Oxford Schools Board of Education Regular Meeting: February 24th, 2026

001Good evening and welcome to the February 24th board of education meeting. If you could all rise for the pledgece of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. James, would you mind taking attendance? >> Yep. >> President Mcdana >> here. >> Vice President Whitney. Secretary Summers here. Treasurer Gibson. Trusty Aldrid >> here. >> Trusty Aches >> here. >> Trustee Capajourney >> here. >> Thank you. Any changes to the board agenda? I have none. Okay. Any scheduled public comment this evening? I don't believe so. All right. Moving into our consent agenda. Can I get a motion for that? >> Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Support. James. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any

002opposed? Motion carries. Item five, our superintendent report with Dr. Milligan. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Hope you're enjoying the fresh snow that we've received. I know I am. That's a lie. All right, we have lots to share tonight. Um, first thing, as always, I want to reinforce and ground us in our strategic plan, our vision of empowering learners, building community, and inspiring futures. Our mission providing a supportive, safe and opportunity-rich educational experience that fosters belonging, builds self-empowerment, and prepares learners to contribute to a connected community. And finally, our core values of empowerment, belonging, innovation, and integrity. So, the overview of the superintendent's report. I have several updates I want to share just regarding a variety of things that um either have been brought to my attention or have been happening. So, I want to

003make sure I update everybody on that. Um we have our school and department highlights. Uh we have our wonderful principal from Oxford Bridges High School to share uh information about Bridges. And finally, we have Dr. Willin with the safety update. All right, there are six things I would like to update everyone on. Um the first one is our threat assessment and suicide prevention training. Um I really appreciate the time that several board members as well as community members spent with me um to share their concerns, their ideas um around the trainings. Through these conversations, we identified that we did not fully meet our commitment to provide annual threat assessment and suicide prevention training for all staff due to the need um excuse me due to the need to complete additional legally required trainings within agreed

004upon time constraints. We are actively working on a solution that rem remains compliant with the law, honors our agreements with our union partners, and fulfills our commitment to our community. The second one are our very unfortunate roof leaks, which unfortunately there are many. Um, winter weather has led to these roof leaks in several buildings. Our maintenance and custodial teams are actively managing affected areas and repairs are scheduled as conditions allow. We will be using a portion of our fund balance that was moved over to the general fund this spring and summer to make needed improvements and ensure safe, dry learning environments. The third one is our hybrid learning in Michigan. Hybrid learning combines in-person and online instruction, giving students flexibility while meeting state requirements. We value our hybrid partners and the dedication of OVA staff

005who support them. A situation last fall at a hybrid location where safety protocols were not fully followed highlighted the need to strengthen accountability and reinforce expectations. Since then, we have taken corrective action, provided additional training, and continue working with our partners to ensure student safety remains a top priority. Also, as a result, we've taken the steps to evaluate our hybrid partnerships to ensure they are mutually beneficial and we can adequately support them. The fourth thing and very exciting the ASD center um we're continuing to make strong progress planning is complete and that and key site work is underway with two enhancements. First, a brick exterior and second a covered bus area. Very exciting. Um these have been added to support student safety and comfort. Pending final budget approved by Oakland schools on March 10th, we

006will begin enrollment planning, staffing discussions, and job postings. We are very grateful to the board's ongoing support as this long envision envisioned project takes shape. Fifth is our school quality survey. Yesterday, the school quality survey was sent to students, parents, and staff. We encourage everyone to participate as our feedback is essential for helping us understand what's working well and where we can improve. This information gathered is used to strengthen our systems of support, enhance communication, and ensure the best possible learning environment for all students. And finally, our portrait of progress. Hopefully, those of you who live in Oxford area received it in mail. If not, we have them at the uh door here. So, this was sent to um all of our Oxford households last week and continuing this week. Our portrait of progress flyer

007is designed to be clear, thoughtful, transparent, and highlight key district milestones like our strategic plan, the upcoming ASD center, and our refreshed portrait of a graduate while sharing financial information and ways for families and community members to get involved. This is an opportunity to celebrate our progress, strengthen connections, and ensure everyone feels informed and included in supporting the success and well-being of every Oxford student. And now to our highlights, starting with Clear Lake. In Miss Peruski's fourth grade class, students recently engaged in a kindness activity by creating posters for Clear Lake staff members that highlighted appreciation and positive affirmations. The simple but meaningful act reflected empathy, connection, and the importance of nurturing relationships within our school community. The messages shared were thoughtful, sincere, and a reminder of how moments of care can support healing and

008belonging. Also at Clear Lake, they hosted its second annual Valentine scavenger hunt for staff in the week leading up to mid- winter break. The activity intentionally brought together staff members from different grades, departments, and roles, creating opportunities for connection, and shared moments of joy. Throughout the week, teams collaborated to collect hearts, reinforce a sense of belonging and community. The experience served as a positive reminder of how relationship building activities can support staff well-being, and strengthen the culture of care within our school. And Clear Lake is also proud to name Miss Valerie Wckle first grade teacher as the 2526 teacher of the year. Miss Wel exemplifies what it means to teach with both skill and heart. She creates a classroom where students feel safe, valued, and deeply connected. Conditions that allow children to grow, take risks,

009and truly engage in learning. Her calm presence, consistent care, and commitment to meeting students where they are make a lasting impact on young learners and their families. Clear Lake is incredibly fortunate to have Miss Wckle as a part of its learning community, and we celebrate the joy, stability, and excellence she brings to her work each day. And now for the picture of Miss Wckle. I have I have a hard time managing reading, clicking, talking. There's a lot going on here, but that's Miss Wackle. So, thank you, Stephanie, for lifting that up. Appreciate that. All right, see if we can get this together. The fifth graders at OES uh recently took center stage for their annual spelling be, showcasing not just their linguistic skills, but also their grit and academic dedication. It was a morning filled

010with impressive vocabulary and high stakes focus. Congratulations to our winner, Abigail Eber. Oes also wants to celebrate their teacher of the year. Um, they had a OES assembly filled with laughter and school spirit as they officially named Shannon Haye as our 2526 teacher of the year during a cleverly disguised surprise assembly. To keep the secret, they led the school to believe that the school was gathering to watch Mrs. Hayes class pie the principal in the phase as a class reward. The ruse worked perfectly, shifting from a messy celebration to a heartfelt standing ovation as Mrs. Haye's incredible dedication to her students was recognized. The event was a beautiful display of the appreciation and love our community holds for her. However, the pie theme didn't stop with a surprise as both Mrs. Hey and Principal Murphy

011ended the celebration by taking pies to the face. Even Mrs. Haye's own children who were there to honor her recognition took part in the pie fun. I know you got to love getting pied in the face. All right, at each month students are recognized for demonstrating character traits from our portrait of a graduate. This month, we celebrated students who exemplified open-mindedness, highlighting empathy, respect for others, and a willingness to learn from different perspectives. On the right there, they were recognizing National SRO Day and shared their appreciation for Deputy Barnes and the relationships he builds at OBMS. His present reflects a commitment to keeping our campus safe while supporting students and staff with care, consistency, and connection. We are all grateful for the role he plays in our school community. On January 6, Spanish students shared

012Rosa de Rees, three kings bread with staff to celebrate an important holiday in many Hispanic countries. Following the tradition, Mrs. Blaine generously brought tamali for Senora Croll's third hour class, sharing joy and cultural connection with students. We are grateful these moments that celebrate diversity, community, and kindness in our school. On the right there, the MS student council shared a personal Valentine with every student in the building building. This thoughtful gesture reflects their commitment to belonging, connection, and making every student feel valued. The MS PE teachers recently hosted a winter Olympics for students with teams representing different countries competing each hour. While some teams won and others didn't, every student had the opportunity to participate, have fun, and practice good sportsmanship highlighting teamwork, engagement, and community. OS students on the right there. Um this is from

013so the high school students students connecting students help spread positivity throughout the halls by creating and displaying uplifting messages fostering connection encouragement and supportive school community. All right. This is one of my favorites. Your wife was in on this. I don't know if you know that. Yeah. So, I had a chance to to go see Frozen this weekend and it was truly a joyful experience. If you haven't had a chance to go see it, please carve out time to go see it. It really was amazing. Um, it showcased students talent, their teamwork, creativity on stage and behind the scenes. Uh, we are very grateful to director Christa Price, our theater staff, and parent and community volunteers such as Vice President Whitney. I think you built the part of the stage, right? the scenery, >> snowflakes.

014>> My my oldest son did a lot, even more than me, but I we spent a lot of hours um building a lot I mean a lot of the a lot of the set. I mean uh the gallery or the main main wall and the all that was a big one that he did and and I did >> it looked incredible like the the background just everything was so incredible. So hopefully you'll have a chance to uh go see it. So, it was a powerful reminder of how the arts foster connection and belonging for students. I think the kids at who were in the play had a tremendous amount of fun. And the guy who plays Olaf, oh my gosh, he was perfect. He was absolutely perfect. All right, this month is CTE celebration month.

015Career and technical education at OS continues to provide meaningful hands-on learning that connects students to real world skills and future opportunities. Currently, 79% of OS students are enrolled in CTE courses. And during the 2425 school year, students earned more than 336 industry recognized certifications. To celebrate, students shared what they love about their CTE classes with responses highlighting engagement, pride, and purpose in their learning. With OVA, we have a couple updates from OVA. Following the passage of Michigan's House Bill 5190, which requires a half a financial literacy credit for all students starting with the class of 2028, OEIC curriculum and instruction coach Caitlyn Martin, excuse me, worked with the OVA social studies teachers Jake Troder and Jared Ostramm to develop a new personal finance curriculum. curriculum is now fully embedded in the OVA platforms and has

016received positive feedback as expressed here by three of our students um who participated in the class. The class supports student real world readiness and success. And I'm sure you were all riveted by the Olympics, both the men's and women's team winning in hockey. Both extremely exciting games that went into overtime. Well, we have our own pride when it comes to OVA because we support more than 30 student athletes from three hockeymies. USA Arena in Plymouth, Elite Academy in Brighton, and Big Bren Arena in Ann Arbor as they begin postseason competition this week. Students will compete in state and national tournaments across Michigan, Wisconsin, and Canada, balancing highlevel athletics with their academic commitments. We wish our athletes well as they represent their teams, their school, and the dedication it takes to pursue excellence both on and

017off the ice. And I'm sure you are all aware that in the men's final in overtime, every last one of those individuals on the ice were associated with Michigan. Who knew? All right, now on to our presentation. Oxford Bridges High School Principal Van Lusen, come on up. >> Can I make a comment while she's >> Yeah. >> stepping up. >> Okay. So, um, first off, uh, I know obviously I'm very appreciative of all of our our staff. Um, but Mrs. Hey is a really kind of a special one for us and she still keeps in touch with uh well my son still uh talks chats with her over that who had her I don't know a couple years ago now it's been like four or five years. >> Um so when he saw that he

018was like >> they did it when I wasn't there. >> Um he really he was like frustrated. So that's that's awesome. Very much uh very much deserved. Um, and then I just uh I wanted to go back to the play. I mean, it's just we're so proud of all of them. And when you really This is my first time kind of my actually the in the picture over my left shoulder or right shoulder, sorry, backwards. Over my right shoulder was my second born son. And so he was in the play and that's why I was involved this year and really kind of seeing behind the scenes and all the work that goes into it. both uh Christa and I mean Tony Williams puts in a ton of time, but all the Williams family puts in

019a ton of time. Um and it's just it's just awesome to see all the work that goes into it and all the I mean you certainly see uh the outcome being the the the actors. Um but what you don't see is really how much work and what the kids learned in the set building side of things either. Um so the kids put in a ton of work. my my son was welding and uh and you know using all the tools back there as well. So it was a lot of it was a lot of fun, a lot of work. Um but it was just an awesome program. So I just appreciate that. >> Thank you for your time that you put in. That's great. Sorry, I didn't know if he had access to a video.

020Altha, do you want us to have Allison go while you work on that? So, the students have a really awesome video that she's trying to to access. They did it themselves. So, uh >> oh no. Yes. No. her sign in. >> Okay. >> Well, while we're waiting for technical difficulties to resume, um fill the space with some comments here, I guess. Uh I really appreciate your updates this week. I especially appreciate uh how much time you've taken with not only us on the board but our community to uh resolve the threat assessment concern. Uh I think that that was a a very important step and I I just thank you. I I know I've already thanked you, but I want to publicly thank you for that as well. Um I appreciate the the updates on

021the ASD center and that's always exciting to see in the the Monday memo and otherwise. So thanks for for bringing that um the school quality survey. Hopefully everyone partakes in that because that that really does inform a lot of our decisions especially uh from leadership and that that helps us to determine where our community is at and in many different issues. And so, um, just would encourage anyone tell a friend, fill out the survey, please. Um, and Miss Haye and Miss Wckl, that is a huge accomplishment. So, thank you for lifting that up. Um, yeah. So, we're going to just give some feedback while we're waiting. Anybody else? Another topic. >> Just while we're filling time, can we confirm that we are live streaming? >> Yeah. We are not. >> We are not. >> Okay.

022>> Uploaded later. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can we go ahead and have Allison start? >> Let's go. Thanks, Alison. Appreciate it. Then we'll get it situated. Come on. All right, here we are. So, here is our February safety update. Um, tonight we will be talking about data from our exterior door audit as well as our front office audit. Um, we will talk about that's going to switch. So, let me get out of this email. I apologize. I was not touching. There we go. Now, we should be good. Um, and then we'll talk about some building assessment preview information, reshare the information for the threat evaluation reporting overview training that will take place on Thursday. Um, and then there is an additional bullet which I did not add and I apologize. We're going

023to talk a little bit about safe gun storage. So, um, does it want to move? This seems to be a good technology night. There we go. As a reminder, any of our safety and security items that we have for the district can be found from our anchor chart, which is always posted under school safety and security on the website. So, if there is anything tonight that you want more information about or if there's anything we've previously discussed that you want to go back to, this anchor chart is always available on the school safety and security website. So, we had our annual door audit. We'll start with that. Um, I do want to highlight Clear Lake, Lakeville, Leonard, and OEIC for their awesome job. use Kristen and her team specifically because the auditor said there was

024no way he was getting anywhere and they were very they were I keep going in and out so I apologize. They were very firm. Um Kristen and her team that that per I'm just going to use my teacher voice because this isn't working anymore. Um the uh auditor knew that she meant business because she very much said no you don't have an appointment with me and uh Miss Savage was very quick to say um would you like to make an appointment? What would be the purpose of your appointment? So there was nothing. So it was great to see those three campuses highlighted um and and then OEIC um as well. And so we do an independent door audit and front office audit because we don't want it to be someone from us. We want it

025to be truly independent. Like I've said at the last meeting, that person is unarmed because it's not a try to get you. Um there there were during the exterior door audits, there were two audits throughout the or two doors, I apologize, throughout the district that were not latched securely. We have already done reteing. We've also additionally put in maintenance orders to make sure that there wasn't anything structurally with the door that prevented it from closing. But we've had coaching conversations to follow up. That is written documentation. Um the principal and I have worked together to ensure that those things will not happen. Um including on one of those doors putting door contact alarm just because of the location. This is why we do these exterior door audits as well is because not to trick anyone,

026not to catch anyone, but to ensure that things that we're saying are happening. And if they're not, we're able to address them quickly so that if it is human error, it can be fixed that way. If there's a structural error, um, we can address it that way as well. Uh, but overall, outside of all of our doors in the district, there were two. Um, and that's not anything that can't be fixed, but overwhelmingly uh the front office was met with pleasant but firm. Um, and that was noted from our auditor as well. And so grateful for that opportunity to be able to highlight especially the the four campuses that he said um really went above and beyond to ensure that nobody was getting them. >> Wrong way again. I apologize. We're going up and down

027today instead of side to side. So, it's messing me up. Um, building assessments. This year, we have switched. In the past, um, I have come and spoke about the different tools that we used. We had eight different assessment tools that we married into one. This ranged from the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Justice, the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, the Texas School Safety Center. I am not going to claim to name all of them because I don't have them written down but we we have used eight tools into one. Part of this was because at that time three years ago I was new um and really needed to get a lay of the land. Over that time it helped our principles understand their building as a facility not just the learning space

028but what are the different components? What does the tint and the film and all of that look like? Um, in July of 2025, um, the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools released their seventh edition of their checklist, and it's a comprehensive school checklist. This is something they had been working on for two years. So, we didn't want to switch midway through knowing that this was coming. Um, and so with the district safety committee, with Dr. Milligan with our cabinet group um and our parent safety advisory board. We made the the decision that we were going to switch to this independent tool. Um we did that because it was a very the previous document was very dense at the high school. It was 900 lines. When you think about the natiatorum and the stadium, all the different

029components, this one streamlines it a little better for us. The partner alliance for safer schools used over their two-year process national experts to be able to create campus exterior and classroom interior as well as adding the digital infrastructure layer which is something we're always concerned about because the everchanging technology that exists and then a district layer. So part of that was trying to find how can we have independent evaluators as well. So with a partnership of Oakland County Emergency Manage Management, Michigan State Police, the Department of Homeland Security and the Cyber Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency, they are going with us as part of our journey to assess the buildings. This ensures that we have independent evaluators who evaluate the 16 different sectors that undergo building assessments are partnering with us and doing it in a

030way that's going to be cost-effective for us because it's free. So, we're able to tap into local resources of people who this is their job is to evaluate whether it be private schools, nonprofits, churches, businesses. Um, we have started them. We've had a couple so far. It it really is nice to have a fresh pair of eyes to be able to look someone who hasn't been in our buildings when we do our firew walks at the beginning of the year. It's great to do that because our fire marshals are used to being in our buildings. They're used to walking with us. So, as we go through that, sorry, I had to make sure it wasn't okay to say. Um, as we go through that, uh, we want to have people that are familiar looking at

031fire code type things, but then we also want to have independent people in our buildings being able to assess where we're at to identify gaps. Um, in district, we include multiple roles. Um, namely as we're going through them, while they're here walking with us, we want to include the administrator, anyone from the administrative team that would be present during that, but they would choose to. Um, we want to have facilities and maintenance, myself, um, and looking at that to discuss the key points. Now, everything in there, um, if anyone checks out the checklist, um, we may not meet everything that's there. there. For example, there is film, which we have, but there's also something called glazing. We may not have glazing because we have the film. That doesn't mean we're wrong because we don't have

032the glazing. Um, and so then taking those things that we don't have and do we need that? So, there is a tiered system that looks at ideally what is the foundation versus what is that wellthoughtout years plan idea. But within that there's also have we achieved it? Is it in progress? Is it a future need or is it not applicable? And so all of that information at a high level will be shared at a board meeting upon completion. We'll be looked at in depth by our district safety committee with our facilities master planning committee and cabinet level and determined. Now, if we were to see any gaps, um, we would want to address those very quickly. If there was any sort of hardware issues or we were noticing that there was a window broken or

033something like that, that we can we're not going to wait until the conclusion of all the building assessments to address. Um, we're going to want to put in those work tickets as well. But the overall items and and things like that as we're going through the master planning for facilities, this is going to be a piece of that. and switching to that to this tool streamlines us and aligns with our strategic plan in being able to evaluate our current systems um which is part of goal four and then also look at our facilities. So that's the the reason for the change and I'm very grateful to the Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency, Oakland County Emergency Management, the Michigan State Police for being willing to partner with us on this. Um,

034and what we're hoping because they've also additionally met with the vice chair of the partner alliance for safer schools is we're hoping that once we go through this, this is something we'll be able to bring to the Oakland County School Safety Consortium to really standardize how building facil and facilities are being addressed throughout the county to make it easier and more cost effective for our school districts that we routinely work with to have actionable items at their fingertips and not worry about who what company are they going to look for. This way it all aligns together. And then that's again the wrong way. Um this is just a reminder on Thursday Melissa K and I will be offering the threat evaluation and reporting overview training. This is part of um the master trainer program through

035the Department of Homeland Security. Um on the information that went out, it was stated that it was a three-hour training. Ours is two hours because there are some videos that could potentially be very activating for our community and we want to be respectful of that. So with the permission of the Department of Homeland Security, we were able to remove those videos so as not to activate anyone in the community that was interested in being part of that. So if you do see the three hours and wonder why ours is two hours, that was done on purpose um to be able to deliver the information in a way that's going to be beneficial to everyone. And so we did want to point out um as part of that that why we're bringing this to the community

036not only is something that we do and step eight in the National Threat Assessment Center um guide for enhancing threat assessment is step eight is training all stakeholders and this is part of what we're doing. It's also really because of the importance of bystanders. And this is a piece of a slide from the presentation of who bystanders could be considered. And what research has found um through the National Threat Assessment Center is that in 94% of averted plots, so active shooting events that did not occur, information was shared beforehand. So, we want to be able to train as many people as possible to identify concerning behaviors and warning signs so that they know where to report it, whether it is at school to a trusted adult. Thank you. The teacher voice wasn't too bad, but

037this is better at not having to project as much. Um, whether it's a trusted adult at school, okay to say, local law enforcement agencies, really wanting to be able to to live into communitywide see something, say something. Um, and so that's really where all of the people that have signed up on Thursday can come into play. We will also offer that additional session which will be in person in April at the middle school. So if you're unable to attend the webinar on Tuesday, just know that there is one more this year. Um, and then we will continue to offer these um depending on attendance and and what time works um whether it be daytime or evening sessions. So, this is just a a reminder for that. That was put in the portrait of progress for

038both of the registration links as well as the one for Thursday is here as well if anyone is interested in registering. And then the last piece was just a reminder because we did do an information update at the beginning of the year with our safe gun storage, but wanting to as we want to keep going back and ongoing learning, we just want to remind everyone that um Michigan law 28.429 requires that individuals secure their guns safely. Um that can look a variety of ways and I have some information on that. There are links here um because there is a guide Michigan now it's happening again sorry the Michigan secure now it's not going to link this is just a great technology day guys but those are linked we will make sure they're linked in board

039book appropriately so that you can access that but that's a guide from the University of Michigan school safety initiative um as as how to um discuss how to keep them secured as well as how to talk to your children about it. Additionally, how do you ask as your child is going to someone else's house? Um, we're very we're a very gun safety conscious household. So, that is something that we regularly talk about. I'm regularly giving my children pop quizzes on this to the point where even a belt was out. Um, and Addie didn't even go by it because she was like, I don't know what that is. even though there was no weapon anywhere on it, she's just so attuned to if something's different, say something. Um, and so that's a difficult conversation to have,

040especially if you're not a gun owner or you're not familiar with that. And that's okay, too. And because of that, here's here's some great links here of how to talk about that when you're when you send your child to someone else's house. How do you have that conversation? Because that can be a little uncomfortable, too. Um, and so being able to to find some great talking points of being able to not only talk to your own child about if they are um in a household where there is an unsecured gun, but also how do you talk parent to parent to someone and your other family members? And you can see that there is a variety of ways that you can store your firearm. If you do not currently have a way to secure your firearm

041in your home, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Oxford substation, has complimentary gun locks. You just have to go and ask and they they have everything for you. They will show you it. Um most gun stores when you purchase a gun, there is some sort of gun lock that is given to you as well. Um but again, you can go to the substation here in town. Um that is something that Sheriff Buchard has made available. So, I know it's not unique to just the Oxford substation, but I did confirm with Detective Barnes a couple of days ago that they do have more than enough available if that's something you're interested in. Um, if you're not able to make it to the substation, please feel free to to reach out to myself or anyone else that you

042would normally contact and we can make sure we get that for you as well. Uh, because there are organizations on our website under the school safety and security website, the BS Smart organization as well. um they've come out um whether it be parent university or different events that we've had and they've brought them as well. So we want to work with you if that is something that you are you're not being able to find or afford or anything like that. There are ways that we can we can help you with that. And so that's just a a great reminder for everyone. And that is it for this evening. So, does anyone have any questions, >> comments? Uh, thank you for lifting up the safe storage and resources. I know that can be a difficult conversation,

043but it's it's super important and education around that topic is is critical. So, thank you for for providing that. and I'm I'm really curious and interested about the um building assessment alliance and that you're bringing in I think this is great essentially it's an audit as you said um where you're assessing and identifying gaps if anything so I love that I'm glad that we are going to be the the forerunners for that for open county I did have just a question on it though is are is it strictly physical safety measures that they are assessing or are they diving into you know um policy and process adherence as well regarding safety or is it more physical? >> It's not a deep dive into our policy but there is discussion of if policies exist. >> Okay.

044>> And then being able to show that and that's more covered in the district layer. So a lot of it is showing we do have a board policy about that. They're not necessarily because we already work with lawyers and things like that and go through the board. They're not evaluating our board policies or any of the laws, but they are checking to ensure that yes, I can show you this policy does exist. >> Okay. Excellent. Well, I look forward to seeing that. Thank you for for spearheading that. >> Anyone else? Okay. Thanks, Alison. All righty. Good evening. Thank you for having me and also thank you for postponing until I could make it here. Um it is great to be back in Oxford and back at Bridges High School. It's really helped uh me get

045back into things and uh yeah. So anyway, um I am the principal, Altha Vanlusen. Um I know most of you but for the audience and I am here to present my amazing school. My purpose tonight is to provide the board and um the community with an understanding of Oxford Bridges High School, uh our goals for the 2526 school year, data that helped drive our decision- making, and lastly, but not least is our points of pride. So, a little bit about us. We have six full-time staff and a part-time counselor. We have approximately 50 students in the 10th to 12th grade. About 15% of our students attend OTH. We use a standard-based grading system as opposed to a traditional grading system, and I'll go into that a little bit more uh later. And we also have

046smaller class sizes, generally 15 to 20 students. Our referral process, all of our students come from either Oxford High School or um Oxford Virtual Academy. Um, Oxford High School requires 26 credits and over requires 24. The reason I say that is because all of our students have a credit deficit for the most part when they come to us. Um, we only require 22 credits. Where do those credits uh come from? Or should I say why don't we have as many credits is because we take them off of electives. So all of our students still meet the Michigan merit curriculum and still earn a Michigan diploma. Um both schools make referrals based on students academic as well as social emotional needs. Some of our students are not um considerably behind. However, some of their needs um

047are better served through us. And as far as acceptance, we accept them based on the above needs. Our goals for the 2526 school year. Um the first one aligns with goal one of the strategic plan and the focus is social emotional learning. Uh how we accomplish that is through our positive behavior support or intervention support. We have um integrated that this year very uh well last year we had just started out started some thinking um and this year we have implemented each month we emphasize one of our school core values to engage students and our core values are diversity, integrity, community, resilience, tolerance and collaboration. We do this by um at the beginning of the month we have a video aligning with one of those values that we show students and then we have questions

048that go along with that to get their thinking. From there we have um our teaching staff when they recognize that value as being um present in the student they get a um whatever it happens to be. This month it's a hand because it's community um they get it up on our board and at the end of the month whoever has the most of whatever that symbol is uh gets a reward of a sort or whatever the student chooses. Well, not whatever, not like a car or anything like that, more like a bag of chips. Um anyway, um and then we have bimonthly lessons uh from in the student academic success class um that are um social emotional learning lessons. And we also, and this is thank you to Miss Stephanie Mimi, we send positive notes

049home quarterly. I saw that at the beginning of the year how they do that with their students and I absolutely love it. So each one of my teachers um quarterly handwrites a note and sends it snail mail home to the student and they absolutely love it. Um second goal is aligned with strategic uh goal three of the strategic plan. This is the focus of professional development for both myself and my staff members. Um I do walkthroughs um every other week into the classrooms and then I meet with my um teaching staff monthly and then we do a feedback loop so that I can also get feedback from them. As well as Wednesdays we have professional development where we discuss not only students but um our learning processes. Lastly um our last goal aligns with goal

050one again of the strategic plan and it's um building community within the school. We do this again with the PBIS of course and then in between classes which is only five minutes or so. We have like the minute to win it game. So we just do little things in the hallway to um try and engage students. And then we are redesigning May master this year. And for those of you that don't know what May master is, it is our service learning project. It is the last month of the year, the last five weeks actually. When our seniors leave the first week of May, we is the semester for all of our students because we're so small. You have 20 kids leave, you don't have a large group left. So, we decided instead of trying to

051um continue with core content that we do our service learning project. I will let you all know when it is this year so that hopefully you can come to our gag one. Last year I tried to bring students and for whatever reason they were unable to make it. So this year I'm just going to do a little video of that. I enjoy attending Bridges High School because of our our grading system. We have a standard-based grading which is much more helpful than other typical grading systems. I find it a lot more useful to pass my classes and a lot easier to understand the work. And we also have our loved support dog, Teddy. I love him so much. He makes my day 10 times better every day and I think everybody enjoys having around every

052time. >> Bridges is a great community. Everyone is included and cared for. I chose to come back to Bridges because the classes are smaller sized and there's more time for one-on-one time with the teachers in case you need any help and all the teachers do their best to help you with anything. And the environment is relaxing and nice to talk to everybody. I love that we also have the couch room which is a place to relax and it's good motivation to get your work done so that you can be in here. I love Miss V and Miss Flores. They are so kind and always there for you. Everyone is so helpful and it's a great community to be in. Bridges High School creates a safe and welcoming environment for students. The teachers here are supportive

053and want each and everyone to succeed. Our school provides a more personalized learning environment. This community has given me another opportunity to grow. I appreciate the staff and what they have done. >> To me, Bridges is something more than just a school. It's a place where it's not a bunch of people just gathering around just to do school work. It's where it's more of like a community where we're all one one person in a way or just a big team. And Bridges has helped me like with my academics because when I went to the high school there were just so many distractions. But when you're here, you have like no distractions. There's like maybe 15 people in a class and it's pretty it's pretty uh nice here. Um, I will say and yeah, I think

054Bridges is a very great place for people when they have maybe distracting issues or ADHD because it gets them kind of more like a isolated environment and there's more one-on-one time. I like Bridges because of the little amount of people that we have here and there's more one-on-one time with teachers. Um, I also like Bridges because to add on top of that, um, the teachers are able to help you out a lot more than they are at any other school that I've ever been to. And, um, I really like Bridges because Miss Flores um, and Miss B and um, Teddy, I love Teddy. Um, also I like Bridges because of the um, the freedom that we have here. We're able to finish our work, get our work done on time. And um that's really like

055how helpful the teachers are. Bridges is a very fun school. You just have to pay attention to classes and good things will come your way and you'll get good grades and then you can do the things that you want to. I didn't tell them to say any of that. They took my phone into my office and then I just put them all together with the pictures on top. They did a great job. >> Okay, so next on our climate survey results. Um so for the last two years I've done the same areas and next year I'm going to be doing a different set um so that we can move forward on this. But um so student wear safety protocols 23 uh 92 24 and 90 25 97 we're continuing to just do instruction um like

056deep instruction twice a year. So at the beginning of the year with all the students we um tell talk about all the drills where you go you know what what kind of responses. Um we did not get to do this this fall unfortunately with me leaving. However, we usually walk to the church so that they know where that is um just so that they have as much information as possible. Um we did part we didn't walk to the church um this last month but we did talk about tornado drills, fire drills just to make sure that they are aware. Uh administration is available for concerns. 96% in 23, 90% in 24, 93% in 25. My door is always open. Um, I am always in the hall. I'm always available when students um come to me.

057We eat lunch together. Uh, lastly, learning standards and expectations are clear. 98% in 23, 90% in 24, 97% in 25. Um, we do because we're standard based, this makes it a lot simpler for teaching staff to be able to post the objectives um and what students should know. Um they do that each day and then at the end of the hour they review what the objective was similar to what we do in our team meetings to make sure that students have um leaned what was taught for the day. Um so in this one lower the better high standards high learning standards for all students in 23 that was 12% in 24 that was 24% and then 25 9% um we have really increased rigor for all students differentiating instruction to make sure that everybody um

058understands what's happening in the class teachers up and moving staff and students treat each other with respect 15% in 23, 24% in 24, 6% in 25. Um, this is just really increasing communication with the entire school. Um, acknowledging when they're doing a good job and redirecting when there's a lack of respect shown. Teachers set high expectations for all students. 10% in 23, 24 is 22%, and then 9% in 25. Um again really examining our current practices, review and revising where needed. I want to touch on the fact that um 23 and then it went up in 20 uh four and then it went back down in 25. Um in 24 at the beginning of the year we lost two staff members and they were not replaced and so I was helping in the classrooms. Um

059we lost a counselor. Um and so I took on that role also. Um, so basically what it is is we were struggling and it's evident by the numbers. Not a whole lot more to say about that. Okay. Um, so before we get to the next piece which I'm going to show you the metrics that we use uh monthly which is uh student monitoring. This is and this is just our grading scale. This is our schoolwide grading scale. And so this is when we talk about standardbased grading. We've combined um Bloom's taxonomy with um the standards. So for example, I don't you guys have that right so that you can read it. Okay, then I won't go over it. Um so this is a sample. We also have an emotional social emotional scale that we use

060as well as and you'll see one of the things that we look at is attendance. So we also use a rubric for attendance. So we have a rubric for attendance for grades and then for social emotional we like rubrics. So this is our metric system that we use. Um and this is just you know our one uh full semester. So if you can uh see September, October, November, December and then end of semester. Each um each score is weighted with the rubrics that I've talked about. And this gives us a month-by-month comparison of the total student body. So, as we would expect, when students first come in in September, they do well and then as time goes on, attendance waines a little bit. Um, and I think that's really probably one of our most difficult

061areas is student attendance star and this is our math scores. So as we can see in this our students um their growth is good however their um I guess achievement you would say is a little lower with math. are reading with reading the achievement is higher but the um growth expectation is lower or should I say yeah lower um and I believe that is because with freckle students need to read passages and then answer questions if the passage is long they're not reading the whole thing and then they're just answering questions I verified that today with a few students. That was my suspicion. Um so we're going to really assess this at the end of the school year. Some of the ideas that I have is to reward students when they put effort in. um

062whether that be reward with a grade or reward with um I don't know maybe a pizza or something like that but just some kind of reward so that they put effort in it and do a a good job on it. This is the school satisfaction survey and we do this. So, um the start, initially when we started this, we were only doing it with our brand new students that were coming from OS to see their growth. Um however, this fall I thought it'd be a really good idea to include all of our students to see where they are and and their growth with response to um the satisfaction survey. So, these are the three areas I chose. Um feelings about school measures students sense of well-being, safety and comfort in the school. Attitudes towards teachers

063of course perceptions and relationships with teachers. And confidence in learning measures their confidence in approaching and dealing with learning and their perseverance when presented with challenges. So these are three areas. Um, for the most part, each um, time we gave this, the students responded fairly, um, positively. I did note that the feelings about school seems to change in 12th grade. Um, and that, you know, they did a pretty good job in January, but I noticed with our students that senior itis was really real. It's a real thing. Um I think that their response also attitudes towards teachers is high and that just shows you know my teaching staff and their abilities to build relationships with students. Points of pride students attended manufacturing day which is actually a national day manufacturing day in October. Uh they

064did a field trip to OC and I want to just shout out to my counselor uh Kathy Dicker. She does a great job setting up field trips and having different um schools or agencies come in to speak to the students. Today we had um univers universal technical institute come in um and the students really enjoyed that. I had a couple students come to me because they they have interest in attending um school AI. My teachers has totally embraced school AI and it's amazing to watch them do that. They've implemented it into the classroom with the spaces and have students working in it. It's great. Um our student lounge in the bottom corner there, uh that's been that was done in the uh summer of last year. It was painted and then we were able to

065get some grant money and furnish it and one of my parents was able to find a couch on Facebook Marketplace that is in excellent condition. Um the kids really love that room and they love it as a privilege or a reward to be able to go in there. And then lastly, um point of pride is of course PBIS. We've really integrated that and I'm really proud of the staff for the work they've done with it. So, of course, um the top and the bottom one. Um I am grateful for the people I work with for all of you and the kindness um and love that has come my way. My staff did an amazing job um while I was out. It was a lot of months. Um Janet and her crew took over for a

066while. Christy Gibson Marshall took over for a while. and then one of my teaching staff. And my heart is filled with that because I came back to a school that was still there and kids. Um and then lastly, the growth opportunities that we've had, um implementing professional learning, um more about PBIS, uh behavior intervention plans, behavior management, etc. So that's that. >> Questions, questions, comments? Mike? >> Yeah, I've got a couple um with the you said the the 2024 year was was a struggle there, but I did notice that I mean I guess I'm assuming you had about the same amount of kids enrolled. >> Yes. And so I noticed the number of kids that took that survey was much higher. It was like 49 versus So why do you like how did we get

067more kids to take the survey I guess? >> Well, so I know last year and I don't remember 23 but when it comes in the end of April, our seniors leave like May 1st and for us that's like 20 25 students >> and so that down >> so it just kind of depends on when it comes. Yes. So, this year I'm really happy that it's early. >> Okay. Good. >> Um because we we have them all set up their computers and >> make sure see the screens. >> Yeah. >> Cool. Um >> and I I I see you're you're thinking trying to find figure out for the the local assessments like rewards or some kind of program. Are we doing that for some some kind of structure like that for attendance as well? I know

068at the elementary school level we do that. I know it's a ch I mean a lot of I know I know know there's unique challenges um for it with with your your students but obviously if they're not in the in the seats right it's really difficult for them to succeed here and so are we trying I mean I don't know do you have any kind of reward programs from an attendance standpoint >> we are currently not other than our PBIS system >> um >> in the past we have tried different things with attendance however I think being in a new building. So, what this new building provides us with is a much more structured school environment. And what I mean by that is in the middle school, you know, one it was much more I

069don't want to say relaxed because that's not really the case, but one classroom led into another classroom led into another classroom. So, they were all joined on the inside and then we had a classroom that was in the hallway. >> So, it's just the structure was felt looser even though it wasn't. We actually have a school now. Everybody has their own classroom. There's no hallway classroom. Um, and I think that's helped attendance. But the second piece of that is looking more towards now what can we actually implement because we have a good structure in place of a school program. >> Awesome. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. And I I I certainly appreciate our the rest of our staff there. I know I hear what you're saying as far as your appreciation towards them and covering for

070you, but I hope I mean a testament from the video, right? I hope that you know that doesn't mean you're replaceable. I mean, you're you're they're an awesome and a testament to the the students mentioning you and whatnot. So, >> um just because you came back to a functioning school, >> but yeah, >> thank you. >> Anyone else? Sarah, I just want to compliment you on the grading system. Um, I just think that's also as a homeschooler, we didn't really use the traditional grading system. We did more of what you're doing and I really think that helps them more >> because it's they don't have to be perfect. It >> and it but they're still success successful. So, I want to compliment you on that. >> Thank you. What I don't like about a traditional

071grading system is just that there's this huge gap, right, between um 65% or 60% and then failing and then everything else only has 10 points, >> right? >> So, I I like this system. Um it does work better for our students. >> Good. And thank you. >> Thank you. >> I just want to to also echo that. I just want to thank you so much for all your work that you champion this program that it it thrives with with your leadership and it's so great to to have you back. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. >> Any others? >> Thank you, Altha. We are so grateful to have you back and hope you are very well. >> To be back. All right, switching gears back into our board of education matters. Uh we had for

072discussion this evening uh the possibility of moving the community of the whole that was originally scheduled for our March meeting. I think governance touched on this and and brought it to be. Did you want to give any reasoning or discussion on that or I can lead? I I just >> um just still exploring opportunities of of you know other pathways for community engagement. Um so we're still looking at some suggestions and other other ways to encourage more engagement. But but yeah, as for what we have currently been doing, it hasn't really seen much involvement and participation. So, anyone else want to jump in? >> Mike, >> I mean, I think the only follow on to that is the conversation we had was getting out to the community instead of trying to get them to come

073to a location is where is the largest congregation of community members and where would that be? Would it be more comfortable? Could we engage at various locations yet to be determined? I think the feedback from the community would be huge as one one it's engagement which we need and then where would be the most comfortable place to have the conversations and if the large group is there um it seems to be more inviting right I think that's kind of what we tossed around is where could that be and then we would ask the community for any recommendations and thoughts and let us come to you versus forcing the issue like come to a specific spot at a certain time what's more comfortable that's kind of where angle took on that conversation. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm

074definitely in agreement of that. Uh I think it's it's ultra important that we hear our community and talk and have dialogue and that is for those of us who have been here for a little bit. It's kind of evolved from conversation over coffee to community of the whole. And we've really been trying to make sure that we value that input and and receive it. and we have had some really successful sessions with a lot of community involvement and that has been invaluable to us. Uh but it it has lately been pretty pretty low turnout and so I I thank you for bringing that and trying to figure out a better way to go to our stakeholders and and gather that valuable feedback. I know in conversations. Uh Ryan had had brought up the concerts in

075the park. I think that's an excellent idea. I think getting out to where people are with district kids is is going to probably be the most beneficial for us. So, um yeah, I I look forward to all of us really brainstorming that and of course with the help of admin, we appreciate your input. Um absolutely. Let's try to Let's try to get out and get that feedback as much as we can because as we said before with the quality survey, it it really does guide our decisions and and help us to to determine what our priorities are. So, thank you governance for that. Does anybody have any uh objections maybe then to removing community of the whole at this next meeting and in the interim having governance work on a plan to increase that engagement?

076>> Yeah, I don't I don't disagree with that. I know like the original concept when I brought up the community the whole stuff was like a shorter meeting of one of our two board meetings of the month and stuff and we started like preloading that with a community of the whole stuff. So yes, I I completely agree with removing that and that shorter meeting being more of like school presentations, awards stuff like not business driven. So we have one one board meeting a month that is like very heavy focus on uh moving promotions and stuff but that that shorter meeting without having that community the whole beforehand was like first readings time and stuff. So that's, you know, kind of got lost and train changed around a little bit and stuff, but I definitely wholeheartedly

077agree like to do something off uh, you know, look at a different opportunity either you got concerts in the park on Saturdays. Um, I don't know, like maybe a Friday night or Saturday night, we're we're hanging out at G's, right? Big big area there and stuff. They got the big banquet stuff and it's like, "Hey, come let's chitchat, get some pizza, food, come in, you know, some other things to do, you know, that that the kids can run and play in the arcade or Urban Air or something." I'm just trying to >> think off off the cuff here, but yeah. >> Yeah, absolutely. every one of us I know when we speak with community members, parents, staff, anyone, uh we we always take that back and toss it around and and use that to inform

078decisions. So, the more the better. So, let's let's get to where they're at and and really try to elicit as much as we can. Um the community a whole, we tried and it just didn't seem to have the appeal and it's understandable. Everyone's busy. there's there's a lot of things going on and it's hard to commit for for certain nights of the week and and whatnot and so absolutely thank you governance for for bringing that up. Uh anyone else any any opposition to it, let me say so that make sure we're we're all on the same page and and comfortable moving forward this way. I think we just need to brainstorm a little bit, think about it, like go back and maybe, you know, open it up a little bit further to maybe there's community

079members that have an idea, you know, instead of just here at the board table, hear what they say, what would work best for them, you know, we we talked about Independence Village and I'm just I'm kind of continuing my thought process there of, hey, we go there and we have coffee one time if if our our schedule's allowed for it, right? You know, because we we too have other things aside from this and stuff. So, I don't want to I don't want to commit to something and then our participation be less because it conflicts with our schedules, right? It's got to work for a little bit for everybody. >> Yep. Absolutely. And if there's anybody anybody at home that has ideas, yes, send them our way. I know last meeting one of our community members

080emailed in response for a question that yes, the answer is yes, we want that feedback. All right. Well, as of now, that is how the the schedule is posted in board book for this motion. And we did want to talk about one other potential change that um Justin could could correct on the fly if if the board wants to do this. Um we have a a conflict in June. uh Tanya has to be away and we do have the June 9th meeting that she will miss and it is very important to her that she is here in support of the board and so if at all possible she would like us to adjust our June calendar so that she can attend. um we don't have to and there is a possibility because that is a

081a financeheavy month that there could be some decisions that that affects which means that there is a a small chance and if John wants to say any briefly about it or I can just kind of off the cuff here um there there may be a possibility that we would have to call a special meeting during that month if there is a finance decision that needs to be made because of the adjustment. But as of as of now. >> So the current proposal is to remove it >> to move or move >> June 9th to June 16th. >> Okay. >> And move June 23rd to June 30th. >> Okay. Cuz I was going to say it's a five it's a five Tuesday month. >> Yeah. So there still would be two, but as I understand it,

082um John can verify, but because of deadlines with finance, putting us at the 30th might be a bit tricky and we might there's a small chance that we would have to do a special meeting just to go and approve something that he he would need. >> It's the um >> when yeah graduation >> the June the I can't remember >> normally our like 15 minute meeting before the >> Tuesday. >> There you go. >> I think that's fine. And then it's still I mean it really it kind of just it just shifts because the five Tuesday month we still have the next weekend off or next week off and it just goes back into >> I think >> yeah it it keeps the the cadence pretty similar and we're not pushing two meetings on top

083of each other where we would have one week backtoback or anything like that which as we know is is also a little stressful. So looking for some thoughts, opinions, availability on this. move it. If we need to have a special meeting, that wouldn't be any different than in this month if we had a special meeting or next month if we have a special meeting. We need something to talk about, we'll schedule meeting. So, I don't have any issue moving it. >> Yeah, I don't have an issue with moving it. I think April and May are busy enough. So, I think the >> the break will probably be a welcome break, but yeah, if we need to do something extra, then that's no problem. Okay, I'm getting the idea that be good with this. >> Excellent.

084Uh, hey Justin, would you mind changing this on board book and let me know when it's ready so that way when we make the motion it's accurate? >> Good. Thanks. Look at you quick like a bunny. Sorry. All right. Would somebody like to make that motion? >> I can. >> Thank you. >> As soon as I find a motion. Move to approve the 2025 2026 board of education schedule as presented. >> Support James. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Excellent. Thank you all for the flexibility on that. >> All right. Item B, we have our committee updates. We'll start with our government relations. Ann, >> yes, I attended this meeting. Um, for those watching that aren't aware what the government relations committee is, there's one representative from each school

085district for Oakland County. So all 28 districts um send a representative for the government relations committee for about one once a month we we meet at Oakland schools and um just provides an opportunity to to explore some advocacy and um also get a little notice on some of the the um sorry I want to pull up the legislative priorities. discussion that that was apparent at this past meeting as well as um the trying to pull up my notes here. Um the legislative update that's provided from the the Lisa Hans connect from the um Oakland schools and MASB. I just want to draw folks attention to the the governor's budget proposal that was recently announced and how I'm sure John will also make mention of it as well, but it's um got some concerning proposal to

086shift quite a bit of money away from the school aid fund um to higher education. And that's that hasn't been discussed in the media. All that that has been highlighted is the very small increase to the per pupil amount. So, it's less money to our schools and our funding already is a problem. So, I just want to continue to raise that up that that is very much a part of her proposed budget. Hopefully we see better news in the future from the Senate and the House and they realize that taking money away from K through2 is not the answer. So find the money somewhere else. Uh that was a big part of the discussion as well as uh legislative priorities um including early on Michigan. and I forwarded all of you the um the minutes

087from that meeting as well as um so early on Michigan for the early intervention program for infants and toddlers as well as CTE and STEM education making sure to include the A in STEM for the arts. So that was that was raised during the meeting and that was that was really about it. They reviewed the um the outcome and some photos and summary from the National School Board Association visit that they just did the beginning of February. So there were about 20 members that went from Oakland County for that National School Board visit to Washington DC. So it sounded like it was pretty um effective. They had quite a few visits from like our both of our senators were there and they had some individual time with them. So I thought that that sounded like

088a excellent opportunity for Oakland County to be well represented and and our concerns. So Michigan usually has a great turnout for that visit and Oakland County especially. So that was interesting. So if you wanted to review those pictures and the notes from that those meeting minutes that's in there and that's it. Thanks. >> Okay, thank you. Ann, are you >> finance update? >> Yes. Um, so uh well, first off, um this one we voted on uh the chair and I'm I remained chair of the finance committee meeting. Um we kind of briefly discussed obviously Shane being treasurer. Um, and I just want to have that as from a continuity standpoint. Uh, but also like certainly I'll be rolling Shane I whenever I get any updates I keep the board of breast up you right but

089um especially Shane I'll kind of onboard him to uh if that's something he's taking next year. I don't know if that's how the transition will be but just kind of that like he'll be my first call and then I'll make the the rest of the board aware. Um, we reviewed the three-year budget discussion and uh, as was kind of mentioned uh on the governor's uh, proposal uh, with the one one item being the foundation allowance uh, did is proposed currently at 10 uh$10,300 which is a $250 increase. Um, overall our FTE count uh should be around 100 increase. Um the we reviewed the revenue and expenditure assumptions um should should have an increase there as well. Um and so most most likely obviously these are all estimates the most likely scenarios projects a stable growth.

090Um the non-homestead resolution that we so we talked about that uh quite a bit. Certainly, we'll have the resolution that we're we're bringing here. Uh but and so that'll be um in August and if if it were, it'll get rolled right into November if needed. Uh we will at that point we did talk about um as far as if or I don't know backup plan as far as it not uh the community not going forward with it. I mean that will mean next year being a $7 million budget reduction in in our and so that's there's no easy way to do that, right? I mean that's that's reality of it. And um so that's that's we need some kind of backup plan for it, but hopefully we won't have to go there. Um and uh

091let me see debt restructuring. So, we did discuss the debt restructuring planning and so we'll be paying off the QSCB in May May of this year and um also some outstanding or pay off the outstanding uh school loan revolving fund debt and reduce our overall debt millage from 7.9 to 7 mills um by next July. So 2027 um let me see we'll go I mean environmental update as far as the um as MS we'll be we'll be going into that today John will go into kind of in depth but um we reviewed the issues we we we looked at a summary of the findings we reviewed the issues and reviewed the district's response plan to um the the uh testing the mold testing that was done at MS. Um and then uh we did touch

092base on the asbestous abatement uh that we will be going uh we will be changing we voted last week or two weeks ago last meeting on um the company and there were just some issues. So we'll be changing to the next next best next best uh quote. So we'll be that was pretty much it. Um, still under budget for for the uh the uh Oakland schools uh the the quote. So, still under budget there. So, that should be kind of seamless. I know that we've been brought up to speed on the issues there. So, yeah, that's it. >> Okay. Excellent. Any questions for finance? You said um we're going to be paying off what? By next year. >> Um >> what's that again? >> By Sorry, I just threw that in my mouth. Um >>

093the uh the outst >> this that's this May. >> Okay. >> May of 2026. >> Um the outstanding loan or school loan revolving fund debt. Um, and I don't know, let me see if I missed when John, do you have as far as timeline for that one? >> Yeah, that'll be paid off of May. >> Okay. >> July. >> Yep. There you go. >> All right. Thanks, Mike. And policy, we are bringing one policy for first reading and this one has been extensively worked on. It is our our weapons policy and as you can imagine uh this was a sensitive one and Allison really put a lot of work into this and of course going through through TRUN to get the verbiage approved and we've been wrestling with this one for a little bit and

094we finally have it to a point where we are all very confident and the safety department is confident and so are our lawyers. So um bringing you that and what the bulk of our meeting entailed is that I know I've mentioned it before we are looking to create a memorial policy here in Oxford and as you can imagine it is a very sensitive uh subject and we have decided through our discussions we've uh Mark Zuckley has been very uh great at at coming in and giving us an overview and things to consider and providing policies um from other districts as well as the standards from prepare and how that aligns and of course the trauma-informed aspect. And so under that starting guidance, our conversations have evolved. We've identified certain parts of certain policies that we

095like or dislike or want to expand upon or want to uh really explore more. But we've decided that it it is not a task that is just for the policy committee and we are looking to bring in key stakeholders into more of a focus group type of situation for this specific policy. And our tenative timeline is that our our next policy meeting in March March 5th at 11:30 actually uh we will we are inviting uh certain staff parents representative of mental health um you know safety. We've identified individuals that we think would would provide excellent input into this conversation and bring forward um many different aspects that that maybe we're not thinking about. I think that this is too big for for a three to four person group and that we really need community involvement

096in this. So, our tenative timeline on that is that we hope to have something around summer to to kind of present and and get additional feedback, but how we're going to do it for the next few months is more of a focus group style. So, that is uh that's our plan for that one. So, it won't it won't be a little while. And and again, if at any point in this process it it feels that that we need to stop, we will. We are going to to try to be as sensitive and understanding as possible throughout this to make it something that that is really representative of of how our community feels. So, if there aren't questions on that, we can we can keep moving. Okay. Uh item D, we have our first reading field

097trips. That is all in your packet. Any questions on those before I keep moving? Okay. Item E, we have the Oakland Schools Enhancement Village. And as you've all seen in the Monday memo, Tanya gave another recap of what this is and what is being asked. and for us as board members uh what what our duties are here. Um yeah. >> Yeah. Mhm. Go ahead and make the motion. >> Yep. So I move to take action on the Oakland County Schools enhanced mill resolution as presented. >> Support and all right discussion. So this is this this resolution I'm just jumping in. So I apologize. Making sure that I I understand clearly and questions for clarifications. This is for us to vote yay or nay for putting this on to the tax or not tax but the

098uh the ballot for August or November? >> August. Okay. And this is totally separate. And this is countywide, right? >> Correct. Oakland countywide. >> All right. Um I from feedback that I've talked to different people and reading into it and everything um I'm I'm not in favor of this whatsoever. This is not not a good move. Um there is a lot of things that we share across the county for for different things and the breakdown and the the different stuff. There's there's other things that are going to be coming on the ballot. um if anyone's been paying on the attention to the news and stuff and I I this is not I don't see it as being very beneficial. I mean it's it's money yes but um around it it's not it's yeah it's a

099no for me simply put >> appreciate that. Thank you. >> Any further discussion right now? >> Okay. Thank you, Sarah Beth. And >> I just want to clarify that just like James mentioned, this is countywide. So, all 28 school districts are also voting on this and doing the same thing that we are doing, discussing whether it's something that's appropriate for their community at this time, how it would benefit their community while our community would would stand to benefit from it. I I agree that I don't think this is the the time or um it's it's a hefty amount as well that would be expected of our taxpayers. So I I agree with the sentiment that this is not something I think our community would appreciate us, you know, trying to put on the ballot for

100August. But I also want to clarify, it's the entire county that is going to be voting on this. So if it does end up on the August ballot without our support, that's a possibility. So I just want to clarify that because that could be confusing that no matter our determination from this table, 27 other districts also are discussing and deciding as well. >> Yeah, thank you for that. That's an excellent excellent point because some already have, right? I know uh Rochester, I believe Nova is already in and they have voted in support of this. Um and I believe both of them are are what are what they call donor districts, right? Where their district will actually uh pay more into it than than their their schools receive. And so, um, it's been an interesting spread

101so far, but but I definitely agree that that I I don't think that this is in the best interest of our community that we we vote yes on this and put it on the ballot. It it's the timing is is definitely an issue and our our community has spoken very clear very recently and so I think that uh I'm also a no on this one. So just and this is like unlike um ours that was a non-h homesteaded which was not residents this would affect the residents right this would be everybody regard this isn't just a a business or nonhomesteaded this is everybody across the board >> correct >> okay correct >> yeah I just want to make sure that was my understanding is reading through it too but you know I I'm definitely not

102the finance guy that's why I let Mike do that stuff with John but I I think it's important to call out too that it's not just that I everybody across the board. >> Yeah. And to further clarify Ann's point is uh what would be considered a pass is 50% plus one of the student population in the county. And so if the that's how they're making the determination whether it goes on the ballot. Um, so however that falls out as far as the districts are concerned, that would make that's what determines whether it's on the ballot is is 50% of the student student population plus plus one. Um, so we'll see. And uh, and again, I typically with me like my policy is let the community decide, right? I mean, get it on the ballot and

103they can speak to it. Um, but I really do in this in this instance um think that this muddies the water of our other that we really need to kind of focus on and this will take our focus away from that. So I I'm I'm not in favor of it either. >> Any further discussion? I think for the for the sake of record and our conversations, I think what Mike just recapped and what Ann mentioned as far as our community not being ready, the visibility of what this would look like with our support is not right considering what we just went through. Um I I'm absolutely not for it either. And I think Mike to your point there there are areas where we just discussed and we just tried to have the messaging where we

104need to have some internal Oxford support for areas of where money can be best used and we just learned our hard lesson on that one. So we need to focus our efforts here and I think Ann recapped it and Mike recapped it I think perfectly as far as an explanation. Um, so no for me. >> All right. Uh, unless there's anything else, I think we're we're good to move on the roll call vote. >> Yep. So, I'm going to do a roll call vote. Uh, just to clarify, this is a little bit different than other stuff. As I call your name, a yes vote would be in support of this resolution. A no vote would be not support this resolution. Annne Anderson, >> no. >> Mike Aldred, >> no. >> Sarah Gajority, >> no. Mike

105Whitney, >> no. >> Shane's not here. James Hmers, no. Amanda Mcdana, >> no. >> All right, the naysay have it. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, all right. Moving into item seven. I don't think we have Anita saying anything else, right? We're good. Okay. Uh, Anita spoke to this at our last meeting regarding the course catalog. If anybody is comfortable making a motion, Mike, thank you. Move to approve the district course catalog as presented. >> Support and thank you. Discussion >> all that's in >> Oh, sorry. I was just going to say um a couple things that are coming up for this that she talked about. Um I know that she talked about u finding interest of you know what what it will be. It's not necessarily going to be there, but I know there's

106a couple things that are on the course catalog that my kids were super excited for and came home and before I even had the presentation from Anita, they were telling me all about it. Just pumped for it. So, um I I just I I think it's a good move. >> Good to hear. Excellent. >> All right. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah. I guess if you're excited for a certain class, get the word out with your friends so that you have support. >> We need those numbers up on that class so you can have it. >> Good point. All right. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. All right, moving into item eight. We have our budget forecast with Mr. Fitzgerald. >> Good evening. Um, as Mr. Whitney was speaking to, uh, we

107did a a review of the, uh, three-year forecast at the subcommittee meeting. So the whole report's also on board book and in your packages. Um it looks like this. Um before I start um getting into more of the detail that's what's behind it and how it works and what's the purpose. It really gets to the point of the purpose of the report itself is um it's not about the final numbers that it's projecting two three years down the road in terms of the fund balance number. It's more about the trends that it's either showing up or not showing up with the goal being it's really an early warning system is that's that they were designed to do. Um and Mike had also mentioned that there's different scenarios. What's published in your in your board book

108is the most quoteunquote most likely scenario. That's a quasi conservative approach based on known knowledge right now. So from a uh from a perspective of where the information is feeding in from you know comes from internal knowledge of the the district and operations themselves and then you've get things like the January consensus revenue estimating conference where they talk about the health of the school aid budget and the health of the general fund budget. And I believe I mentioned that when we did an update um a meeting or two back on the January conference the general fund is not in good shape. The school aid fund was looking pretty good, which naturally leads to the governor's budget proposal that moves in total $1.8 billion of costs out of the general fund into the school aid fund.

109Hence the um $250 projected increase for the foundation allowance. And our legislature does that quite a bit. Um but that said, it's the world we're in at the moment. So I will slip back into what what we've actually got before you. So, so back to why we actually do the forecast. It's about it's not about the actual numbers, it's about the trends. Usually, one thing that we have historically looked for um the trend that jumps out most, most people think wages and things like that. But we most districts have a pretty good feel for what their individual district wages are. The one thing that we all look out for is what's the retirement system, the the state or system going to do the coming years? And I touch on that a bit here, too. So,

110so from a uh revenue assumptions point of view, um we have actually built into this one uh it's 102 specifically full-time equivalent net growth. And when I say net growth, um we're doing some estimating on our seated status kids. Uh estimating on the schools of choice kids, cherry time kids, and some of the the OA kids. This is really the starting point from now until the run down to May when we finalize documents for the adopted budget that goes to the board in June for approval. There's a lot more honing of those those numbers. Um the foundation allowance as mentioned is in this used in this model is the 10,300 incorporating the governor's $250 increase. We are hoping that the house and senate come out with their versions that push that up. um the property

111tax base within within the school district which is you know predominantly Oxford Township and the village we're using a growth base that that projects the internal property tax increase generation revenue increases at 5%. So the actual taxable value and actual um values of the of the the tax base in our district are likely going to exceed the 5% taxable values are kept at 5%. So from the property based point of view that's we're expecting that that's based on information the county assessing office gives a presentation to the school districts the Oakland County School Business Association meetings was just last month they were out um giving a snapshot into the uh the current status of all the different districts and cities and townships in terms of their their tax bases. Um the investment rate we are

112using in this model is a a return of about 3.75% that's coming down a bit reflecting what's going on in the overall economy and slow slow decline in terms of shorter term rates interest rates. We are offsetting some of the decline with better utilization or better efficiency might be the better word of how much money we've got in an investable situation for a longer time period. And then u we get a sum of money passed through the ISD through open schools. The bulk of it is the P18 uh revenue that's allocated to the local districts. We expect that to grow in this model. We use 3.75% and in talking with my counterparts over at the ISTD, they're using that that rate. In the end, they when they do their distribution, they come out pretty conservative.

113Then it usually gets closer to as they come out the final numbers and final published numbers that the districts all use. they typically tick up. So, I expect this to go up a little bit because the county as a whole is going to see some some healthy property property value growth. And then the federal gr uh federal grants side of things, we go with a pretty basic 3% growth. That's pretty constant outside of the last seven to 10 year cycle where we've had all these add-on grants associated with like the pandemic and stuff. The base grants that we use in the district are basic federal grants or idea grants or title grants are pretty consistent in terms of growth that that's built into the model. The expenditure side the the biggest single biggest expenditure is

114the wage I refer to as our wage base. So those are all the wages that's paid out to all the employees of the district. And then we when we worked that into a model for forecasting, we developed what we refer to as a weighted average weight a weighted average growth rate within that wage base. So what do we think if we looked at the snapshot of the wage total wages we're paying out this year now with like for example the current amendment that's before the board, what's that going to look like next year? and we add in um and build in things in terms of what do the current union bargaining agreements dictate that's going to happen. That's built in what's going on internally this year that's not going on next year. For example, the

115uh the section u 27 L 23 27 L is onetime money that came in this year that's not going to be here next year. So that's got to be taken out of the model so we don't overstate things on the way side. things like that feed into it to create the weighted average rate in terms of how it's going to grow. Uh we see it growing at about a 3.5 a little over 3.5% from year to year. Um a weighted average retirement rate and I was touching on this a little earlier. For years now, all it has done has gone up and up and up and up with the state charges all the local districts. So, just for a quick snapshot, the retirement rate is the amount of money the state charges districts because all

116of our employees are in some form of retirement system. There's, I think, nine of them now that's operating within within the state of Michigan. And that's how they charge the districts to help feed the the funding of the uh retirement funds. So, that for years and years and years has done nothing but climb. this year the governor's publish published rates just for this coming year the she doesn't go out multi-year just just the the year that's coming up and what she usually publishes is 95% of the time on the mark with what the RS actually comes out with it actually ticked down this year I was like you sure I was I was calling back making sure it wasn't a misprint so when that feeds into the amount we feed as a rate into the

117into the forecast model it's also a weighted average rate of those nine different systems or nine different systems that multiple slices of our employees are in. So that's down to we're using a 28%. So every dollar of wage that we pay, we also pay 28 cents to the state to help fund the retirement systems of the employees in the district. Um health care costs over prior year. We also look at that in the aggregate. So from last year to this year, so what we've got budgeted and what we're looking like that's been captured in the amendment one where we think this year is going to land. We look at what next year's version of that we think is going to land. So that incorporates when rates come online, rate changes. So we we do our

118rate changing January. So that has an impact. Employee life changes have an impact. Employee turnover have an impact. Meaning if you're a retiring individual, most of our retiring individuals are in the family plan. We the new employees coming in to replace them usually in the single plan. So over time there's a a kind of a migration if you will in the aggregate. So So we do see some changes in yeartoear in that that cycle. So we're planning at about a net 5% in terms of our cost direct cost to the district. the uh the multitude with the other operating budgets. So there's a within the whole aggregate of the budget the biggest piece is handled between direct payments to employees direct wages and and their related insurance pieces of whether it's retirement and FICA and

119all those andor some contracted wages and things like our custodial programs. The the about 15% of the budget is where the all the other operating money comes in. We pay for utilities, we pay for all supplies, all the purchase services that we use in the district. That's that 15%. So in the aggregate, there's each major group has been looked at from where we're at now to where we think it's going to be and different rates are compiled in terms of what we think from past experience and some things like inflation, things like that we take into account. So that's all built in there from last year or actually from the year we're in now to next year on the operating transfer out piece. That's kind of a a a big change because in the amendment

120one, the board's authorizing to use some fund balance to take care of some facility issues and things like that. So that money is coming out this year into a capital projects fund. That's not happening next year. So from a variance point of view, you can see that in your report, too. So that that kind of tips it down in terms of what's actually going out next year. Then you can see it climbing again. and that's used to represent our current state. Um, as much as I want to think we'll have a, you know, a syncing fund online in a year or two or bond or whatever, we don't have that information now. So, from a fiduciary point of view, from the planning and projection point of view, we got a plan as as the point

121of view that we need to generate funding to deal with high level or high priority facility issues using the general fund. So that that's built into all that to say that uh from a uh a model perspective and it's in your in your reports there's a you know the different schedule that's got the numbers on it and that kind of stuff but just from a speaking it from a from a summary point of view under the the the forecast results for the most likely scenario. From a summary point of view it it corroborates the stable operating surplus in the range for the next three years. on on paper the range is about 158,000 growing to 306,000 over the next three years from out. Now the specific number of 158,000 or 306,000 is not the important

122part. The important part there is that based on what we've got into the model we we're comfortable it's pretty conservative and pretty predictable. Now that's not to say who knows what could happen a year out of the blue. We can't account for that. But what this number does tell us is that under the most likely scenario, we're pretty stable operating wise and it's slightly growing up. So it's going from the 158 to 306. So that's a slightly that's a good trend, so to speak. I was touching on earlier. That's one of the things we look for for outcome. Retirement rates, as I touched on earlier, look like they're stabilizing and and god forbid they're actually coming down a little bit. And then uh no on the flip side there was no negative trends identified other

123than what we're all well aware of and again and usually the biggest negative trend we keep an eye on is the retirement rate piece and one of the things that's kind of wrapping up in this particular year has really come online and really focused on and we will continue that forward is the the our approach to our strategic um strategic plan goal four one of the sub goals 4.1 and 4.4 4 directly both engage a active management of operating costs particularly 4.4 before when it comes to the constant relooking at how we're doing things and I I we've done that a lot this year. I expect we'll be doing that over the next few years. So that kind of helps cost control if you will get more efficient and streamlined whether it's through consolidated of

124ser consolidation of services or outright elimination of them things like that. So um in that perspective if you got any questions there is another scenario I want to talk about real quickly too if you've got some questions on the most likely The summary is that it looks like we're pretty stable short of something completely out of the blue from legislature this year on which based on last year is not completely out of the question. So we do when we do this this modeling so to speak, we do tweak things up and down and we come from you know what's the what would be the great high-end scenario? How would that look like? We change some of the assumptions. what's the worst case scenario? Um, change some of the assumptions. So, one of the worst case

125scenarios that we modeled that are that has a probability that's greater than zero is as we've witnessed, we were just talking a little earlier about the community's non-support of the non-h homestead millage recently. So we mo we built into the model if we don't renew the expiring mill it expires December of calendar 26. So just a little clarification on what you you had mentioned Mike too that because it expires on December 26 we'll be able to levy July 1 of 20 calendar 26 which is our next technical school year. It's the year after that. If it expires we're going to have a $7 million problem. So if you were to look at the model, you'd see instead of going 158,000 positive on the forecast or on the forecast operating surplus lines, year two drops to

126minus 6.9 million in the next year's the same way. So basically the two years after next year we'd be out of fund balance. So that's one of the modeling we do to give us a heads up as to what could really happen. That said, that's why there's also on the agenda tonight. We'll be and I'm kind of jumping ahead a little bit here, but we'll be talking about ballot question for non-h homestead renewal approach again. But if worst case scenario occurs, I can assure you that uh if the community decided there's no way they're continue they're going to have support and and I don't believe that. I think the community is going to understand and we're going to do a better job of helping them understand how that village works and how it's be built

127in as part of the actual funding mechanism of the state for the kids in the school in terms of the foundation allowance. I'm I I do believe that they will understand that and support the millillage but in the scenario that would not we would be in a position where we'd have to reduce budgets by about $7 million in a rather quick fashion. So before going down the road of breaking that down to what that looks like, um I would like to rather open up the questions if you got any other questions about the most likely scenario, the not good scenario of for example the millage issue. >> Any questions, comments on that? Okay. And can you verify? I I believe there are zero districts in Michigan that don't have a non-h homestead. Right. >> Correct.

128>> So, >> correct. And and >> this would make Oxford the only district in Michigan if our voters do not pass that. >> Correct. >> And so impressing upon that. >> Yep. So, and typically districts will so the cases of the few cases where districts do not support them first time around when they come back again and do a better you know more explanation and better understanding it they usually takes care of itself and I believe that we're going to be in that situation but I also have to be prepared if we're not in that situation and things just get to where we have to make some hard decisions. So, so I do I do notice that literally the next uh one, two, three, four, five items on the agenda. Do you want me just

129moved right into them or >> Just keep it rolling. Okay. So, next item up is a >> Homestead Village uh resolutions. Um there's actually two resolutions in there. one for putting a a ballot question to very very much the same as that was in this past election to restore renew and restore the non-homestead millillage on the August 4th I think it's August 4th election and there's an additional one for putting the same question on the November for 3rd or 4th election the strategy there is we'll go out to vote again in August if we're not successful again we can immediately turn around, get back on the ballot for November, November's vote because there's a time time frame, real tight time frame between the two and the wording in the November resolution makes it clear that

130it's only valid if the August resolution is executed and the the vote doesn't succeed and then the November resolution becomes valid. So that that's on the board's agenda. It's first reading tonight. Any questions on that one? >> It was asked, but just to reiterate, so either one of these, I know we had gotten some feedback from the community last go around as far as being the only uh item on the ballot and t and taking that cost on and, you know, causing our our our community to use those resources to run the ballot and all of that. um these there's there's other ballot initiatives. It's a ginatorial election and so neither of these will cost the district um at at this year and all of that. >> Yes, both both are piggy what's the terms

131used piggyback election. >> Um the August one I know the November one is 100% 100% covered in cost meaning there's no direct cost of the district. Um it's my understanding that the August one because it's primary should fall under the same thing. Um, I'm going to verify that there's no oddity to it, but because it's primary based, it's it should be a no cost vote on either August or November. Next, um the second reading for the amendment once um in front of the board as well. Um in lie of going through all the the presentation and verbiage on that again it's really a request for um approval as presented the last board meeting. >> I'll make a motion and we can discuss. I move to approve the fiscal year 2025 2026 budget amendment one as

132presented. discussion. All those in favor >> I move into item D. >> The uh next one up is the bond. It's a bond redemption resolution. We currently have bonded debt from a 2010 bond that the school district engaged in is called it's called the uh it's called a QAB by its nickname. It's a qualified school construction bond. It's the category bond that came out at that time in 2010 the federal government was subsidizing interest rates. So with the intention if you remember the time frame the economy was not doing well. Then the intention was to stimulate the economy by getting school districts to do big projects. So we were the district here was involved with that. Um the way it's structured, it's designed to ex um to actually mature not this May but a year

133from this May. And there's a a process in which how the accumulated payment process for this is a specialized bond. It's it the investments of the district associated that's been set aside to pay this off has outperformed the actual expectations of when the bond payment schedule if you will was put together. So, that's allowed us to be in a position to pay it early, which is good for the community. It saved the community about 190,000 in interest um aggregate interest payments associated with what debt bills that the whole district pays for using, you know, the debt levy tax pays for all that debt service. Um that will be happening in May, but it does require the board to um specifically authorize it because it's being paid off early and that's the whole reason the resolution's

134got to be there. So it's it's a very clear decision by the board to yes we want to pay this debt off kind of thing. So the good part of that is along with uh a couple meet a couple of meetings back I'm losing track of the time on that but several meetings back few months back we we refunded the 2016 bonds that produced uh 400 some thousand interest savings for the community. It also allowed us to make some changes to the debt structure in the aggregate. This does the same. It relieves um some of the some of the the timing of interest needs for paying on the this particular bond that's being paid off in May. It frees up the ability to pay off our school loan revolving debt quicker. So that's anticipated to

135be paid down to almost nothing. We will always carry a little balance on it to keep our foot in the door should something like 2010 happens again. we'll be able to get back and borrow the money to keep us from actually literally in 2010 without the school own revolving fund. The district would have had to double its um debt mill rates on the on the district. It would have generated in the end the same amount of money, but just you tell anybody that you're doubling their tax rates and they're like it's not a good thing. So that'll happen. So that opens the door. So July 1 of 2027 when that when that tax levy comes through the that year's hearings on the taxes we'll be reducing the debt millage from 7.9 mills to 7 mills

136to it'll be a tax saving for all the taxpayers in the district and it's it's a first reading format I believe on this one as well. Any questions on that one? So >> okay, next up is the second reading for the bestest abatement bid for the center program project. There is a little caveat to it that based on investment best abatement law and which feeds the school our schoolboard policy. It's the relatively recent law changes that requires the district to do a I think of it as an abnormal step where we have are required to actually go out and do a fullscale investigation look into the different vendors in which violations they may have had through Eagle which is the U let me see if I get the acronym right the environment great lakes and

137energy department the state >> normally it's the other way around with the the department of state or whatever it is is the watchdog watching companies. So through the process of the original selection of the original vendor when when we do the background checks on them the states laws now say there's you've got to look for a couple of specific things between notice of violations and or judgments. I mean most companies get a judgment on in the in the in the industry in the abatement industry. It's not unusual to get a violation because the nature of the business. Then you turn around, remedy it, remedy it and it's not an issue. And that's kind of like the goal of the law is a constant keeping people in check. This organization a few years back had a

138judgment against it from resulting out of one of the violations. They dealt with it. You know, they they did what was supposed to be done from the judgment and all that stuff. What they didn't do is what most of other businesses do. Once that's all done, you have the opportunity to expune that from their record because they didn't and it came up in our background. Look, once you hear the words judgment, then it triggers a different set of things that have to be done. Um, if you still want to use that vendor, if we weren't on as tight a timeline as we are with the project, we'd probably still have the same vendors. The biggest thing is that some of the steps that we have to take like we'd have to do a separate hearing

139to to publicly talk about one of their violations kind of thing with respect to the timeline of the project for the center. There's just no time to do that. There's not an extra 30 days in there to get it. So my point saying this is that it's not that the vendor was bad there. They would have in any other circumstances we would have kept up. So under these circumstances, we move to the next best qualified vendor which is now before you tonight. They are um environmental specialy services and their contract is 118,900. We are still asking that the board approve them tonight so we can keep on our tight timelines. um they came up with zero background issues when they went through the the gauntlet. And I do want to thank Tammy Bell from Eagle.

140One of the things that Eagle was supposed to do was put this an access point in their website to make it simple to go look at people's. They did not do that yet. So she when I eventually made it to a human being, she took my request and she did the old hand looked through stuff and got back to us on both of these members. So I do appreciate that. >> Any questions? >> I can make the motion and we can that'd be great. >> Okay. I move to approve the Abesta statement bid as presented. >> Support Mike Whitney. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> All right. >> Okay. That takes us to the middle school environmental update. Um we had some air testing quality

141pro um checks at the recently done at the middle school. We've had some recent um recent guests pop in and out of the boardroom. and we've had a we've had a couple of of water flood type problems at the building. So based on concern for the condition of the building, potential air problems, staff and community feedback, we've taken that we took the next step beyond just an air standard air check. We brought in an individual and by the way this is all this is all in your board book undercover memo and in the report the report itself I want to say it's 169 pages >> all in the actual report piece is about 13 pages the rest of it appendix of you know supporting data pictures all that kind of stuff pretty thorough report so

142we did bring in an cons consulting firm to conduct an assessment at the middle school gentleman by the name of Scott Chandler who's a senior industrial hygiene consultant for his firm and his firm's name is testing engineering and consultants incorporated referred to him the recogn that's their local they conducted the testing and assessment was over multi-day period they went beyond air testing they did do some air testing in a couple of the rooms that were specified but there they did the walk the building test tape in and out of mechan mechanical spaces, a pretty thorough review of the spaces. We received the report back at the end of January, let's say it was January 23rd, 4th. Um, taking a little time to digest it. I got once I got through and got my own what

143I thought were my understandings was, I did have a conversation with Scott um to making sure I was understanding what he was writing in the same same manner he was writing it. Um from that point I'm going to touch on some of the issues with the building. Um so we do have some challenges in that building. The condition is the biggest challenge associated with our air handling units. So in a building in an elementary school you'll have typically in the classrooms will be small single room heat air management units. In a bigger building like a middle school, the high school, there's big air handling units that are inside mechanical rooms. And those air handling units are the the mechanism that suck in air, filter them air, and push them through the uh the air d

144or the air routing system. So, there are I'm going to get the numbers wrong here again, but there's 12 I believe there's 12 air handling units and two on the roof of 14 total in the building in the air handling units. And I'm trying to I'm trying to be a verbatim as much as I can without getting overly in the weeds because um I don't want to get too buried in the weeds because I myself just have a pretty good grasp of the weeds, but I don't want to go beyond anything that. So from the condition of the air handling units themselves, they would have been they would measure out as was termed as poor. So they they they need some work. We've got that and I'll go over our plan too for that was

145on your cover memo, but they need work. Test results in those interior spaces of the subset of the air handlers range from minimum mold growth with mold growth within the units mechanical rooms on some of the interior stuff. Inside those mechanical rooms, there's also piping that's wrapped with um paper and canvas related materials. And the goal of that is to control the condensation and dripping that controls on piping. So we have some issues on the units. We have some issues on the piping. The single big biggest issues as I read it is the piping. So that material on the piping when he originally wrote his report he was not aware if there was any aesthetus in that or not. So he made note of that. So if you read when you read that in the

146report report we did have that followup check that we do not have a betus in the bulk of the rapid. There's some specialized pieces of the piping. We got a cross check to confirm that. So all that to say that to to me when I read the report those pieces of equipment the piping and the wrap are the single biggest um challenge. There's there is mold built into there. There is to the knowledge at this point there is no obesus which is good. So in terms of challenges there those rooms need some serious work. The piping needs to be stripped, cleaned, reput or retaped, retaped, rewrapped. That really needs to be We're going to take that beyond those air handling unit mechanical rooms and do the whole building through the whole plan. So, it's going

147to take some time on that piece of it. The other piece I jumped ahead a bit here. So, it's his recommendations are professional cleaning of air handling units and associated air con uh conveyance duck work. We're in the process of finding the pre the people businesses that will do the commercialsized duck work. We've contacted probably seven or eight at this point. We've got one quote back that will because the the construct of the air handling piping in a building, a commercialized building is much different than bringing in someone to clean new ducts at home. So, we're working on that piece and I'll touch on that a little bit later too. Uh so the water damage pipe insulation wrap is presented in several of the mechanical rooms are our challenge have to have some problems in

148terms of that regard in terms of the the types of mold he listed as being normal trapping to mold growth. The normal trapping speaks to you wrap those pipes to control the condensation. So there's almost an expectation to see some normally trapped issue in there. If you tore it open to find some condition, our condition based on their age and their um degradation of how good they are is not good at all. So they will be a primary focus of the mediation building wide. here. >> Also, there's there was several points that he checked and tested ceiling tiles in different spaces throughout the building. Some of the the mechanical like the the physical piece that holds the ceiling tiles up, he tested some of those. I'm speaking in the report, it speaks to the specific

149places he tested. I'm speaking to the aggregate that vast majority of the tiles he was looking at saw u remnants of andor of the leaking pipes above what the damage it can cause what can grow mold growth and that kind of stuff on those tiles. So in the aggregate I'm saying reporting tonight we're treating all of that as if they are the worst case uh how he describes them out in terms of the different growth. So they're all coming out they're all getting replaced the so as also contained in your memo I I'll touch on the district's plan where we're at what we're going to do where we're at. So we will ensure I'm I'm just going to read verb what was in the memo. We're going to ensure the appropriate cleaning decontamination of all

150the air handling units internal external and the associated air conveyance duck work is completed as recommended applicable periodic preventative maintenance processes will be expanded to ensure all handling air handling units and their associated mechanical pieces districtwide are going to be treated the same way. So there was a question that came up of to you know what about this building or this building what we're learning at MS is going to be applied to all buildings in terms of the annual maintenance the cleaning that we're going to inspect in the same manner that the the MS was looked at from this firm and given whatever is found in different buildings they too will be addressed in a similar format. Um, uh, we will be and one of the first things we're trying to do, we've got them

151on order. Not sure if they came in yet. There's they're hepocarbon based filters that go into the air handling unit. So, if you pictured a big inside the mechanical room, big piece of equipment, pulls air in. I'm sure I'm describing this very badly, Tim, so I'm off track. Straight me out. Pulls the air in, pushes it through the filters, pushes it out through the air systems. So, as soon as we get these filters in, we're replacing them with these hepocarbon filters. Those are designed to make sure there is not anything troubling coming through those air systems. So, any mold, spores, things like that that those are designed to capture. So, we're going to put them in place now before we even get to fixing stuff. This I'm going to touch on here in some time

152frame, too. So that if there is something that's either either Scott did not see or other concerning issue, we're going to dig some containment on it and make sure it's not going to be any kind of an issue in that regard. And then when all said and done and everything's up to speed, those will likely all be replaced and go on a cycle of a replacement um cycle process. That that kind of filter. We're going to ensure that the building's mechanical rooms, the removal and replacement of all water damaged pipe insulation wrap in those rooms will occur, including the the pipe fitting pieces and pipe fitting specific things you called out in the report that I've got to get clarification yet in terms of what their status is, whether there's an ABSUS issue there or

153not. And if there is an ABS and any anything like that, then that's going to that'll just change how we approach some of the cleaning pieces and and decamin the cleaning pieces of it. I can't say the big words anymore tonight. Um, so and along with the the tile stuff, we're going to replace those as quickly as we can get through the buildings and replace them knowing that between now and the end of the school year, especially as we get into spring and warmer weather, a lot of that condensation, the way that building was built, there's open running pipe. And when you're running water through it, cool water through it into the chillers to bring to cool the building down when we get into May and early June when it's warm out, it creates the

154condensation that drips down. So that's probably the single biggest feeder of what's going on with the It is the single biggest what's going on the tiles. We do have some roof challenges. Those are already um in process in terms of identifying spec particularly everything that Scott points out in his report. That's going to be our starting point at that building. And we'll use a similar approach to the other buildings. And the funding that the board's transferring through the amendment is the first source is going to be addressing most of the buildings that are the immediate need stuff. Roofs being high on that priority. We're not looking to replace an entire roof at a million dollars. We'll probably go in and find where are the bad stretch pieces of each roof piece. Seal it so it's

155not stops leaking and things and things of that nature. Um and at some point in the near future, hopefully we have the c the funding and and capability to do the full if needed the full roof replacement piece. Um place the water stain. So we'll be doing the water stain. So associated grids he there was a grid area grids in the common area that he um called out specifically too. Those will be dealt separately in terms of deca decontamination. That's the word I'm looking for in and the cleaning piece there. uh we will inspect going beyond what he's just calling on his report. We're going to be inspecting all piping within the building in the same mindset and then we're using that same protocol. We're going to spread that into all the buildings of the

156district. And then specifically a couple of the rooms, the room 111 I want to say was this the center the starting point of the last flood. Room 109 took the brunt or some of it based on where it's located. Those two rooms were specifically looked at. One of the room 109 had elevated aerosol. I'm going to say this wrong. Aerosol related mold activity which told him that there's he thinks there's a what he in his report he describes as a a mold reservoir in that room. in as he explained it to me in English, the carpet and the wood piece that the carpet's on, they need to be pulled out in place because they typically will hold the moisture even when you go out when you bring the remediation firms in. If you get it

157like in a the way this piece of wood is, it's likely we're just going to pull it all out and replace it. And talking with Christie earlier, there's a duplicate similar situation in one of the other rooms in the area. So, we're just going to pull it all, replace it all. Um so so we're in the process and implementing the district's action plan as as outlined as outlined uh what I just walked talked through the timelines based on the nature of the of what's going on in the specific pieces of work will span from literally last three two weeks ago three weeks ago in summer. So meaning spring break is going to be a good point. We're going to be doing a lot of work. The goal is to if there's a possibility of some

158of the work cutting loose some things into the particles in the air, spores, whatever the case may be, that's going to be done when there's nobody in the building. Um, if there does end up being a bestas and some of the pipe knuckling that's got to be dealt with, that'll that'll be dealt with in a similar manner, but that's a much more tightly controlled access in terms of who can if anybody can be in the building. So from that perspective, it will span into the summer for some of the bigger stuff, particularly when it comes to doing the pipe wrapping piece, removing them, cleaning them, and then getting them re uh re taped strapped over and and covered with the piping wrap. That to me is going to be a big challenge in terms of

159the time to do it and the the exposure to people in the building. So that's again why we want to get the the very strong filters in place now do all the work once everything's done so to speak before we go into maintenance mode replace all those filters and start to clean going forward and then specific room and there's going to be some specific room and as we as we um I actually have a meeting coming up with Christie too again if there's some other spaces that they suspect from prior um water invasion in the building similar kind of carpet that's comes up before. We're going to take the time to pull that out. Most of the places that he tested, Scott, he's got he's got a unit that goes really gets pushed into the

160whatever you test in the carpet, whatever to sense for moisture. Most came up in relatively good shape. Those particular rooms were the ones that he wrote up. So, there's specific work to be done there as well. So, um, actions that are in place now, we've been taking a date. We've been working with vendors between quotes andor products, you know, quoting services and prices, acquiring products and services. Um, particularly the building duct one that we I'd mentioned the commercial level. That's that's going to be a challenge that we've got one good quote and it's it's one valid quote. It's a big ticket, but uh we do have that. Fortunately, we've got the money moving to the capital projects fund to do this right. So, skylight, the skylights in that building have always been a perpetual leaking

161problem. Um we think we may have a solution. So, we're going down that road. pipe and mechanical room cleaning and decam decam decontamination work the filters uh the pipe installation and the uh inspection in terms of the additional pipe inspection um in terms of bringing in people that's in the process going now Royal Roofing has been scheduled to been working with them to schedule some repair works in the different identified areas in the report staff training for specialized some of the maintenance places actually already been already been completed needed and that's going to be rolled into an ongoing protocol to an annual becomes an annual maintenance piece of that new work. And then from a closing thought point of view, um all of our facilities will benefit from what's learned out of this experience, particularly

162from a forward preventative maintenance approach that will be institutionalized and will impact all buildings. um depending upon what buildings and what circumstances are as we as we take the harder look at we may or may not bring in this organization to specifically do this kind of a test there. Um I am thinking that once we get through the all the work at the middle school embedding these protocols in our current practices districtwide. There's a summer cleaning process that goes on districtwide. So by the end of summer, this pro these new processes should have touched all the buildings. At that point, we're looking at bringing TEC back to pick out a building or two and run this same process again to see how we how we turn out. Um just to do a backend check what

163we think we're doing and doing right, getting forward on that actually work the way it's supposed to. Um again, it's a 169 page report. It's in your board book. After this meeting, it will be on our website. It'll be a public facing piece. Um, and then from a just from a working with people in public point of view, I do want to thank uh Mrs. Heather Shalco. Did I did I do the last name right? Um, she is a parent in the community who's got experience with this kind of these kind this kind of an issue before. So, she was kind enough to come meet with us and give us some feedback and thoughts and guidance in terms of what where things go. Um, and also some potential funding sources which is above and beyond.

164And then um just the staff in terms of their communication pieces of in terms of um what's been you know feedback to us in terms of what's the perception in the in that building that we in terms of the air in there and things like that that's great feedback that's got and as we get this in place the the process at hand I don't want I don't want to minimize the issue there because there are challen challenges in that building, but I do want to reinforce that they will be fixed. So, any questions, >> questions, comments? >> I'll just I mean, John, you beat me to it, but just reiterating both I mean, both your work and the and the work of the team, but also the work of the community. I mean, you mentioned

165Heather um just kind of championing this because I like I don't have that background, right? So I don't know the questions asked or or what when we had done the the testing before as far as I knew that was that was sufficient and so I just appreciate that input from the community and I mean that's valuable of course I mean we everybody wants to ensure that our students and our staff are are safe and and thank you for following up and and doing that as well. >> Appreciate that. >> Anyone else? Yeah, I it's not seen every time, but that's another example of a community member being a catalyst for improving the safety of of our district. And so it it happens pretty frequently and it's always appreciated and again, thank you for all of

166the time and and work that has been put into it as well as our our team. And this is very thorough. And to Mike's point, I wouldn't have known either that this that this testing what we had been doing. And so the fact that you're already proactively building it into your processes for districtwide buildings and our summer plan is is excellent. So very appreciated. Thank you. we are to we are planning a meeting later this week too with with the TEC group um to kind of help strategize in terms of that piece too and understand clip lately what the language he uses and that kind of stuff. So my my my hope there before my own understanding and knowledge piece as well as our team and leveraging people such as Mr. Leo in terms of

167um building the plan, getting it place and get it running is getting things addressed ASAP. That is exactly where we're going to go. >> Thank you. >> Was that >> I think we are good. >> I think that's the last one. >> Thank you, John. All right. Item nine. We have unscheduled. Do we have any this evening? >> No. Thank you. Item 10, our upcoming scheduled activities, our next meetings that community uh or committee of the whole, excuse me, will be taken off. And then of course, we have a spring break coming up. Item number 11, any administrative clarification? Dr. Milligan, >> I just want to add and say thank you to John and his whole team as well as Tim. you know, you guys have worked really, really hard lately in terms of like

168the roof leaks and all these testings and, you know, the finance. There's just been so much that you guys have worked on. I know it's been incredibly stressful. So, I just wanted to express my gratitude for all your work. Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Jim, you're gonna stay here forever, right? >> Thank you for that. Item 12. Any final board comments? >> James. >> Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you to Genie Dico and the loft program. As you guys see around the table here, um today they helped cater an event down at Oakland schools and they kindly donated a little snacks for us for later on at our close session. So, a big thanks to Jamie Deco and all the individuals in loft for it. Mike >> and then I'll just reiterate there's

169still uh quite a few shows actually for Frozen coming up. So, uh this is this is the a big weekend to say the least, right? Thursday, Friday, two shows on Saturday and at least one show on Sunday. So, it's it was just great. We we saw it on last Saturday and I will be also there on Thursday and probably Sunday. So, uh, just, uh, just to reiterate that, I mean, go come celebrate the the kids. They're they do an awesome I mean, it's it is really an awesome show. >> And I'd like to add that almost every show is sold out. >> Okay. Well, then let's get then >> I think there's a couple matineese that have some space, but um, we got we couldn't go till Sunday and it's we're in the balcony. So,

170>> Wow. Awesome. Okay. All right. Anyone else? Thank you both for that. All right. We have a motion for close session if anybody would like to make that. >> Yes, I've got my mic on. >> Yes. >> Move to meet in close session pursuant to the open meetings act section 81A to consider a periodic personnel evaluation of an employee. support and thank you. Any discussion? James, could you do a roll call? >> Yep. Roll call vote. Yes or no, please. James Summers, yes. Annes, >> yes. >> Uh, Mike Aldrid, >> yes. >> Uh, sorry. Sarah Cajourney, >> yes. >> Mike Whitney, >> yes. >> And Amanda Mcdana, >> yes. >> All right, it is 9:02 and we'll move into close session. It is 10:40 and we are back from close session. Could I get a

171motion? >> Thank you, James. >> Move to approve the superintendent midyear progress report uh review as completed in close session. >> Support. >> And thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Thank you. All right. It is 10:41 and this meeting is adjourned.