Oxford Schools Board of Education: 6-10-25

001Good evening and welcome to the June 10th board of education meeting. If everyone could please rise for the pledge. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. James, could you take attendance? Yep. Mcdana here. Aldrid here. Summers here. Whitney here. Gibson here. Aerson here. Cajourney. Not yet. Okay. Any changes to the board agenda? Tanya, do you have a change? Okay. All right, item number three, what we're all here for, the retiree recognition. Mrs. Freed, good evening and welcome. We are delighted to have family, friends, and staff here tonight to celebrate together. Tonight, we honor 17 individuals who have dedicated their careers to Oxford Community Schools. These teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria helpers, and pair

002professionals have been integral to our students daily experiences and educational success. These educators have been in classrooms every day helping students understand difficult concepts and reach their fullest potential. Our pair professionals have provided essential support, working with students and assisting in keeping classrooms running smoothly. Our bus drivers have maintained consistent schedules, navigated challenging routes, especially the back roads in winter, and have ensured students arrive safely to school and back home. Our cafeteria helpers have prepared thousands of meals, maintained food safety standards, and provided nourishment that fueled learning throughout each school day. Each retiree has contributed to Oxford to make education possible. They are steady, reliable, and resilient. To our 17 retirees, thank you for your years of service to Oxford Community Schools. You've done important work, and we appreciate your commitment. At this time, I'd

003like to invite each of our retirees in attendance to come forward as I call their names to receive their certificate of recognition. And board, if you would please join me up here as well. Yes, please. And Dr. Milligan, of course. Yes. Okay. Peggy Bogs. [Applause] Yeah, Peggy, if you would, retirees, just stand up here. We'll grab one photo with everyone at the end. Marcy Benman. [Applause] Connie Hogan, [Applause] John Hazes. [Applause] Don Reed. [Applause] Congratulations, Jim. Serba. [Applause] Congratulations, Sheney Williams. [Applause] You did it. I know her. [Applause] Jackie Wiskcom. [Applause] Thank you all for joining us tonight and celebrating these exceptional individuals and we wish you the very best in your next chapter. on the board. Stay here. Please get a photo with everyone. Yeah. If you would please, we'll just get one photo

004with everyone. Yes, please. [Music] Then I'm going to in front. [Music] Ready, set, [Applause] So nice. All right. Thank you again to all of our retirees for your dedication to the district and to all of your years of service. We appreciate you very much. Moving into our next presentation, we have transportation with Mr. for Mike Strong. Thank you very much. I appreciate uh the opportunity to uh show you my department, Roxford Transportation. Um let's see here. Okay, who we are? Uh, director Mike Strong, administrative assistant Heidi Pratt, coordinator Linda Saddam, and dispatcher Lugene Kase. I'm very sorry to interrupt you, Mike. Uh, we were told by OCTV that we are only working with one speaker this evening. So, if you could speak as closely and loudly as you can and for the rest of our

005presenters tonight, just so you know, uh, it's going to be hard to hear from home and on the recording unless you speak directly in and close. So, I'll get it close. Thanks. I forgot to tell you that. No problem. Thank you. So, we have 35 full-time uh bus drivers, eight special education bus monitors, uh two technicians, and four subbus drivers. Um the buses, 48 in total. Uh we have nine mini buses typically used for students with special needs. One has a wheelchair lift. Um 39 full-size conventional buses. Uh two are orthopedic buses with wheelchair lifts for students with disabilities. Um, all of our buses are gasoline powered except for the two which are electric. Um, electric saved us approximately $25 each per day each bus. Point surprise. This is some of our group here. Let

006me get my This uh was one of our birthday parties we had uh at the transportation department. I've got some trainers up in the top here doing you know training a new employee. Uh my technicians. This was our uh uh spirit day for Archford. Of course, I've got my CARES Awards. Couple of my drivers up that won CARES Awards. And this was one of our buses that we uh uh decorated for a Christmas parade to make a sleigh out of it. Can you hear me? Okay. Our offer office covers a 12 and a half hour day opening at 5:00 a.m. and closing at 5:30 or after every student is home safe. Uh we currently have 35 drivers, 14 are retirees from various professions. Uh the average age of our department is 60 with the oldest

007at 81 and the youngest at 21. Uh we transport 1780 students to school every day. Approximately 370 on unpaved roads using 27 general ed buses and eight special needs buses. We travel 3,180 miles per day to and from school, adding up to 572,000 miles per school year when you include field trips, athletic trips, and summer routes. Uh we use approximately 85,300 gallons of fuel each year. And our 2023 24 cost to operate was $6.69. 69 cents per mile. Okay. Oxford Community Schools is 77 square miles. Uh we transport special needs students to center programs in Lake Oran, Waterford, and Bloomfield Hills. We also transport students experiencing homelessness. Uh down here in the lower left section, this red section is the Clear Lake attending area. uh between the yellow line which is M24 and the red

008area that is our DAOES attending area. On the uh right side of M24, this is the Lakeville attending area and everything in blue is Leonard attending area. Um the entire map is their middle school high school attending area. Okay. 65% of our buses travel on an unpaved road at some point in their route. Oxford has basically eight main roads. M24, Baldwin, Rochester, Drainer, Seymour Lake Road, Lakeville, Oakwood, and North Oxford roads. We start checking roads at 3:30 a.m. to give the superintendent the best information to decide if it is safe to transport students. We also coordinate with nearby districts. Is difficult to call a main roads only snow day during the winter months. Uh we are currently researching the viability of a plan to address transportation for students that live in the main roads. Um

009it's difficult due to stop locations. Um times student safety is our number one concern. Um our goal is to be able to have school open for the bulk of our students that live on the paved roads when the back roads are challenging or icy. School bus drivers are governed by laws, rules, regulations, policies, and recommendations, federal and state. Uh, PA 187 of 1990s Michigan Pupil Transportation Act. Uh, this act regulates the equipment maintenance, operation, and use of school buses. Uh, all school buses in Michigan are Michigan State Michigan State Police inspected every school year. Hiring continues to be a challenge each year. Uh we don't get the retirees from the big three. Random drug and alcohol testing may be a barrier. Our drivers, they can't have cell phones within reach of them as they're driving

010down the road. And uh the positions generally start off with less than a full-time pay. What you have to do to become a bus driver. You have to do an application and interview with Oxford schools. Uh take four tests at the Secretary of State's office to get the CDL learners permit and two endorsements. Cost of about $70. Uh we fingerprint and criminal background ground check. uh DOT physical pre-employment drug screening the district Allison vector trainings uh entry level drivers training theory training uh that's federal online uh 3 to five weeks uh paid training an Oxford community school bus usually two or three hours a day going out with one of our trainers um road test with a third party tester spent a week or two driving with some of our other drivers learning some of

011the routes and where the schools are and our specific ways of dropping students at schools. Um 21 hours of beginning bus drivers education at Oakland schools. A cost of the district of approximately $2,500. U safety. We uh we do, you know, we try to make sure that our drivers know their students. We do attendance at the beginning of the school year so they can get to know the students names, especially the kindergarteners, the younger students. Um, and a lot of our drivers are trusted adults. Uh, we do evacuation drills throughout the year. Our REI camera systems are very good with four cameras per bus and they have very good audio. Um, communication with the administrators with our two-way radios as well as our Allison Vector trainings. These are some of our drivers. Actually, Kelly's on

012here twice. So, I've got Kelly. I've got Jim. Uh, Jen and Bert, Amy, and Kelly again because she's always got the best costumes. And I think that is about what I have. Thank you guys very much for having me. And do you have any questions? Shane, um, I have u both a comment and a question. Uh, first of all, the comment is um I'm amazed at how well the buses run uh during the the inclement weather and especially in my subdivision where knuckleheads love to park and make it like almost like a video game for these poor bus drivers to try to get around. But, um, thank you very much. Everything has been amazing. As a parent with two kids that ride the buses, I've never had a complaint. Everything's been great communicationwise. Uh when

013things have been behind, you guys have been great about letting us know. So, uh again, from a comment standpoint, thank you as a parent. Thank you very much. Uh the question I have, when uh my family lived in Nashville for a year, the buses down there were equipped with um almost like tracking and we had an app on our phone to be able to see where our kids were on the bus. uh from this app and I wondered if that's something we've ever looked into or something we've ever thought about. We have looked into it. Um our camera system has the capability but a lot of these systems are LTE based like cell phone based and when you go start heading out towards Leonard it'll just stop. It shows the bus stops. And so we

014haven't really come up with a system that we've seen that it's like foolproof for that because the parent will see the app, the app will stop, the bus hasn't moved in 10 minutes and they're wondering why. Well, it really has. It just hasn't reported to back to the the main hub so it could give them updated information. So in town it's easier, but once we start heading out in the back roads and getting up towards, you know, Leonard and north of Dryen area, it's it's really hard. All right. again. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, great. Thank you so much, Mike. Thank Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right, [Applause] moving into item B, our bullying survey update with Miss Bner. Okay. All right. You guys feel so

015far away, but I'll stand here. Okay. So, good evening everyone. My name is Bridget Bitner. I'm a coordinator in our student services and wellness department. Thank you for having me here tonight. I'm here to present the 2025 bully prevention survey results and the action steps that our team is taking and going to take. This presentation reflects a district-wide effort to better understand the experiences of our students and make in informed improvements to school climate and culture. The purpose of this presentation is twofold. to care to share key findings from our recent student bullying survey and to outline steps we're taking based on those results. The survey plays a critical role in helping us take a systematic approach to bully prevention. It promotes honest reporting, helps us identify areas of concern, assesses overall school climate, informs

016targeted intervention, and allows us to monitor trends over time. We'll start with some background information on the survey, then move into results and action steps first for our secondary and then for our elementary. Okay, so we'll f we first began using the Ove bully prevention survey in the 2011 2012 school year. For those that don't know, is an international bullyrevention organization. This year we transitioned to a district-created survey using OLveas as our basis which allowed us to customize the survey to our student population. Also's data and averages were only representative of districts that used their survey. So by switching to and using the data from the CDC, we were able to see national data benchmarks. And then students 3rd through 12th grade uh completed the anonymous survey. Here you can see um number of students

017who participated by building. And now we're going to get into our secondary results. So this slide shows percentage of secondary students grades 6 through 12 who reported being bullied at school in the past 12 months. with this year being 19% and the national average being 34%. As you can see, we are trending downwards, which is great, but it shows that we still have work to do. This slide shows the percentage of secondary students who reported being bullied at school, sorted by those who reported having an IEP. This data helps us ensure that we're addressing the needs of some of our most vulnerable populations. National averages are in the dark blue and Oxford schools numbers are in the light blue. Uh this slide shows the percentage of secondary students who reported being bullied at school sorted

018by students who identify as part of a sexual or gender minority. And then this data shows the percentage of students who reported being bullied broken down by race. In addition, we learned that just over half, 54.2% of students who reported being bullied told someone about it. This is an area that we would like to grow. Hallways were identified as the most common location for bullying and most frequently types of bullying were teasing, spreading lies or rumors and cyber bullying. In response to these findings, several actions were taken this year. We made intentional efforts to support students of color with OS admins and family school liaison, meeting with some of our school of choice students in hopes to increase feelings of inclusivity for incoming freshmen and families through outweight outreach with school of choice students. We

019also reviewed eh hall pass data to examine hallway use since hallways were the most common setting for bullying. Middle school bully prevention lessons delivered by high school mentorship class were adjusted based on student feedback. Next year, we plan to expand our efforts through ongoing advisory lessons on empathy, inclusion, resilience, and diversity. Continued engagement with counseling office to address specific trends they're seeing with students. Seek student input on why they may not be reporting instances of bullying. professional learning for staff to strengthen the understanding of the policy and recognize and address bullying. Ongoing reminders with students around reporting and consider additional ways to address bullying in the virtual and hybrid environments. Uh now we're going to look at our elementary data which is third through fifth grade students. Okay, so this slide shows the percentage of

020third through fifth grade students who reported being bullied. Please note that there is no national CDC data for this age group due to challenges with consistent self-reporting at younger ages. So, as you can see, we do continue to trend downwards, but of course, we want to continue to see this number decline. Among elementary students who reported being bullied, 62% reported it to someone. The playground was the most commonly reported location with the primary types of bullying being teasing and exclusion. To address these issues, FSLs delivered two lessons from our SecondStep bully prevention unit. Data was also shared with staff to raise awareness of where and how bullying is happening. OES implemented the PlayFrit recess program in hopes to decrease playground incidents. We increased social connections through classroom circles and reviewed expectations with students. Next year,

021we're planning to enhance the playground experience with some schools adding uh a dedicated space for board games and reading. We'll teach and encourage students to use the buddy bench when they're feeling left out. continue our SecondStep lessons to help kids become kind, confident, and capable. And ensure that every child knows who their trusted adult is in building in the building in hopes that students feel comfortable going to them for support. Thank you for your time. We recognize that bullying is a complex issue and we're committed to making our school more welcoming for all students. And I welcome any questions or feedback you may have for me. So, just a a quick question. Yeah. I'm thinking about the secondary results and I'm wondering from the highest reported location of bullying taking place in the hallway. I'm

022wondering how we can hone in on that, right? like where when locations and if we staged teachers and whatnot in between classes or breaks or any of the data that would drive a little bit more focus on on the hallway because we've identified where now we can identified how we deal with it right I don't any thoughts just in general I think that's a great idea Brad Bigalow and I have talked extensively about some of their e-haul pass data because I know it can really break down but we even talked about enhanc enhancing the survey for next year. So if it is the hallway, is it during passing time? Is it before school? Is it after school? So like also trying to figure out some of those like try to really hone in on it.

023So you know, thank you for the feedback. Maybe we can add some questions. Great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Uh thank you for the presentation. Uh couple of quick questions. the the slide I think it's slide number five with the number of students who completed. Um do you have the data as far as percentage-wise? I don't. I can get that to you though if you like. Um and then second um I mean I do have it just like not on my Sure. Right. Right. No, I get you. I get you. Um then second, is there any thought maybe in the future of if students decide they don't want to take the survey? If they want to opt out, is there any thought of including a section where they could give their feedback as to

024why? That's a good question. So you mean if students want to personally opt out, not the parent want to wants to opt them out? Right. Right. Um that's a good question. We haven't thought of that, but that's definitely something I think we could take into consideration for sure. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Ann, I just want to thank you for the the commitment, the time, the effort, and the care that you've put into this survey. Not only making it something, you know, even more improved upon after you've seen what's out there and and really making it tailored to our district needs and making sure that every student's concerns can be voiced. Thank you. In a safe environment. I appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. I'll ech I'll echo everyone's kind of comments, but um

025one of the things I I I certainly appreciate it tailoring it more towards our district. Um on that on that note, I'm wondering if there's a better data set to compare to than the national average, right? Because just the variables we're talking about, I mean, nationally, we're so diverse across that those different demographics. And so I'm just wondering if maybe I don't know. I mean, if there's a better way to tailor it so we really understand what where we fall with with this with this information. Are you thinking maybe like something more like Oakland County general or like the That's I was thinking that, but then there's such diversity in Oakland County as well. Um, yeah. Yeah. But but something similar to that. Yes. And I'm not even sure like, you know, I definitely can

026say that Oxford is in like the forefront in all of the things that we do for bullying. So, I would be even interested to see if there's even other districts that have this data, but if they could if we could even compare it to like uh our surrounding districts that could be helpful. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry, that just made me think of one more question. Um, is there any data out there for community school districts that have experienced similar tragedies? Um, that we wouldn't be able to use that as a data point and compare, you know, like what our results are from our students and what their students are experiencing or have experienced. So I can definitely ask I am part of our national mass violence center like community or like

027forum for districts that have experienced tragedies and that's put on by the um like University of South Carolina. So I'm happy to ask they they collect a lot of data. They have someone that's just focused on data. So, I'm happy to reach out and see if any other district would even be willing to share those numbers or if they even take a survey like this, but yeah. All right. I I would love for it to be the case that there were no other districts or or schools, but unfortunately there's a lot. Yeah. So, I just wondered if there was a way to compare that. Awesome. Okay. Thank you so much for the presentation. Item five, our scheduled public comment. We have one, Jim Given. Good evening again. Hopefully this is loud enough for the TV

028to pick up. Um, couple things that I wanted to address tonight. First of all, I wanted to extend a thank you, a congratulations, and an acknowledgement of the work that the central office team did along with OEA in negotiating the OEA contract. uh huge huge undertaking, but this negotiation um year because we we added a bunch of new language into the contract um to cover evaluations and discipline and seniority and all all the stuff that you'll see in the contract or you have seen in the contract. I want to acknowledge especially Ryan Reid, our assistant superintendent for human resources, Anita Kanja Collins, um John Fitzgerald, Pam Beal, uh Janet Shell, Jordan Dennis, Maria Murphy, all of they most of them were in most of the sessions, but sometimes they were guest bargainers uh as we

029had issues to discuss. And then Patterson and Courtney Macowski as well. was uh very very very hardworking in putting together all of the different elements of the contract as we bargained and uh just a huge thank you to her. Dr. Milligan, I want to thank you for your leadership of your central office team and empowering them to sit with us and bargain obviously our uh the OEA negotiation team as well. A huge thank you to them and board for your leadership of central office and giving the freedom uh to bargain. I don't know how much you're aware like how we do things in Oxford is unique. It's special um that we're able to sit and negotiate a four-year contract and come up with an agreement and do it without being in the media and without

030picketing and without all these things and and have great open dialogue at the table. We spent hours and hours at the table going through the issues and I'm very appreciative of that process and just want to make sure that um everybody gets acknowledged for that. I also want to changing topics throw support. I know that there's going to be a couple safety recommendations uh later on in this meeting regarding backpacks and u moving away from clear black backpacks. As a parent, even though my children are all graduated now as of May, um I would I would greatly appreciate the fact that we're moving away from the clear backpacks. They're not durable. They're expensive. Um I know my daughter would have been very ecstatic to have a regular backpack. Um I also want to um show

031support for the changes that we're making for Evolve and the re recommendations that are being made for the evolve system and scaling back the number of people uh that we use evolve for at the high school. And last um I just want to tell you how happy I am to see the board continue to have dialogue around um the millillage issues. I see that that's also on the agenda tonight and just stress again the importance of getting these millages passed and what that means for the growth and uh continued strength of our students and their programs. So, thank you all. Hopefully, you won't have to put up with me for a couple more weeks. Okay. Thank you, Jim. Item six, our consent agenda. You'll see your HR updates and minutes in the packet. Would anybody

032like to make a motion? Mike. Thank you. Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Support Shane. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item number seven, our superintendent report with Dr. Milligan. All right. Thank you and good evening everyone. Um, I'm going to give a general highlight of all of the activities that have gone on literally in the last two weeks. It's amazing all the things that we do in the Oxford Community Schools. So, I'm just doing a a super high um overview of those. I certainly it's not comprehensive. There were so many things going on all at once. Um, if I could have split myself in 10, I would have loved to have been at all of the events because they were just so exciting. Um,

033we had student of the month awards, we had student of the year awards, um, just all sorts of things. So, it's just I'm just so amazed by our staff, our students, our families in support of their students. It's it's just a joy. So, if I turn this on, Aaron, this time. Hey, look at that. So, this is an example of an uh end of school experience. This is DA. These are their our first graders. Um they went downtown. It was a field trip. Um the goal is for them to learn around goods and services. So, we worked with the DDA to facilitate these visits. Um, and they're really looking at different careers in real world action. Um, so if you Let me see. Does that work that far? It does. Um, so this right here,

034that's Chief Sowald, um, of the village police. And, um, these little ones are in jail, believe it or not. Um, I I think there's probably other things they could be seeing in the police office, but, you know, that's where they went. I'm sure they were fascinated. You probably can't see it, but this little guy right here, his little face is just he's in awe. Like, oh my gosh, what is happening right now? It's a great picture. Um, and this is Sick Pizza. They're making pizza crust. Um, so it's just so great to partner with our local businesses. They really do a great job um working with our teachers and our students. They show their work. They invite us in. and it's such a great um connection for our students. All right, this was our bridges

035students. So they have in me something called MayMaster and essentially what they do is they develop an action of service around a topic that they're really passionate about. Um so they research their area of interest and through their research they develop an action plan and then they implement it. What this was was a gallery walk we were all invited to um and this gives them gave them an opportunity to show what they learned during their research uh action re research and um we all had a chance to go around and there were uh papers for us to give feedback in terms of their project. They were so well spoken and I think what struck me the most is just how passionate they were. Many of them focused on mental health. Um, this group in particular

036did activities at the middle school for like breathing activities. They do taught them breathing activities, ways to help themselves calm down. Um, and they collected data regarding those actions and how it impacted the students. So, it was just it's really great and they were so excited to talk about it. So, that was um that was very fun. That was amazing. This is our um middle school group. This is newspaper and yearbook. They took a trip to Kamea Park to explore journalism beyond the classroom. This is Clear Lakes Field Day. I have no idea how they got that picture. I'm almost certain they're on the roof, but I will not, you know, acknowledge that. I'm not, let's say it's a drone. We'll say drone. Um, but I know that uh, Principal Nimi sent out a message

037in her newsletter just thanking all the volunteers. Something like this is not easy to pull off. And I know so many of our parents volunteered to help with this day. I think it was a beautiful day. Um, they're all colorcoordinated, which is super fun. Um, so again, another end of school experience that just brings so much joy to our students and our staff. And of course, Leonard, the Leonard actually had a water day, so they had um the fire department came out, sprayed them with water. It was one of the days. Rest of the week was cold, but this day in particular was really hot. I don't know how that happened. I absolutely love this picture. This guy is just so happy about being in the water. How fun is that? Makes me a little

038jealous. Also, we had quite a few um athletic uh celebrations. So, this is our girls soccer team who are the district champs. They haven't had that championship since the '9s. So, they really really rocked it out. They before this game, they beat Lake Orian, which was very fun. I think it was four to one. It was at our last board meeting. And then they beat Clarkson. This was in a shootout after an overtime. So, we beat Clarkston and then we went to um regional semifinals uh in Grand Blank. Unfortunately, we lost to H Heartland, but again, such a hard-fought match. Gorgeous night for soccer. Um and they just played their hearts out. It was absolutely incredible. Um and again, a shootout after overtime. So, you know, our young ladies, they were they were exhausted, but

039they did such an amazing job. I was just so proud of them. and the and our fans were just cheering and it was a great evening. Even though the outcome wasn't what we were looking for, they did a great job. Track and field, we had quite a bit of success track and field. Um, so Alex MacArthur placed 14th in the 3200 meter run. our own Mallerie Bigalow seventh place in the state and set a new school record in the 3200 meter run. Incredible. And then Lauren Macker had she prred in personal best in the um 100 meter dash at 12.44 seconds. So, lots of success in our track and field. Um, I'm looking forward to our strategic planning uh session with the board on uh Thursday. It's a special meeting. So, what we're going to

040do at that meeting is review where we landed with the strategic plan. Um, we're pretty solid on our uh vision, mission, and core values thanks to our community. We had vetted the uh aligned actions at our last community meeting. So we've juzged them up quite a bit with as much feedback as we uh can get. And so we'll go over not only the information, we're going to show a draft um public facing document to help articulate the information. So I look forward to sharing that. Our team did an amazing job. I cannot even tell you how much time and energy they put into developing this. So I am incredibly proud not just of the outcome but the process and the journey. We had great dialogue, deep conversation, um lots of really important thought processes around,

041you know, what do we want for students and how are we going to make that happen? So it's it's it's pretty exciting. I'm very proud of the work. Um although school is out, I know it's only day two, we do have summer school opportunities for our kiddos and um the high school has a very robust summer school opportunity and it's not like old school where you know you go to summer school because you did something wrong necessarily. Um it really is an opportunity to bolster where you're at in school. Many of many many of our kids take classes to get ahead. Um and really um so they get ahead academically. Sometimes they do it just because they might have struggled a little bit and they want to reinforce some of their learning. Um some of

042them I don't know about anyone else's kids. My kids suffered if they did not follow a routine. Woo! They struggled. And so even if they have a part of their day that's academically focused, it can keep them in that routine and address the learning loss that sometimes happens over the summer. So I just wanted to emphasize that that is an opportunity. I know that sometimes kiddos will boohoo it, but it does have many, many perks. So just keep that in mind. Um, this is not in your slide deck. So, Shane, I'm not gonna say it. I added this because I went here today. This was an invitation. Um, huge, huge thanks to Don Mascll at Crossroads. Um, he has done so much for our students there and our staff there. He was such a joy.

043Um, because he is very well connected and he's here, there, and everywhere. He has um strong ties to the Detroit Lions. Um and he invited Mr. Lis Brown. Um really really neat guy. So for those of you who don't know Llis, like I did not know Lis uh he had a college career at the University of Florida. He played in the NFL 18 seasons and was drafted in 1985 by the Detroit Lions and played 11 seasons with the Lions. Um, he was inducted into the Pride of the Lions, which is Detroit's Ring of Honor and won a Super Bowl championship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002. So, right now, he works as a football analyst and commentator and a radio host on Detroit Lions broadcasts. And what he did, and that's actually one of

044our students introducing him, did a fantastic job. But essentially he was talking to the students about, hey, our lives are made up of the choices that we make and all of our choices have consequences, the good, bad, and the ugly. And he talked about his own personal experiences and the tough choices he had to make when he was growing up in Miami, Florida. Um, and the decisions he made. So, for example, he chose to uh instead of going to the University of Miami where he was with all his friends and he was like, "Oo, I knew that was going to be a problem just because some of the shenanigans we get into. I'm going to go ahead and make a decision to go to the University of Florida, which is about 5 hours away." And

045he said it was a tough decision and it was the right decision for him. I loved his message so much when he said, "You've got to take care of yourself first." And the analogy he made was, you know, when we fly on a plane and they teach you, you know, if you lose cabin pressure and the mass drops, you always take care of yourself first so that you can then take care of others. And I'm telling you, the students that were in that room were just riveted by his message. And you know, I I loved his message of hope. You could tell that the kids were really really um focused on his message and positive and they had started asking lots of great questions. So, it's just it's wonderful that Mr. Mascll thought of this.

046And it's also wonderful that um you know, Mr. Brown was able and willing to come. He was such a wonderful spirit to be around and you could just tell what the impact he had on the students. So, um it was a great day. It was a great day. It was, you know, last minute, but we got over there and it was awesome. So, so very proud of everything we do in Oxford Community Schools. Um I do want to thank today is actually my oneyear anniversary here in Oxford Community Schools. I know. So, it's just been such an honor and thrill and I'm just just thank you. I thank thank the entire board uh for the support. Thank you to the community and my staff. I have a phenomenal staff. Um and we just collaborate very

047well together to get this work done because it's important work. Our students are the focus of our work and they are the most important aspect of what we do. So, if we keep them in the the front and center, we will never go wrong. So, thank you for everything. Thank you. Any comments, questions? Good. Well, thank you again, Dr. Milligan, and happy year anniversary. All right, moving into item eight. We have our committee updates. We had a finance and a policy committee. Mike, would you like to give us an update on finance? Sure. uh finance committee on May 30th. Um it was Ann and I and then John and Courtney attended and Dr. Milligan. We uh the first item was the the the final amendment review actually what we're going to be talking about here.

048Most of most of which we'll be talking about here. Um and we we went over uh kind of hopefully more in detail than we'll go here. um the uh the to that time the the snapshot of where we were with the final amendment. Um and kind of just saw the different adjustments per line item. Uh the millage proposal uh discussion and and sinking fun discussions were both reviewed there. Um, we we talked a little bit more in depth on how uh what it what it meant for uh the community and how we would how would we be able to communicate exactly what this means to the school and the community themselves. Uh we'll be talking about that again today. um uh the ABM ser the service contract team we went over that uh the the

049discussions uh looking at a one-year uh extension to that contract and right sizing some of the responsibilities between uh our own our own employees and the service contract. Um the an update on the RFP for the uh Washington the the central the old central office building uh that's in process. It's not really a huge update there. I think we mentioned on how long we'll want to have it on the market once we're talking about. So we touched base on that point and then some of the project updates as far as the the kitchen, the boilers, all of that. So anything I missed Dan? Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mike. Any questions for our finance committee? Okay. Uh policy committee. We met last week and we had a couple updates on our parent committees, one being the

050sex ed advisory board. If you'll remember, we chose those members at at the beginning of the school year in 24 and they have since met three times, once in 24, twice this year. Uh, as parents, you'll have also seen the survey that was sent out recently. And so, Anita gave us an update on that committee and how things are moving along. It sounds like they are coming together, becoming uh, you know, a cohesive group and bouncing a lot of ideas. It sounds like it's very productive. The next step for that committee is that they will meet again in the fall to go over that survey that they had sent regarding the sexed curriculum. And so at that point, uh, policy committee had asked that we receive an update as a board hopefully in the fall

051if it aligns well with when they meet and when they have a report to give back. if you'll remember, uh we haven't had a report from them in in quite some time. And so we really want to get on that cadence of every two years. And so our our hope is that it's 2025 uh at the latest, maybe spring of 26, depending on how their next meeting goes. So that was the first committee. The second committee was the parent safety committee. There were a couple of members there due to moving and and whatnot that could not fulfill those responsibilities any longer and so they had met. It was within that couple of weeks so recently and decided that they would like to add three more ideally into that committee to give representation to OVA Bridges

052and Leonard or Lakeville, excuse me. uh that did not have a current parent representing those schools. So, the principles will work alongside um that committee to hopefully engage three more parents in there and uh again coming along great productive meetings and Shane will be staying on that committee. We had talked about that. And then lastly, we didn't have any formal policy review as so far as we didn't have an update from Trune. So, we continued our work of going through individual policies. There will be one that's sent to governance. It's a pretty hefty policy. It was 2203 or 9 and you'll have it for your governance committee. It's already updated in our Google doc. But uh that one was pretty hefty and we had a lot of questions on that one. So you'll be seeing

053that come to you. But at this point we don't have first reading for any renewing of policy. So that's that. Shane, Mike, did I miss anything? So on that policy that you're bringing over, you're sending over, did you guys get all your questions answered there is a lot of questions specifically for cabinet members and Tanya. So she will be working legal legal as well. Yeah, it's a hefty one. Okay. And so you'll have it in the Google doc with hopefully the questions and answers at least most of them by then. If not, it'll, you know, Okay. It'll be a work in progress, but that's a a real big one that took up a lot of our discussion. So, thank you. Yeah, no problem. Who else? All right. Thank you. Item B, our field trip first

054reading, we have Clear Lake fifth grade camp. And then for approval, we have our OS band field trip. Would anybody like to make a motion on that? Ann, thank you. Move to approve the OS band field trip as presented. Support Mike Whitney. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item D, our secondary ELA curriculum. As you'll remember, we had this discussion at our last board meeting and if there were any additional questions, I haven't seen any. So, if somebody is comfortable to make that motion, Shane, thank you. Move to approve the common lit and study same curriculums beginning in the 2025 2026 school year. Support and any discussion? All those in favor? I I any opposed? Motion carries. Item E, our MASB membership renewal. Again, we had the first

055reading at our last meeting. If anybody Yeah, Shane. Move to approve the MASB membership renewal as presented. Support. James. Thank you. Discussion. I have a just have a general question. So, I think some of the questions since I've been on in general, do we have options? Is it something where we feel just we just check the box and continue? Are there better options moving forward? I understand that there's probably repercussions when it comes to moving away from MASB, but general support for the initiatives that we've been setting forth, some of the meetings that I've attended with MASB. Do we as a group feel that they are in support of our initiatives and what we're trying to achieve as a board? I'm just asking a general question. We've had some kind of dialogue over the past

056just my time, short time being here, that they're not always aligned with what we're trying to achieve. I just thought I'd throw it out there as to a discussion point on are there options and if that's a similar feeling or not. It's not relevant if it's good or bad. I'm just asking the question versus just stamping rubber stamping. Right. Basically what I'm understanding is what are the consequences if we don't renew? Well, specifically what other options are out there and what are the pros and cons, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I think we as a board need as much support as possible. I think to use some terminology, good, bad, and ugly. It doesn't matter what the support is, but if we have the guidance, are they the best avenue for what we are using?

057That's a question. I don't know. But I'm just not ready to just run in and do a renewal without having some sort of discussion and if anything else an understanding right if we change technology is it technology is it better or worse same type of methodology is it have we done the due diligence do we know our options have we weighed our options and is there an opportunity maybe to collect that data and then we have a conversation about it to say this is good better and best do we know if MASB is on one of those tiers as far as good, better, and best. General question. I don't have any background, but I'm just when it comes to renewal, I look at those things myself. I'm not going to renew just for the sake

058of renewing. So, I don't know if there's any knowledge or experience or background that anybody has on on that. And if I think that's the only association that's in Michigan that's that's out there um for it. And then I know since we've been on the board, like we've reached out to Brad, they're legal on on different questions and stuff when it comes to that and their presentations that they do, but he's always gotten right back to when we've reached out to Brad and that's part of the benefit of being a member with them. Okay. Is kind of that. So, it's not not going to TR or other legal counsel and necessarily getting build for it, but you know, one-off questions and then they have the classes and stuff that go obviously, you know, that that

059we do. Um, but I was just doing a quick quick look look and I think that's the only like association membership that's out there in the state of Michigan. So, we really don't really have an option anyways. We we can choose not to renew it and then we wouldn't be part of it and then um the the initiatives and stuff, but they are a you know, think of them almost like a pack for the state. Okay? So they they have other committees and stuff that go to Lancing and stuff on behalf of and so I think still being part of them but I think it's good to look to see like I said I was just quickly looking to see what else was out there and I don't I don't see anything and this is

060an annual renewal right this is a yearly deal. Yeah. So I guess if on that premise if if it's something that we can at least put a sticky note on and say hey for next year are they the best for Oxford? Are they the best for our board and our initiatives? And even even if they don't have we don't have an option, James. Yeah, that's kind of that sucks only because you don't have another option, right? I mean, if there was only one option and you're kidding a pigeon hole on that then they've kind of got the monopoly which sucks, right? But I was just curious, just a general curiosity killed the cat on this one. Is that is there somebody better something better for us? And it doesn't sound like there is. And that's

061fine. I'm not saying that they're bad or or not, but general discussion. Justin, sorry to put you on the spot. Do you know when the deadline is to renew? Beginning of July. I think July 6. So potentially we we could table this until our second June meeting and maybe do a little bit more research and develop pros and cons and and come at it. I think that's a I mean, I appreciate you bringing it up. It's certainly something we've had discussion about. So, I mean, I saw it on the agenda and I've been thinking about it, but I think from a conversation perspective, we owe it to ourselves as always to at least ask the question. I'm happy to do some Googling, right? Some binging. Yeah. Right. Or whatever. But um Right. I just I

062just I don't want us to just rubber stamp something on the case of renewal if there's a chance for something that could potentially be better. And James, if it to your point, man, if this is the only angle and they do have some good, you know, good or bad, it doesn't matter. Yeah. Then we're kind of stuck, right? I just wanted to ask the question. I think if there's not my thoughts, if there's not other options to consider, then I think we still get some benefit from being part of it. Okay. But but to your point of what else is out there, like you said, better, best. And Mike, one of the things that I appreciate is getting to learn alongside our board members at these conferences. um because I think they're really powerful and

063they give awards which I love. Um and and we're really close to getting our first level award. So I just want to bring that up as a point of clarity. I would just want to make a note that I was uh in a school tour a few months ago and room 118. Those little babies are great with crayons and fingerpainting. I'll get you an award. Thank you. I'll frame it. No, that's this is exactly it. Like the conversation with amongst us as to just a renewal just kind of hit me. Do we have any data to back up a decision just to renew, right? And options for, against, and then the cost. Those are some of the things maybe we get a chance to table it. Just like I said, I volunteer. I'll do some

064research myself and see what I come up with. if we want to collectively agree or maybe the next meeting or a next opportunity we're together talk about it. I'm I'm up for all ideas. I'm just asking the question. So, any other thoughts or comments on on that? Anybody have a preference on tableabling this until the next meeting? Yeah, I I think due diligence we can table it till the 24th and then come back and have a more educated vote. Yeah, I'm in favor of that. Okay, Shane, you made this motion, correct? Yes. Yeah. Uh would you like to request to withdraw your motion at this time? Sure. Thank you. Yes. I request to withdraw the motion to approve the MASB membership renewal as presented. Okay. All right. I think that's a great plan. [Applause] Okay.

065If everyone's good, I'll move along. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Item F, our MHSA renewal. Would anybody like to make a motion on that one? James, thank you. Move to approve the MHSA renewal as presented. Support Mike Aldrid. Thank you. Discussion. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Item G, our lighthouse connection nomination. Somebody like to make that motion? I can move to approve the reappoint of Dia Ross Waldron to the LCA board of directors. Support Mike Aldrid. Thank you. Discussion. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Item H, the OEA collective bargaining agreement. I know that occupied a lot of your weekend. Somebody like to make a motion on that. Shane move to approve the collective bargaining agreement between Oxford Community Schools and Oxford Education Association

066as presented. Support and thank you. Any discussion again? Thank you to all of our staff for coming to a great contract and working so collaboratively together. We really appreciate it. So, thank you. Oh, yes. This one is a roll call. Thank you, Tanya. James, would you mind? Yep. Gibson, yes. Summers, yes. Ason, yes. Aldridge, yes. Campy, yes. Whitney, yes. Mcdana, yes. All right, excellent work everybody. Item nine, we have our elementary science curriculum. Good evening. Tis the season for teaching and learning another um curriculum presentation. This evening I am joined by our DK12 instructional um coach and science Chrissy Merrill. Um Chrissy joined the coaching team late fall, right? Late fall um this school year uh ca coming out of the classroom. She has been an amazing addition to our coaching team and jumped right

067into a pretty stressful twocurriculum pilot and um got us to a great point. So, I'm going to hand it over to her to present um our recommendations for elementary science. Thank you. Good evening. Um I'm here to talk about our pilot process that I helped facilitate and support this year. Um I'm going to tell you all about how that process was set up. uh what we found from the process and how we're using it to inform our decisions moving forward about uh science education for our elementary schools. We started with why do we want to do a pilot? Currently our current curriculum is serial city science which we've had for a number of years. My understanding is over 10 maybe 20. Like we've had it a long time. Um and we wanted to make sure

068it was still meeting the needs of our teachers and our learners. Um we surveyed the elementary teachers and asked kind of for their feedback on it and there were some things that caught of our attention. Um some common feedback we got was that student engagement was inconsistent. Uh some units were great, others were a little bit hard to sell. Um they had concerns about some of the student journals and the student facing materials that they weren't necessarily of the right appropriate student grade level especially in terms of writing. Um, and the one that really caught my attention as a science coach is that serial city is NGSS aligned. Uh, which is very different than NGSS designed. So, I'm going to give you a very short little lesson in science standards. In 2012, Michigan adopted the

069next generation science standards, which is what we refer to as NGSS. Um, serial city had already existed at that point. So, they took what they already had and fit it into these standards. What makes these standards really special and different was it wasn't just about teaching kids facts. It was about also emphasizing science and engineering practices like modeling processes and designing investigations and supporting arguments with evidence and skills that are really important in the field of science but also really transfer to a lot of different professions. So, Serial City kind of took what they had and made it fit, but we've seen the emergence of NGSS designed units and curriculums which are designed to really equally use both of these things and and emphasize both of them. Um, a big part of that is what's

070called a storyline. Um, instead of just saying, "Hey, we're going to learn about electricity," they have this story line where kids are like, "Oh, there's a blackout in the city. you're tasked with helping the mayor turn the power back on and figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again. And it's a storyline that runs through all the lessons and each lesson offers a piece of the puzzle. Um, and then by the end they're able to, you know, complete a task that helps the solve the problem that was presented to them at the beginning. Um, it's how science does inquiry based learning which is, you know, kids doing and learning rather than just kind of being told. So, um, so when we asked our teachers, well, what are you looking for? We wanted to

071see that NGSS design, coherent storyline running through all the units. They wanted higher quality texts and and things that were more age appropriate and then a unit design that would consistently engage our learners across the units in every single unit and not some of that hitand- miss engagement we had with Serial City. So, when we started the pilot process, we sent out a survey asking for volunteers. From those volunteers, we picked two grade level teachers from K to five. These two teachers taught the same level grade level and were also paired in the same building so that they'd have a partner to work on um the curriculum with because it's a very heavy lift to ask to for teachers to try a new thing and we wanted them to have kind of a buddy to

072work through it through work through it with. Um those pilot teachers attended curriculum presentations from four different uh companies and they looked at all the sample materials. They essentially voted and from that vote they decided on two programs. The first is called amplify science. Uh amplify science is literacy based. It comes with a variety of teaching modalities but also has very high quality literacy materials for the students to read for the teachers to use. um it's very very heavily integrates literacy into it. The second one they chose was collaborate science. This is a project-based program. Uh it's designed around play and kesthetic learning um and uses touches on multiple literacies like a little bit of uh that ELA component, a little bit of math, a little bit of SEAL, um hence the multiple literacies. So

073when we started that pilot process, our teachers for each pilot went through the same process that started with a training from the curriculum representative. The trainer came out for a day. They learned about the resources, had some time to plan and prepare. Um while they were doing the pilot, I collected weekly feedback uh about kind of our main components we look for in good curriculum. Things like student engagement, the teacher prep process, differentiation, assessment. I asked them to kind of highlight some good things that were going well and some struggles. Uh midway through that unit, they uh person from the curriculum company came back out and did a coaching day where they could help uh troubleshoot some of the struggles our teachers were having. They could watch the trainer model a lesson. Um, we really

074wanted our teachers to feel supported in the curriculum pilots so that if they didn't like it, they knew they didn't like it because of the program and not because they didn't know how to use it. Um, I also did they also had virtual office hour sessions where they these were like little Zooms they could pop in and get quick questions answered. And then at the end of the pilot, I did an exit interview where I looked at kind of like the best the best things about the curriculum, the things that stood out the most in terms of struggle um and how it compared to our current uh curriculum, Serial City. I did that for both we did that for both Amplify and Collaborate. Um and we are left with a very split decision. So, our

075lower elementary teachers and our upper elementary teachers preferred different programs and they felt very strongly about these preferences. Um, starting with our lower elementary, they preferred the collaborate science which was the project-based multiple literacy program that was play-based and kesthetic. And it makes sense because our little kids, they want to move, they want to play. You see some uh pictures up there from some of the lessons. This is Mrs. Bull's first grade classroom. Their unit was about studying how humans and worms are different and their senses and how they sense their environment. And they adapted the game, pin, the tail, and the donkey to learn about how if you take away a sense, how you rely on your other senses. Um, they liked that it was the lesson structure was very flexible and adapted adaptable

076to the classroom. It was very much like here's the framework, but you can adapt it to make it your own in your classroom. Um, with Amplify, they felt like it was our little kids weren't doing enough and moving enough. Um, here's another slide. This was Mrs. Loyy's kindergarten classroom. They had a life cycle unit on butterflies. And you can see all their progression over. They got to see them from little caterpillars to big caterpillars to the chrysalis and the butterfly. They read to the butterflies. That was their own idea. It was super cute. Um, I also had a picture. I got a picture after I made this after the fact where I've never seen a a a picture of so many proud people letting their little butterflies go into the wilderness. Um, and they had

077a lot of fun with it. Our upper elementary classrooms preferred Amplify, which was our literacy based program. Um, like I said, they really really enjoyed the high quality literacy materials and we're really excited about the potential to be able to do some of their literacy teaching in the context of science. uh there was a lot of resources to help support those literacy strategies and the science teaching that went handinand and they had lots of modalities. They had the hands-on investigations, but they also had things like uh this program designed their own simulations and their own tech tools and they had a huge variety of things to teach off of. Um my pictures up there, you can see that was Mrs. Melbour's fourth grade classroom. Um you can see kind of the top picture is they're

078learning how to use one of the simulations there. This unit was on um waves and light and sound. And then you can see their student journals and their word wall and see some of those literacy components working in this science uh lesson with collaborate. They didn't really feel like it was as well designed at the upper levels. The student journals were kind of too broad. They're more like graphic organizers. they didn't feel like there was enough guidance in how to use them. Um, and they also felt like in the upper levels it lacked a coherent sequence because again collaborates designed to be a framework that you adapt to your classroom and that adaptation's a little harder at the upper levels when they're learning more complicated scientific processes. So, um, both sides have very valid reasons

079for liking what they did. And from a science perspective, I absolutely understand how they came to the conclusions that they did. Um, there was another example of amplify science. That was Mrs. Mcdana's third grade classroom. I observed this lesson. They were given a task where they had to make this paperclip like float and they gave them a set of materials and that's all the direction they gave. And I thought it was going to be super easy, but I definitely had to look at my partner and see how they were doing it because I was struggling a little bit. Um but it was awesome because there was like the class came up with seven or eight different ways between the kids to achieve the same um outcome. So our recommendation moving forward is we would like

080to adopt collaborate for our K2 grade levels and amplify for 35. Um how that would look in terms of a roll out is in the August PD we would provide them teacher training from the curriculum companies like our pilot teachers received. Um in the fall they would receive again that coaching day um where once they're in the curriculum they can kind of troubleshoot what they're struggling with, see a lesson being modeled, and then myself along with the other elementary coaches have developed an internal coaching day where in between units we have a structure that would be used by all the coaches to help reflect on the unit that they just finished, troubleshoot, learn resources, what are they struggling with, and then plan for the next one. So, we're being really intentional about supporting them throughout

081the year um instead of just supporting them at the beginning of the year. That's what I have. Questions, comments, feedback. I know I talk really fast. Questions, comments. Mike, sure. Obviously with doing it um K through two and three through five um are you seeing any continuity challenges throughout that curriculum or That's a good question because they're both NGSS designed their structure is very similar and that the the units are designed to be that inquiry based storyline. So it's going to feel the same for K2 than it does with three. It's going to feel exactly the same because they're going to start the unit with we have this question or problem we have to solve. how do we solve it? What's really different is the how they're teaching those things in the lessons. So, as

082they get to those older grades, the lessons are going to be more um reading based and techbased over the canesthetic playbased, but the overall structure of the units are the same. Cool. Excellent. Thank you. This is kind of an out ofthe- blue question, so I don't expect you to know the answer to this, but something for our our next time when we vote on this. It just stood out to me because I hadn't seen this verbiage in the in another contract and in their limitation of liability. It essentially says that even if they know about a problem um any lost data or compromised data to the to the customer using the software, they're not responsible. Do you know maybe if our or next we can talk about it next time if our IT department looks

083over and kind of vets these companies before I'm going to go to Yeah. I mean I have to admit that I didn't catch that in the contract too. Our IT department is who rosters and essentially puts them into our system. So I'm sure there are some security um but Matt I mean you're here maybe you can help us. If not, we'll answer next time. We can talk about Yeah, we can talk about it next time, but I'm going to I'm going to write it down. Appreciate it. Yeah. Sorry I didn't give you advance on that. So, my bad. All right. Anybody else? Um, yeah, just real quick, I just want to thank you guys for the process when it comes to leaning on our subject matter experts, which are our teachers. And I think that

084that's in some districts, um, mainly the one I've come from previously that was very underutilized. So, I appreciate that being the process and and letting the teachers have a voice in this. Um, because they're the ones that have to teach it and and they're the ones that know what works and what doesn't work. So, uh, appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate you noticing that because both the curriculums that we brought forth um in the last month have gone in a couple of different directions based on teacher I mean ideally you do like a K5 adoption or a 612 adoption but meeting the teachers and the needs that they have to meet the needs of their kids is is really important and being responsive to that is important. So I appreciate that. Well said

085Sarah Beth. I just want to thank you. That took a lot of work and I really appreciate you doing that. Um, and not to be um, naive here, but what does NGSS stand for? That stands for the next generation science standards. It's the current standards that were adopted by Michigan and all the other states in 2012. Um, and again, what sets them apart from different uh science standards in the past is we're still teaching content information, but we're putting an emphasis on on teaching skills and practicing skills. Um, and those are being equally weighted rather than just focusing on content like vocab and the nitty-gritty facts. So, it's going kind of above and beyond just um the content. I'll just plug in a little bit for our strategic plan goal number two around being knowledgeable

086critical thinkers. So you're going to see that we're really going to be leaning into when we make curricular choices that our curriculum choices help to elevate what we hope to see in our students when they leave. So NGSS is a great set of standards that helps us elevate in that direction too. So thank you. Okay. Thank you both and thank you to all of the teachers. That was a lot of work and we appreciate it. [Applause] All right. Item number 10, finance and operations. We have the L429 approval. Are you speaking to this one or are you speaking to the next? Um I I can give a twominut blurb on this. If you're comfortable with what we went over in the hearing, good to fantastic. Thank you. Are you good with it? You want me

087to speak? Yeah, just give a quick recap. Obviously, we had the truth and taxation hearing before this, but for those that were not there and that was not recorded. So, okay. Just a quick synopsis would be great. So, a thank you. In the packet is a 19page document, affectionately known as the L4029 um tax rate request document. We do this every year. The board authorizes these documents. we pass them on to our tax collecting authorities and this is what tells them how much to levy on what what uh type tax and what community sub community pieces. So, so within the packet we have Addison, Brandon, Oxford Township, uh Dryen, Hadley, um Metamora Townships, Lepier County and Oakland County. Our district does travel two counties, so that makes these documents a little more um verbose and

088complicated than a district say in the middle of Oakland County. So, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to address them. Any [Applause] additional questions? No. Okay. Anybody like to make that motion? Second. Mike Whitney move to approve the L429 documentation as presented. Support Shane. Thank you. Any discussion? Always. Always. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Item B, our final budget amendment. first reading. Courtney, thank you. Good evening and thank you for having me tonight. Um, I'm here to present to you the final amended budget for fiscal 25. Um, in your board packet, you should see um, one of these papers for each fund that we're bringing to you for final amendment. The five funds that we're bringing to you are general fund, debt services, food service, um community

089services, which is our child care, and then capital projects. Um I do want to note that if you printed the board packet before about an hour before the uh board meeting, the last page, it says um capital projects fund, but it's actually the food service. There was just a typo on the title of that that page just to make sure you saw that. Um we do this final amendment to um update our assumptions that we do both uh in June the prior year for the original budget and then we brought another um amendment in February. This is just more we have more information as the year goes on. So we update the the assumptions as we um approach the end of the year. Um, keep in mind we still have several payrolls as well as

090ongoing expenditures that we are still um, estimating at this point. So, this is our our best educated projection for the final budget at this time. Um, on this document, you'll see the first column is going to be the um, amendment one that you approved in February. And then the third column is going to be the proposed amendment um that I'm bringing to you tonight with the second column being the um changes that happened between those two amendments. Um it's the same format that we followed in the original and the amendment where you'll see um the revenues and expenditures broken down by subcategories. The revenues are listed by um local um sorry I just lost my thought local, state, federal and other. And then the expenditures are broken out based on their purpose. So we have

091like basic programs and added needs. That's where our teachers and our um special ed staff are in. And then we have the support services where we have our transportation, our um business office, our technology operations, and all the different categories that go into there. Um for any proposed amendment uh resulting in a change in excess of $100,000, um you'll see there's letters again um on the column and those will have further explanations on the second page. So, we we break those out and give you further explanation. Um, also in your board packet, we have an executive summary where that will give you a little more detail about our thoughts behind going into our projections and where we think we're going to land and then also more detailed information on those um category changes. Um, so

092just a few highlights. Um the budget surplus has been reduced from 157,819 in amendment one to 121,985 in this final amendment. Um this is the net reduction across all of the proposed changes. Um the operating transfers uh reflect the ins and the outs of the general fund. So the transfers in we um charge food service and our child care programs for um reimbursing us for indust indirect costs for their administrative cost and then the transfers out is the expected amount that we um are going to transfer to our capital projects fund. Um, and then again the executive summary, it does the everyone that has a change of $100,000 or more, we do the um the further explanation, but keep in mind that $100,000 on a million dollar budget. That's a a 1% change. So even

093though it seems like a big impact at $100,000, it is sometimes a just a little change. It could be one person, it could be one expense. Um the revenue changes, the revenue budget increased by about $1.5 million. Um the big changes that we saw was um a reduction in our local revenue source uh that reflected an update to our property tax revenue uh based on our May state aid. The amendment one used prior year um projections. So when as we go through the year, we get those updated. So we've reflected that in this amendment. Um the increase in the state source revenue reflects a prior period adjustment from the special cost reporting changes, special ed cost reporting changes that appeared on the February um state aid. So they were not reflected in the amendment because

094it happened after we took that to you. So that's that is reflected in this amendment. And then we also added the 147G Mipers healthc care employee healthcare reimbursements. Um at the time of the February amendment, there was still many unknowns about that funding and we had not received any of the um the funding yet. So we did not include it in that amendment. Um since then we've received the funding. They've sent out guidance and we've started reimbursing employees. So that is why we're recognizing the revenue now. Um then the increase in other source revenue is a result of the um insurance reimbursements that we've received. So when we have insurable events, we have to book the expense and then we receive the um reimbursement from the um insurance company. So that's recognized in other source

095revenue. And we estimated that we would be at about a million dollars. So that's why it's it's quite an increase in that uh category. Um the expenditure changes um we saw an increase in the revenue. However, we also saw an increase in the expenditures. So that's why there's not a huge change in the the final budget bottom of the budget because they were a wash. So again, one of the biggest changes is that 147G. That's a a pass through categorical grant or categorical revenue. Um so for any revenue that we recognize, we also have to recognize an expense. So we put money in, we take money out. Um that is based on your eligibility to get that is based on your uh retirement plan that you're enrolled in. So because we have employees across all

096of those categories enrolled in those plans, those expenses are spread among all of the different expense categories. Um for the basic programs and added needs, that was probably the biggest impacted category. Um the the main reason behind that is when we brought amendment one to you, we had several positions that were open. Um when we have open positions, we budget for the full vacancy period and sometimes the um the placement the interview process, the placement process, it takes a little bit of time. So that time period where it's vacant and we're filling it with subs or other other sources of coverage, it it reduces the amount. So there was a difference in that budget to actual that we recognized in those categories. And then also that 147G because that's our highest concentrated um area of

097staff that has the biggest impact on those categories. Uh and then also our um virtual classes, the licensing for the curriculum that they use for those classes, those are also booked to those categories. So that one has the biggest impact because it's the biggest portion of the biggest piece of the pie. Um the other big category that had some some fluctuation was the operations and maintenance that was due to those insurable events. Those the expenses that we incurred from those are posted to those categories. So we brought revenue in we had to post an expense it washes itself out minus the um deductible that we have to pay for those events. Uh and then other changes that are just um allocation of grants. we get grant money in and throughout the year we're shaking out

098where we want the the money to be spent. Um Anita and her team works really hard to make sure that we're spreading it across all programs. So sometimes that fluctuates where we end up on those different categories. Okay. So the other four funds that I'm bringing to you, I'm just going to give some brief information on them. um the community service fund, also known as our child care. Uh when I brought the first amendment budget to you, we were expecting a $73,000 deficit. Um now it's looking like they're going to be just about a balanced budget. They have a small um excess revenue. They had a big change in their funding this year with the free preschool for all. So it was uh there was a lot of unknowns on how much that was going

099to cost. So that's why the difference of those um it looks like Ann was doing a great job being able to shake those expenses out and get them back to a balanced budget. Um we also have the food service. Uh they are running at a a deficit. However, we knew that was planned. They had the um the fund balance spendown plan that they had through MDE. So in order to get that plan that fund spent down, we had to overspend this year to dip into the fund balance. Um and then there was some changes. The big change in the expenditures. We still have the ongoing project. So the reflection of the expenditures is what we expect to have completed at June 30th. If the project isn't completed then we can't book the expenses and it's

100looking our original plan was to end in July. So those expenses that are incurred in July will have to book to next year. Um the capital projects same thing. We had a little bit of reduction in expenses from the amendment one to the final amendment. Same thing, we have some ongoing expenses that we're waiting for um project completion and once those are posted, whether it's in fiscal 25 or 26, we'll have to adjust those expenses accordingly. And then the debt services fund, I'm hoping I'm going to say this right, but um it looked like I was John was coaching me before I got up here. It looks like we um had more revenue come in from our tax collection. So it it made it to where we did not have to borrow from the school

101bond loan fund. So you'll see the the increase in the revenue and then the decrease in the expenses is because we did not have to to borrow. Did I say that right? All right. Um so and that's all I have for you tonight. Is there any questions? Uh yeah, I just have a couple of questions. The insurable events, do we have a total like the amount of deductibles that we've had to pay out for that? Do we have a dollar amount? Uh are it's 10,000 an event, right? Yeah, we can we can get that information. Okay. Um, and have we collected all the reimbursements from these insurable events or do we know when we will? We are in the process of collecting them. So, we have to um receive the bills from the the companies,

102pay the bills, submit it for reimbursement. So, it's it's a more of like a timing process and a couple of the events were just wrapped up recently. Okay. And then I guess my last question is really in general just speaking um with the insurance company have are we doing our due diligence as far as shopping for you know the best rate the best coverage you know the best bang for our buck so to speak um because I I just want to make sure we're being fiscally responsible. So all right thank you. I think John John touched on that recently. So could you provide an update on the insurance John? Yeah, I've uh just this past April, MSBO has its annual event and I take advantage of those opportunities to corner people such as these kinds

103of issues and um I've talked with a couple of insurance people who would uh work with or coordinate with the other major pools in the state, the ones that one of the ones that we were particularly looking at. Um the feedback I got from them um before anything was put in writing, the feedback was they likely wouldn't place us in that pool, which is the pool we'd want to move to. There is another pool in the state that they could place us in, which is a pool we probably don't want to move into. And the reason the difference between the two two in the pool that we don't want to move into we would be the healthiest for lack of a better description district in it which tends to get the biggest increases of premiums

104by that nature. Um vice versa for the other pool we'd be right in the middle of the pack. So we should have if we had gotten into that pool um that's Mazel by the way. Um we would likely be at or maybe a a small reduction in savings versus what we're getting now compared to this year's pricing. The wild card will be next year's pricing anyway in terms of the fund we're in. So we're looking we're trying to do our due diligence on that side of it. But thank you. Anyone else? I also had a quick one on the insurable events. Is that only MS or does that include OEIC? It includes OEIC, OMS, and O and OS. We had a a flood December, January time, right? Okay. So, I I believe it's just three

105events for this year. Okay. And do we have any sort of confirmation, you know, that that these are actually insurable events? For example, OIC, do we have confirmation that they will be reimbursing for that? Yeah. So, OEIC is actually we've received um I believe all but one check. And again, like I said for Shane, it's it's a timing of when the vendor send us the invoice, we get it paid. we have to have proof of payment before we can submit it for statement of loss. Um, so I believe we're just waiting on one check from them. The high school, I believe we're waiting on just one small check from them. And then the the middle school, that one just wrapped up recently, so we're we're in the works of getting those reimbursed as well. Okay.

106Thank you so much. So, and if we don't if we don't get it booked by June 30th, we can book it as a receivable. So, it's, you know, it'll still be recognized in the year. Great. Thank you. Anyone else? Great information. Appreciate it. Thank you. [Applause] [Laughter] Finance is very important. So, thank you, Courtney. Back to Mr. Fitzgerald for our millillage proposal. Thank you. So, um this is the next step in what we started been talking about the last few meetings. So, um, some of these slides you've seen before and I'll just quickly go over them and land on the points I want to bring up tonight. Um, what we're talking about in this particular slide speaks to our John, just a reminder, please move the mic. Oh, thank sorry about that. Thank you. Um,

107this one is speaks to our operating mill proposal. Again, some overview. We are legally limited to levying 18 mills. The current year we're in, we're levying 17.43 mills. the 4029 documents in front of you for authorization tonight drops that to 17.3155 which means next year we'll be shorting ourselves $250,000 until we correct this problem. Um so that's the driving factor behind wanting to place a replacement u millillage question on the ballot for the operating mill that impacts the general fund and remember this is the first wave of funding for the foundation allowance for each child. So, a little bit of this again, that's the the bucket representing the foundation allowance that we're guaranteed um as the basis. This is the line share of funding for the district. So, the first piece, the 18 mills, uh

108this past year should have been $852. We collected less than that because the millage we're levying is less than 18 mills. The state when it funds all the districts assumes everybody's levying 18 mills. So, that's the real driving reason why we're putting this question up for ballot. And um I'll speak a little more to that too when it comes to when we get to the actual language of the ballot and the resolution. So a little more quick background again to just speaking on what I just said. The the nuance of the operating millage is from a legal point of view, we can request authorization of mills from voters to go above 18 mills. But when it comes time to actually levy the tax, we can't levy more than 18 mills. So many districts, actually most

109districts in the state, request of their voting public to authorize something well above 18 mills. It's referred to as the Headley amendment cushion. There's a couple other names I don't want to repeat in public it's referred to as, but the goal of it is to create a cushion between the 21 mills and the 18 mills. So every year when we go through this taxation document cycle approval, there's existing tax law under the headley amendments tied to tax law that um depending upon circumstances of the past year, inflation, things like that, it will reduce the amount authorized you can levy. So the 21 from year after year after year that will be impacted by that Headley amendment. And the goal is for the life of this, and I believe we're asking for a 10-year approval on

110it, that that that 21 never gets pushed below the 18 mills. So every year we can levy our 18 mills and collect into the general fund to to uh fund the the kids programming the amount we should be. So on a similar note, um the syncing fund proposal, this this is a a slide from past presentation as well. what it's for. The the simplest way to think of what you can fund with a syncing fund is if you took this building, turned it upside down, and shook it. Whatever doesn't fall out, you can pay for with syncing fund mills. So, a syncing fund is a it's a tax it's a tax and pay as you go. There's no debt. The idea is for it is to help your district pay for its maintenance of facility

111and big big annual cost operations. It's not designed to deal with like building a new building. That's a whole different concept. That's a bond project concept. But for events such as we had occur this year, whether it's the boilers we replaced, it's some work we've done um at the different building sites and different HVAC systems and projects. All of those things are syncing fund qualifying costs that we actually paid for out of our general fund this year, which was well in excess of a million dollars. So the goal is to um lay our case out to our voting public to show that between the two pieces, the general operating fund and the syncing fund, they're matched wells who run appropriately run a district so that we can take the general fund revenue and use that

112focus and keep that focused on the classroom and the curriculum and the kids. Back in the 90s when they changed the whole taxing structure, this was the flaw that later they admitted they should have addressed is that when they created the foundation allowance amount, which was that bucket in an earlier slide, they did not take into account the cost of taking care of the facilities and the grounds and the site site equipment and things like that. All they did was take the prior year's operating expenses from each district and did the math of they spent X dollars per kid and that became 1996's first foundational ounce. So the state since then has always been a proponent of we go to your public and ask for a syncing fund and or a bond project. Bonds are

113for big projects. If you've got to build a new high school or whatever you in in that scale of an event, a syncing fund is for running a year-to-year appropriate operation. So, so from a legal point of view that um there's a short this is just a short list. There's much more detailed list and the different uh organizations in the state particularly the Michigan School Business Officials Association has a history or record of approved costs by Michigan State Treasury over the decades that it's been in the state. So that's kind of a library that when people want to know specifics for what what you can and can't buy, most of your legal counsel will go there themselves and then tell you what you can and can't if something's approved. So the lots of districts have

114gotten to the point of well we'll just go look at the library ourselves and not pay a legal bill on top of it. So but these are typical things that you'd pay for roofing, HVAC systems, any any smallcale construction and repair um buses. They have changed the law for syncing funds about three or four years ago. They now allow they now allow those funds to be used on buses. Prior to that, many districts, most districts would include in a bond proposal, they'd go out and buy 25 new buses and the because of they they weren't buses are very expensive equipment and that was the only real source that you could raise the money to replace or replace either half or all of your bus fleet. A bus today goes for $150,000 a piece. So, and

115if you do it with a bond, you're paying you're paying for a 10-year or 12-year asset with 20-year money, and it's just not a good match in terms of the financial management piece of it as well. So, a syncing fund now makes the best sense in terms of it allows you to have money come in each year without debt and you can plan forward on a rotating basis, replace two buses a year at X going forward. you do that in a repetitive pattern pattern, you have a very safe fleet and it's very cost-e effective just by way of example. So when it comes to what we would be doing for project selection, we are in in the process of the front end of a facility assessment condition assessment project. Once that's completed and um we

116have a good understanding of what's really needed in every facility and site in the district, those projects um and costs will be sorted into different categories. one of them being health and safety related that will always be the first things funded within syncing fund going forward. So um depending upon uh the actual levy annual levy amount of the syncing fund relative to the priority projects then you start tearing in other projects such as an annual bus replacement or technology uh needs addressed things like that. And um so in terms of the conversation of if if we moved forward and got approval or went after the approval of a sinking fund, what would we want to ask for? So at a point 75, so less than one mil levy, it generates about 1.24 million in revenue.

117And ideally on a house that's about a $200,000 taxable value house, that'll cost you about $150 a year. So taxable value is roughly 50% of market value. There's there are fluctuations. So it's not a one one, but this is just to give you an idea. So, and the better rule of thumb is for every $1,000 of taxable property value you have on your house, and anyone can reference that on their tax bills, they'll break that down to um what your taxable value is listed on there. for every thousand dollars of value there, it would it would cost the homeowner um or the taxpayer um $1. And this becomes $1 in tax revenue under the syncing fund. So if it was a one one mil, it would generate about 1.65 million about $200 $200 a year

118for a $200,000 taxable valued home. And at 1.25 mills it would generate a little over two million. Um, again, generating about $250 annual bill for that. Um, the the conversation piece that is at the close of the presentation, I believe the board's going to look at in terms of what makes sense in terms of what we want to ask for. So in terms of how we'd actually look at prioritizing and I touched on this a little bit earlier and if it's particularly depending upon what levy that we go for approval and actually get approved the smaller levy the first first priorities would always be health and safety issues whether it's boilers chillers ventilation systems things like that and as the mill goes up when you get down to one mill then everything above the health

119and safety stuff and then we'd be looking at buses and technology and Then if you got a go with a one and a quarter mills, we'd be looking at the other two pieces plus we'd be looking at athletic and facility and site needs and performing arts needs and things like that. So, and that's that's not a hard and fast route, but it's just a basic kind of scaling of based on whatever resources you have relative to your your needs in the district. Um, and I've always been a proponent of course health and safety first and then we go from there. So again, timeline again, we are at the June 10 meeting. So actually in your board packet is a draft resolution certifying resolution and ballot language. I'll touch on those in about two seconds here

120too as well. There's one set of documents for the operating millage and one set of documents for the syncing fund proposal. And we're still targeting an election in November of 25. Um the thinking on November of 25 is in our general fund the operating millage in the general fund alone. This year we've lost left on the table if you will $200,000. Next year it's forecasted to be about $250,000. The going cost of elections run slight run in the neighbor of 100 to $125,000. If it's the only if you're the only person running the election. If another entity is also putting something on proposal at the same time frame, then our cost would be shared. But from a the pure math of the situation, um the reason that even if we're the only ones up for

121a proposal in November, it will cost money, but the general fund operating millage itself has a very high passage rate, and that's the tax that goes on your district's business properties, for lack of of a a cleaner expression. So they have a n literally a 99.9% passing rate because the it's always the drive for the district to make sure community understands that that is the funding source that goes to the general fund and this and the uh foundation allowance piece. So if if that passes in and of itself, it will pay for the cost of the election in the year it passes plus the residual the residual funding of anywhere between 100 and 150,000 additional dollars that will go into the general fund. And then each year forward, we will be capturing all of that

122t tax revenue for the for the student operations as we should be doing. So that said again on the building and uh for the sinking and fund piece under law, you can't ask for more than three mills. Can't go more out than 10 years. So that takes us to the point of a conversation piece of for the board in terms of thoughts on where that would go. But I do want to touch on two. The actual proposal language that's been included in your in your packets. The first one being the one for the general fund operating millage. It's actually titled an operating millillage replacement proposal. The word replacement is the legal ease that's used to reflect the fact that we have a current um operating millage proposal in place that's not expired. So if the

123millage isn't expired yet, you use the the approach in the word is replacement. So that it's a difference in with the other the syncing fund proposal. And then a couple of items in terms of what this resolution authorizes. It will authorize the the superintendent or designate to file the appropriate paperwork with the county to get the ballot language to get an election established and put the ballot out there for for public vote. So the back page of the document titled exhibit A is draft language and each each uh document has this draft language. Um the operating millage language is specific to it and then the syncing fund is specific to it. The draft language on the syncing fund has one mill plugged in just for as a demonstration piece because there's other language in the

124in the wording that you have to put an estimated dollar value of generation of revenue. So hence we have to pick a number to go with just to for to meet the draft purposes so that um you guys can actually see how these would look. So this page actually looks like what the ballot language would look like. The top half is written in italics and it's I I refer to it as clear language. I like I like to speak and have people speak to me in what I call 7-Eleven terms. Right to the point, straight clear. Um I like to avoid the $10 words and the multi logistic words. Um, and that's to me what this top piece does. It speaks much clearer. The bottom language is the actual legal language for the ballot proposal.

125And there are different words in the way they write it. There's legal reasons the way they write it. So, I found it to be um a good ad to way that ballot proposals are put out. It's been it's been going on like this now for a little while. It used to be just the language on the bottom and trying to explain half the the way under law that things have to be written is is was the challenge itself where this top paragraph now helps to explain that in an understandable layout. Same format for the sinking fund. Literally the exact same format. A few changes to the resolution because it's a different speaks to a different proposal. Same with the wording on the back pages. The wording there um changes to reflect what this proposal is

126asking for. The scing fund piece, it speaks to what we can in in 30,000 foot language, what we can buy with it. And then the bottom piece is again the legal language that is written in that way. That's the formal ballot piece. So, in terms of um the board's first chance to actually see the language and and the conversation piece, I'd be more than happy to field questions, thoughts. Um John, I think I asked you this before, but I just want to reinforce this point. Um, in simple terms, if we don't have a syncing fund, then whatever these repairs are and the ongoing maintenance and everything else is going to continue to come out of the general fund, which again pulls out of the academic uh, pool of money that we have to upgrade curriculum

127and everything else. Correct. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. And to reinforce that point, um I think we talked about this a little bit before. Our high school is our youngest building and it's almost 25 years old. Most major systems in buildings and sites for that matter, whether it's parking lot, roofs or HVAC systems, have a 20 to 25 year life. So most things in the newest building is approaching their first major cycle of life cycle needs. So all of the rest of our buildings now over the years some of things have already been addressed. Like this year we've replaced at Lakeville a boiler. We've already got Clearville lined up for being addressed this year for getting their boiler updated. So yes, all that will come out of the general fund. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

128For the millillage, the pass rate is 99.9 something%. And for the for the operating millillage, yep. The general fund piece, right? for the sinking fund. As we've seen from other districts across Michigan recently, it it's kind of all over the map. You know, some districts barely passed a 75, many were rejected at 1.5 or, you know, it it's really kind of a coin toss there. So, I know you had a chance to look at some of that data based on the pass rate percentage, the needs of the district. what is your recommendation for you know 0 751 or 1.25 25. Um, part of my responsibility is facilities background. There's a there's a industry standard, national industry standard in terms of um, the amount of money an organization should be putting back into its facilities on

129an annual basis. And it runs between three to five dollars for every um, foot. I'm trying to remember how they wrote it. Three to five dollars for every foot of facility. We have roughly a million square feet of facilities. So based on that standard, we should be thinking in terms of 3 to 5 million to keep things up to the to the best so to speak for that's a best practice kind of standard. I live in the real world and way public schools are funded. We'll never get up to that level. So long story short, I support the 1.25 mills. Um and I said in an earlier meeting, I don't like paying new taxes. I don't know anybody who does. um the amount that's associated with it um for the vast majority of our residents

130is again I'm sure they all agree with me. No one's happy about taxes, but for the amount of paid relative to the community's assets because the schools are the community's assets, um it's a bargain in that regard in my mind to generate $2 million. Now, that's under that standard, but I would take $2 million any day of the week that we can for two reasons really. because the facilities are are they're good facilities. They just a lot of them need just some some really good tender loving care and at the same time by doing that manner using that mechanism we literally free up a million plus dollars a year that's draining out of the general fund and that amount's only going to go up if we don't have another ability or means in place to

131offset. Like I said the buildings are fairly aged and it's just going to accelerate in terms of what needs to be done. Thank you. Thank you. Did finance committee have a discussion surrounding a recommendation coming out of finance committee? We were talking for the exactly the reasons that John mentioned was the 1.25. Um I mean I I I really appreciate the updates to the presentation as far as I know I heard a couple murmurss as well. Um liking that to really understand what tearing it out like that for the 75 to one 1.25 to understand what this gets us right. What what are we dealing with? Certainly none of this is we're not talking about luxury items. this is this is really just maintenance um and just maintaining a longer list of items as as

132you go down. So um yeah, but that's so that's the 1.25 was the recommendation out of the out of the finance committee. I know I've talked to quite a few of you for any questions. I know John's opened himself up um from now until the next meeting as well if you have any other um other questions. But thank you both very much. Any other questions, comments? Sarah Beth, I just want to thank you, John and Mike, for taking the time out yesterday to talk to me more. And I so appreciate your work and I also appreciate you being open because I got a whole lot more questions and I'll talk with you about them later. But again, these guys are awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Anytime. Good. All right. Thank you. Thank you again.

133[Applause] Come on. We all know who wants to clap for that. The good stuff is already done. It's yours. Okay. Moving into item 11, safety and school operations with Dr. Will. All right. Good evening. We are here for our annual end of the year safety update. And so, um, just a few things that we're going to touch on today. Um, share progress and updates on different saf safety initiatives and protocols, highlight some improvements that have been done, inform the community about different collaborative efforts that we are part of, and we're going to reinforce our commitment to the student and staff safety. Um, and so as a reminder, this is a graphic that I've shown before, but it's from Safe and Sound Schools, and it really does encompass the approach that we take within safety and

134security in this district because we really do focus on that partnership between mental health and safety to ensure that we are acting proactively and using preventative measures, but also with an understanding that we need to have a comprehensive multi-hazard approach um so that we can respond as appropriate within the five phases of emergency management. And so all of these together is what creates our culture of safety and security here in Oxford Community Schools with an emphasis again on preventative measures. And so I wanted to start with an update on the mass notification system. The system is fully online for all schools. We did some upgrades to reprogram so that it aligns with the standard response protocol. Um, and we've been using it as part of our drills in alignment with the standard response protocol and

135it will continue to be used in conjunction with Raptor Alert during the 2526 school year. There was a letter from Summit that was posted in board book. So, I'm not going to read that to you. Um, but wanted to also share that the next speaker test is scheduled for Friday. Um, and the equipment testing and service maintenance happens on a regular basis in conjunction between my department and maintenance and technology. It's kind of our three departments coming together to work on that. Um, and it varies throughout the year. It's tested every time there's a drill and we notify summit as needed if there's any sort of equipment or system issues that are identified during the drills and they're addressed rather quickly. The next thing I wanted to share, and I'm glad that Melissa's up here

136as well. Um, we were, it was suggested, um, last summer by a person in Homeland Security that we applied for the master threat assessment training certification through the Department of Homeland Security. So, last summer, Melissa and I both applied. It's not the easiest application process. You have to prove that you're qualified to be part of that. There's essay questions. You have to get recommendations. 580 people applied for this round of training. Um, and I'm very excited to say that there are two of us out of the about 200 spots that were selected out of the 500 applicants that were chosen to be part of this year's cohort. Um, I did complete all of my training already. Melissa's is further in this year. As it stands right now, there are approximately 400 people in the country

137that hold a master threat assessment training certification through the Department of Homeland Security. So once Melissa does hers, we will have two in this district. There are three other people in Oakland County that will hold this as well. So I just think it not only speaks to the the work that we're doing to ensure we're on top of the training, but also at the county level what they're doing. Um, so as part of that certification process, again, once we're accepted, there's classes we have to take, um, online classes, there's webinar opportunities, and then you have to go to a 4-day in-person training that Homeland Security designates the city and the time of year that you go to. It's not I get to pick what city I want to go to or what format it's going

138to be on. You are told by Homeland Security when you're going and that's when you go. Um, I was fortunate for the training that I went to, there were two other people from Oakland County that were there. Someone who works within emergency management, homeland security, and someone who works for the sheriff's office. So, it was a great opportunity for the three of us to sit down and talk about what does this look like for us moving forward. And a lot of that was how are we bringing consistency across the county so that when there are things that would rise to a county level and we would have to engage with the FBI, Homeland Security across the county, how are we being able to support each other? Um, and then with that there's an final assessment

139we have to take. We have to develop a course. Um I think what drove both Melissa and I to apply for it is we have the opportunity to provide community presentations. Now my certification that I have through with doing the NTAC model is specifically for threat assessment teams only. And so this one gives me additional training so that we can provide ongoing learning opportunities for our threat assessment teams. But now I'm also certified to provide training to our community, which I think is a great way to continue that partnership with all of us because it really does take everyone for to help our schools be safe. And so it really is rooted in that proactive preventative approach and for schools like ours where our 100% of our teams are trained in the ENTAC model. Our

140BTAM teams are trained. It's good to have refresher training though, much like teachers go to ongoing professional learning. This now is a great opportunity for me during the monthly safety and security meetings to provide that refresher training. Um, additionally, those that hold that certification, you're also able to take part in virtual quarterly meetings that are regional. So, we had one two weeks ago and I was able to connect with state safety, school safety people who work for Wisconsin and Ohio and we were able to talk about trends we're seeing and just again to have that collaboration. Um, we also there have updates that are given to us. So, it really allows us to have access to material that we wouldn't have without this certification. And so I really think it's a testament to Melissa to

141want to do that as well because of her mental health background that it really does continue the vision within our department of keeping safety and mental health together. Um, as we go through the training and be able to vet it, keeping that in mind as well because the topic is a heavy topic and so we want to make sure that we're going to do it in a way that's trauma informed. That's something that we've already discussed with our area homeland security reps as well as the trainers um so that we can do it in the best way possible but still deliver the information. And so next we have our threat assessment data for the year. Um as you can see much like last year our screeners are still more uh more of the norm. Um

142each screener as well as each full threat assessment has a multidisciplinary team which consists of a school administrator, a school-based mental health professional with at least a master's degree and a school resource officer. And part of our process for screeners and full assessments is there is an inquiry about access to weapons. Um, and so looking at what we have for any of them that went to a full, you can see they were in the minimal or moderate priority. What this means kind of the difference is if it's considered a low priority, I'm going to go into a little education. We know the the triangle for RTI, the response to intervention. We've heard people talk about that. There's that tier one. That's everybody gets those supports. Low-level interventions would include just thinking about what supports would

143be available for everyone. The student um does not appear to pose a risk of violence or serious harm to self or others and anything could be exist could be supported through those existing support structures. Um, when you go to moderate, the individual or situation also does not appear to pose a risk of violence or serious threat to harm or self or others, but there may be additional interventions that are needed, additional supports that are needed. Um, so that's kind of what we would refer to as our tier 2. Not all of the kids need that same support. And if you're looking at high, um, they appear to pose a risk of violence or serious harm to self or others. It their behaviors may indicate that the student is considering a planned act of violence, has

144planned harm to self or others, or other concerning behaviors that indicate there is an intention for violence. And then imminent is there they oppose an immediate risk um, and action needs to be taken to prevent that violence from occurring. Um and so as you can see ours were in the minimal and moderate um for this year looking as we compare last year's data to this year's data. If we think back to the guidepost report they did put in their report that we were doing 300% more threat assessments than districts of our size and makeup. At the time when I first started my employment during the 22 23 school year, we can see that those numbers are going down. Not because people aren't reporting. People are reporting, but we're learning and we're growing as teams and

145things that may have been reported three years ago are being looked at differently. How are we able to provide support? It's not necessarily at the level of a threat assessment. And so, transitioning now to suicide risk assessment. Again, we did have more screeners and similar to threat assessment, um whether it's a screener or a full assessment, there is access inquiry about access to dangerous instrumentalities, including lethal weapons. And that's worded that way to align with our board policy. Um because it's not just lethal weapons when we're talking about suicidal ideiation. And so wanting to um stay true to what is in that model. um our sui our screener and suicide risk assessments again include a multid-disciplinary team. The change this time though in a suicide risk assessment is two mental health professionals with at least

146a master's degree are included on that team. You also have your school administrator and a school resource officer. So when you think about um our our process, we we do see that there are some in the moderate and the high um and we had 62 full suicide risk assessments. Um it is outlined in AG5710.01 if you want to read it. I'm going to give you a condensed version though, but in case anybody wants some light reading later. Um, our mental health subcommittee, which Melissa will speak on, has really done a lot of work on this to ensure that we are addressing the needs of the students as well as maintaining safety of everyone involved. And so things that if a student is found at high risk for suicide, um, it's an immediate parent contact they're

147coming up. If we can't, there is a possibility even as we're contacting parents that we may need to call 911 in a high risk suicide risk. We're looking at that that student has plans. There's a thought of self harm and so wanting to be able to get them care as quick as we can. Um, when the parent arrives, a mental health staff, at least one mental health staff normally too, and at least one other staff member meet with the parents to discuss the concerns. And as you can see on here, the multid-disciplinary team, which includes the school administrator, that person is notified immediately when one begins. Um, parents are provided resources, what are different warning signs, um, what is a le, they have to sign a letter that they understand. Um, and they also give

148parents at that point of two the opportunity to sign a two-way release so that if the student has outside mental health support, we're able to talk with them. um in any sort of safety situation, anything like that, we can share to them. They can always share back, but having that two-way release allows the conversation to flow so that we really are supporting the child um and not just that situation. When we look at moderate and low, we're really again, it's dependent on the situation and what happens at that point. And there is the monitoring piece that comes with it of do we need to develop a safety plan? How are we welcoming them back in? What is the re-entry plan going to look like? We have a lot of templates for that, but both of

149these are very gray processes. So I always like to say we're bringing some black and white to a gray process. Um and so then when we look at the comparison from last year to this year, we are seeing that there were more full suicide risk assessments done this school year than last year. But a lot of that can be attributed to the training that we've done, the work that Todd's department has done, that all of the mental ha health staff has done. And we have a lot of peers reporting their friends and we lot have a lot of students that are self-reporting. This also doesn't get into specific students. So it could be one student four times. And so that's something to consider as you look at this data because I'm not going to get

150into anything that's going to violate Furpa. But something to keep in mind, but really I think it it's just that culture of see something, say something. And we've had situations where they think they heard something. Well, let's call them into the office and make sure that's what they heard. um than to sit and someone not report something. So although that number has gone up, it really speaks to that culture of psychological safety where our kids feel safe enough to report um their their peers or themselves. When we look at the bullying investigation, we know that Bridget Bitner spoke earlier about the survey and we are aware that there is a discrepancy between the student survey and the bullying investigations that were conducted this year. Um, this is something that Bridget and I talk about a

151lot and we will continue to work on this. Um, in reaching out to the administrators to talk about what the survey data said versus what the investigations say. Um, a lot of what, and I had seven administrators respond to me, um, that they said a lot of it is things like peer-to-peer conflict, which is what Bridget and I see on the anonymous reporting form that we have, is that kids will report, "This kid didn't let me have a turn on the swing." That that really can be settled through restorative methods, having a conversation, teaching, um, how do we share, how do we take turns? It's not something at that point that is the level of bullying. Um, and so that kind of went into what Bridget spoke on earlier where she said we're going to

152adjust some of the lessons. Um, because there is that definition of bullying and what its true definition is. Um, really looking at things. We saw in the survey that it said in the last 12 months. So when you think the last 12 months, that would be last June. So that would be a different we're we're then going into two different school years. Um so just really thinking about how do we work with our kids to educate them? How do we work with our community, our teachers, everyone um to be able to understand bullying and ways that we can truly support everyone on this and so that will be something that we continue to do. So I'm going to pass this over to Melissa to speak on the mental health subcommittee. Hello, my name is Melissa

153Cree. I am a school psychologist in the district. I've been I just finished my 13th year. Um, and I'm here as uh a participant on this committee. So, the mental health subcommittee is something that was formed really last year in response to a couple different topics that were coming up in the district that we really needed to get together representation from elementary, middle, and high with Allison to work through some procedures and policies on things. So, that's kind of where it stemmed from. And then from there, it has really built into continuing the work and continuing things that we see need improvement within this process within our district. There's currently 14 um people on the mental health subcommittee and it's a great representation of every level. Um and that's that's intentional, right? Because one of

154the main goals is also to build consistency K12 in our practices. There's always going to be some nuances between different levels that you do things a little bit differently. Um but a lot of the critical pieces really should be there at all levels and how do we make sure that's happening. You also have different roles of things happening at different levels. For example, elementary does not have APS or deans or counselors, right? So, some of the work that might be done by that staff in a secondary level is done by different staff at an elementary level. So, working through some of those pieces. Um, it's been great. Uh, it has been a great way to for the people who are doing the work. So, you just went through all of those numbers of the threat

155and suicide assessment. So people on this committee are the ones that are doing those threat and suicide assessments, right? So it's a way to get feedback um and really good conversation from the people doing the work to see what do we need to continue to work on or does this make sense or even hey I had this situation and have it be more of like a collaborating with colleagues to to seek input and to seek different ways to do things and better ways to do things as we continue to grow. It's also been able to build between buildings relationships between colleagues that may not have had relationships previously. Um, I now have a colleague at the high school that I can call on my cell phone if I'm struggling to find a service provider for

156a child outside of school hours. She knows all the right things to say and all the right numbers to call and she's been a great resource and just connecting with with one another in that way. Um, so as you see it's multid-disciplinary. So, it's school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, um mostly and some different people along the way. One of the current things that we've been working on this year is revising threat and suicide assessment checklists. So what that means is with the board policy and um administrative guidelines set really going into the daytoday all the steps to doing those things because there are a lot of steps that make that go into doing a threat or suicide assessment. Um we want to ensure anybody who's doing that is clear, comfortable, confident in knowing

157and following those steps. We get a lot of kind of new staff in this district. We're hiring again for social workers and FSLs on that nature. And it can be helpful if we have something already com completed as we work on training and onboarding as well to relieve some of their potential anxiety with making sure they're not missing anything. Even that piece about the second mental health staff member, there's a big stop sign on our checklist like do not move past this point until you have gotten another second mental health staff member to complete a suicide risk assessment for example. Um those checklists have also come out of situations that have come up um about what to do when what to do when you can't reach a parent, what to do when you're not sure

158um if you should be sending a child home on a bus, what to do when the principal's out of the building, right? like a lot of situations that have come up naturally through this work have led to some of the things within those check checklists most backups or alternatives to make sure that these things can still follow even when some hiccups might come up. Um those checklists also came out of really buildings asking for them, right? Because buildings want to make sure building teams want to make sure they're doing everything they're supposed to be doing. And there's been changes right from navigate to raptor and then with our own policies and practices. So to make sure that they're clear and confident and comfortable um in doing them beyond that is re-entry meetings. So, this is

159going to be kind of another part of the checklist. Once the initial episode, once once everybody's safe, once we're good, kind of that initial crisis piece is resolved, the child's coming back to our school. Well, best practice is not just that they kind of show up to first hour and go on about their day. Best practice is that we're inviting the child in with their family, um, with a trusted adult and doing a re-entry meeting. They're going to look differently depending on what the situation was, right? We have re-entry meetings after suspension. That's different than this. This is re-entry meetings following potentially being sent out for a suicide assessment. So, that's going to look differently. We want to be able to for that child to sit down with a trusted adult and a school-based mental

160health provider at the school, talk about your warning signs, talk about what might be hard for you today and how can we work around that. Talk about that math test that you missed. I'm going to make sure I'm talking to your teacher that you don't have to do that today, right? Maybe not a great thing to come back to after I was just at the hospital. So, talking through those pieces and trying to come up with the best plan so that that student can feel comfortable and ready to return to learning um in the way that they need to. So, and then being able to follow up with staff members that need to what that need to know certain pieces. So, for example, if they're going to have an accommodation about some of the work

161that may have been missed or tests that may have been missed, remembering to follow back up with those teachers to communicate that or if there's something that this child wants to be seated at the back of the room so that they can kind of leave if they need to take a break, making sure you're following up with the teacher with that piece. So, it's all things that we know are good to be doing, but it's getting it kind of down on paper and the logistics of it. Who's going to do it? When are they going to do it? and how are we going to make sure and be accountable that we did it. Um the other part of that is through with these with within MTSS. So we have at the elementary level um problem

162solving meetings. So we meet monthly. This is a great place to follow up on kids. Say hey you know this student came back a couple weeks ago. How are they doing? Checking in on them. Do we have the support in our building? Have they been connected? How's that going? Checking in on that. Do we need to increase that? Is that fading away? Do we have the release for the therapist? Can we check in with the therapist, see how it's going on their end? So, it's not it's moving beyond just kind of that immediate making sure the child is safe in that situation to the supportive and care environment that we can create in their school so that they can reenter the education. Um, I think that was everything. Yep. All right. Thank you. All right.

163And so I'm gonna get that back to you. Thank you. All right. And then our next piece that we're going to talk about is um just wanted to share an update on the Oakland County School Safety Consortium. It is something that was started in February of 2024. Um when I came to this district, it was something I was used to having meeting with the emergency manager and other school districts and that was not something that was in place here. So, I reached out to the chief emergency manager of Oakland County, Rob Cely, and he said, "I've been trying to start the same thing. I've been struggling to get into districts." And I said, "I will get districts if you commit to helping us." And so, I'm very proud to say that between Rob, the chief

164emergency manager of Oakland County, Dennis Heisman, who is the safety and security supervisor for Novi Community Schools, and Chris Furlong, who is the director of security and safety for Cranbrrook Community Schools. and we make up the leadership team. Um it has now expanded. We have 89 members since last February. We have all 28 school districts in Oakland County represented, 14 out of county districts, um and 10 different agencies along with seven private and charter schools that participate. We have four quarterly meetings. Our last meeting will be this Monday coming. We have Dr. Amy Groso um coming to speak on suicide interventions and prevention. Um topics that we've had this year include the I love you guys foundation um C that crime prevention through environmental design. So looking at the grounds and what can we do

165for access control, visual surveillance and things like that. Um the University of Michigan school safety initiative we've hosted across the county um with emergency managers leading that different EOP workshops um so that different districts who need support with their emergency operation plans have access to emergency managers um the emergency managers in Oakland County kind of oversee different quadrants um and so making sure they know who that person is and they have guidance to support them. We've also had the Michigan State Police Office of School Safety come and speak with them. And so this collaboration again kind of goes back to what I spoke on earlier. It really allows us to come together as a county um and develop processes and procedures that will then support each other in the event that we need anything. I

166know Oakland Schools has been very good about adapting adopting prepare. We have adopted that. Many other districts in Oakland County has. But that's just one piece of the puzzle. And so wanting to be able that to have time to be able to speak with other safety and security specials specialists throughout um the state at this point about real world experiences when there are different things that happen um when the situation occurred at the Troy Bulmont Hospital. Multiple people were able to reach out to Troy School District to see if there was any support that was needed whether it was in the mental health side or on the safety side. Um, and so knowing I know who to call in this respect or this person's really good at that. It's been a great way to bring

167us all together. Um, and it it really just bring it's it is one county with a lot of school districts, but there are different experts in every area and we all can't be amazing at everything, but we can use our resources. And so I just I think it's worth touching on. Um, next, uh, reunification update. our reunification district lead has done an amazing job of not only going around um with our district level reunification team to our different off-site reunification locations, but also meeting with the different campuses if there's any sort of on-site things that need to occur. Our tabletop for our May meeting was I feel like I just kept throwing wrenches in their plan. Um oh no, you can't you can't pick up the kids from that area. Now you got to go

168to this part and no, now they can't get into your parking lot. what are we doing? And so getting them to be able to think on their feet that way, it's really a testament to their work on the campuses, but also the district level reunification team. Um, we took 15 people to Oakland schools to participate in the I love you guys trainer of trainer session for the standard response protocol and the standard reunification method. So, it's not just myself and the district reunification leader. There's now 13 additional people in this district that can help train and support when it comes to that. Um, and really the goal is just to continue to strengthen and refine our practices. It's not a one-sizefits-all. Um, as our teams see in our different tabletops that we do, um, it's

169never going to go from A to Z perfectly. And so, what's your next plan? What's your next plan? What is that going to look like? Um we have remained as an ALS certified organization. This is year two. We just received our notification um about two weeks ago for that. What this entails is we have to participate in training for Alice. Our staff does um they have to review our emergency operation plans in reference to any sort of violent critical incident. Um we have to submit drill logs for each campus. That's the outside of what the state of Michigan requires. It's a specific alice paper that has to be filled out and it looks different. Our drill logs that are posted online are very much who, what, when, where. Um, the Alice one asks the team

170to reflect and what are your areas of growth and what are we doing moving forward. Um, as well as what went really well and there has to be an Alice certified instructor. Um, and so this is allowing us to ensure that we are staying consistent with the expectations of the Alice organization. Um, and it is a yearly thing. So, like I said, this will start year two for us. Um, and again, it speaks to the work of the campuses and everything that goes into ensuring that there's a safe environment. So, getting into a couple of different changes that we have coming up for the 2526 school year. In March, um, we sent out a survey that was sent to all parents and staff members concerning afterchool safety measures. 170 people responded out of the surveys

171that were sent. Uh majority of the people who responded to the survey indicated that they felt safe at afterchool events. What they requested was that we have trained professional security staff. And at larger events, we remain using involve. And so that's kind of typical. You go to Comica Park, you're going to walk through security. You go to Little Caesars, you're going to walk through security. you go through most places and that's a larger event. Um there's going to be some sort of additional security measures. So some t some some things that were left in the comment section on that survey. Um I do not have any specific concerns, but I strongly support the idea of using safety officers that are focused on community building and deescalation. I support having real people to build relationships rather

172than relying on technology. Um, I think that using technology for some of the bigger events, homecoming, football games would still be good, but having trained personnel for majority of the events will suffice. I think this should only be reduced, not replaced. My family and child would feel safer with highly trained individuals protecting them. Um, and so based on the survey feedback that we received and with talking to the district safety committee and talking to the parent safety advisory board as well as our local first responder partners for the 2526 school year, we will increase the threshold of using evolve at afterchool events from 500 spectators to 1,000 or more spectators and participants at one time at the middle school or at the high school. Additionally, we may opt to use evolve at the discretion of

173Dr. Milligan, my department, based on the flow, based on what we know is going on, the current climate. Um, it's not an all or nothing just because it says 1,000 or more. There may be other times that it's there. Um, and this will be something that we communicate with our families who are not here this evening or not watching at home. Um, it'll also be principles will be communicating with their staff as well about this. Our next survey that we did regarding the 2526 school year was whether or not we were going to continue using clear backpacks. This was something that we surveyed students um when I first got here during the 22 23 school year and then we said we would survey again um in a couple of years. So, here we are. And

174so we sent this out um to our secondary students and the vast majority of our students expressed strong opposition continuing to use clear backpacks. Some of the reasons that they highlighted I picked the top six um really are the things that we're hearing and I did get some emails from parents that a lot of it mimicked not knowing what their students had put on the survey. It really did mimic what they were saying. Um, a lot of it comes down to quality issues, durability, especially in the winter as they're cracking. Um, we already have the evolved system, so then it's redundant, they believe. Um, privacy concerns, especially if you're a female and you're carrying around hygiene products and you don't have those little like I use little Ipsy bags. Everybody doesn't have that. So, um,

175being able to have privacy, but that also lets people see what you do have. So, that makes it easier for theft. Um they talked about how the backpacks are smaller. They can't really expand anymore. So then it's inadequate for what they're walking around with. And a lot of students expressed a desire for normaly. And so those that did express opposition to going back to regular um backpacks did indicate that it was more of a psychological safety. It was feeling safe. Um and we took that into account. And so I do encourage encourage anyone that does have that feeling that it's going to be a struggle as we transition from using clear backpacks um is that they reach out to their school, their principal, and they work with their mental health staff and their principal to

176be able to develop a plan. Um but wanted to share that because we're making this change, we're also improving our security practices during the day. And so with upgrades to evolve, as you can see um on the screen, we have the express system already, which is what students walk through. Um but next year we'll be adding the Expedite system to the middle school and the high school, which is kind of like that TSA bag scanner, so they don't have to take out their binders or their Chromebooks anymore. They can scan it through. Um which does make it go faster. We did demo it. Um, we've asked for input from our security team, our um, SRO, our security specialists, administrators that were present for it. Um, and just to be able to see what that looked

177like. Um, and and again, we understand that this may be uncomfortable for some families. And so, we do encourage you to reach out so that we can work on that plan of success, but just know that there is going to be that additional security piece that is there for the school year as well. kind of a summary for um the campus meetings that I hold monthly, my monthly safety and security meetings. At the end of every year, um they complete a survey. And so part of that is strengths of themselves, strengths of their team, um ways that their team can grow, ways that they can personally grow, any concerns that they have, their comfort level with materials. And a lot of what the strength of self is is they feel knowledgeable. They feel empowered. Um

178they're able to maintain composure. Um their adaptability in a crisis situation, strengths of their teams, communication, dedication to protocols, attention to detail, and knowing that each person on their team is trained. And as you look at the bottom left one, I really enjoyed the team focus and collaboration. Um I I think the the last sentence in that is the most important. I've never felt more connected and safe than I do with this team of professionals. And so it speaks to it's not just my department coming in and telling you what to do. It's people feeling good about what they're doing and knowledgeable about the EOP. And you can see a big growth from when we would do tabletops last year and it would be let me let me double check and make sure where this

179year it really did flow and I could say there's a tree down in the road now. What are you doing? And it wasn't a pause. It didn't matter. There was one elementary school the principal was at a meeting and I said that could happen. So, who's in charge now? Who's the next person? Like, let's just keep going with this. And it was great. They know that they're empowered, which that's the most important thing. It's not the the different meetings that we have, it's as we sit through these things, they feel as if they can handle it. we're here to support in any possible way, but they feel that they are knowledgeable, they're adaptable, they have great communication with their teams. Um, and then many expressed appreciation and including Bridget and Bridget Bner and Dr. Christine

180Russell um to not only show our partnership between mental health and safety um but really how does that align within our multi-tered system of support. So, how does this play in the big picture? Is it one more thing? it is, but this is how it plays in. And so I appreciate that Dr. Russell and Miss Bner are willing to participate in these meetings because it's it's a hard day to go to five different campuses and do this. But it again speaks to that commitment across the district that we have about it. And so I always ask, what do you want to do next year? How can we continue to support you? And um Dr. Russell and Miss Bitner and I have already sat down and done our scope and sequence for the year because we

181wait for that and then we sit down and do it so that we can start planning it. And it it really aligned with what we had already started. They want to continue to work on reunification. And so having our district reunification leader meeting with them, that district reunification team meeting, continue their tabletops, um being able to continue looking at threat assessment and suicide risk assessments. And this year they had to bring me their strongest example and then talk about what information now that you're removed from it. What more information would you have liked to see? Um and next year we're going to redact kids names and they're going to look at other campuses. And so it's that continuous growth. Same with suicide risk assessment and then that support team of how do we support each

182other? How does this forward the work that's going on in the other departments? And it's not just one more thing. And so it's great to see that the vision that we have at our level matches what the vision is at the campus level. And what they're seeing as their needs is what we're seeing as continued opportunities for growth. My last slide before questions is um the climate results from the students. Um the statement this school is safe. It's a pretty vague statement when you think about it. Is that psychologically safe? Is it physically safe? If I asked everyone in this room what it meant to them to be safe, I would get a different answer. And so I thought this was an interesting um statement and one worth noting. So we had over 1,600 students

183respond to the school quality survey. Prior to the tragedy, we were at 83% of students who felt this school is safe. The year after the tragedy, it was at 63%. Last year we moved to 68% and this year we are at 79%. And again it speaks to the work that the campuses, the students, everyone is doing because it's not just safety when you say this school is safe. It's what are our school psychologists doing? What are our assistant principles doing? What are the teachers doing? Those little things like greeting kids at the door. Um making people feel like they belong. All of that plays into this school is safe and it's a powerful testament to the work that the staff and the students are all doing that we can have 79% of our students report

184this on their survey. So at this time what questions do you have? Um yeah thank you for your uh presentation. I do have a few questions. Um, first with regards to the master trainer certification that you and Melissa both have or Melissa will have, um, what community activities or events do you have planned? Or if you don't have any, what would be some examples of events that you would plan with the community? So, there's been a couple of things that we've talked about. First and foremost, we're going to run it through our district safety committee and our parent safety advisory board because I've already talked to the trainers that trained me. Melissa and I have had some discussions, but still wanting to be mindful that we're not activating to anyone. So, vetting that through. Um,

185but something that the parent safety advisory board had expressed is when we get into topics like this, um, it's difficult for people to feel comfortable in an in-person setting or even on a Zoom. So looking at how do we present that in more of a webinar fashion so that we're more welcoming um to any parent um because what the parent safety advisory board had just expressed is they could feel like oh do do they think my kids like that and we want it to just be a way to bring education. So looking at offering different opportunities whether it's in person through a parent university type thing um but being able to do it whether it's in person or online to be able to give the most flexibility but of course starting with our district safety

186committee and our parent safety advisory board. Okay. Um the two-way release you spoke of between the community and the school district um how long would that particular release be valid for? It's usually one year. So, it's a calendar year. Okay. So, we we use them as a calendar year unless unless they're worded unless a parent stipulates differently. Um and then we're reseeking them and for the new calendar year. All right. So, if there's an event and we happen to get one signed and then the calendar year expires with no other issues, then we don't have that communication. We wouldn't seek that communication. uh any further? Oh, not necessarily. Not unless I mean if it was a student who was potentially having ongoing sessions with an FSL or or a mental health person in the school,

187you may seek to just continue it just because we found it to be very beneficial to collaborate between a school mental health person and a clinical mental health person. So, you can collaborate on the students needs um and observations if obviously if the parent consents to that. Um but no, not necessarily, not unless there was a need to. All right. Um, last one, sorry. Um, regarding the express system that you showed on the slide. Yes. Will that include all students, staff, and visitors having to put their backpacks, bags, personal belongings, anything coming into the school, will it all be scanned or is that just students? It is students for sure. I go through it. Visitors go through it. Um, that is a great question that we will look into to give you a clearer answer

188as far as everyone being required. Okay. All right. Thanks. Hi. Um, sorry, I was missing out on a little bit there. Um, Melissa, the MTSS, what does that stand for? Um, it stands for multi-tered systems of support. It's just the various ways that we look to support kids because some kids can go to school and get what everybody needs. Some kids need a little bit more, some kids need a little bit more. And so it's that's why it's called a tier. You'll see a triangle and I talked about a triangle a little earlier too, but that's kind of the visual. Um there's other ways to do it, but that's just the what does everybody need? Some people need a little bit of people need. Okay. Also the SEAL interventions. What does the stand for? Yeah.

189SEAL is social emotional learning. Okay. Yep. So those are oftent times the things that our family school liaison are providing at the tier 2 level. Sometimes teachers at a tier one level. Um more intensive. There's kind of different varieties based on the child's needs. Okay. And lastly, the tabletops you were talking about. Yeah. So the ones during your meetings. Yep. I can speak to so Al Allison brings us at our meetings um a situation and it's like a little mini test right but it's meant to have a team a building team walk through a situation together okay when they encounter a road block like she doesn't save us she just keeps on saying and now this and now this and now your phones are down and what are you going to do you know so

190it's an opportunity to present situations the most recent one was a tornado which was relevant after that tornado warning that woke us all Okay. Um, just to speak through as a team to make sure you're like, "Yeah, we've read the EOP, but in practice it gives us a chance to kind of practice it in in a scenario, okay?" Um, and see as a team what would we do? And it was true. The administrator couldn't attend that meeting. So, we were all like, well, somebody's got to make a decision. The principal's out. Who's it going to be? Are we all clear on who that person is? So, it just kind of provides uh more practice. Okay. Thank you very much. And thank you for your work, Allison. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Any others? I

191had a couple quick ones. Uh I had asked the question about Alice and substitutes and I just want to make sure that I'm clear from your response that they have to complete a 25minute course. Um it's called active shooter educational institutions through Wilub and then do they receive Alice training? Ryan, do you want to come speak to the training piece? I'm sorry. That's Sure. Sorry to get you up. No, that's okay. It's good to get the blood moving here. So um the subs were switched over as of October 8th to complete the active shooter training through their employer will sub and that way we can leverage their that employment relationship to ensure that the training is completed before they ever step foot in a building. Putting them in Alice we we don't have a lot

192of control in um having them complete the training before they start and that is the stance our district is taking that the training is completed before you begin work. So that the active shooter training is is before they start work. Correct. Where does Alice training come in for subs? They are not being trained in the Alice module. They're being trained in the active shooter module through Wilsub. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That clears it up. I appreciate it. Uh the other question was about the Evolve Expedite system. Do you have any data regarding the the pass fail rate for that as opposed to what we're currently using? I can get that for you. That'd be great. Um, one of our biggest reasons though is currently our kids are having to take out their Chromebooks, take out

193binders, and then it's creating a backlog in the morning where being able to put that on the belt and have a better X-ray system, just look at it. They don't have to take so many things out. Um, I know my glasses case will set it off and so I just put my stuff on the table and open up my bags because it's a lot easier than trying to find all of the things that I know are going to set it off. This way it can just go through the conveyor belt, but I can get you specific information. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay. Well, thank you for the time and effort put into this presentation. Both of you really appreciate it. Thank you. [Applause] Uh unscheduled. How many do we have? Two. Okay. Steve St.

194Juliana. So listening to today's pres safety presentation, I can't help think but imagine if three and a half years ago the school had actually followed its own policies as laid out today, Hana, Justin, Madison, and Tate would still be here. Since that time, we've worked to get to the truth, to the data, to create a lessons learned for the state, even for the nation, to drive the changes necessary to save our kids. I determined early on that I was going to use every tool available to make that happen. One of those tools was lawsuits because the lawsuit equals money and money is a lever. Even the Oxford board used a lawsuit. You sued your own insurance company. You won. So this morning I woke up and I saw an article that MSU had on top

195of the settlement from their shooting with the fatalities at the time they just settled for another $30 million with the survivors. comparative justice. That's what That's what my lawyer called it. It's tough and I and I I got that aspect of it. But Oxford continues to use an unethical lawyer as your representative. He and his law firm have shown zero sympathy to the families. He's lied to the board. And I when I say the board, I don't necessarily mean when you were on it, but actually yes, when you were on it as well. But going all the way back, he lied to the board. He lied to the public. It's on video. He testified, not testified, he he stood in front of the board and talked about how you couldn't do the third party investigation

196because it would interfere with the prosecutor's cases. Even though he was well aware that was false, he withheld information. I know that firsthand because my lawyers passed information for you through him that you didn't receive until I had to follow up directly with members of the board to chase it down. He went behind the board's back to convince the teachers union to not con not not cooperate with the investigation when it when it happened and you still stick with him. Well, I got an email from him today through my lawyers. I got the email was sent at 1:38 p.m. Finally got to me about 5:00 this afternoon. It's from Tim Mullins. As you know, on May 28th, 2025, the Michigan Supreme Court entered an order rejecting the argument that Bowser overruled Jones. As a result,

197state con constitutional claims against public school districts and their employees remain barred. That alone is questionable. We are making the final offer to your claims to your clients. The estate of Hana St. Juliana, $500,000. This offer expires at 8:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 11th. Tim Mans, that's how little that you value our children. that the state how little the state values our children because they're on the hook as just as much as you are. The schools are protected by immunity laws because your state employees. Hence, the state's on on the hook. Let alone the fact you talked about rejoining the MASB today. So, they basically control the sets, the insurance, right? superintendent from throughout the state that sit on the set seg board that are making these determinations. You barely value the lives of our kids,

198but you have the gall to ask the community for more money. I sat here for two and a half hours and it's all about oh how you need more money. I don't even know what to say. I mean, how can you not be embarrassed and ashamed not only of of the offer, which is insulting at the very least, but the manner in which it's delivered. Well, I'll deliver my answer right here. I am not going to stop striving for the changes necessary to save our kids. I'm just not. So, you can shove your offer. Thank you, Steve. Marissa Prince Um well the cruelty continues the cruelty continues to the victims and their families and um I will also not stop supporting my neighbors the St. Julianas. So, um, to hear what Steve just said is

199going to shatter my neighbors. I'm so crushed to know that all of my neighbors are going to hear about this and just fall apart. So, I guess we'll work through it again. Um, poor Hana, poor Tate, and poor Madison, and poor Justin. Um, I mean, I feel the same way watching these presentations, wishing we had just an ounce of prioritization of what we are doing now. Um, so I had planned to talk about what a gift Hana's garden is. And all I'll say about it is that I visit most days and I always run into someone who's there by themselves. Um, and a lot of times it's grandparents who had children in the building that day and they just cry. And we have so many people in this community that are hurting. Um so the

200recovery continues and um and the pain continues and decisions like this by Mullins and Sets SAG are reason enough to find a new insurance company. So um that's all I'll say. I don't want to regret saying anything publicly. Thanks. Thank you, Marissa. Um, item 11, we have scheduled activities. We have our workshop workshop coming up on Thursday, our next meetings. Item 14, administrative clarification. Dr. Milligan? Nope. All right. Item 15, any final board comments? Okay. Someone like to make the motion for close session? Yeah, I'll do it. Uh move to meet in close session pursuant of MCL 15268 section 81C for strategy negotiation sessions connected to the negotiation of the collective bargaining agreement if either negotiating party requests a close session hearing. Support Shane. Thank you. Any discussion? Roll call. James Whitney. Yes. Yes. Gibson,

201yes. Summers, yes. Aes, yes. Aldridge, yes. Cavage, yes. Madona, yes. Is 9:38. We're going into close session. Okay, it is 10:13 p.m. We are coming out of close session. Any further comments by any board members? All right, it is 10:14 now and this meeting is adjourned.