Oxford Schools Board of Education: 5/27/25

001Good evening everyone. Welcome to the May 27th board of education meeting. If you could please rise for the pledge. Pledge algiance 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, would you take attendance? Yep. President Mcdana here. Vice President Aldrid, I believe, is absent today. Uh, Secretary Summers here. Uh, trust uh, excuse me, Treasury Whitney here. Man, slow down. We can do that. Trusty Gibson here. Trusty Ashes here. And trustee Keouri not here. Thank you. Any changes to the board agenda? I have none. All right. scheduled public comment. We have one this evening. Randall Kger. Couple things before I start. Those of you who are here, you haven't nailed. Don't play with it

002yet, please. And and two, uh if I leave before the meeting is over, it's because I just got done playing with my grandkids too close to pine trees and I'm highly allergic to them. So, it's starting to get me. So, I apologize. [Applause] Good evening and thank you uh members of the board and Dr. Milligan for letting me come this evening and speak with you. You know this past winter has been rather tough and as a result my wife and I are going to have to do some some repairs to the house. That typical normal maintenance that you set aside money for but you don't ever want to spend it. But we have to do it anyway. And I really don't want to spend the money because, you know, it's just one of those things.

003It bugs you. You just don't want to do it. But it's home maintenance. It's things that you have to do. You have to make these repairs because that's part of being a homeowner. And while it's going to cost me money, I realize that some of the things that we're going to do will probably make the house more valuable in the long run. And that's a good thing. It's a bad thing as Shakespeare would say. There in lies the rub. So where's the bad? Well, you know, bad is probably my property values are going to go up, taxes are going to go up, but for you that's a good thing. you get a little bit more money from me and that's okay because my grandkids are here. I don't mind spending that kind of money for

004my grandkids, for any of the kids in this district, for the teachers. That's what we're here for. That's why we do this. And you know, I don't want to pay more taxes, but the rational side in me says it's better for the public good. I get things back from these taxes. I get services back. And one of the services is a school. And the school is helping the kids of this district. Now, just like I'm a steward of my house, you you are the stewards of this house and all of the houses in this district. And it's your responsibility to take care of them and to prepare for them and to make the upgrades and the necessary changes. That's why we have you here. And it's that responsibility that you have. It's not just for

005the buildings. It's for the teachers. It's for the kids. It's for the future kids. It's for people outside this district to look and see what you are willing to do for the kids of this district. Because in order for this district to succeed, you have to pass a millage. And we have a bunch of different phrases that we use with it. Sinking fund. I don't like the term syncing fund because it's kind of negative connotation. I think it's kind of like planning. It's more like a planning fund. We know it's going to happen. We just put the money aside so that when it happens, we can take care of it. That's what you do for your house. It's what I do for my house. It's a good deal. So, you owe this to the students,

006to the teachers, to every person that works in this district. You owe it to them to do this because it creates an atmosphere of desiraability to come to this district, which in turn gives you more money. Why? My property value goes up. Everybody else's property value goes up. businesses prosper because people see from the outside this is a district we want to be a part of. That is why we have you here to be stewards of this district. Now to the nail that you have back in 1640. The first person attributed with that nail for what I'm going to use it for is George Herbert, a poet in 1626. Somebody anonymously is is said to have said this thing, but then again in 1758 because we don't have to worry about copyrights back then. Benjamin

007Franklin sort of borrowed it. You know, good old poor Richard Almanac. Oh, take your nail for a second. Pick it up. Look at it while I give you these wise words. We've all been waiting to see. For the want of a nailing up, if you could, what's that? Could you ramp up shortly? I want to hear what the nail was about. But for the want of the nail, the shoe was lost. For the want of the shoe, the horse was lost. For the want of the horse, the rider was lost. For the want of the rider, the battle was lost. For the want of the battle, the war was lost. And for the want of the war, the kingdom was lost. All for the want of a nail. You have the opportunity. You should seize

008the opportunity to get this millage passed, to get those nails, to make this district shine because you owe it to the kids so that they can make their kingdom in the future. That's what they are trying to get their education for, for the want of a nail. And you are in charge of getting the nail. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, moving into item four. We have our consent agenda. There's minutes and bills payable. There were no HR updates. Somebody would like Thank you, James. Yep. I move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Support Mike Whitney. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Item number five, our superintendence report. Wow, that was fast. I'm not used to going that quickly. All right, Aaron, do what?

009Oh, okay. Deadlines here. I remember to turn it on, Erin. Look at that. All right, good evening everyone. Um, obviously we've had quite an exciting couple of weeks with all of the graduations going on. And so, um, I just wanted to stress my appreciation for just everyone, my my colleagues here at the board table, my cabinet members. Um, we've attended all of these graduations for the most part. Um, it's such a joy. It's a culmination of all of our efforts, our staff, our teachers, our administrators, our community, our parents. Um, and so I just really wanted to highlight that because people are like, "Oh, got to go to graduation." No, you get to go to graduation, right? It's um an emotional celebration. We're celebrating the achievement. Like some of us get to know the students

010really, really well and their perseverance is just amazing. um to get to that finish line that they get to graduate and their families get to see them do that is just it just fills me with hope for the future. It's really great. Um it brings student dreams to life, reflects the dedication, just complete and utter dedication. I mean oftentimes you see the families just sobbing because it's just been such a journey. Um, especially here, we have kids that that go to school here K through 12. And to see the staff see their student at during the legacy walking through their building was such an emotional experience for everyone. So hopefully that's something that we'll be able to continue. And then from a district standpoint, so it talks about, you know, the bright future. Mr. Kger

011talked about that bright future. What does the future look like? We're looking at it as they cross the stage. It's pretty great. And of course, Daisy loved all of the graduation. So, we appreciate that. So, thank you to everybody who participated. Um, putting on a graduation, I'm sure, is no small task. So, all of you who were involved in arranging these ceremonies, well done. They were excellent. Appreciate that. All right, the Sutton Foster Awards. What do I have to say about this? So, we have Cole Dietker and Tina Call. They were both in Mary Poppins, which I think all of you know I went to so many times. Um, even did a backstage tour. It was great. And so, they were um invited. So, you have to be invited to go to this uh awards

012ceremony. And it literally was like attending a Broadway show. They did snippets throughout the whole evening of different Broadway shows. There was 150 students from across the state of Michigan who were invited to come. They just looked like they were having a blast. So much fun. Um the top two get uh to compete at a national level. Um Tina and Cole did not get um elected for that, but that's okay. They had a great time, made great connections. Um that's uh Christa Price, the theater teacher who invited me to attend. It was an incredible experience. So, I'm so proud of our students and I'm so proud of our staff. We also got recognized um for our costume design and our set design for Mary Poppins. So, I know it was really great. It was a

013great evening. So, well done. Cares Awards. So, um this is an awards ceremony um celebrating all the support systems we have in our school district for our students with special needs. Uh it was mother nature did not cooperate. It was cold and it was rainy. So, Pam, it was a beautiful ceremony. So many smiles, so much joy. I think there were over a hundred nominees. So lots of certificates and all sorts of things from you know support staff to teachers to family members to students just across the board um being celebrated. So it was a wonderful evening even if it was a tad bit chilly. Um we are expanding our student ambassador program. So uh superintendent student ambassadors. So those are some of our high schoolers. Um, we had quite a few seniors who graduated

014and so you don't see them except for Bailey in the picture and they went to the middle school. They created a presentation on why middle schoolers would want to be a part of the um student ambassador program. They talked to the middle schoolers to answer any questions. We had over 30 students apply and they were a part of the evaluation committee on who was going to be selected. We were having two per grade. So two sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade. Um so it was a great learning experience I think for them to better understand how do you evaluate something like that. Obviously the kids' names were anonymous. Um so it was kind of hard for them because they wanted to figure out who the person was. I said why does it matter? Look

015at the criteria. But I gave them donuts. So, they were happy. He was good. But yeah, I'm excited to expand this to the middle school. Eventually, we'll have it in all of the schools. We'll have at least one or two representatives of all schools. Um, and they work with me. They partner with me to keep me informed from a student standpoint as well as, and this is the exciting po part, this is the piece that we're going to be working on. Um, we're going to develop their skills to advocate on behalf of students, on behalf of Oxford. So, it might involve talking to legislators. It might maybe go to Lancing and make a few visits to people, just things that they're concerned about, helping them understand. So, you can complain about it or we can

016do something about it and what does that look like? So, that's pretty exciting. amazing group of kids. Um I went to uh MASA new superintendent conference last Friday and I was honored to um be asked to speak to my colleagues. Um, in terms of traumainformed leadership, I think that I mentioned during the interview process, I've pretty much spent my whole career um, working with communities that have experienced trauma, families, students across the board. And I just wanted to kind of share some of the things that I shared at this meeting, things that are so critical to supporting communities experiencing trauma. So, um, you know, listening without judgment, that's a critical component. As soon as you start the statement, well, in my house or when I was young or what I do, you've ceased just listening

017and better understanding from their perspective because they're not you and you don't haven't walked a mile in their shoes. That's a critical one. Um, understanding that each day will be different. This is tough for people to understand because people like routines. Well, when people are experiencing trauma, it's hard to know what's going to show up each day. So, you have to be prepared to, you know, shift. You might have a, you know, our teachers probably could speak about this. You might have a lesson plan for a day. The kids come in, they're not in a good place, and you have to pivot very quickly. They know it well, right? Well, you have to do that from a leadership standpoint as well. collaborate with the community. This has been such an honor for me to get

018to know the community and I think I've mentioned this to my cabinet team. It's not I was so honored that not only did they like share a piece of them with me, it's almost like they they wo me into the fabric of the community. like they really embraced me and I'm just so I just feel privileged to be able to be a part of that because I do want to be supportive um because it's my community too. Seek to understand um I think so often we approach our work with already preconceived ideas on how we how the way we want things to go that we're listening but we're not really listening. So, we're hearing, but we're not really listening to what's at the heart of what people are trying to tell you. Um, and if

019you just get rid of those preconceived ideas and just listen, you'll be amazed at what you get to know about people because they tend to share. You just have to be able to listen. Um, embrace dialogue and difference. So, that's a big one. Having lots of dialogue. And dialogue to me is not I'm going to stand and deliver. It's back and forth. It's what are your ideas? What are my ideas? You know, what is a third alternative to both of our ideas that might even be better? Um, and I always saw difference as a positive, right? I always surround myself with people who are different from me because I learn from them. I grow. Um, and we compliment one another. So, that's really fun. Walk in purpose. I talked quite a bit about this. This

020is my, you know, I got, somebody sent me a picture from graduation and it's one of the graduates hugging me. And I don't mean just like a pat. I mean a hug. A real hug. Oh my gosh, that is my why. Like our students are my why. That is my purpose. I want things to be great for them. I want them to have a bright future and I will forever keep that at the forefront of my mind. Um, I talked about protecting your community. One of the things, um, it's interesting because they're like, "You're from Oxford. You're going to talk about Oxford." No, I'm actually not. I'm going to talk about trauma and how you work from a leadership standpoint in a community who's experienced trauma. I'm not going to talk about Oxford, right? Because

021you protect your community. You do not leverage your experience for personal gain, right? that is a violation of all levels of trust, right? And so even when questions were asked of me during the session, I said, you know, this is this is on our website. I can talk to you about the things that are public facing and I can share that information with you, but I'm not going to share any other information that's not readily available on a public website. Um, be proactive and preemptive. I'll give you an example. So, we had um I was at the high school and uh Mr. Fitzgerald can attest to this there. I saw someone on the roof and I thought, "Oh, you know what's going to happen? Somebody's going to see that person on the roof and that's

022going to trigger them." So, I need to call John, find out why do we have somebody on the roof? What's going on? And it was somebody who was testing the walkies, the ra the um antenna. But you have to think like that. You have to think, okay, what do I see? what could create issues for my students, my staff, and I need to address it. So, I called the principal up and I told him what was going on. I said, "You might get phone calls. Just make sure that you're letting people know if they're worried what's happening." Right? It's just a small thing, but it's an important thing. Um, and then most importantly, lead with love. I absolutely love Oxford. I absolutely love our staff. I absolutely love my team, my student, like everything about

023it. I just love and that everything that I approach when it comes to working with students, staff, parents, whoever, I I lead with my heart. And what does it tell me to do in support of people? So again, I'm honored to be able to do this work. Um I was honored to to be invited to speak. Um and one of the things that that I emphasize is a quote there says, "Trauma is not what happens to you. It's what happens inside of you as a result. And that's why it's so challenging because everybody experiences this. Even if it's the exact same situation, they experienced it differently because they're a different person and you have to take that into consideration. So, so that was really great to have an opportunity to share that with my colleagues

024because I don't think it's something that many of them really think about and they certainly don't teach it in your preparation courses ever. They do not talk about that. So, I appreciate having that opportunity. All right. So, John, I didn't know if you needed me to cue you up, so I kept this in here. We are going to continue that conversation about uh public school millages. Um, John did a great job at the last meeting. He'll have another opportunity today. Uh, there were some questions that were asked at the last meeting that he's going to tailor his responses to tonight. So, we'll have another opportunity to hear that. All right, fifth grade camp. Oh my gosh, they had so much fun. I got we got an email from u the principal and they just had

025a great time. However, because it's camp, there's always challenges, right? The weather was terrible. Um they had, you know, some illness go around and and you know, wouldn't be camp without those adventures. But they did so many things, you know, they worked teamwork, social skills, uh they did some hands-on exploring, celebration of growth. It's an end of the year, so it's the end of their elementary and they're moving into middle school, so it's kind of a ride of passage for them as well. Um, you know, supporting their confidence and independence and then emotional and mental well-being. So there's this is a really short video. So they really celebrate all the students, students with differences, all of it. So it's only like 13 seconds. Hopefully it comes through. Can you do that, Aaron? I know. Wild

026and crazy. Who doesn't want to be cheered on by a gorilla? I mean, heck, you know, but it's not just that. I mean, all of the students, you saw the excitement, the celebration. Um, so such a great experience and such a wonderful thing that we do in Oxford. Um, here is I'm not gonna actually play this video. is linked if you are interested. It's it's relatively long. Lakeville had its exhibition last week and the students did a video that talked about their projects, why it was important to them, um why they chose their topic. So, it's it's a it's an inquiry project. They get to pick the topic. They get to design the research. They go out and they collect their data. And then at the um exhibition, they get to share what it was

027they learned and what they found out. So um the video is about 13 minutes long. Talks all about their uh projects. They do a little Jeopardy experience where they're doing Jeopardy and asking questions. Um so one of the questions there was, "What inspired you to pick your top topic?" Um, and then of course Buddy. Buddy has to be in there. Therapy dog not included. Sorry if you're hoping for that. You're out of luck. Clear Lake had pancakes with pals. This is another inclusive opportunity. This is, you know, we're always seeking ways to be more inclusive of all students. Um and these are link students pancake with PAL and it is um celebrating their dedication to supporting students with diverse needs. There are 83 students across eight classroom that volunteered to be link peers. Um it

028was coordinated by Miss Ramos and Miss Williams. And essentially it's a reverse inclusion model that creates meaningful shared experiences for all students. Um, it's a favorite moment for both peers and their partners, building friendships, empathy, and job uh joy every week. Um, so this is kind of similar to what we have at the high school. The mentor class works with our special needs students. They put on that Lego prom. Um, so we have that across our district. And I had a chance to talk to one of the mentors and she said it was so impactful that that was what she was thinking for a career in the future. like it's just amazing to have those opportunities. So, I love that we do that. We have Oxford Virtual Academy had their art show at Evergreens. We

029appreciate Evergreens. Um they do display quite a few student work um schools that provide work for the the walls. So, this is an opportunity for our OVA students to do that. I love this picture because it's one of our students. You know, I don't I it's not a video, so I don't know what she's saying, but to me, she looks like a curator at an art museum, like explaining like this is the thought process that went into this artwork. I just love that. She looks very into it. I love it. All right. And as we know, around the corner, just next week, end of school, right? parents are like a teachers are like hey I know that um so just kind of some thinking around you know as students conclude their school year I'm know

030I'm sure you know this um students are all about routines and so when routines change sometimes there can be challenges so just some things to think about just across the board so in terms of wrapping up academics um you know be sure to review grades and assignments bring things to a close. Um, reach out to teachers if you have any questions or concerns. Um, kind of just to close it down on a positive note. I'm sure many of our families have been in in constant communication with our teachers and so I would just continue that to the end of the year. Um, so and it's so important regardless I know we get some somewhat fixated on grades but we also need to focus on growth and effort. So how much did they grow this year?

031really talk about, you know, what have you learned overall? What are you walking away with? Right? We want them to be lifelong learners, and that's the thought process that'll get them there. Um, return and organize materials. This is uh a challenge. So, if you have things, make sure you return them. What I also want to stress is, you know, we t tend to go through the lockers at the end of the school year. You would not believe how much stuff we collect. Now, typically um we send messages out um to hey, we got make sure you come and get pick up your stuff, look through the lost and found um because we do end up donating those materials and I don't want to donate people's stuff if they want it back. So, please make sure

032you're touching base with the schools. And then um you know again it's an emotional time especially for our kids who are transitioning from fifth to sixth grade or from 8th to 9th grade because they're going to a new facility. They're going to a new building and that can be really really scary. So definitely talking about feelings um acknowledging that change is hard. It's hard for everybody. Make sure you know you get a chance to say maybe goodbye to people that you won't get a chance to see. Sometimes it's really hard for them to leave. Teachers, right? they have a very special bond with their teachers. Um so you know maybe have them make a card or a painting or whatever whatever they like doing um to because that's important for the teachers too. The teachers

033get really close with their students so that would be helpful. Um and then you know anything you can do to help ease the transition for next year. Um you know we've already had school visits where our eighth graders visit visit uh excuse me visited the high school. Um, but having a chance to maybe visit the school over the summer. You can make appointments, go see the school, walk the school. Um, you know, just anything you can do to help acclimate them will be really helpful. So, I cannot believe the school year is almost over. I feel like I just blinked and the year went by except the winter that did not go by quickly. Um, but yeah, so end of school and that's it. So, thank you. Thoughts or questions? We gonna sing the song

034school out summer. No, I won't be singing. Um, have the uh the middle school ambassadors, have they been selected notified already? No. No, not yet. Okay. They've been selected. I just haven't notified them yet because I want to make sure I'm systematic about that. Gotcha. Okay. Any other questions? No. Thank you. for the student ambassadors. Also, real quick, I know you had talked about doing various things with them, and I'm not sure how far ahead in planning you are, but should we expect them at some board meetings next year? Yeah, I would say um similar to what Brad did last year, we'll have they'll partner with the principal to do the presentation. We'll say how quickly I would like all of the elementary schools. I I'm gonna have the ambassadors do the presentation to the

035elementary schools to get the elementary uh so it's just it's a process. So hopefully we'll get it together. Great. That's very exciting. Thank you. Yeah. And also on that same note um as far as all schools that means OVA as well and the schools at OEIC. Okay, cool. Awesome. Absolutely. And yeah, it's been a little bit of a whirlwind of the last couple weeks, but it's been fun. And for sure, for sure. All right. Thank you again. Moving into board of education matters. We have some policy approvals from last time if anybody would like to make a motion on that. Shane, thank you. U move to approve policies 5301.0 01 5714.01 and 5714.02 as presented. Support Mike Whitney. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. All right. Next item,

036our field trip first reading for band. Any questions on that? No, you have all the information. Great. Then the second approval that we discussed at the last meeting. Would anybody like to make a motion for that? I will move to approve the OS HOSA field trip as presented. Support. Um James. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries again. We talked about the OCSBA amendments at our last meeting. Would anybody like to move forward with a motion? Ann, thank you. Move to approve the OCSBA amendment to the bylaws and resolutions as passed as presented. Support Shane. Thank you. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, we had touched on moving the location for our June meetings to OES. Dr. Milligan has assured me that we

037will have comfy chairs. If that helps your decision, if anybody would like to make that motion. Thanks, James. Move to approve the changing uh changing the location of the June 10th and June 24th regular meeting to OES. Support Shane. Thank you. Any discussion? Just thank you OAS for having us and thank you everyone here for accommodating us. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. In your packet, you had the 2025 2026 regular meeting schedule. Anybody like to move a motion on that? Yeah. James move to approve the 2025 2026 regular meeting scheduled as presented. Support Shane. Any discussion? Yes. November 12th. It should should it be the 18th. There will be no 12 on item 11. [Applause] Back 2024. 2025. Okay. So there's an update. Did you Oh, did you print that before?

038There was an update. Okay. So it's on the So it's on the 11th. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Just And there was an April Yep. There was an April date that also changed. Mhm. So it goes from the 9th to the 7th on April. Okay. Yeah. There there is a current version on board book. Uh it's 21st and the seventh. Yeah. And then when we approve it, it'll go on the website. Yep. Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Next, we have our Lighthouse Connections Academy nomination, Dr. Willleman. Good evening. Um, Beth Chandler, who we heard from in January. um she serves as our liaison between the Lighthouse Connections Academy. She brought forth a recommendation um as our board needs to approve appointments to their board of directors. And so after

039meeting with the candidate, interviewing her, collecting all of the information, she's gone through our IHAT um process, um Miss Chandler would like to recommend that Bessie Harris be a member of the Lighthouse Connections Academy board of directors for a term that would begin July 1st, 2025, and expire June 30th, 2028. So that's for your information this evening and next meeting. You will vote Thank you. I didn't see any in the Q&A, but did anybody have questions before? Okay. What exactly is Lighthouse Connection? It's a virtual charter school that we authorized. She was she was in January when she presented. Okay. A couple of months ago. Yes. I'm still getting used to possibly. Okay. If you do a search back in board book, you can bring those documents back up to refresh your memory. And then

040if you have any additional questions, of course, submit those before. Okay. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Dr. Loen. Thanks. Next up, um, we have our secondary ELA curriculum and presenting will be Anita. Thank you. [Applause] All right, good evening. I actually have friends with me today, so I'm really excited. I'm not going to be the one doing all the talking. Um, tonight we are bringing forth a presentation for new ELA curriculum, so English language arts at the middle school and the high school level. I have Melissa Gibbons, who our secondary who is our secondary ELA coach. And then I have two teachers from the middle school, Lisa Brennan and Cody Rook, who are going to be presenting to you tonight. And I'll kind of stand in the background to support and soup and to answer

041questions if needed. So I'm going to turn it over to them. Good evening. Um you um thank you uh for having us here. Um I am the secondary English co English language arts coach, but I also co um teach uh high school classes as well. Um so I have asked Lisa and Cody to present with me from the middle school perspective. Um we kind of went in all of this together. Um but our needs at both buildings are very different and so I asked them to come present the middle school stance. So, Springboard was chosen in 2018 um for both um the high school and then the following year for the middle school. And this year was the first year off of our contract. So, at the beginning of last school year, I started working

042on which potential resources could replace if we needed to replace springboard as a resource. um some of them became very cumbersome to look at, others became very interesting to look at. And so working with um a few other people last year, I kind of narrowed down that we would look at two resources that um presented some of our needs from what Springboard um Springboard was the College Board product, which is great because it prepares students for testing, but in doing so, it kind of lost some of the engagement. Um a lot of our students, including three, my three children, would tell you springboard became very boring. um lost engagement in the middle school and high school years. So that was kind of at the top of our list of what we wanted to look at

043to see if we could find something better. So um the first piece that we looked at was Common Lit. Um it's a resource that many high school English teachers have used before. Um many high school social studies teachers have used before just as a free resource. lots of engaging pieces that were short, had very timely feedback given to the students for test taking purposes. Um, but within the last few years, Common Lit came out as a what they call Common Lit 360, which is a full resource curriculum. And so that was one of the reasons why I chose that was I had previous experience with that product. Um, and I wanted to see the capability of the whole 360 curriculum. In the fall, um, the middle school teachers kind of came on board. We did

044a little Zoom session and at that point this last fall, it was decided that Common Lit was not a great resource for the middle school even though the high school teachers still wanted to pilot it in the fall. And Study Sync was another resource that I looked into. And um I I chose it because it was more about the expensive the expansive digital capability. And so the middle school teachers decided to jump on board with us. We all did a zoom together all I think like 20 25 of us um in the fall with study sync before the second semester started. And so all second semester your English teachers at the middle school and the high school were all working in the study sync program. So in the first semester um the high school English

045teachers piloted common lit in our standard English classes meaning non um AP classes nonIB just your regular six um sorry 9 10 11 and 12 classes and then for the second semester the 6th 7th 8th n 10th and 11th and 12th grade classes all joined in for second semester So when it came time to evaluate which of the products we wanted to potentially purchase for the next year, um we did look at the ad reports evaluation tool that was the most expansive evaluation tool for English language arts purposes. So I had all my six or my middle school um colleagues and the high school colleagues, they each did it. Um the middle school did it for the study sync pilot and then the high school teachers did it for study sync and common lit. So

046we had this huge tool to gather information to look at what was our need. Um some highlights just kind of in general common lit the lessons were scaffolded to work towards higher learning. Um it researched practices were definitely very evident in their product. All materials were easy to download, which for some of our teachers was a huge benefit. Um, and it also connects well with Google products. So, going from their product to um doing a Google Doc or putting something into Google Classroom was easily done. Study Sync, it offers a variety of texts, which some teachers were very much looking for that part. Um, what I liked the best about StudySync is that you can click on and off parts of assignments. So, you didn't have to assign the entire thing. You could click on

047vocab and on maybe a quiz, but they didn't have to do tons of stuff in one sitting. You could reassign things. Um, it does communicate with schooly, which a lot of teachers felt that was very powerful in time management. Um and then it als steady sync also offers what is called write precise and this is a way it's kind of like a peer editing tool but it can also um work with students on helping them to see what's missing in their writing before they turn it in. So I'm going to turn it over to Lisa and Cody. Hi. How's it going guys? Um, I've been so excited about this and I like at first I was like, "Ah, man. Piloting mid year. I don't know. This is a lot." Um, it ended up being I

048mean would you say this was so fun. We ended up loving it. Um, so I wanted to speak to you in pictures. Um, we had two units that we piloted with sixth grade and Cody and I both taught fifth grade. Um, so we kind of we know where they're coming from. So we were able to kind of figure out like what's filling those gaps. And one thing that we didn't have with Springboard that we have with Study Sync is the ability to have um novel novels back in the classroom again, which is not something we had with Springboard. Um so we just wrapped Well, we did our first unit was um uh what was it called? It was personal best, a personal best unit. And it was so cool. So our kids got to talk

049about qualities of character that matter most and what that meant to them. And we had kids who were making connections. Like my coolest connection was a kid who wrote a journal entry about a kid that goes to our high school that he's never met before. So we had that opportunity to get them get them to meet. Um so just people that they look up to as role models and we were able to connect that to literature. We were able to connect that to um people in history. It's just it's been a really cool experience. Um so they did TED talks to which was a really cool experience. So they wrote an essay and then they were also able to just talk about what qualities of character that they feel matter most in the world. Um,

050and it was really cool to see what they came up with. Do you want to add anything about unit 3? It was great. It was it was very refreshing to just have something new that the kids were really excited about. And um, just to see them get excited about different people throughout history. And then it sprinkled in a lot of different fantasy stories as well. So, it didn't just have to be a historical text. They could apply it to a fictional character as well. So, uh, just a variety. You kind of hit every kid's reading interest within that one unit. And then we just wrapped up our Percy Jackson unit, which is there another slide. Okay. Um, oh no, it got taken off. Um, but we had some really awesome um moments within our Percy

051Jackson unit. So, we read the whole novel together as a class. Um, your kid and I matched. We wore our camp half blood shirts together the other day. um they have just been so engaged. It's just been awesome to see them light up about reading, which is not something I've experienced in the last two years. Like coming from elementary where they're pumped up about reading and then I just feel like that light was lost. And I saw that spark again this year doing this. So it's been pretty pretty incredible. Your kid still visits me like every day and he came in, he was like, "This is amazing. Why didn't we have this when I was in sixth grade?" So I mean it's just it's really cool to see those connections within the building. Um, I

052have eighth graders in my advisory, too, and they also are like so jealous of our current sixth graders. So, Oh, yeah. Where where did that one go? So, I had one kid say the other day, he goes, "Mrs. Brennan, I think you should give us all ease." So, then we can fail and have to take it again next year and we can read the second book. So, I mean, like, that's what you want, right? And then I had two other kids say, "This was the best unit of my life." And I was like, "Whoa." So, um, and we're excited because we only taught half of it. So, next year we get to start, um, if if you approve, um, we have another novel we would like to read, Hatchet. Um, and then there's another thematic

053unit in there as well. So, anything you want to add, Cody? Uh, for me personally, just picking up a a fantasy book would not be something that I usually do. And then to just get excited about that and have the kids be excited about it. you know, you got the kids that think they're too cool to read about Greek mythology, but they're the ones asking the most questions throughout the story. So, just to see kids get really excited about something they wouldn't normally pick up was it was very refreshing. So, the high school kind of took a different avenue. We um really liked Common Lit and one of the biggest reasons being is it started the kids to allow themselves to write authentically. Um, high school, especially 11th grade, is very heavily focused in SAT

054prep. Um, and so pretty much 9th and 10th grade leads you to that SAT prep and then 11th grade is SAT prep and then you have these poor seniors who, you know, they're trying to figure out what are they going to do next year without SAT prep, right? Um, so the first unit for common lit, which this was the first unit we did all year, it was a memoir. And this allowed a lot of our seniors to have a voice and something that they needed to write about. Um, I have two examples, two very different examples. Um, one, the first student did write about the shooting um, and our tragedy and kind of that moment in time of her life. And then the second student wrote about she was a student here years ago and

055then her family I'm not sure why but they have kind of moved around little by little and wound up back here in Oxford her senior year to graduate and hers was all about the nomadic lifestyle that she has led and how her roots have really truly been in Oxford this whole time. Um so from a high school language arts standpoint um yes we do the reading and the engagement we definitely with both pieces study sync and common lit saw more engagement than what we have seen the last few years but I think we felt the writing was really strong with common lit at the high school level and so our recommendation um for the high school or sorry I'll start with the middle school for the middle school um Both products offer really strong data

056tracking tools and interventions based on the data. The middle school definitely liked those data tracking capabilities. Um the options for novel study was huge and I think Cody and Lisa can attest to that. Um there are targeted writing lessons within study sync that help um the teachers really engage what the students need at that time and just an overall increase of student engagement. Um and so the middle school teachers really felt study sync is what they need at this time. The high school again the data tracking and the interventions based on data common lit offers it. it just felt easier for us to work through um the common lit platform. Um the co the units were cohesive. It's easy to navigate when teaching multiple courses. That is something I can attest to. Um I teach

05711th grade and 12th grade. And to try and navigate two new pilots for two classes, um it was very challenging. And so I just felt um Common Lit was much more streamlined for those of us who do teach more than one class. Um the writing and the vocabulary lessons were embedded throughout the units and we kind of found ourselves really seeing those light bulbs especially at the 10th grade level which is where they kind of pushed that sophistication of writing that they're started to get light bulbs in terms of how to make their writing more sophisticated. Um, so even though we have chosen different resources, um, we have a solid scope and sequence. I'm working with my middle school counterparts to make sure we're not overlapping, but we're covering everything. And I'm also working with

058Kayn Martin at OVA to make sure OVA is included in terms of what we're doing and having a whole cohesive um, ELA program. That's it. Yeah, I'm sorry. I know it's always me. Um, first of all, um, I love seeing how excited the teachers are for this. Um, I think you guys are more excited than the kids are. Um, so I appreciate the passion and the excitement from you guys. uh question I have directly related to you guys choosing or or requesting two different uh systems. I know you said you have uh solid scope and sequence. Um do you guys anticipate any continuity issues when these middle schoolers move up to the high school and and get into common lit? you know, are there going to be any stumbling blocks that you guys can see

059as far as moving from one resource to the next? I don't foresee it. I think even just as teachers, you know, it it took us a little bit of time to okay, this is this product and this is this product, but I I wouldn't foresee it being a huge difference for kids. The standards are the same. Yeah, we're hitting the same standards regardless of you know and we have a coach that overseers both buildings which and but I I have also co taught at the middle school too. So I I I'm probably the only teacher that has been in both buildings so I have a good handle on it. Perfect. Thank you. I'm kind of old school. Um, are they actually physically writing or are you talking about typing up their So, that was that

060was that's a great question because that is one of the reasons why the middle school chose Study Sync is it does offer um a workbook resource which Cody and Lisa both piloted the workbook resource as well. So, it is digital digital components as well as a resource like a physical resource. So, each child had their own physical textbook like It's cool because they're small because they're per unit. So, they were able to use those and put the Chromebook aside and just have a physical book in front of them, which is really nice. Same thing with the novel units. They have the actual books. So, each are they doing cursive, too, or not? That's not awesome. I didn't know if we were still doing that. So, okay. All right. Thank you. I'll add on to um

061just your I I think the question that you're raising is becoming even especially more important in the of AI and so we do anticipate that we would be doing a little more pencil and paper to really get an accurate measure of what kids are doing on their own versus aided and assisted um with AI. So just in general we will be doing some of that to develop those skills. Yeah. Did you track any sort of growth for the I know it was the high school that went all year, right? And the middle school just half the year. Did you see a noticeable difference? And do you have any way to track that or measure that? And then additionally, what are the teachers thoughts? So the tracking I mean we could track we each tracked you

062know within the unit itself but it's hard to see any trends just because we each only did um two in the fall and then um 11 and 12 well 9 10 and 11 did two in the spring semester but seniors we only had time for one unit. Um so it was hard to see like a specific trend. Um, what I will tell you is that the middle school teachers, it was kind of a slow start and in getting up and running with Study Sync, but once they got in and and really I have these two to thank because they they did a lot of the troubleshooting. They did a lot of the troubleshooting um that the teachers felt very comfortable with the product it itself. At the m at the high school, we had kind

063of similar issues, but it was more so just the time management on teaching the two different courses and not having the time to really dig into the technology. Study Sync is much more has much more capability with the technology. Um, and we just didn't have that time to dig into it. Can I add something? Um, I felt like the quizzes and the tests with Study Think, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like they're far more rigorous than what we were using with Springboard, but I also noticed kids enjoying study sync more, which was kind of like tricking them into learning, you know, but they're learning different skills that they're going to need for PSAT that they're going to need for the future. Um, and I think we're pretty good at knowing how to

064scaffold that process for them since they haven't taken any tests in reading in that in that kind of way in elementary school. So, just kind of working on a lot of different skills that could and you can focus on specific standards as well. So, if you want to assess one specific standard, you can actually eliminate questions from quizzes and tests for the kids just like you can eliminate a specific part of of an assignment. You can do it with questions too if you want to focus in on and I will add I think one of the challenges when we're piloting is that with any um curriculum or any effort it takes a good three to five years to actually see if this might have the direct result on our um data and even then it's

065hard to say this is the reason why because there are so many other variables from a tiered perspective what we're um proposing now is what every student would have, but there are kids that would get targeted intervention like you just said in the classroom or out of the classroom. So, it takes time for us to see it. I think the biggest point data point has really been the engagement and we hope that carries us to be able to see the actual student out um outcomes or impact data. Yeah. Thank you, Ann. Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you so much for the the time and effort and this presentation is so well explained and and really nice to see the breakdown in each of these resources and the strengths and the opportunities that each

066of them provide for the different age levels and really appreciate all of that. Thank you so much for for taking this on this past year is really awesome. Yeah, and I want to thank them for coming in because it's a lot better than hearing from me. they are the experts and they're doing it on a daily basis and so um it's best to hear it from from them. So I appreciate you guys coming in. Thank you again. [Applause] Okay. Item eight, finance with Mr. Fitzgerald. So, let me apologize in advance. Uh, following the good news about kids and new systems and and teaching stuff, I get to share with you dry numbers and good news and bad news. Um, mostly good news though. So, from a consensus revenue update, they had another meeting this past

067May or last week, midmay. Um, the word of the day there was uncertainty. Uh the biggest driver of the uncertainty is that the actual underlying data which wasn't bad. It was actually pretty good whether around growth and employment in contrast with the sentiment consumer sentiment and expectations for buying. So they were kind of in conflict. The sentiment wasn't so good. The consumer consumer data is a little negative. A lot of that has to do with what's going on nationally and in the world economically and all that kind of stuff. But when it came right down to it, the school aid fund relative to the January projections are actually doing a little bit better. So feeling comfortable in terms of how that that fund is holding up, it's actually forecast to grow over the next three

068years on average between 2.7 and 2.9%. Um, in contrast, the general fund general purpose fund for the state not doing so well. um which is always bad news for the school aid fund because when that fund gets in trouble, they usually figure out how to move costs out of that fund into the school aid fund. So, one that's one things that all the school lobbyists and everybody um everybody with putting any pressure on the state legislature is keeping an eye on trying to keep them um on the up and up, so to speak. The uh rumor out there is that the general fund carries about 1.8 8 billion in higher ed costs, university costs, and they've already moved about just under a half a billion, excuse me. Yeah, 500 million, if I got that right,

069500 million into the uh into the school aid fund. The the rumor is that they're going to be moving another big chunk in to take pressure off the general fund. So, that's the thing everybody's keeping an eye on. But specifically, the funding itself for the school aid fund, it start it started with 1.2 2 billion fund balance and it's it's growing from an operational year-over-year per perspective. Good. So, we're we're not we're not thinking in terms of changing any any assumptions we're using as to build the the coming year's budget. So, from that perspective, we are moving forward in terms of what we're going to be presenting to the board in next month. But, by the same token, we're expecting to have some kind of surprise. It'll be something. It'll probably the guess is they're

070moving more costs into the school aid fund to take the pressure off in the general fund side. Um any questions or any concerns that the board may have on the the health of the school a fund? See now isn't that exciting? I mean you compare that to that last Yeah. Okay. Do they Sorry, John. Do they give you any sort of indication what they think for uh the when the budget will be announced? Uh they're still claiming they want to get it done by the end of June. Um I really don't think it'll be done by the end of June, but stranger things have happened. The uh the three major players in in it have put something out. So if they all get in the same room and get at it, they might get something

071by done by the end of June. The law is required by end of June, just as we're required to have an adopted budget. Um the state doesn't have a very good batting average when it comes to making that time frame. So any other questions? You want me to just move right into the update presentation? So So last meeting we did a we we breached conversation um around potential millages coming forward or in the near future. Um my recollection is last board meeting wasn't we didn't have a live stream. Uh there were some issues on that end. So tonight I'd like to go through the similar in similar format we went through last meeting and then uh there's some some a couple of information pieces at at the back end that's so questions that come up.

072So so with that said so the primary district funding source for for the school districts all all public school districts is the foundation allowance piece that's the dollar amount that was established through proposal a back in the mid 90s that each student is granted so to speak or expected to be funded at a minimum. Now, it's not the only funding sources in in public schools, but it is the it is the single largest funding source that operates general funds of of public schools. And that fund foundation allowance is made up of two funding sources. Your your local operating tax, which is the 18 mills that districts are expected to levy on the quote unquote non-homestead businesses in the district. And that's the easiest way to think about the non-h homestead businesses. It's predominantly the businesses

073in your district will pay that taxes. the homestead properties, aka everybody's home, they don't get levied that 18 mills, but in an election, everyone votes on it. So, from a uh statistical probability of that being passed, it's like 99.9%. I don't want to jinx anything, but it's it's got a pretty solid chance of passing it at sometime in the future when we get get it on the calendar. So, so the other side of that foundation allowance is funded through the state aid fund, which we just touched on. So the the pictorial piece in my head, it always works well. That here's the bucket representing what a foundation allowance dollar value is per student. So the first wave of funding comes from the operating millage tax that's locally levied, aka the 18 mills. And whatever's left,

074like in our case, 18 mills would have generated $852 per student this past year to go into that bucket. And the amount we want to fill up is a $9,68. The balance between the two comes from the state aid process. the the challenge we're having as a district and this is why we want to go back to our stakeholders and ask for an operating millage proposal this fall is to address the problem we have in the millillage that we're levy the state when it backfills that bucket it assumes all public schools are levying the 18 mills we are leving 17.43 43 mills because there's existing state tax laws that also came online in the 90s along with Bozo that the mechanism though complicated and kind of um obtuse in many regards when you to try

075to explain when it's applied it effectively lowers the amount of millage that you can legally levy. So that's what's gotten the district that we're at 17.43 mills when the state's expecting us to levy the 18 mills. So effectively speaking, we are leaving or shorting ourselves our general fund just about $200,000 this year and each year it grows a bit more. Next year it's like 240,000 if we make no changes and so on and so forth. So the key difference here too that when when we talk about what the state is reducing, they're reducing the authorized mill and that's what people actually vote on. So the key piece there is when you look at an operating millillage, it's it's the voters authorizing a a millage amount to be levied. You can you can ask for an

076authorization of up to 21 mills from the public. And ideally, they approved that, but as a as a district, we can only legally levy 18 of those mills. So you get that three mil cushion between the 18 and the 21 that when these tax laws come into play, it will reduce the 21 down. So the plan there, the thought there and many many many public school districts take this strategy over the years like it'll reduce that down and you'll never fall below the 18 mills until it's time to go out and get a renewal levy pro renewal proposal passed again where it kind of resets the clocks you start all over again. So by doing that we'll be able to recover or actually get the the additional funding we should be and the state's expecting

077we're getting for our operating millillage. Sinking funds work a little different. They're um a direct levy um on all the property in the district, whether it's business and or homestead. It's voter approved and you're only allowed to go for you cannot ask for any more than three mills and you cannot ask for a duration of more than 10 years. Bond mill is different different a little bit levy where you're asking a the community to support the issuance of a certain dollar amount of bonds and the authority to levy a millillage that pays for all your debt on that. So when you actually go and do it and you say it's going to be um a no new mill increase kind of bond offering in our case we're at 7.9 mills. Those when you do the

078math on how much you can borrow it's really a matter of how much that 7.9 mills will generate to pay off the debt in the legal time frame. So those get to be a little more complicated and probably a conversation this for down the road. But in terms of the syncing fund piece in our school district, we've had a syncing fund. It did expire in December of 22. Um it was is it was a matter of not wanting to put a tax proposal out for the public considering the recent events. Totally understandable why that was handled the way it was done. But from the past that past millage, the last year of that levy, it generated about a million dollars annually. And I want to say that was levied maybe three and a half years

079ago now. So those kind that kind of money would go directly to the use of working and repairing on their facilities. And one of the flaws of proposal A back in the 90s when it came online, it didn't account for how districts repair their brickandmortar facilities. And it's really a fudiciary responsibility of the board administration to take care of these assets. And kind of to an earlier speaker's point, these assets are the community's assets. And we all kind of have that responsibility of taking care of these facilities. And at the same time, the board administration has the responsibility to produce the best educational program we possibly can. And that's really where the foundation allowance comes in. It funds the school program. So what the sinking fund addresses is how to take care of the facilities

080and keep them up and running. If you talk about the bigger projects in life, like if you want to build a new building, that's a bond conversation. This this program is really for addressing and keeping your current facilities in good operating safe order. So again, why why the district would come out and ask for a millillage to the community support a scing fund proposal this fall? Our youngest or newest facility is our high school and it's almost 25 years old. Your typical roof, your typical main operating HVAC systems, parking lots, all the big ticket items have an operating life of between 20 and 25 years. So, we are on our newest building looking at a lot of upcoming work, let alone the rest of our buildings which are older. So, in terms of this past

08110 months or so alone, we've replaced three multiple boilers, multiple other tech pieces, bathroom works, uh, major bathroom project, HVAC systems repair, some exterior work, and several other things that well exceed a million dollars in costs. All that money came out of the general fund. In an ideal world, that money would come out of a scing fund, freeing up that million dollars to improve our educational program. So that's really the underlying goal is to find a balance of how to take care of the assets that we're in charge of on the community's behalf and yet still deliver a the most prolific top tier curriculum educational program we can. So from a perspective and some of these questions kind of came up from the last meeting to put a what does this mean to me kind

082of face on it. So and a little bit of variance analysis. So if we levied se 75 mil so less than 1 mil it would generate based on that we the current taxable value that it would be applied to in the district which we just literally just literally got that information this past week it would generate about 1.224 224 million. And it would cost the average house household in the district about $150 annually. And when I say the average household, that number, the 150 annually is based on the average property value, market property value of homes in our school district. And the most recent numbers we could pull average about $400,000 in market share. So from a tax tax application point of view, the rule of thumb is you take the market value, divide by

083two, which gets you somewhere near the quote unquote taxable value. Take that dollar amount and apply the 7.75 mills and that's where it generates the $150. So if you live in a little more modest home, it's less. If you live in a a little more expensive home, it'll be a little bit more. And if the mill is at one one mill, it would generate about 1.65 million. And the cost per home would be about $200. And then if you did a 1.25 mills, a little over$2 million, about $250 a year in terms of tax co new tax costs. Now, I I get it. Nobody likes to pay new pay more taxes. But for the amount of money we're talking about, I mean, I go through this, you can ask my wife, we go through this

084every tax season in terms of what, you know, I don't mind paying taxes as long as they're producing and they're good, thoughtful, well-invested, and invested tax revenues. And to me, a syncing fund when it comes to a public school is probably the single best one of the single best taxes that a district could bring bring on a community could bring on for its school district in order to run the whole management piece. the good school programming and taking care of your facilities and keeping things safe and sound. So, I know I went through that pretty quick, but from a timeline too, I believe we spoke about this last meeting as well. This would be a proposed timeline. So, we're looking in November of 25, this coming November to run a special school election. So, these

085that this meeting is in May here. We we're we're doing the discussion piece in terms of what we're really talking about. probably trying to generate questions because one of the things we want to do is answer for as much as we can um all the Q&A that we can get in place though everybody understands communitywise why what we're asking of them and why we're asking it. So from a timeline then ideally on the June 10th meeting we'll be bringing a resolution with ballot language for both ballots a syncing fund and an operating millillage before the board for a first reading first public look um Q&A we come back on the 24th again another review second reading and if it's to the board's pleasure and comfort authorize those resolutions and then after the when that occurs

086we will move forward in July and register everything that needs to be done at the county clerk level to get things in place. Um, so that leads us back to the proposed election date of November 4, 2025. One of the things with public elections like this, if there's another entity also running election, and to date, we have not seen another one yet, but hopefully there'll be someone else like a township or part other part of our district boundaries. If that happens, then we share costs for the election. If it doesn't, we're prepared to cover those costs. As I mentioned earlier, the amount just from the general fund millillage, operating millage with the passage of that, we'll be as a district, we'll be picking up about $225,000 next year in additional taxes that we should have

087been getting all along at 18 mills, but we're only we're not because we're low or levy the 17.43 a lower lower level. Just by picking that up, it'll it'll pay more than pay for a cost of the election. Um last my last numbers check on the election cost which have gone up like everything else in are in excess of about $100,000 depending upon the scale scope and who else is who else is running a proposal. So our worst case scenario is that we'll pay the full bill, but the one millillage which has a very strong passage rate and again that's up to us to get the message out and we will that if that passes it it's more than pays for the cost of both proposal questions and moving forward. Um I went through kind

088of quick so anybody's got any questions. Yes. Um, can we go back to you said there was $850 per student and then you had a bucket with 9,000 that one? Yeah. So, the Okay. 608. Um, my question is, um, when you're talking about the 850 per student, does that matter how many students we whether we have a 100red or a thousand? Uh, yeah. That's that's actually the numerical value of if you take the 18 mills millage rate and apply it to our eligible tax base, the non-h homestead tax base, it generates roughly $6 million and then you divide that by the number of students and that's where the 852 comes from. That's actually provided to us from the state. They've got there's a schedule that they put out that says here's what we're expecting you

089to get. Here's what we're back filling with state aid and here's how your your foundation allowance is made up. Okay. Thank you. Yep. We're not actually getting the 852 though because we're not living the 18 mills. We're getting a little less than that per kid. Um yeah, John, I I guess my question is I don't know how easy it's going to be for you to answer this, but um what if we do nothing? If we do nothing, this part the the current mill rate we're operating under now has got two more millage lives under it. So by the time this vote actually comes in, they'll have one left on it. So if if we do nothing, we'll be doing another millillage vote as soon as we possibly can because that is a millage levy. The

090operating millage we do not want to not renew it. Generates $6 million and the state, like I said, the state assumes we're going to get it. If we don't get it, we're going to take a $852 per student cut district-wide. So at roughly 6 million which would be you know from a short-term period practicality pretty devastating right and so at least from my perspective and tell me if I have it wrong but if we do nothing then we continue to take things out of the general fund correct that should have been out of the syncing fund. I hate that term but I guess that's what it's called. Yeah the gentleman used the word planning fund. I think I'm going to steal that. So uh but otherwise we will just continue to take from that fund

091which is our source of funding for programs services. Correct. Everything that we stand up here and say that we want for our kids. Correct. And and that the the rate of equipment failure replacement and systems work we did this year. I don't see that easing up anytime into the future with the scing fund. We can get caught up and manage it. And then if you want to get ahead of the game, it's a different conversation which we'll bring up later. Okay. Thank you. Yep. When you gave the examples of, you know, this is what we would have at 0 751 and and 1.25 in relation to our budget that you've forecasted out 3 to five years. Which of these scenarios I'm assuming all of them keep us in the green but some by a wider

092margin than others. Correct? Or are we still facing a deficit? Um in terms of actual funding for what we should be addressing this money, all three scenarios will address the highest health and safety priority projects that bubble up to the top. Will it address even at the 1.25 mills? will address all of the project and things we should be doing on an annual basis. No. Okay. There's a there's a con uh rule of thumb convention in facilities that used to be spending3 to $4 per square foot that you have under your management and we're in excess of a million dollars or excuse me a million square feet in our district not counting some of the outside work. So in the ideal world we should be spending3 to4 million just to keep things going. Ideal world

093we no public school operates in the ideal world. we make it work with whatever with whatever we can. So any of these scenarios would be a great advance advance for the operations and management of the district and keeping things up and running. Um it's going to be a value judgment as to you know whether we go on the low end or the high end. If you ask me um as bad as this may sound I would advocate for the 1.25 mills. um simply because I'm in the role of I know what can be done with this money but I also understand there's there's you know the whole process of community understanding involvement all the politics around taxes and all that stuff speaking of that you mentioned last time and unfortunately it wasn't recorded but you

094had discussed putting on the website financials and what the proposed plan were and do you now that we have it broken down into three do you intend to provide that based on each of these three scenarios or are you just going with one? Whatever whatever the the board decides on, we would go forward with first of a a forecasted planning document and then add and um on the hope the assumption that it passes in in this fall. Then we'd be start doing the actual work. So we develop a five-year rolling budget. So that document would be done annually um and updated quarterly and those would be put on on the website so people can see where where we're spending today and where we anticipate the next three or four years. We would also do some

095project spec specific documentation. Um pictures of projects, dollar amounts, amounts spent per building, amounts or identification of projects um under go underway. So there'll be some um transparency around how much is being spent, the planning of what's being spent, and then physical pictures so you can actually see it see it being spent. So that would really that would really ramp up the picture pieces and all that really comes online after we get going forward with it. Are you going to have something similar prior? What? Yeah, we can put out some demonstration versions. I think I've already been from my prior prior positions and some other people I know for lack of a better way to describe it would we be um uh stealing copying pirating of their versions. I mean everybody lots of districts who

096do these things do this different kind of tr transparency reporting so we' be doing the Oxford version of what lots of other districts are doing. So for the actual forward campaign we would come forward with these are the kinds of things we'd be buying. We know these things are are coming due. We are in the middle of or well not the middle of we just really got got going on a district-wide um facility assessment project. So once that is more wrapped up probably several I don't want to give a timeline several months down the road here to get some some concrete um project identifications needs identifications and dollar values that will feed this whole project. So that too will end up being to the extent it can be put on our website because there's different

097versions of sometimes you get a you can get a clean book. Others I've seen where it's there's literally a a binder per building and there's footprint layout between roofs and parking lots and what piece of the roof needs to be priority and all that kind of stuff that if you people want to come see it, come on down. We're more than happy to show you what we got going. Yeah. Great. Yep. One last quick question just because it's the only one I did not remember from the extensive projects this year. What was the bathroom project? Where was that? Was over at the high school. Um that was actually underway when I came on board. It was about expansion updating and um I know that several area the one bathroom was pretty torn up and aged.

098So it was basically a renewal renovation piece and there was some actual plumbing and some other operating fixes rolled in but made you know the the interior was more it was renovated updated and so it's more new looking so to speak but it really addresses some perming issues and some access issues and things like that. Gotcha. Thank you. That was very helpful. Anybody else? [Applause] Thank you. Appreciate it. [Applause] All right. Already here. Number nine unscheduled. Do we have any? We do. Thank you. [Applause] Roman [Applause] Gaski. Is this on? Okay. Yes, it is. All right. Um, hello everyone. My name is Roman Gaski and I'm a lifelong resident of Oxford. I wanted to thank everyone who showed up today. Civic engagement is what keeps local government accountable to the people. So, I want to

099thank them for that. I'm here just because I wanted to briefly introduce myself and announce that I'm considering running for state representative. And our campaign is about representing everyone, not just a small group of people. Personally, education is very important to me. I've had a Michigan public education from kindergarten all the way through college. And I believe that most of the opportunities in my life have related to the great education I've gotten here. So that's one of the many reasons why I'm passionate about every child receiving the quality education that they deserve. We'd love to hear from you, especially from uh parents, teachers, and the board themselves. So please don't hesitate to come up to me directly or reach out to our office. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right, we have some

100scheduled activities. Our next board of education meeting, we have a workshop coming up and uh as approved tonight, we'll be over at OES for June. Any administrative clarification, Dr. Milligan? No. All right. How about final board comments? Mike, I mean, just as kind of mentioned after the superintendent report, I mean, this has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks, but it's been very rewarding. It's always an awesome time of year to see both the the students be celebrated for their accomplishments, but also seeing the I mean, we've got the you we're usually on the stage looking down over the crowd and seeing the the parents and and those um the loved ones, right? Recognizing and sometimes like you said, there's there's times where um it was it was it was a big struggle. the the

101the pathway wasn't wasn't as straight and narrow as some of the some of the students. There are some uh scenic routes, right? And uh and so it's just a really uh a really rewarding time and we get to see kind of our why and I I just appreciate this this and I congratulate all the graduates and such an awesome time. Um, yeah, to kind of echo that, uh, being part of my first, uh, graduation at Pine Knob was really cool. Um, I got to be, uh, on the stage, so that was pretty awesome. Uh, seen a lot of concerts there, but always from the stands or from the hill. Um, but I did want to speak, uh, just directly first and thank John uh, for all the work that him and his team are doing,

102putting all of this stuff together. I was just whispering to Mike that uh this this stuff is like wizardry to me. Uh so it's I'm I'm so thankful he puts it into a a picture and a bucket that I can understand. So, um I really hope that the community um strongly considers the needs that this district has and really again as we all sit here every meeting and people will say we we do this for the kids and we do this for our students and and this is truly a need that's been identified um probably long ago and it's long overdue probably to be uh addressed at this point. But I just really hope that the uh community uh comes together and realizes that this is for the kids and you know it no one

103likes to pay more taxes. He said it um and and I I echo that. I pay taxes here too. But um thank you for Mr. Kger for coming out tonight and speaking about it. I really do appreciate that. Um and um you can take your nail when we leave. and you think about it. I thank you. I will. Thank you though. I just wanted to to echo a few of the folks that have already spoken um the sentiments about the the commencements that have already taken place. Um I've had some community members reach out to me and express their appreciation and their their thanks for an amazing job that's been done. um specifically the OS commencement, just the care and planning that went into that. um specifically the adjustments of I know there was a

104lot of appreciation for the orange cord uh the Hana cord and the fact that there was just um such acknowledgement of of the past as well as moving forward for all of our our students. So that was very appreciated and expressed to me. I just wanted to share that with everyone here. I'm sure you've heard heard similar appreciation. So, um just huge thanks to all of the preparation and planning that has gone into that. The the care and the thought and attention to detail has really been noticed and appreciated. So, thank you. I had the opportunity to uh be a mentor to the fifth graders at Clear Lake and I had a blast and I got to go to their PYP and it was just very exciting to kind of reconnect cuz I'm a grandma

105now and my kids graduated years ago. So, um and I also I had a blast at the Bridges um graduation. I it was it was so cool to see how our community is trying to do its best to make sure every kid and every family is taken care of. And I just really appreciate that. And again, I also reiterate how much work it went into for all of these events that we have done. And I appreciate the work the staff and the administration have done. Thank you. Of course, all four graduations so far have been really special. I honestly I can't pick my favorite because they were all so amazing for so many different reasons. And I I just truly enjoyed being there and was very honored to participate in all of them. With that

106said, I I did want to say to Pam to please pass along my personal congratulations to Darien tomorrow. I cannot make that one. And I am personally devastated. Uh watching her grow and flourish from the board table has really been an amazing experience and it's it's really a testament to your program and how wonderful it is. So please congratulate her. I hope that other members can make it uh tomorrow. I also wanted to uh lift up from your presentation that video with Bigfoot. Did you know that that was Mr. Ryan, who took personal time to go to fifth grade camp because one of the children had talked about possibly seeing Bigfoot. And so I heard that story and I just thought I would share that to compliment that because I thought that was incredible. So

107thank you to Mr. Ryan. And then lastly, I just wanted to remind our community that on June 1st, it is the grand opening of Hana's Memorial Garden and all support and attendance is very much appreciated and to please come and honor those families. So, that's what I had. Anyone else? Moving back into business, would somebody like to make a motion for close session? I can. Yeah. Oh, no. Ann, go ahead. I can. Sure. Where are we at? Uh, move to meet in close session pursuant to the open meetings act section 8 parentheses 1A to consider a periodic personnel evaluation of an employee if the named individual requests to close session pursuant to MCL15.268 PN1A. Support James. Any discussion? Okay, roll call, please. James, yes. Ann, yes. Uh, Sarah Beth, yes. Mike, yes. Shane, yes. Amanda,

108yes. All right. Okay. It is 8:05 and we are moving into close session. Thank you everyone. It is 10:01. We are back from close session and this meeting is adjourned.