit of due um acknowledgement to some of our new community partners that we have. We have had a real growth in the
046number of job sites that we're able to offer our students. So over at Laurel Park Mall, we're partnering with Olgas, the Marriott, and Leer Leer Choco Treats. Say that three times fast. Right. Um, in addition, the Garfield Co-op Preschool, Ouriteex, which is a plastic injection manufacturing site, the Katherine Drew Salon, Victory Toyota in Canton, and Victory Honda in Plymouth. So, those are all new job sites to LTP, not to mention the other 17 businesses in our community that support our students every day. So, this is a real community partnership that couldn't be done um just by the schools or just by our community partners. Um the fact that we bring in cooperative agreements so that we can work with students from outside of Leavonia is really a win-win. Um it's not a program that many
047school districts can create when they have a small number of students. And the more students we have here in Leavonia, the more opportunities we have. So if we double the number of students we have, we double the number of opportunities so that we can really specialize in for what our students are looking for. So I thank you for letting me share a little bit about that. It's a wonderful program and um I know this board is always so thrilled to help our students celebrate as they're entering the workforce. So I thank you for your support. Thank you, Mrs. Sprout. I know um at our committee the whole meeting we were going to put this on the consent agenda which usually just goes right through but we we really wanted you to highlight uh the program
048and give us much more information and and let us know about our great businesses that are partnering and and helping out our students. So we appreciate that so much. U Mrs. Burton um Mrs. Sprrow you mentioned the seven new businesses. Uh, I didn't ask you this ahead of time, so if you don't have it ready for you that ready, that's fine. But do you happen to know the the other 17 so that we can give them a shout out also for supporting our district so well? Why yes, I do. Go right ahead. Look at that. Wonderful. Yeah. So, at Leavonia Transition Program, it's a unique program. I mentioned some of our classrooms are on site at Schoolcraft College. We also have classrooms on site at some of our business partners. So um specifically Cantoro's Italian
049market, Ward Church, Embassy Suites and Trinity Hospital have given us space within their businesses where we're able to provide both instruction and on the job training. So that's a full-day commitment from each of those businesses. It's so beneficial both to the business and to our students, but it's um it's a leap of faith when you're first, you know, joining that program and it's a wonderful thing. In addition, um I'm hoping I'm not going to repeat myself, but we also have Goodwill Industries, Cedarbrook, uh Meyer on 8 Mile in Hagerty, Adot Shalom, um Cemetery, uh Granite City, and uh Big B Coffee. We have a couple of our elementary schools that our school districts partner with, uh Cintas Uniform. Um, in the past we've been at the Civic Center Library, but not currently. Um, Mod Pizza,
050and then finally, Oakmont Senior Living. Excellent. Thank you so much. And an enormous shout out to those uh those businesses because it's it absolutely is the true definition of a cooperative relationship. We couldn't have this program if we didn't have so many businesses in our community who were willing to work with us and with our students. You're so right. Thank you. Thank you, uh, Mrs. Jarvis. Thank you. Um, for those of our community who are less familiar with this program, not only is it amazing to have so many community partners working with the program and with these fine young adults, um, but when they do graduate from the program, many of the sponsoring businesses actually hire these students and they leave the program with a real paying job. um that is completely commendable and I
051hope that um our community will continue to support these sponsors who are such a huge component in this program. Thank you, Mrs. Jarvis. Any other comments or questions? Thank you, Mrs. Sprout. Thank you. Seeing none, we have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the 202526 cooperative agreement Leavonia Transition Program. Um Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Yes, Mr. Johnson. Yes, Mrs. Jarvis. Yes, Mrs. Burton. Yes, Mrs. Frank. Yes, Mr. McFarland. Yes, Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. We will move on to item uh 7B, the 202526 cooperative agreement, the Leavonia Career Technical Center. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mrs. Frank moves that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district approve the renewal of the cooperative education program
052agreements between the Leavonia Career Technical Center and the following school districts for the 202526 school year. Northville public schools, Plymouth Canton Public School, Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Plymouth Christian Academy, and Wayne Westland Community Schools support. We have a motion by Mrs. Frank, supported by Mr. McFarland for the 202526 cooperative agreement Leavonia Career Technical Center. And again, Mrs. Oh, Mrs. Sprout, right? Yeah, Mrs. Brown. I get a two for one today. Yeah. Yeah. So, the Leavonia Career Technical Center, like you said, over the last few years has welcomed cooperative agreements with students from other districts when we have spots available. So, that's the key. Those seats first of all go to our Leavonia public school students and then if there are additional seats available, we will allow students to come in with those cooperative agreements. Now,
053what we're finding is that the number of seats that we're able to open up goes down year after year because we are having an increased interest from our Leavonia public school students in those seats. Um, as a matter of fact, we have over a thousand requests for um, seats in the career tech center for next school year. So, right now we're anticipating that we'll have 15 students coming from outside districts to um, receive part of their school day at the Career Tech Center. Outstanding. Thank you. Um, any questions or comments? Mrs. Frank, I just I'm thrilled to hear that more students are taking advantage of this because I think that's one of the things that we hear often is that um in the state of Michigan in general is that students don't know the opportunities
054that are available and with in a technical um uh career center path and that we've been able to get the word out and that we've been able to pull students and allow students to take advantage of this while still attending some classes at their home school. Um, so I'm thrilled that the Leavonia public school students are filling up those seats and we're really um training our own community members and then inviting other communities in as we have availability, but I'm so excited that we are um able to reach more students. Thank you, Mrs. Frank. Any other Oh, Mrs. Jarvis, thank you. Um, I just like to commend um Principal Gray who is over at the career center. When she first came on board, she had a personal goal of getting more certifications for the students
055in these programs, and that's a goal she continues to strive toward. Most of the programs in the career center now offer some form of of certification, which means that the students who attend these programs aren't just dipping their toes in and testing the waters. This is a commitment. And when they leave that program, they are certified and ready for a career in that field. In most cases, this is huge. Uh we hear constantly about where have the vocational programs gone? Why don't schools offer shop anymore? Uh Leavonia has risen to that challenge and exceeded it. So do kudos to all everyone involved in that program. It's it truly is exceptional. Thank you, Mrs. Jarvis. Well, well said. Well said. Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Frank, supported by
056Mr. McFarland for the 202526 cooperative agreement Leavonia Career Technical Center. Um, Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Frank, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item uh we're still in we're in still seven 7 C uh the purchase of Amplify Science. May I have a motion please? President Bredford. Mr. McFarland move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district approve the purchase of Amplify Science Middle School integrated licenses for sixth, 7th, and 8th grade from Amplify in Brooklyn, New York for a total amount of $251,980. The purchase would include six-year student licenses. The teacher licenses would be provided for free with this purchase. Support. We have a motion
057by Mr. McFarland. supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the purchase of Amplify Science. And this evening, we're going to hear from Mrs. O'Brien. Hello, Mrs. O'Brien. Hello, President Bradford. Thank you. You're welcome. Um I am happy to bring this purchase of um continuing our relationship with Amplify Science for our middle school um science classrooms. This purchase uh we started in 2019, six years ago, when we uh looked at an adoption for updating our middle school science program. And as we've talked many times over the last several years with digital licenses, it's uh we're not buying a new book. The book is updated on a continuous ba basis when we buy a platform but the platform has an end life unlike a textbook which may we may continue to use. So this um after six years, our
058uh science coordinator uh Rebecca Caldwell met with the middle school science teachers, asked and surveyed them how they have been using Amplify, what their thoughts are, if they're interested in us going out and looking for something else. She also had a team of teachers look at what is out on the market currently that compares to Amplify. There are two other programs that are similarly rated by Ed reports and um they did a comparison and many of the units are the same. So it would really be learning a new platform for the teachers but with much of the same content. So teachers said they'd prefer to stay with Amplify. And so that is our recommendation is to um utilize our secondary textbook budgets which have been supported by the Wayne County enhancement mill to purchase six
059more years of access to amplify science. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments? Mr. McFarland. Just if anybody at home caught fifth grade was not included here. That's one year we we've renew that one next year. Is that correct? Correct. So when we first did our science textbook adoption, we just did sixth, seventh, and eighth. And then the following year, we adopted it for fifth grade. So next year I will bring a renewal for fifth grade amplify science. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mr. McFarland supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the purchase of Amplify Science. Mrs. Sak Costa, would you take the role, please? Mr. McFarland. Yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes.
060President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item eight, personnel matters. Item 8A. Uh, teachers for approval. Uh, may I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mrs. A. Costa. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district accept the recommendation of the superintendent and offer employment for the 2025 2026 school year to the teacher listed on the attached document support. We have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mr. Johnson for teachers for approval and this evening we're going to hear from um Mr. Abate. Yes. Hello everybody. There you are. I am here. I see you. So, the uh prospective new staff member we are presenting to the board this evening has been selected to fill a need in school psychology. She's very well qualified to fill the position
061and has been fully vetted through our extensive interview process. We're confident she'll perform at high level and represent Leavonia public schools in a manner that is consistent with our shared vision and collective commitments. The position is also included in our 2526 budget. We're pleased to be recommending this talented psychologist to join our LPS family and with your approval, we're excited to have her working with our students. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Welcome to LPS. Alrighty. Uh, we have we'll go ahead with the vote. We have a motion by Mrs. A. Costa, supported by Mr. Johnson for teachers for approval. Um, Mrs. A Costa, would you take the role, please? Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the
062motion carries. Moving on to item eight. Uh B, teacher for tenure. 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 superintendent and acknowledge that tenure status has been granted to the following teachers effective on the respective dates. Melissa Kobe, April 21st, 2025. Alyssa Lipsky, May 2nd, 2025. Support. We have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis, supported by Mrs. Burton for teachers for tenure. And we're going to hear again from Mr. Abate. Yes. Our teachers for tenure on this agenda have successfully completed the district's requirement for probationary teachers, including years of service, performance evaluations, and documentation of student growth. We've carefully reviewed all supporting materials along with recommendations of our building administration and have been verified that these
063educators should be granted tenure status with Leavonia public schools. We wish to congratulate these staff members for reaching the m this milestone and look forward to their continued success working in LPS. Thank you very much. Any questions or comments? Congratulations. Yes. Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis supported by Mrs. Burton for teachers for tenure. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 8C, leaves of absence. May I have a motion, please? 2025 through June 2026. Tara Forester, 202526 school year. Emily Gage, April 21st, 2025 through June 2025. Elena Kennedy, 202526 school year. Alexandria Sergesen, 202526 school year. Support. We have a
064motion by Mrs. Burton, supported by Mrs. Frank uh for leaves of absence, and we'll hear from again from Mr. Vate. Yes, thank you. The staff members listed in your documentation have requested leaves in accordance with their collective bargaining agreements and we ask that you please approve the leaves as presented. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Burton supported by Mrs. Frank for leaves of absence. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Frank, 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 D, resignations. That is for board information only. So we will move on to item 8E, retirements. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford. Mr.
065Johnson. move that the board of education of the Leavonia public schools school district adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for services rendered by Stephanie Amar, Jennifer Clay, Lynn Douly, Angela Eckerley, David Garbut, Mary Jarvis, Patricia Kilgore, James Kepky, Sher Ksmowski, Josephine McWills, Timothy Olsenski, Pamela Roberts, Laura Scroth, Christine Shuran, and Lisa Wlega. Well, okay, we have a motion by Mr. Johnson, supported by Mrs. Frank for uh retirement. This is always a hard one. We'll turn this over to uh Mr. Abate. Yes, it is that time of year where we see more of our prized veteran staff considering the next phases of their lives. And tonight, we honor and congratulate 15 members of our LPS family who are retiring from the district. Uh these staff members upon leaving the district take with them a combined total
066of 390 years of experience. On behalf of the administration, I'd like to thank these wonderful staff members for the dedicated years of service they provided to the students of LPS. Let me ask the board to please adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for our retirees. Thank you, Mr. Bate. Uh, any questions or comments? Mrs. Burton? Just with heartfelt thanks and this is always, as someone mentioned a moment ago, this is always so difficult because we we are really torn. I you definitely uh wish these folks well in the next chapter of their lives. Uh, but they will be very very missed uh personally and professionally. It's It's always sad to see our folks see our folks not be with us on a Monday to Friday day-to-day basis. So, thank you very much for all of
067your years of service and congratulations. Thank you, Mrs. Burton. Congratulations uh to all on this list. Uh that's a lot of years of service to the district and really really great people. We will miss miss them dearly and we wish them all the best. All right, we have a motion by Mr. Johnson supported by Mrs. Frank for retirements. Mrs. Mrs. Costa, would you take the role, please? Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Uh, moving on to item nine, hearing from board members. Uh, we have 9A. Uh, the approval of a resolution for the IDA funding. May I have a motion, please? President Bradford, Mrs. Frank, move that the board of education of of the
068Leavonia public schools school district adopt the attached resolution in support of the individuals with disabilities act full funding act which which would create a 10-year mandatory path to fully fund IDA. Support. We have a motion by Mrs. Frank, supported by Mrs. A. posta for the approval of resolution for IDA funding. And this evening we're going to hear from Mrs. Oakquist on this. Thank you, President Bradford. This is certainly a very very important item and I appreciate the board being willing to consider this resolution and um your steady support um of this over the years. Um we do have a group from K12 Alliance that will be heading to Washington shortly uh to advocate for the idea full funding act. Um IDA the individuals with disabilities act was first passed in 1975. At that time they
069promised to they committed to pay 40% of the average per pupil cost for students with special needs. At this time um they are funding less than 11% per child. And so local districts as well as um the county and the state are left to um make up the remainder of that funding. Um so we are putting forth a recommendation that over the next 10 years the funding for IDA um be put in place um to the full extent of the 40% um of the obligation which was promised uh goodness over 50 years ago. Um, so we are fully committed to meeting the needs of our students with special needs, providing the staff the support that they need. Um, in order to do so, the district itself um, spends approximately $10 million a year out of
070our general fund to supplement these costs. And these costs should be funded um, by the Department of Education and the federal government. So, um, we looked for them to finally fulfill the promise that was made 50 years ago. Um, and we will be, um, advocating through this resolution, um, that we shared publicly, uh, last Monday. Thank you, Mrs. Oakquist. And, um, this evening, uh, Mrs. Frank, uh, has has graciously, uh, said that she will go ahead and read the resolution into the public here. Wonderful. Whereas um uh restore, it's called restore full idea funding resolution. Whereas public education is the cornerstone of our democracy, providing fundamental skills and opportunity to children across the United States. And whereas in the decade following the Great Recession, students across the US lost nearly 600 billion from the state's
071um disinvestment into their public schools. And whereas prior to the CO 19 pandemic, both state and federal funding for public schools was already failing to meet the critical needs of students across the country. And whereas since the CO 19 pandemic, students have needed additional academic, social, emotional, and mental health support through targeted programming and additional personnel and enhanced professional development opportunities, new technology as well as critical updates to school facilities. And whereas research has consistently shown that increased education funding positively affects academic performance, increased graduation rates, and impacts future earnings. And whereas when individuals with dis disabilities act IDA was passed in 1975, the federal government committed to pay 40% of the average per pupil expenditure for special education and to ensure ensure that every child with a disability has access to a high quality
072education. And whereas the financial pledge for IDA has never been met and is currently funded at approximately 10.7% leaving a gap of billions of dollars needed for students. And whereas Leavonia Public Schools School District is proud to serve a student population that includes approximately 13% of students with disabilities. And whereas when Leavonia public schools costs to deliver the important services required under IDA are not properly funded by the federal government, it requires us to relo reallocate money from other programs to make up for it. And whereas the federal underfunding of IDA has negatively affected the AC academic opportunities of all students for generations, not just those with disabilities. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Leavonia Public Schools School District as followed. The Leavonia Public Schools Board of Education calls on Congress to immediately pass
073the IDA full funding act, which would create a 10-year mandatory path to fully fund IDA. And the Leavonia Public Schools Board of Education calls on the state legislature to provide adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding increases to districts for the mitigate to mitigate the harm caused by decades of underfunded schools and is signed by Maline A. Costa, Secretary of the Board of Education. Thank you, Mrs. Frank. Uh we appreciate you uh reading that resolution. It's really important. Um and we want to thank the alliance for sending that taking that with them to Congress. Um there's no doubt that uh we we have funding issues in our educational system and um one way that we can uh try to uh promote this is to write a resolution and send it off to Congress with our names on
074it letting uh them know that uh we would like to see uh better funding for our public schools um especially in the area of DA funding. Any other questions or comments? Okay, seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Frank supported by Mrs. A Costa for the approval of resolution for IDA funding. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Frank, support or yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. The motion carries. Uh, moving on to item 9B, the second reading bylaw of the board BHA code of ethics. 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 and adopt board
075policy language per the attached document for the following board bylaw BHA code of ethics. support. We have a motion by Mr. McFarland, supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the second reading bylaw of the board BHA code of ethics. And uh we're going to hear from Mrs. Oakquist on this. Correct. Thank you, President Bradford. Uh we have had the opportunity um to uh have the board update the code of ethics on an annual basis. We are very proud to be a district that has a code of ethics that our board of education commits to. Um, and this evening after your vote, assuming you are voting in favor of this, um, we would like to, um, have Mrs. Juna bring out the large copy that will be hung in the boardroom to have each board member sign it.
076So, we appreciate not only you writing this, reviewing it, updating it, but also the way you adhere to it and model it each and every day in our school district. Um, we've also had a chance prior to read this out loud twice. Um, so I think we have covered the reading of the policy. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Um, Mrs. Burton, I would just like to thank our my fellow board members uh for being so serious about this. um a number of years back uh several of us were on the board at the time that this was taken from over 10 12 pages of several different documents and we really condensed it down uh to about a page and a half or two pages or so of of very meaningful uh commitments that each
077one of us is making to our board of education. Um I am very proud to serve on a board that takes a code of ethics so seriously. So, I'd like to thank my fellow board members for participating in this and supporting it. Thank you, Mrs. Burton. I think everybody here agrees uh on your sentiments and uh we work very hard uh when we come to the board table uh to respect one another and to have a set of guidelines that we can follow um in order to help us uh our procedures to be run in a uh I guess welloiled manner for the most part. I don't know how to say it, but um we all have a lot of varying opinions sitting here at this board, but we know how important it is for
078everybody to um be able to state their opinions, but then when we come to a a decision, be able to uh rally around it and support the decision that we have made as a collective group. And and I think that is a testament to this board and we work uh tirelessly to make sure that we follow this um these rules. So, uh, thank you to everybody also that that goes that is willing to sign it and actually willing to live it and to actually, uh, do the hard work of it. So, thank you. Um, we have a motion by Mr. McFarland supported by Mrs. Jarvis for the second reading of bylaw of the board BHA code of ethics. Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Deris, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes.
079Mr. Johnson. Yes. Mrs. Burton. Yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Look at us. All right. Great job, board. Okay. So, we're going to take just a moment here. We will um get up and uh come to the other side of the table and just uh each sign that and that will I don't have my mic on. That will also be hung in the boardroom. So, we will be hanging that right up. Go ahead, guys. No need. But if you want to make another, you can just be I know Make sure you write a nice signature, everybody. It's going on the wall. Um, while they're signing, I just want to thank Mrs. Genta uh she put the poster uh together and had it made. So, thank you so much
080for doing that for us. Okay. Thank you everybody. All right. We're going to go ahead and move on to nine. We are on nine. 9 C the second reading of bylaw of the board BCB general order of business at regular meetings. May I have a motion please? President Bradford Mrs. A Costa 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 for the attached document for the following board bylaw BCB general order of business at regular meetings support. We have a motion by Mrs. Aosta supported by Mrs. Frank for the second reading bylaw of the board BCB general order of business at regular meetings and Mrs. Quest, you're going to speak on this this evening, correct? I sure will. Well,
081thank you, President Bradford. Says your name down there. Yes. Okay. We uh are recommending that we move forward with the agenda as written on updated board policy BCB. Um and that would be taking um written communications. That item um was on the agenda um previously in prior years. that's been on there for decades. Um, and that was primarily for um, prior to folks sending things email, we may get snail mail of a written communication and we would be asked to make copies here at the board office and then distribute them to board of education members at the meeting. Um, we now send um, the packet to the board um, electronically and if there are any communications we forward them to them via email. If there are written communications, we can also scan and email those.
082So you have received we don't wait until once a month at the board meeting. As soon as we receive those those get to the board. So that really is a very outdated item on the agenda. Um so the board was recommending to remove uh the item under communications written communications. And then also response to audience communication works similarly. Um when there is a question um listed on the blue slip um as you described, President Bradford, either the board president, the superintendent, or a design of one of those two um would respond to the audience communication if there was a specific question listed. Um we would not wait until that next regular board meeting um to address it. So in the rare cases where response to audience communications has been utilized um the last time I
083think we utilized it was during the pandemic when we received many communications of a similar nature or on the same topic and so we thought it was of general interest to the public. It wasn't a specific question from a single individual and so the board addressed that um perhaps in response to audience communication. removing it from the agenda does not prohibit the board president or a board member from doing so. It simply would you wouldn't have to go through that item um for which case there really it really does not take place. Um and so as the board reviewed the agenda and updated it and also consulted with MASB, those two items are really outdated in their nature and are recommended to be removed as standing items on the agenda, but of course as a
084point of privilege can be added in at any time. Thank you, Mrs. Oakquist. Um, any questions or comments? Thank you. Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. A Costa, supported by Mrs. Frank, for the second reading bylaw of the board, BCB, general order of business at regular meetings. May I have a motion? Oh, may Mrs. Aosta, would you take the role, please? Yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mrs. A Costa says yes. President Bradford. Yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9D, the second reading of board policy JBF, release time. 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
085board policy language per the attached document for board policy JBF release time support. We have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis supported by Mr. Johnson for the second reading of board policy JBF release time and we're going to hear from Mr. Mr. Green. Hi, Mr. Green. Good evening. There has been no changes to this policy since our first reading. Okay. All right. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Mrs. uh Burton, can we just read it into the record just so that Absolutely. Sure. It's very brief. I know we did it last week, but yeah, folks may not know what we're talking about. This is board policy JBF. Students release time dated April 21st, 2025. The board of education grants to the administration the right to release students from school for religious instruction up to two
086hours per week when written notice is provided to the school. And at the bottom we have legal reference to MCL 380.1561 admin rule R340.2. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Seeing none, we have a motion by Mrs. Jarvis supported by Mr. Johnson for the second reading of board policy JBF release time. Mrs. Aoster, would you take the role, please? Mrs. Jarvis, yes. Mr. Johnson, yes. Mrs. Burton, yes. Mrs. Frank, yes. Mr. McFarland, yes. Mrs. Aosta says yes. President Bradford, yes. And the motion carries. Moving on to item 9E, the first reading of board policy GAC, staff jobreated accident slashinjury. Um, and this uh we are not voting tonight on this since this is a first reading. Uh, we're going to go ahead and hear from Mr. Abate. Yes, we have uh several
087policies tonight and we are proposing a couple of um u items to be moved and condensed for the purpose of clarity and um and filling out a couple of policies to make them uh more um more direct to the point of what we're trying to achieve in those policies. So the first one is GAC. It is a staff job related accident injury and then our proposal is to add assault to that uh policy which was housed in a different policy prior. Um we think it makes sense in this spot. Would you like me to go ahead and read through the Yes, please. Okay. Yes, please. For the safety and well-being of our staff, the district shall follow established administrative procedures regarding the medical treatment and reporting of jobrelated injury, illness, or accident, including assault on
088employees. The district directs all its employees to promptly report to their supervisor all school related incidents involving injury, illness, accident, damage to property, or threatening behavior against an employee. The administration or staff is directed to immediately investigate the incident. All such incidents and the findings of related investigations shall be promptly reported to the human resources department. Okay. Um any questions? Mrs. Burton, just a point that we discussed in last week's committee of the whole meeting. This specifically is discuss is related to personnel because it is embedded in the personnel section of our policy book and uh such incidents involving students is covered but it is covered in a different section of our policy. Thank you for stating that. Um does anybody have any is everybody okay with that as a first reading and no changes?
089We'll update the date the November. Perfect. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Then I think that will go on for a second reading at our uh May meeting. Um that will go on for the second reading at the May meeting. Okay, we're moving on to item 9F first reading board policy GA EB assaults on employees. And uh again we're going to hear from Mr. Green. That would be me. Oh, Mr. Abate. Sorry about that. No problem. So GAB again is another personnel policy. This was the original policy that dealt with assaults on employees. This is what we had proposed to move into the previous policy that was just read. So our proposal here would be to remove GA AEB because it is now housed in GAC. Okay, that makes sense. All right. Okay. So then that will
090go on for second reading of board policy GAB assaults on employee will go on for the second reading in May. Item 9G, first reading of board policy GAF, workplace violence. Um, and again, Mr. Abate. Yes. Uh, we had some additional tweaks to this particular policy to add some pieces that we felt were necessary. Um, I'm happy to read through. Do you want him to read through the blue section, the added section? Otherwise, it's primarily the same. Yes. Okay, no problem. So the additional piece reads as follows. Any employee excuse me and this is this policy is a personnel policy. It is workplace violence GAF. Uh any employee applicant for employment student or board member who has observed or believes that they have been victim of such actions must promptly report the incidents to the applicable
091school administrator or the administrator of public safety. If for any reason the individual feels does not feel that they can report to the applicable school administrator or the administrator of public safety, they shall promptly report to the directors of human resources or superintendent. The school district has the responsibility for investigating and addressing such complaints. Okay. Mrs. Aosta just wanted to add have they have been in the second line. The second line. Yeah. Observe or believe they have been the victim of such a miss. Oh, they have been. Yeah, I see that. Yeah, sure. I just I did I missed that. I missed that as I went. I need to slow down. My apologies. And you will um update the date to that. Correct. Yes. Okay. Are there any uh Mrs. Jarvis? Thank you. In the
092blue section, uh, we refer to, um, employees, students, and board members. And I'm wondering if we need students in there being that this is a personnel policy and there's likely a corresponding student policy already in place. Um, in this one, Mrs. uh, Mrs. Jarvis, a bit differently is that this was also referencing um, could have observed that someone has been the victim. So it is not necessarily having the student as the victim, but they may have been the observer of such action. So I think in that case, we'd probably want to leave them just in case they were the only ones that would have seen it. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Mr. Johnson. Thank you, President Bradford. At the uh top, Mr. In the second paragraph, Mhm. it says, "Workplace violence is defined as
093an axe or threats." Yeah, I have those are crossed out. Mine shows see them. Yeah. Yeah. If you enlarge it as an act or threat of violence. Oh, okay. Because it doesn't show up very clearly. I apologize. It looks like it's still there. Okay. Yeah, perhaps for the future on those we we should turn those words where we make a single letter strikeout, we should probably turn those red as well, just for the ease of Yeah, now we can see it of reading. Okay. Any other questions or comments regarding uh this uh first reading of board policy uh GAF, workplace violence? Okay, this will go on for a second reading at the May meeting. All right, moving on to item 9H, first reading of board policy GBBA, qualification and duties. Um, Mr. Abate. Yes. Yes.
094Thank you. So, this particular policy again is is another recommendation actually to remove it was a simple line that that noted that some of our teaching staff must be certificated according to law. But as all of our teaching staff must be certificated according to law, it didn't make sense to have a separate policy to name one particular group. So our suggestion would be to remove it because it's covered by other policies and by the law. Thank you. And we like your use of the word certificated. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or comments? Okay. This will also be put on for a second reading at the May meeting. Okay. Moving on to item 9. I hearing from board members uh usually at the end tail end of our meetings here. Uh we have time
095set aside for our board members if they would like to uh say anything uh wish to speak. Uh do we have anybody this evening that would wish to speak? Mrs. Jarvis, thank you. Um, I know that earlier we recognized the accomplishments of our robotics team this past weekend, um, who were historically successful at the world's competition. Um, and I I know that we had read that the team was in 13th place worldwide, which is significant. But just to give you a point of reference, there are 3,71 teams worldwide. To be in the top 13 puts us at approximately 99.7th percentile. Wow. So again, these kids had an exceptional year. Um, one of the things that really makes me proud about the team this year is that even though they won their first local competition and
096their second local competition, there was no point where they sat down and said, "Our robots doing great." Instead, they said, "Our robots doing great. How can it be better?" and they took their already winning robot and enhanced it and improved and strove to make that robot the best it could be. And it was this attitude of how can we improve it that took them to the world's competition and allowed them to succeed so astonishingly. And I'm just really really proud of this team. Thank you, Mrs. Jarvis. Yes, it was it was exciting and we do appreciate you sending the link because I tell you to try to navigate uh a robotics website for me is rather difficult, but uh it was great that you were giving us updates and allowing us the opportunity to watch.
097So, I appreciated your your assistance on that. Um any other questions or comments this evening? Wow, that's great. All right. Um, okay. Well, at that I can go on to item 10. Um, I wish everybody a great week and uh even a better month here and let's uh let's just uh keep keep going. We're in the last stretch of the year. So everybody work continue to work hard and uh keep up the good work and we'll we hope to see you at uh well we have a study session will be next week and then the following week will be our committee the whole so please uh join us uh either in person or online uh to watch those well the study sessions uh not on camera but the committee the whole is. So please join
098us. Thank you and uh we hope you have a great evening. Good night.