001e e e good evening and welcome to the lonia public schools uh regular board meeting of March 17th 2025 happy St Patrick's Day to all out there um uh Mrs a Costa would you take the role please gladly Mrs Burton is absent Mrs Frank here Mrs Jarvis here Mr Johnson here Mr McFarland here Mrs aosta is here president Bradford here we have a quorum uh Mrs Frank would you lead us in the pledge this evening please all right I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right good evening if you'd like to follow along with us at tonight's meeting and you're joining us in person you can go out
002the doors to the left and find a copy of tonight's agenda on the table if you're joining us from home this evening you can go to our LPS website at www. lonu schools.org click on the Schoolboard tab go down to board meeting information uh find the agenda you'll be able to click on agendas and then today's date and and you'll be set to have the agenda for this evening um all right we are going to go ahead with um item three uh we'll continue on Communications um item a is our read Across America um may I have a motion please president Bradford um Mr Johnson move that the board of educ of the lonia public school school district adopt the attached resolution in recognition of read Across America during the month of March 2025 support
003support we we have a motion by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank uh for the uh read Across America and this evening we're going to hear from Mrs Jenkins hello Mrs Jenkins hello good evening president Bradford members of the board superintendent oakst um happy see Patrick's Day and uh not only does the month of March signal the um the coming of spring finally um it also means that pages are turning and minds are expanding through the power of reading in Leonia Public Schools March's reading month is a huge celebration and one that includes so many great activities from guest readers and special book character visit book character visits to schoolwide readin family activities author VIs visits Book Fairs and so much more it's a time when books come to life in our classrooms and in
004our schools on March 12th we had a special visit from Governor Whitmer who offered uh she was actually in the district offering an update on the state's free prek forall initiative uh but while she visited our beautiful Early Childhood Center she took the time to read a book to the little ones in the owls classroom and she partnered up with Clifford the Big Red Dog and gave each child a book they could take home so that was very special um many of you including myself have have volunteered uh to read to students in classrooms across the district these visits are so much fun and the kids absolutely love it as you know they have more questions than any than anything else it's it's just such a great time um as we do each year here
005in LPS uh We've drafted a special resolution to designate Dr Seuss's birthday which is on March the 2nd 2025 at and that marks uh read Across America day as declared by the National Education Association at this time I'd like to invite trusty Liz Jarvis to join me at the podium to read the resolution into the record and accepting the resolution I'm happy to welcome Leonia Education Association President Kelly Eddie vice president Megan bristley and Lea m and teacher at Johnson Upper Elementary and my friend an Sherwood come on out You' got a cop I do Leonia Public Schools Board of Education March 17th 2025 read Across America resolution whereas citizens of the Leonia Public Schools School District stand firmly committed to promoting reading as the Catalyst for our students future academic success their preparation for
006America's jobs for the future and their ability to compete in a global economy and whereas read Across America a national celebration of Dr Seuss's 121st birthday on March 2nd 2025 is sponsored by the National Education Association and supported by the Leonia Education Association and promotes reading and adult involvement in the education of our community students and whereas motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers and whereas research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school now therefore be it resolved that the trustees of the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District call upon their citizens to assure that every child is is reading together with a caring adult throughout the month of March designated as March
007is reading Month celebrated today March 17th 2025 with the Leonia Public Schools Board of Education and we had further resolved that this body recommits our community to engage in programs and activities to make America's children the best readers in in the [Applause] world on behalf of all of the teachers and staff that I represent thank you for this um as someone who taught high school for a lot of years we uh we we celebrate reading in different ways we don't get all the fun stuff at they the elementary so I'm so excited that tomorrow I'm going to be a guest reader for my first time at Webster Elementary thank you very much oh that's wonderful well thank you Mrs Jenkins oh we have a motion oh do we have any uh comments this evening sorry
008about that Bradford thank you um thank you so much ladies for being here and joining us tonight we we love having um members of our ala team here each year um and how exciting that you're going to be a guest reader um it's one of our favorite things to do and you'll see some highlights uh in the update um tonight but thank you for taking the time we appreciate Mrs Jenkins putting this together for us on behalf of the Nea um and we agree there this is foundational to the learning for our students um and it's something that we are all committed to in the district so we are grateful for our teachers who work so hard on this each and every day and we are so proud of our kiddos um who choose to
009to pick up books and immerse themselves in uh what I think is one of the greatest p times so thank you for being here and thank you Mrs Jenkins yes thank you so much any other questions or comments all right seeing none uh we have a motion by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank for read Across America uh Mrs a coasa would you take the role Please Mr Johnson yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and uh that motion is carried all right we're going to move on to item 3B one of our favorite things at our meetings our district update from our superintendent uh Mrs oquist are you ready to share with all the great things happening I am thank you so much president
010Bradford for this opportunity each month um so we're going to go ahead and put it up there on the screen and we have a lot to share so I will move quickly through these items and uh and and share just some of the great things happening uh in our schools and on behalf of and with our students so we're going to hop right in and start with um some pictures of our students learning and growing so we'll start here um we had both Franklin and Stevenson um held what they called A Night at the Museum um at the Oakmont Senior Living Center um both the students and the seniors enjoyed um socializing with one another and our students had an opportunity to display their art and and I I've know on a few different um
011updates this year we've shared our students going out to um our senior centers of which there are many in Leonia and I just love that connection um so we thank them for that okay we don't want to go backwards we want to go forward do you want to just go ahead and manually go through thank you all right um and does anyone know what March 14th was P day Pi Day Pi without the e um and so it was Pi Day and Hayes Elementary students had fun learning about what that meant um they also got a chance to try some tasty pies um but I am sure that there are many Math teachers across this District um talking about 3.14 and Beyond so always great to see that happening and nothing wrong with adding a
012little treat in there um Riley Upper Elementary held their annual pizza popcorn and paperbacks event um a great turnout from families we had a number of staff there as well um it's a great opportunity to um pick up some great books um have a treat and share that time together as a community March definitely is reading month we have such creative things going on out in the schools I know that all of you have reading dates on your calendars um you'll see some photos that have been shared with us from your visits out there but we'll start off with a Hoover that had a Candy Land Theme this year so pretty cool um I have no doubt that the our kiddos there have loved it I'm going to have a chance to see that tomorrow
013when I read um at Hoover and we also uh are moving on to Cleveland Elementary so a number of schools have done this I think it's such a cool idea so it kind of is a takeoff on the March Madness the basketball um brackets but they are reading books and taking the brackets down to the final choice of the favorite book in the school um so each grade level starts with uh two books in their bracket they narrow it down and then finally we get down to a champion um so it's all about their uh featuring their favorite books they also created um coolage created a rainforest reading Lounge for their kiddos um with their amazing art teacher um of course our Elementary art elementary teacher of the year um Mrs Stark um and of
014course many volunteers and then rosale set up some great circus decorations um across the school so you can just see the creativity of those themes from Candyland to March Madness to the circus we we also have some rock and rollers over at Roosevelt gotta love that um sharing uh why reading rocks uh over over at Roosevelt to get the kids inspired to read and we have a few more from Roosevelt of course we had our chief academic officer Mrs O'Brien has been out on the reading circuit um here are a couple of pictures with her um doing some classroom reading I had a chance to read at the Leonia Early Childhood Center to um a couple of three-year-old preschool classes and they were absolutely adorable and very sweet we read a book called um if
015you if I built a school which I thought was perfect for them because they are the first one in a new school that was built for them so um we had a good time reading together um we have board trustee Mark Johnson who has also been on the reading circuit um this was one of his stops at Kennedy Elementary um and you have been at at a number of schools throughout our district and we appreciate that yes and we have uh trusty Colleen Burton who was a special guest reader at nii ero last week or I think the week prior and and um we also had a meteorologist Paul gross um read one of his favorites no surprise Cloudy With The Chance of Meatballs uh it's a great book and perfect for a meteorologist to
016read he was over at Kennedy and he shared on his social media that he thought our kiddos had some really outstanding questions for him um so we and we had uh we were thrilled to have um coach aosta bring a number of um football players from Stevenson High School over to Randol to read you know we think they may enjoy seeing us come out there I will tell you there is nothing nothing like them having high schoolers come out they they get a chance to see them their future selves they get a chance to see these these big kids come out and read to them um they absolutely love it and I love that our high schoolers take time to do that so thank you to them uh we had a chance to hold a
017parent night um it was really to be focused on on school safety and mental health supports um so we want to thank our Student Assistance providers um especially at the high school um who partnered with Mr IU in helping to coordinate um this this special Fair we also had a retired Michigan State Trooper um Walt krider who was there on behalf of okay to say I know that's a certainly um something you're familiar with it's a hotline that runs 247 where students parents staff anyone can report um concerning behavior and then that is investigated by School staff Andor police um so we had that but there were also about 20 to 25 community resource providers who were there to help families and to give them the resources that they may need for social emotional support
018mental health support school safety questions um I want to thank uh Mike Riley um our our supervisor of our administrator of Public Safety and our school resource officers who were all there as well um to be able to help answer questions and give parents some really important information spring sports are underway that's hard to believe since we're also going to share with you some great wrap-ups from winter season um but we are getting ready and we are just uh just beginning to practice um we've had some nice weather to get started so you'll see them um getting warmed up out there a lot has been going on with our Unified sports um Frost unified basketball has had a few really great games they were uh thrown off a bit by their start because of some
019of our cold and snow days which both happen to fall on Thursdays um but they have since been joined by a pet band lots of cheering crowds and Frankie I think we shared with you a couple months ago the new Frost mascot um and I also want to share that last week a number of us were able to head out to Hillside uh School in Northville and Northville and frost basketball played an amazing game um Mr uh Abate and Mrs Keats brought our aspiring administrators group out there um because Mrs spra is going to be presenting along with her coordinators and it was a wonderful game it was a great opportunity to show The Very Best of what's happening in unified Athletics and we're very proud that members of our team and members of the
020Northville administ ministrative team will be going have been invited out to Risa in April to their board meeting to present on the efforts for unified Athletics in Leonia public schools and in Northville so we're really really thrilled to um be asked to do that Churchill got to go on the big Court I mean we think we think our courts are pretty cool but there is nothing quite like being out at LCA so they were able to go downtown um and get into the same spot that the Pistons play how cool is that so Churchill was out there for their unified game and we have um Grant and Garfield teaming up um some great inclusion work be from both of those schools and both of those staffs in administration um so grants inclusion committee was able
021to partner with uh Garfield Skill Center um and they created some new inclusion swag um for students and staff um really focusing on inclusion is cool um and having those buttons for folks to wear so thanks for that collaborative effort and it sure is cool to include others uh the day of music as you know was last week the day of music is year two um what a great opportunity for our high school orchestra students uh choir students and band students come to each of our upper elementaries and they were able to put on a performance and it happens just before the seventh grade preview night so before the kiddos are making their choices um for their schedules and classes they get a chance to try on instruments have a chance to sing in a
022high school choir they have a chance to see what all the in instruments are in the orchestra and the band it's a great opportunity it happened at Johnson and Riley and Cooper so I want to thank our music teachers for putting that together um for our upper elementaries for hosting um a number of us were able to attend uh the day of music and we were absolutely wowed by the wrapped Attention our sixth graders gave to uh the high schoolers who were performing and then in the afternoon they their class got a chance to go down and literally try on instruments and play them and get fitted um be part of the choir and be able to make that decision as an informed decision so some of the changes we've made at uh the Upper
023Elementary level to music have really paid off um and it's been a great opportunity to make sure kids are really um in the right place as they head on to Middle School we're so proud of the music efforts in the district as you know and as Mrs uh Jenkins mentioned uh the Leonia Early Childhood Center has been in the spotlight not only did the chamber awarded the community enhancement award for this year we were proud to host Governor Whitmer and her my LEAP team um at the ECC so um she was talking about the state's offerings for free preschool via gsrp as you know we have five wonderful gsrp classrooms at our new Early Childhood Center so the governor was able to share some of that information um and Dr Dodge did a phenomenal job
024along with her team of preparing to host um on relatively short notice but we're always happy to um to have our special guests there um another special guest was Clifford I'm going to tell you there was a little bit of a rival with who was the most popular kids were pretty excited to see the governor they were really excited to see Clifford too um so um really really proud to um to host that visit and to really focus on the importance of early childhood education lots of Kudos going on here we go let's go Stevenson's mock trial teams competed in the Oakland Regional competition they finished in the top three and they are now qualifiers for States way to go awesome job our Bowlers continue to just rock it out what a great addition that
025has been um to the offerings um for our high schoolers um so we want to congratulate our all of our Bowlers who qualified for States um we have Owen and Brooklyn and um I thought we had one more in there I know we Owen and Brooklyn um who both qualified and um finished with the title of regional Champion so proud of them um Stevenson we also had uh Ava young qualifying for States and she placed sixth in division one um to earn her spot and certainly Churchill is not to be left out um we have our Bowlers Joey Isabelle Carissa and Sophia who all qualified for state so we had a great showing coming out of LPS um thank you to our coaches and thank you to our hardworking student athletes we're happy to see
026how those programs have taken off um lots of gymnast qualified as well so we have our Churchill um from from our red team here um we have Navea and Sadie and then Franklin gymnast Casey um all qualified for States you know we've had some uh great state champions here over the past few years um we also had our Stevenson gymnastics team qualify for um Team state so you can qualify as individuals or for a team um so we see here Maya Chamberlain and um alvia Olen and Leah Janet and Khloe all qualified for individual um and Coach Aon pulk also Al also finished the season um with an award W for gymnastics coach of the year so um congratulations to coach pulk for that um what a great honor and here are some swim Champs
027you know what a hardworking group right they're up early they're in the water um they're giving it their all um so we want to congratulate Churchill's boys swim they were klaa East Division Champs um we had Austin who won the conference and set both a school and a klaa record so way to go um we had Josh placed as a klaa champion and Matthew Aiden and Alex um all were state qualifiers we had a couple from Stevenson as well both uh two lukees um uh Luke Catelli and Luke snowski um were awarded All Conference honors you may recognize those last names their parents are um employees of and part of our staff in LPS so congratulations to them and I know many of us were there boy oh boy were those some exciting games Stevenson
028hockey won the quarterfinals they won the semis they made it to to the state championship game and they came out as the state runnerup um for this year in division two um what a tremendous season for them uh so much excitement and congratulations to coach Mitchell and team 48 for all that you did this year I'm so proud of all of you that was a a heartbreaking loss in overtime but but to get to States is no easy feat especially in such a tough division so congratulations to them what about Phantom of the Opera Phantom of the Opera was two weekends ago huge uh congratulations to them the set was marvelous um a ton of talent uh congratulations to um everyone involved in that production and when I say there are as many people behind
029the scenes as there are on the stage stage we want to give credit to the crew um to everyone who was part of the costuming the makeup um designing it and of course um performing it and then this past weekend had The Adams Family on on the next slide um at Franklin High School um another tremendous performance um a ton of work put in not only by the staff and students but by a ton of volunteers and I'd like to extend a thank you to Franklin who um offered an invitation for any staff member in Leonia public schools to attend um complimentary uh to attend this wonderful performance so thank you to them and congratulations um to our kiddos who probably had a good night sleep on Sunday night excuse me just a second we
030want to share the Stevenson um student Senate brought home the Award of Excellence we shared with you I think last month that they had gone off to the Mas the state their state conference um we want to give a special shout out to the seniors Sophia Lily and Tucker they were chosen to present at the conference after scoring in the top three at regionals uh we had our at the in for the chamber Awards the chamber leadership dinner which took place uh just a few weeks ago um I want to first point out our Churchill student Hayden Han he was named Leona's outstanding youth he does some wonderful work and we've been able to um highlight his efforts if you'd like to read a little bit more about those um but we are so proud
031of Hayden as being uh named Leona's outstanding Youth and then uh we want to thank the chamber for highlighting our Educators and support staff of the year and then finally of course for the community enhancement award that Leonia Public Schools is given as a whole for building and um opening the new Leonia Early Childhood Center it was an honor to be part of that evening and we thank the chamber for all of the recognition that they shared that evening how cool is this so many of you know Jenna parza longtime uh Student Activities director Student Activities adviser um over at Franklin High School she was awarded the Michigan student activities adviser of the year for the entire state of Michigan um and so what a what a great and well-deserved honor for her her students
032were so thrilled about that and Mr pacy drove up to be there for the um surprise honor as well so congratulations Jen you do such terrific work as do all of our Student Activities advisers uh this the Leonia human relations commission does such tremendous work um in our city um they re recently had a on a writing contest an essay contest in honor of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and they named three of our students um Award winners and they were able to be honored um by the Leonia human relations commission at a recent city council meeting which unfortunately coincided the same night as one of our board meetings but they honored three of our students um for their work in the essay contest and each student received a $200 gift card so we want
033to congratulate them and we want to thank the human relations commission for being such important partners with Leonia Public Schools PTSA Founders Day what a great event we had the state PTA president there um lots of uh past lpsa presidents and we want to congratulate each of the staff uh members the student members of the PTSA um and the parent volunteers who were honored one of each from each school and um congratulations to Mandy our PTSA president and the whole crew for putting on this this great evening a number of um of us were also able to attend the um msboa Festival so this is this is h a big deal and this is the um end of season uh competition shall we say for our band Orchestra and wind ensembles um here's a picture
034of Stevenson but Churchill recently did the same as did Frost and homes um they received straight ones in not only performance but site reading and their overall scores um holes Symphony band and chamber orchestra also received straight ones if you've not seen that before I would encourage you to visit it's so impressive and the site reading the students get five minutes to review the piece and to um understand it and to take that in their teacher is able to walk them through that a bit and then they are asked to play that in front of the judges five minutes on a new piece um they are so impressive our musicians are unbelievable here we have us Churchill's chamber orchestra and Wind Ensemble they earn straight ones on their ratings and the symphony band earn a
035one two two in one rating placing them just shy of a superior rating and frost symphonic band and chamber orchestra both received straight ones on their ratings so they were a week later and our Warriors had a big big weekend they took it all at ketering University um they they joined the number one Alliance and they ended up in first place um so congratulations to our Warriors um both the Warriors team and the tyros team um were great competitors uh and did a wonderful job we are so proud of what they did the team also won the autonomous award um for consistent scoring um and they did so in the autonomy mode we want to recognize Junior student Captain Reagan um was selected to as a Deans List finalist and where she will also compete
036at States so a tremendous showing for our Warriors and for our tyros um and to bring home a win like this really sets them up for a big competition we have and I'll note it at the end of our um at my update uh that we have coming up at Churchill that we hope you'll attend Global Ed also Champions um so Global Ed you know has their mman competition so it's the model un um it's essentially their states it's that time of year can you tell um so they took highest honor and best prepared school at mman this year um that is they have come close many many years they you know they've been second place a number of years so um to take the highest honor and best prepare prepared School speaks volumes um
037they we also had individual student delegates who uh want to awards at the conference so just an absolutely huge congratulations um having had a a daughter participate in mman for four years I know how much work goes into preparation for this it is not for the light-hearted and um the work that they do is so impressive you would not believe they are high schoolers um if you went out there and saw them at the model un so great great work and a big congratulations to our Global Ed um team at Stevenson Deca competition Deca has uh as you know um they were in their state Deca competition um and we have many students who will be advancing to the international Career Development conference and we wish them luck so we as you might recall we
038had great success at regionals um and now at States and we have some who will be moving on to the international um sector and Mr E do we know where that's taking place Orlando Orlando a they've got a they've got to to Florida for that I don't know just a few more mark your calendar notes thank you president Bradford this was a long one um as I mentioned the robotics competition is coming to Churchill so please mark your calendar March 28th and 29th um both admission and parking are free um but if you'd like a little something from the bake sale bring a few dollars um but we would love for you to be there to cheer on our Warriors and our tyros teams um so again at Churchill High School um it will be
039in the um in the gymnasium and the kickoff is normally somewhere around 10:00 um on the first day of competition so we hope you will be there and that you will join us in the Fine Arts Festival um our the work of our talented students um thanks to the guidance of our art teachers across the district will kick off on April 4th but the projects will be there all month we love partnering with the library at the Civic Center um they able to display our students work um for the month of April but if you'd like to join us um between 5:30 and 7: that will be the opening of the Fine Arts Festival um and on the 4th the spring fashion show this is always a not to be missed event I know a
040number of us were there last year as well um the lctc fashion merchandising merchandising class um puts on its annual fashion show on April 22nd so it is a charity event um to be honest I am not certain the who the recipient of their um charity will be this year but they'll certainly share that um with us um the students help design all of the outfits and put on the show it's an entirely student L Affair um and that will be at St Mar's Cultural Center I think we've come to the conclusion thank you president Bradford wow I know there's a lot to be proud of our our students are remarkable and we're so grateful for all the things that our staff helped them um to learn about and participate in truly it is so
041amazing I mean to see all the accolades and all the hard work our students are doing every day is just amazing to me so we we appreciate our staff our students our families keep up the good work that's for sure lot to be proud of uh we're going to move on uh to item 3C uh written Communications I do not have any written Communications this evening so we will move on to item 3D response to Prior audience Communications um we do not have any of that this evening either so we will move on to item uh 3E our 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 uh for us
042to listen thoughtfully to your concerns um each speaker will have up to three minutes to speak um our vice president uh Mrs Frank will be our timekeeper tonight uh when you hear the tone go off we ask that you politely finish and wrap up your comments um we um the board a couple things is responsible for three main roles hiring and evaluating our superintendent adopting policies that give the district direction to set uh the priorities and achieve its goals and also adopting and overseeing our budget so if your comments pertain to those three roles and you would like a response to your question you will expect to hear a response from the member uh the members of our board if your comments pertain to anything else and you would like a response and you indicate
043it on your blue slip or um something or what we call the day-to-day operations of the school district uh you should expect to hear from our superintendent or a member of her cabinet team so um with that um I do have a blue slip a guest speaker this evening and um I would like to call up Steve King uh and former uh School Board member so welcome this evening tap are you're going to tap the uh microphone there oh wow yeah all right thank you I like what you've done to the place love to see all the LED lighting uh in line with March reading month I wanted to donate these uh these books to the district and I wanted to do it publicly because I wanted to publicly give a shout out to the
044people involved these are award-winning books and the author Linda 6 is a Leonia resident and the illustrator is probably the greatest artist who's ever uh lived in Leonia Dave messing he is a sculptor painter model builder he's he's just unbelievable and you might know him from art store and Moore so he's also a local business owner so I wanted to uh donate these and let you know I did read in the classroom and I just wanted to speak a little bit to that program as a administrator teacher and someone who's been in the classroom over the years a lot of dignitaries celebrities they come in and read and we have a real problem with our reading scores in the state only uh 24% of fourth graders are reading proficiently so I don't think Lancing is
045going to solve this problem I think it's up to us individually and I mean brothers sisters Aunts Uncles Grandma grandpas so I would like to see just everyday run-of-the-mill folks like myself an average Joe in those classrooms and I I I would like to see you reach out to those people bring those people in not the people that channel 4 is going to cover because we know kids learn to read by the third grade and then they read to learn going on we know how how important that is and just one last thing I went to the open house uh at the Career Technical Center and uh yeah I put a lot of money into that but I was just a little bit uh disappointed with the lack of SK focus on skilled trade the
046uh anybody who's in position of decision making has to recognize the trends that are coming in AI Quantum Computing all of this stuff is going to be taking all these jobs were now training these kids to do so we need plumbers not programmers Carpenters not coders so we have to really focus on these jobs uh I pushed for years to get welding there we don't have welding I pushed for years to get masonry we don't have masonry try to get anything done around your house talk to any Builder they can't find people to do these so I think we have to really really really focus on that and I'll just one last thing great to see bowling when I was on the board for years I tried to get bowling in this district and I
047was told can't do it no possible way and even though Clarenville had done it the whole time but that's great to see so thank you for your time I'll leave these outside for the books yes thank you so much for the books thank you all right moving on uh to item four our consent agenda uh may I have a motion please president Bradford Mrs aosta move that the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District approve the following consent agenda items as recommended by the superintendent item 5A minutes of the regular meeting of February 18th 2025 support we have a motion by Miss is aosta supported by Mrs Jarvis for our consent agenda um is there any member of the board who wishes to remove an this item off of the consent agenda
048okay seeing none uh we have the motion by Mrs aosta supported by Mrs Jarvis for the consent agenda uh Mrs aosta would you take the role please Mrs Jarvis yes Mr Johnson yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and that motion carries we are going toe and move down to item six our business matters um and 6A is the approval of LPS merchandise purchase uh may I have a motion please I one moment I'm sorry y excellent there we are uh move that the Board of Education of Leonia Public Schools approved the purchase of Leonia Public Schools merchandise from MSB incorp operated South Lion Michigan for an amount not to exceed $120,000 support we have a motion um by da Mr McFarland supported by Mrs Frank uh for
049the approval of LPS merchandise uh purchase and we tonight we were going to hear from Mrs Smith good evening mford good evening um thank you for the opportunity to discuss this uh with you at both our study session and the committee of the whole meeting I know as the board is aware um this has become a little tradition for us over the last number of years um in May it's we uh try to recognize our wonderful staff and show some appreciation for all the hard work that they do every day and um we have now for the last couple years um done an online store where staff can go online and put out a piece of apparel that is embroidered with the LPS logo and then the um staff can pick whatever they'd like and
050and then this company m BS will um create it for us they individually bag it and deliver it to each one of our schools um they've done a wonderful job for us theyve created a website where the staff can go online and pick the items um and it is uh my recommendation is shared that uh we continue to work with MBS that $120,000 uh amount came by way of uh allocating about $60 per staff member and we have about 2,000 staff members um in the event that not all 2,000 were to pick an item uh that remaining budget would go back to our general fund but we're hoping to um come to you once for this purchase and we want to make sure that we request enough funds to cover uh in the event that
051every staff member participates in our um merchandise store thank you Mrs Smith are there any questions or comments um Mr Johnson thank you president Bradford um having been in the schools reading uh at a number of schools it's amazing how many of our staff wear uh the spirit Weare they're always wearing something with the LPS logo on it and I think this is just a great program and uh I think they really appreciate it thank you Mr Johnson I I agree um it's great to have the merchandise on our staff in our buildings and out in our community so when they're out and about and wearing our logos people see it and uh they recognize it and uh it's just this has been a great program for and and a way to um uh just
052give some kudos to our teachers and say thank you for everything that they do every day so so it's a wonderful wonderful purchase um any other com comments or questions all right seeing none we have a motion by Mrs Mr McFarland excuse me supported by Mrs Frank for the approval of LPS merchandise purchase uh Mrs aosta would you take the role Please Mr McFarland yes Mrs Frank yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on to item 6B the approval of Media Center Technology purchase may I have a motion please president Bradford Mrs Frank move that the Board of Education of the lonia public schools School District accept the recommendation from its technology consultant integrated design Solutions and improve Moss telecommunication Grand Rapids Michigan
053for the media center technology project for a total amount of $183,400 always going to be some technology that has to go in especially uh in the lmc's when we go in and renovate those spaces so really what we're covering here is uh the work that Moss telecommunications be doing things such as um installing short throws speakers uh sound system doing the cabling and um which would be like the ethernet Etc so uh this is an important piece of the overall project for our summer 20 2 Bond work at the four buildings Churchill Johnson Grant and Buchanan thank you um any questions or comments all right seeing none uh we do have a motion uh by Mrs Frank supported by Mr McFarland for the approval of Media Center Technology purchase Mrs a coasa would you take
054the role please Mrs Frank yes Mr McFarland yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs Jarvis yes yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and that motion carries moving on to item 6 C the approval of Stevenson tennis court resurface project may I have a motion please president Bradford uh Mr Johnson move that the Board of Education of the leavon public school school district accept the recommendation from its owner's representative plant Moran real point and its designer foresight Design Inc and approve laser sport resurfacing Plymouth Michigan for the Stevenson High School tenant tennis court resurface project for a total amount of 96,6 190 which includes contingency support we have a motion uh by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank for the approval of Stevenson tennis court resurface project and we're going to hear from Mr Francis thank
055you again uh we had quite a bit of discussion about this last week at the committee of the whole so I don't want to go through all the details of of the why and how and all that so I will just start off by saying if anybody wants a little bit a lot more information I should say please go back and watch last week's Committee of the whole there's quite a bit of information about what occurred the anticipation that we uh had of it potentially happening Etc at the Stevenson tennis courts um so I will then just jump in now and say that uh we do support uh and and ask the board to approve these funds for laser sport resurfacing to come in and do the work this summer at the Stevenson courts again
056it's an aesthetic item but after this work in the summer we'll be having that fixed and completed and it'll look very good again um really it's it is something that like we had mentioned before it was anticipated uh it's always a possibility and and again I won't go down that too much because we had plenty of that conversation last week but I'm happy to answer any questions the board might have about it again today thank you you're welcome um does anybody have any additional questions or any comments about that project okay all right seeing none uh we have a motion by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank for the approval of Stevenson tennis court resurface project Mrs aosta would you take the role Please Mr John yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr McFarland
057yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and that motion carries moving on to item six D the approval of Paving project may have a motion please president Bradford Mrs Jarvis move that the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District accept the recommendation from the owner's representative plant Moran Realo and approve approve for the paving project best asphalt Inc ramulus Michigan this project consists of Paving projects at central Office Franklin High School and the Bentley track with a total cost not to exceed 1,450,000 project and once again Mr Francis thank you again you're welcome best asphalt was the low responsible uh bidder for this plan syncing fund project that's going to be taking place this summer summer of 2025 uh as mentioned as and as read in the um board resolution it's
058uh a portion of the central office complex here where we're at will be taking uh the paving done this summer we're trying to get the um most out of it with regard to to the paths that the buses travel we also have a section of Franklin's student parking lot and we then also have the Bentley track over at the Bentley field that we're going to be doing a simple Mill in cap and cleaning that that track up so we again do recommend this uh best asphalt for this project this summer okay thank you uh do we have any questions or comments all right I I just want to say I'm happy to see we're doing the Bentley track I think that's going to be great for our community um to utilize and um since we
059do own that it's good for us to keep that up as best we can and I think that's going to be a nice project for yes and I much look forward to seeing Mr Johnson uh in his track shoes on the Bentley track once again once again yes alumni uh Mr Johnson all right all right we have a motion by Mrs Jarvis supported by Mrs aosta for the approval of Paving project Mrs a coasa would you take the role please yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs Frank yes Mr Johnson yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries uh moving on to item seven instruction matters item 7A the approval of expulsion of of a secondary student uh may I have a motion please president Bradford Mrs aosta move that
060the board of educ of the Leonia Public Schools School District expel one secondary student for violations of the Leonia Public Schools Board of Education policies support we have a motion by Mrs aosta supported by Mr Johnson uh for the um approval of expulsion of secondary student uh Mrs aosta would you take the role Please Mr Johnson yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on to item eight Personnel matters item 8A sympathy resolution uh may I have a motion please yes president Bradford Mr McFarland move that the Board of Education of Leon Public Schools School District adopt the attached sympathy resolution for the family of Moren Mahoney support we have a motion uh by Mr McFarland uh support Ed uh by
061Mrs Jarvis for the sympathy resolution and this evening we're going to hear from Mr Abate yes hello everyone whereas the Board of Education was truly sadden to hear of the untimely death of a wonderful individual Meen Mahoney and whereas she was a highly valued member of our staff in the Leonia Public School school district as a bookkeeper at the Leonia Career Technical Center a clerk and cashier in the food services department and secretary at Stevenson High School dick Center and holes Middle School whereas she consistently demonstrated her outstanding dedication to students parents and staff through her care commitment and kindness and whereas Moren Mahoney will be remembered with great fondness and with a profound sense of gratitude for the immeasurable contributions she made to our school district now therefore be it resolved that the Board
062of Education of the lonia public school School District offers its deepest and most sincere sympathy to the family and friends of Moren Mahoney thank you thank you very much um Mrs oist thank you president Bradford I just wanted to extend on behalf of the Board of Education um and our cabinet team in the district um our sympathies to Mrs Mahoney's uh daughters um her beautiful grandchildren and her entire family um she had lots of uh cousins close friends um and is remembered by her colleagues at homes where she had spent gosh I think at least 18 years most recently um just remembered so warmly for um the person she was the huge heart that she had um her family celebrated her life today with her service um purposefully on St Patrick's Day um and uh
063she was remembered with great great fondness um and many tears uh lost someone lost far too soon at 62 years old so we extend um our really sincere sympathy and Madness um for her family and want to send our love to them along with this resolution thank you so much all right um we have a motion uh by Mr McFarland uh supported by uh Mrs Jarvis for our sympathy resolution Mrs a coaster would you take the role Please Mr McFarland yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes in that motion carries moving on to item 8 B teachers for approval uh may I have a motion please president Bradford I'm Mrs Frank move that the Board of Education of the Le Leonia Public Schools School District
064accept the recommendation of the superintendent and offer employment for the 20242 school year to the teachers listed on the attached document support support we have a motion um by Mrs Frank supported by Mrs aosta uh for teachers for approval this evening we're going to hear from Mr aate yes thank you the prospective new staff members we are presenting to the board this evening have been selected to fill needs in special education and Elementary art instruction they're very well qualified to fill these positions and have been vetted through our extensive extensive interview process we are confident they will perform at a high level and represent lonia public schools in a manner that is consistent with our shared vision and Collective commitments these positions have also been included in the 2425 budget we're pleased to be recommending
065these talented Prof profal to join our LPS family and with your approval we're excited to have them working with our students thank you very much any questions or comments uh from any board members welcome welcome welcome to LPS part of the team yep all right we have a motion by Mrs Frank supported by Mrs aosta for teachers for approval Mrs aosta would you take the role please Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr Johnson yes Mr M Marland yes president Bradford yes and that motion carries uh moving on item 8 C retirements may I have a motion please president Bradford Mr Johnson move that the Board of Education of the lonia public school school district adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for services rendered by Don guthard Cindy leka Steven Mack
066Jackin McMillan Daniel McMurtry and Kevin rukat support we have a motion by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank uh for the uh for retirements and this evening we're going to hear from Mrs Keat good evening everyone good evening tonight we honor and congratulate six members of our LPS family who are retiring from their positions with Leonia Public Schools as these staff members leave the district they take with them a combined total of 157 years of experience and service on behalf of the administration I would like to thank these staff members for their dedicated years of service they provided the students of lonia public schools and we ask the board to please adopt the attached resolutions of appreciation for our retirees thank you any questions or comments from people congratul from our board members congratulations these
067are always hard the uh retirements because we just love our staff so much we do know that they have to at some point head into retirement so we wish you all the best absolutely all the best congratulations uh we have a motion by Mr Johnson supported by Mrs Frank for retirements Mrs aosa would you take the role Please Mr Johnson yes Mrs Frank yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on to item 9A um second reading of board policy IA Career Technical education may I have a motion please president Bradford Mrs Jarvis move that the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District accept the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language per the attached document for board
068policy i d e AA Career Technical education support we have a motion by Mrs Jarvis supported by Mrs aosta for the second reading of board policy Ida Career Technical education and this evening we're going to hear from Mrs O'Brien good evening good evening thank you president Bradford you're welcome um this policy we updated and um discussed at our study session our committee of the whole and we had our first read last month no um changes have been made since it was read into the record last month thank you any questions comments seeing none we have a motion by Mrs Jarvis supported by Mrs aosta for the second reading of board policy idaa Career Technical education Mrs aosta would you take the role please Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs Frank yes Mr Johnson yes Mr McFarland yes
069Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on to item uh 9B the second reading of board policy DG deposit of funds may I have a motion please president Bradford Mrs aosta move that the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District accept the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language for the attached document for board policy DG deposit of funds support we have a motion by Miss Mrs aosta supported by Mr McFarland for the second reading of board policy DG deposit of funds and this evening we're going to hear from Mrs Smith thank you president Bradford um just as with our last policy this was something we covered at both the um study session and committee meeting at our committee meeting we did make a
070few changes but um no changes have been made since the first reading um it is rather short so I could read it for us uh tonight um it reads the treasur of the Board of Education shall deposit District funds in a financial institution approved by the board so just as it was at our last meeting great thank you so much any questions or comments um Mrs Frank just as we are going through all of these just as Mrs Smith said we these all have been at two study sessions two Committee of the holes and one um board meeting and so this is the second board meeting that they've been at so these are a really important District policies but there's not a lot of discussion because they've been discussed many many times but I just
071wanted to state that as we're changing policy and it doesn't sound like we're having any discussion we've discussed a lot yes thank you for that reminder I think we we do remind everybody for second reading especially uh those are usually final final uh policy changes all right we thank you for that we have a motion by Mrs aosta supported by Mr McFarland for the second reading of board policy DG deposit of funds Mrs Coter would you take the role Please Mr McFarland yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on item N9 C the second reading of board policy DH bonded employees may I have a motion please president Bradford Mr McFarland move that the Board of Education of lonia public
072schools School District accepts the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language per the attached document for board policy DH bonded employees support sorry about that we have a motion by Mrs aosta supported by Mr McFarland for I'm sorry we have a motion by Mr McFarland supported by Jarvis Mrs Jarvis sorry my computer went out here for the second reading of board policy DH bonded employees uh this evening we're going to hear from Mrs Smith yep thank you thank you president Brad for uh just like our last policy this is one that we've discussed at length um and no changes since the first reading at our last regular board meeting um it's another short one that I'm happy to read uh the district shall purchase an individual Bond or blanket bond that covers
073District employees involved in managing District funds thank you um any questions or comments uh from our board members seeing none we have a motion by Mr McFarland supported by Mrs Jarvis for the second reading of board policy DH bonded employees Mr zosta would you take the role Please Mr McFarland yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs Frank yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and the motion carries moving on to item uh 9d the second reading of board policy DL safeguarding District assets may I have a motion please president Bradford uh Mrs Frank um move that the Board of Education of the Leonia Public Schools School District accept the recommendation of the policy committee and adopt board policy language per the attached document for board policy DL safeguarding District assets support we have
074a motion uh by Mrs Frank supported by Mr Johnson for the second reading of board policy DL safe safeguarding District assets and again we'll hear from um Mrs Smith thank you thank you president Bradford again a nice and short one that we've had lots of uh discussion about um this board policy will now read the superintendent or designate shall ensure the implementation and enforcement of administrative procedures to safeguard all funds equipment and property throughout the district thank you any questions or comments seeing none we have a motion by Mrs Frank supported by Mr Johnson for the second reading of board policy DL safeguarding District assets U Mrs aosta would you take the role please Mrs Frank yes Mr Johnson yes Mr McFarland yes Mrs Jarvis yes Mrs aosta says yes president Bradford yes and that
075motion carries moving on to item 9e um this is a first reading of bylaw of the board BHA code of ethics uh so since it's the first reading we will we will not be uh doing a motion we're just going to go ahead and uh discuss this evening um annually our board uh revisits uh this policy our code of ethics and um as board members we read through those uh statements that we want people to know uh that we try to abide by and we abide by every meeting and we've made several um changes uh just a few in here and um I'll read I'll read the ones that we changed um moving on down to item bullet point I think it's seven uh it says I will come to board meetings prepared to discuss
076and take action on all agenda items I will read and study the board meeting information seeking clarification if needed prior to each board meeting and I is there any um changes that we would like to make on that okay all right the next one that we were looking at is on the next page the very first bullet point it says I will work with my fellow board members toward consensus when making decisions once a decision is made I will support the decision and its implementation does that sound all right it sounds good okay and bullet point number two there uh we made a few changes I recognize that while I am free to express my personal views the board president is the spokesperson for the board and the superintendent is the spokesperson for the district
077this includes all written and spoken Communications including social media all right um so there are a Ser series I think at the very end bullet point we made a small change um and took out the word will I will we took I along with my fellow board members will review revise and sign this code of ethics annually at the beginning of each calendar year I believe those are the only changes that we have made um and does anybody have any questions this will be um brought before our next regular board meeting we will adopt these this code of ethics and we will also be signing signing them I realize that it'll be at our April meeting we were just a tad bit behind this year with that but we do do this every year um
078we do go through our bylaws and and usually with a fine tooth comb and and make some changes if we need to any other questions or comments regarding the board of Ethics policy um Mrs Frank thank you I think we say it every year but I'm just proud to be on a board that has a a code of ethics that follows a standard um policy for how we act and how interact with each other and I just think it's so important that we set aside time to do this every year and to to all agree on how we're going to act and conduct our business um as a board yes I I agree with that we are very fortunate to have a board that lives and breathes uh this code of ethics and understands uh
079how to operate at every every time how to be respectful and um listen to everybody's concerns in a respectful manner so thank you to everybody that again that will be on for the second reading at our next regular board meeting all right and the next item we'll move on to we're going to page two tonight not too bad though item nine F uh the first reading uh bylaw of the board BCB general order of business at regular meetings and let me get to that policy all right so um this is a policy I'm going to get to the policy in a minute here okay so this change in in policy happens to be um our order how we order our business at a regular meeting um we feel we felt that um usually under Communications
080we have recognitions and other communication items District update from the superintendent and then you'll see an item every week that or every regular meeting that is on our agenda about written Communications and then response to Prior audience Communications um I think we've had this policy for a long time written Communications was usually because now that we have technology in place we used to get a packet of information or we might get some written Communications given to us but we just don't see a whole lot of that anymore so we were hoping that we could just eliminate uh that item off of our agenda is everybody okay with doing that it doesn't mean that we won't have any or talk about it correct Mrs um I would just um say that it it was intended and
081it it was used probably 15 or 20 years ago when someone would drop something off to our office and we would make copies of that and distribute it to every board member at the board meeting um now be with email literally never do that I I can't remember the last time we just had simply a written communication that either individual copies weren't provided for everyone um or it wasn't sent via email or we didn't just simply scan and email it to you so that was really when um I believe the district used to get receive those written Communications copy them for the board and leave them um for the board to review at the board meeting um that I don't believe has been in use for the past 15 years or so okay yeah I
082think we were all in agreement that that would be okay to do U Mrs aosta and I'll just because you mentioned both of those items I just wanted to reiterate what I stated um during our um Committee of the whole meeting that this does not change our common practice so if someone comes for instance the blue slip and indicates on the bottom that they would like um a response to their question or comment that continues to be the practice so this doesn't change the way that we operate yes correct thank you okay and the other one was response to Prior audience Communications um typically uh that is done again with a blue slip if somebody wants on our blue slip if you want a a a response written it there's a spot on that blue
083slip that says um please indicate if you'd like a response and so we usually we have found in the past that we have not had very many response to Prior audience Communications however we realize if we did have something that the board wanted to say or at our meeting we could offer a point of privilege and also address uh some type of a a response if we needed to um at any point in time so we felt that we could also pull that that response to Prior audience Communications off of our um agenda uh at our regulars Mrs oquist thank you president Bradford and again just for our our our viewing audience um that really isn't that there won't be response to audience communication it's just it would not be publicly by the board president
084at a board meeting so that response would come um either via phone um or written communication that would come from either the board president myself or a member of our administrative team and that would go um in in short order back to that person after they've spoken to the board so it would not wait until the following month for a board meeting to be addressed publicly that really was in place again for maybe something that had widespread interest so the board president may have responded to something that had come up in a prior meeting and spoken to that broadly but certainly um individuals will always receive that response yes um does anybody have any uh questions or comments about that that one also all right seeing none that will also be come for a second
085reading um at our next at our April regular meeting so we'll see that for our second reading okay all right we're going to move on to item nine G a first reading of board policy jbf uh release time and this evening uh Mr Green's going to talk about that good evening Mr good evening thank you for having me this evening yes as we discussed at our previous study session at Roosevelt Elementary in our committee the whole meeting previously on board policy jbf for a first reading this will be called students release time so that will be fixed for the second reading um and I'm going to read it for you tonight because it's quite short the Board of Education grants to the administration the rights to release students from school for religious instruction up to
086two hours per week when written notice is provided to the school and we'll have that change in the header for next week for the second reading okay great um any questions or comments regarding this this one okay seeing none again that will be on for the second reading in the April regular meeting all right uh moving on to item 9h hearing from board members uh typically at the end of our meeting if there is anything uh that the board a board member would like to uh speak about uh this is the opportunity uh do we have anybody this evening that has anything to uh say Mrs Jarvis thank you uh we do have spring break coming up and I wanted to wish all the members of our community a happy and a very safe Spring
087Break um we want you all to come back maybe tanned but at least happy and healthy thank you any others uh Mrs aosta thank you on that note um wishing um Good Luck to all of our high school students I'm not sure um I think all secondary level students I should say that are preparing for their common Summit of Assessments that are happening this week to close out their week so they can fully enjoy their spring break so wishing them all good luck excellent uh Mr Johnson thank you president Bradford I I do have a couple of things of course um as we saw on the superintendent update many of us were at the hockey game uh with Stevenson uh uh battle uh greatly Unfortunately they came up uh with a loss in overtime um
088I had been at uh the quarterfinal and the semi-final games and I just want to commend the Stevenson hockey players when they lost the the Poise that they had in losing um I think that's a reflection excuse me on their coach and the one thing I did notice when they lined up to receive their medals their Captain um went down the line and hugged every team member which I thought showed leadership uh compassion for his teammates uh this kid's going to do great um secondly um I have been in a number of the schools to read it's been just a joy I hopefully we'll do some more this week I want to thank all the schools and the teachers who allowed me to come into their school and read to their their students um the
089students are just wonderful they're inquisitive they listen they have a million questions about everything in the world um we had I had one young boy on Friday in in uh first grade no they were kindergarten I think he knew everything about the Titanic it was unbelievable the uh the facts that he knew and he could spit them out we just had a conversation about the Titanic uh so it was absolutely wonderful thank you again for letting us in I know a lot of my colleagues have been doing the same thing I know cabinet's been doing it um what a great thing for our our young students uh to make sure they they learn they like to learn um and they have us into their classes it was it was wonderful uh Mrs oist also talked
090about the Phantom of the Opera and I know Mrs uh Jarvis was there that night and my wife she is um she's a s was a singer and a dancer and that's one of the first plays that I was able to take her to and she said she thought she was at a Broadway play That's How how good it was and it's not really it's not easy to impress my wife with something like that uh so I just want to commend them every Everybody behind the scenes the scenery was unbelievable um the the performers the voices that we heard were just outstanding um the first SC that came out and saying I thought she was going to be the main person because she had a wonderful voice and it turns out she wasn't even the
091lead uh but to listen to All of the our talented students in that program was just amazing and I just want to commend them for uh for the program that they put on so uh thank you president Brad for for allowing me to spew for a few minutes no problem thank you so much um is there anybody else who would care to speak this evening well I just want to wish everybody a happy St Patrick's Day today uh and uh I hope that you did something fun and you're out having a good time we certainly had a good time here this evening uh and especially listening uh one of my special Favorite Things is listening to Mrs oquist give her update and I'm truly amazed by the the um the talent uh the academic achievements
092uh the musical Talent the art Talent uh gosh you name it we're so very blessed in our district uh to have high quality uh teachers and awesome students and families so um I just want to say keep up the great work I know it's a long it's usually a long update but there's so many great things happening and let's continue that um we have a lot to celebrate every single day in this District so um let's focus on all that good so I hope you everybody has a great night tonight and we'll see you at the next meeting good night e e for