001okay we're gonna we're gonna start here can you please rise for the pledge allegiance of the United States [Music] it was it's pretty pretty smart [Applause] okay [Applause] Miss answer can you please take attendance I shall president D'Alessandro here vice president Griffith here secretary hanser president Treasurer Schaefer your trustee Foster your trustee Schultz here trustee Reese here thank you [Applause] are there any there's no changes to the board agenda would be item number two item three is the consent agenda and that would consist of the November 10th meeting minutes our special meeting the November 10th closed session meeting and the bills payable for October of 2022 and then there's some hiring recommendations there's a motion Griffith moved to approve the consent agenda as presented is there support Mr Foster any discussion all in favor aye
002opposed motion carries thank you okay item number four Board of Education matters um item a a memorial discussion and that would be Todd barless there you are so uh in regards to the memorial discussion that was brought up at our last board meeting um we are looking at as a district um I've been asked to be the point person to coordinate with our community and our school stakeholders to form a committee to move this work forward and we will be providing quarterly reports back to the board in regards to our progress with regards to establishing the direction we're going with a with Memorial okay um I just want to make it real clear because I think there's some some questions cause for concerns one of the reasons that I want people to know that the
003district is not going to be the one that is dictating what happens or how it happens the reason that we have we want to have an appointed person to handle anybody that wants to be involved wants to get some thoughts and ideas into the into the discussion of what the memorial looks like or how they can help it's real simple these board positions change you can see that two of the three board members that were appointed um Mr Griffith Miss hanser and Mr Bailey Mr Bailey's no longer on the board Mr Griffith won't be on the board for more than a month and that's just the cyclical nature of school boards and Boards in general there's there's comings and goings it would not be in the best interest of this Memorial to do it the
004right way to have four or five new people come in when this really starts to take off there could be completely different ideas and then all that work that has been done goes by the wayside it's just this is not the setup to have that type of conversation um so I just want you to know that you are the point person you will have another person hopefully helping you um but we're always going to be here to help in any way that we can but we don't we don't want to be the owners of this of this project um just for that simple fact certainly so I appreciate the work that Chad and his group had done um up until this point with regards to research around how to move how other communities have moved
005this work forward I will rely um on our recovery coordinator Miss Laura Zoni she's her purpose is to assist the community in our school and our recovery as we go forward and so my intent would be to put out similar to what we've done for our three-year recovery plan with our committee work an application out to the community where they can apply to be part of that committee so we could get a nice representation of stakeholders and then we would move forward with that work together as a committee so are there any are there any questions Heather well I just want to be clear too that Laura's going to be including the families to see what their level of interest is as far as what opinions that they might have or if they want to
006designate somebody else maybe in their family or a friend of their families to speak on their behalf this will be inclusive with them correct certainly yeah that's Laura really is a wonderful liaison with our our families uh both of our our victims and our our families who have injured and so Laura will just play an important role with engaging those families and and their input with regards to going forward and how we do that anybody else I also think that we need to look at the possibility of a National Organization that maybe has done this in the past there may be somebody local there may be some local um I don't know I don't even know National organizations or local organizations that are familiar with how to do this because if this needs to be
007done but it needs to be done the right way and I I can't emphasize that enough so thank you thank you oh yes no it it's very tied in nationally to all sorts of assistance and organizations so I know that you guys have probably chatted a lot so yeah thank you yeah Jamie's visited many of the communities that we would that we would reference as a committee and and draw from Oxford has its own set of circumstances and we are our own Community but definitely um yeah Jamie would be a great resource as far as some of those connections and contacts for us to move forward very good thank you thank you I think we'll be seeing you again a little later okay uh Item B uh we want to get an update from guidepost
008um if they there we go I saw some unfamiliar faces and I really wasn't sure who was from guidepost it is me give me a moment okay good evening trustees superintendent superintendent of Weaver here this evening Mr Weaver is not here he is not all right Oxford Community uh both here and home tonight uh thank you for the opportunity to speak we appreciate this opportunity to update the board and the community on the progress of our independent investigation my name is Bradley Disick I am an executive vice president with guy post Solutions The Firm engaged to conduct the independent investigation of the events leading up to on and after November 30th 2021. I am here this evening to provide notice that guideposts will be producing two reports we believe this will be the most effective
009way to communicate our findings to the Oxford Community the first report will be a review of The District's current security and threat assessment practices we will map out with detailed analysis for the Oxford Community what the district is currently doing today this will report will conclude with recommendations to assist Oxford Community Schools with making its security and threat assessment programs effective sustainable and in line with national best practices we still have a handful of meetings to complete regarding what is currently in place but I anticipate that this report will be released in January 2023. over the past few weeks superintendent Weaver principal Beasley and Oxford Education Association president Jim Givens have been helpful setting up the remaining meetings we are hopeful they will be completed over the next few weeks before the holidays begin our
010second report will provide a full accounting of the events leading up to on and after November 30 November 30th 2021 this report will focus on the answers that the victims families and the Oxford Community has been demanding our investigation is being conducted objectively it is not a gotcha but our report will not pull any punches our man our mandate is to provide the Oxford Community and the victims family with transparency that is what we will do this second report will also provide an assessment of whether the security and threat assessment practices currently in place today that will be discussed in our first reports would better mitigate the the risk of the events of November 30th happening again we expect the learnings of the second report to cover four primary things governance systems procedures and judgments
011our second report will conclude with recommendations we already have a comprehensive and intimate understanding of the facts from our review of documents confidential interviews and meetings with Witnesses we will be able to effectively report on the events that happened prior to on and after November 30th 2021. what remains for us to do is meet with critical Witnesses the Gia Marco Mullins and Horton attorney hired by The District's insurance carrier setsec and currently representing the board and a number of individuals Tim Mullins represented to us that he will make the individuals he represents available to us four interviews after their depositions we are going to hold him to that this board made a policy decision to conduct an independent investigation consistent with that we anticipate that the district's Council will make individual Witnesses available to meet
012with us and facilitate their interviews in the near future we have not been made aware by The District's Council that any of the individual Witnesses are conflicted from having the same representation as the district consistent with the districts around sorry individual we have not been made aware by The District's Council that any of the individual Witnesses are conflicted from having the same representation as the district so consistent with the district's direction to cooperate with the investigation we anticipate giammarco making their individual clients available to us for interviews additionally our individuals other individuals through their Council have indicated to us an intent to cooperate with the district and sit down for an interview with us one individual is waiting on confirmation from giammarco that the district's insurance carrier setseg will continue to pay for the representation
013if they do cooperate with our investigation we are grateful to the many people staff community members family members and victims who have engaged with us through our confidential and Anonymous process these interviews have been invaluable as is publicly known voluntary participation has been difficult many Oxford families community members administrators and staff are themselves dealing with trauma many are scared about the uncertainties of the investigative process what I am here to say tonight is if you wish to speak if you want to tell your story we are here to listen as Oxford Education Association president Jim Gibbons stated in an mea letter on December 10 2021 a little over a week after the tragic events of November 30th the pain is immense we hear you but we also understand that there are stories to be told
014as Gibbon suggested to save lives we want to listen to those stories as well and include them in our reports if you so choose to meet with us your interview will be confidential and your involvement anonymous our trauma-informed professionals will listen to you with intention to learn and many times what intuitively seems to be the most innocuous perception of for example an alarm has material meaning to our ability to best advise on how Oxford Community Schools can best provide for this community's Safety and Security going forward what we want to better understand from you particularly teachers and staff is the effectiveness of what was and is now in place if something did not work then it probably will not work now your participation is essential to our ability to best learn from November 30th and
015inform on what measures are necessary to prevent it from ever happening again here or anywhere else in Michigan and Across the Nation since the beginning of October with the support of this board superintendent Weaver principal Beasley and Oxford Education Association president Jim Gibbons we have seen momentum and an uptick involuntary participation thanks to each of you for your help facilitating these meetings there are 108 witnesses that we have requested to interview to date we have approximately 50 percent voluntary participation rates a handful have indicated a desire to not relive the trauma of November 30th we have respected those requests where appropriate others have indicated to us fear of the uncertainty of this investigation itself that I emphasize with we can do a better job communicating about this process in the coming days I plan to
016reach out to the board superintendent Weaver principal Beasley Oxford Education Association president Jim Gibbons and the Michigan Education Association with a request to set up a teacher and staff town hall to introduce the investigative team talk about our process and make ourselves available to answer their questions about the investigation and its current status to conclude our efforts have been fruitful we will be able to effectively communicate to the Oxford Community our finder our findings about the events prior to on and after November 30th 2021 in detail our preference is to provide critical Witnesses and others such as administrators teachers staff students victims families and board members an opportunity to tell their stories to heal many have come forward to voluntarily participate for those who have not yet but want to do so our door is
017open please reach out and if you do want to reach out you can reach you can contact us directly at Oxford at guidepostsolutions.com me directly at b-disic as d-i-z-i-k at guypose solutions.com or any of my other colleagues who you may have already interacted with I thank you for this opportunity to speak thank you thank you any questions thoughts from any of the board members I will say is this is working I can't tell all right I will say that we we need to be as a board if we we want to speak with guidepost um we shouldn't be asking any questions on what their process is or anything like that because this is their process not ours we have to be hands off and let them do it there that's why you have an independent
018review it's independent of us but that does not suggest that we can't give them an understanding of our viewpoints that happen from the 30s is that what you're suggesting absolutely you many of you were on this board prior to and on November 30th so you've come out into this board since that point in time you know we would like to hear your experiences your perceptions and your thoughts and your ideas right the idea the whole concept is an independent investigation is really twofold to find out the truth of what happened bring light to that and to inform not just the community and the school board but the state of Michigan us nationally so that we can do better to prevent similar events from happening so we want to hear from you you know what what
019you are thinking what you may want to share you know what your perception is of not only those events but you know how um you know the the aftermath has been handled so our doors open we look forward to meeting with each one of you look forward to hearing your stories hearing your ideas and uh your thoughts so thank you very good okay thanks I do appreciate you coming absolutely um taking the time to update ourselves and the community and we'll build that back to you okay curriculum and instruction Collins and Mr Wolf we have nothing on the agenda just want to make sure nothing's changed okay business and maintenance Mr Barna I know Mr Barna is is not here this evening um his just his sister passed away and he's going to be with
020his family for for uh Thanksgiving and to memorialize her so um he will that's why Mr Barna is not here today Human Resources item number seven Lori I don't see Lori here we didn't have anything on the agenda but we will have some future announcements um as in regards to our human resources department safety and school operations again Mr barless this will be a threatened suicide assessment prevention and we're going to walk up here so I can advance my slides so I apologize for seeing behind some of you if anybody wants the board member wants to move around just so you can see a little bit better I also um or I shouldn't say I Angela also made us copies so you can see it while he's speaking [Applause] pardon so thanks for having me
021uh this evening and I am happy to present an update on Oxford Community Schools threat and suicide assessment overview the policies and guidelines and forms that I plan to share with all of you tonight have been presented in different forms over the past several months uh via safety updates to the board informational meetings to the community parent forums and various other Communications the intent tonight is to share the district's ongoing training and updated resources intended to support the threat and suicide assessment processes that are aligned across the district across Oakland County and across the state of Michigan so threat assessment in Oxford Community Schools includes policies administrative guidelines and assessment forms however assessing threats and interventions to support our students representative or set of systems this visual was actually created by one of my colleagues
022in Colorado but adapted well to our school district systems so as we look at it we utilize digital monitoring through Gaggle and go guardian we also um share information between agencies with our local law enforcement uh be the village or the county or whatnot we utilize Anonymous reporting through okay to say our community members provide Insight regarding concerns noted with friends family acquaintances and we have security measures in place with zero eyes and evolve as examples of that and we also utilize surveys and forums for our stakeholders so some of our parent forms that we've conducted are listing circles things of that nature the intervention protocols listed here are important part of supporting this threat process no for some reason my slides are not advancing I do have a hard copy come on I'm going
023to talk really loud okay because I think that tumble off the podium might have done something through our microphone so um this is our threat assessment protocols um and threat assessment teams actually have conducted this year from August to November at the elementary level we provided 13 different uh complete threat assessments at the secondary level our assessment teams have actually completed 36 assessments threat assessment teams spend anywhere from two to three hours completing a comprehensive threat assessment and that's the entire team engaged in that process as a reminder the district is casting a wider net to identify um specific needs for these assessments this is a list of imminent warning signs they'll be discussed further with regards to administrative guideline 8410b but these are some of the imminent warning signs that are referenced in that
024particular so our threat assessments are performed by trained multi-disciplinary teams or professionals with varying backgrounds and lenses through which the analyze the concerning content or activity we've used some of our teams are trained in youth Mental Health First Aid we've had specific training through secure education Consultants prepare which is a crisis response model and also Behavior threat and management which is considered BTM so this is a school safety policy policy 8400 uh it's school safety information it is over and over all school safety policy not just specific to threat assessment but it does include threat assessment and suicide assessment in this policy this guides the School Safety Committee for school safety issues across the district and goes well beyond just threat assessments [Applause] administrative guideline 8400 a is actually the threat assessment and intervention guideline
025and um it outlines who who comprises a threat assessment team and the steps our teams take when completing an assessment it's important to note that part of that team the building level threat assessment teams are headed by a principal and include a school counselor school psychologist second mental health professional instructional personnel and where appropriate the school resource officer when Logistics and staff assignments make it feasible a team may serve more than one school at a time and team members shall receive training some of the training reference in the previous slide would meet this this guideline this particular particular administrative guideline was adopted by cabinet September 13th of 2022 and that's listed on the administrative guideline so this is our threat assessment 8400 form one it's the documentation pertaining to threat assessment and intervention it really
026walks our team through the process so um this this form it just checks the boxes who's involved how are they moving through the process and and this is the first page of that particular form there are actually six pages total administrative guideline for 8410a references those early warning signs that I referenced previously [Applause] um so the purpose of 8410a is to avoid over-identifying student Behavior it really lists the following principles are included to avoid misinterpretation and better understand the early warning signs so the intent is to do no harm understand violence and aggression within context avoid stereotypes view warning signs within a developmental context perhaps based on age of the student and also understand that children typically exhibit multiple warning signs not just one [Applause] administrative guideline 8410b is identifying and responding to imminent warning
027signs um and again these imminent warning signs may include serious physical fighting with peers family members severe destruction of property um perhaps threats of lethal violence um severe rage for seemingly minor reasons possession or use of firearms or weapons or other self-injurious behaviors or threats of suicide um so these are the warning signs that were referenced previously 84 administrative guideline 8410c um are the principles underlining our intervention so I referenced our interventions in that first slide um several of our principles include shared responsibility by establishing a partnership with a child um maintaining confidential confidentiality of parents rights to privacy using sustained multiple coordinated interventions which we document through our multi-tiered systems of support that was referenced in that first slide and building Upon Our and coordinating internal School resources the district SRO assists school resource
028officer assists with development of violence prevention and response plans that are referenced in administrative guideline 8410c so our SRO is is involved in in creating those response claims so threat assessment training um this is training that we've engaged in um over the last several months so the behavior threat and assessment assessment and management which is referenced as btam um the Michigan State police uh have established funding to provide this training Statewide and they encourage all School District to register their entire threat assessment teams so as we move forward the the BTM platform is modeled after the U.S Secret Service National threat Assessment Center which is entech and their Guidance the district threat assessment teams we've got approximately 62 members of our threat assessment team that have actually been trained in our basic BTM model so
029that is actually all but three of our threat assessment team members and those three are actually going to be getting training through Michigan State Police in the future um the basic threat assessment and management um training is being provided through the state of Michigan and in I believe January and may um for those three participants to register and go I think we have two of them registered the third one will be registering soon um Advanced vtm Training will be provided to District teams on January 13th and February 14th we're actually bringing them in in order to provide that training um there will also be additional Advanced trainings offered through the state of Michigan in January and may of 2023. um the one thing that I'd like to stress and I think I get to it
030in the next slide is that the basic training is really an overview of of the btam process and then the Advanced Training which we are trying to get the rest of our threat assessment teams through focuses on scenarios and how to use those those tools that they that they gathered in that basic training in their initial training so it helps to keep them sharp utilize the resources that they learned about and established um secondary staff not regularly participating in threat assessment teams I have received training opportunities through secured education Consultants by Mr Jason Russell this training was specific for staff to build skills regarding look Force when a student is struggling with early warning signs these trainings have been provided in person and Via Zoom so those staff members who aren't actually involved in the
031threat assessments on a regular basis to actually receive those trainings through sec to know what to look for in students or children that they engage with in school [Applause] some of our objectives of behavior threat and management training include the basic Behavior threat assessment and management training provides an overview like I reference the resources to support threat assessment the Advanced Training is is the scenario Based training that utilizes and maintains the BTM process these are some of the outcomes of our staff who have participated in that basic vtam course so understanding major facts about school violence being familiar with the principles of Behavioral threat assessments knowing how to facilitate a threat Assessment program using eight steps gaining practice using threat assessment procedures understanding how to work a threat assessment case includes those bullet points there
032screening cases gathering information from multiple sources analyzing the information and how to make a determination if needed how to develop a case management plan to reduce the risk and that's definitely we have our so sros involved in that process that's what I referenced previously this is an example of a current guiding document provided through the basic vtam training to assess uh to follow that assessment process with the basic BTM model guides teams through the behavioral threat assessment process so as referenced previously the district has approximately 6 62 threat assessment team members trained examples of trained staff include lead teachers administrators social workers psychologists counselors and family school Liaisons our specific presenter is Dr Melissa Reeves who came and did our actual training she is a co-author of the nest repair School Crisis Prevention intervention curriculum
033and has extensive experience in Statewide implementation of threat assessment protocols she was very good with our staff so the district is working to expand navigate 360. navigate 360 actually syncs with our PowerSchool system which is our student information system and it will store our threat assessments be it behavioral threats or suicidal assessments and so that is a nice platform to capture that information and make sure that we have it all in one location so [Applause] So speaking directly to Suicide assessment the one thing I want to notice school resource officers are made aware when suicide suicide assessments are initiated [Applause] administrative guideline 5350 is our suicide intervention process and um We've Got Five Steps step one is stabilize the situation assess the risk of step two then we move to take appropriate action step four
034is actually communicate inform inform the appropriate members of The District staff regarding the facts and the actions being taken step five is follow-up so maintaining that continuing contact with the student remain alert to possible copycat suicide attempts things of that nature so it's really being on high alert so those are our five primary steps when it comes to Suicide intervention process and administrative guideline 5350 kind of walks us through those steps [Applause] uh 5350 forms one and two these are Neola forms 5351 form one document specifics of Who's involved in the suicide assessment process and form 5350 two guides the suicide assessment team to determine a student's level of risk is that level of risk low medium or high this is these are the forms that are actually have been in place across the district
035and um currently what's aligned with our administrative guidelines as well as our board policies we do have suicide assessment training currently we've got the psych series through Oakland schools which is understanding managing suicide in schools it's December 16th we have several of our mental health staff that are going to be participating in that training and then we've also have our safe talk suicide alertness for everyone so we've secured training for 60 staff members on December 16th I want to give credit to our some of our OVA administrators for actually locking that in and working out some of those details we're requesting a second date in January or February for additional School staff and volunteers parents to participate in the safe talk training the purpose of this this training is not for mental health professionals but
036adults who interact with our students at school or in the community it's really to know the signs and how to respond to those signs questions to ask it really gives just you and me how to move forward when we have concerns about someone and what to look for the district mental health committee uh which has been developed as part of the district three-year recovery plan we'll continue to discuss how we want to further roll out safe talk training within our school community and Beyond so the Columbia protocol is actually it's a screening tool um that we can use as our staff are trained in order to assess risk so it is a resource it's a tool that we can use it's evidence-based and research informed and um it specifically um highly utilized within the school
037setting so it assists us with suicide prevention strategies identifies a level of risk again high medium and low and it is just a widely used tool that we are looking at to bring on it is part of the trainings and safe talk and it will be referenced in our school psych series at Oakland schools when our mental health staff participate in that also finally as I reference on our first slide tonight threat assessment and Oxford Community Schools includes not only policies administrative guidelines and assessment forms but as we go forward with guidance from Oakland schools the state of Michigan and national leaders in this field the district will continue to train staff and develop our practices using the evidence-based and research-informed information provided tonight um thank you for supporting this important work and supporting the
038many as you can see the many staff required to manage these interventions represented uh this evening in this presentation questions Aaron do you have yeah thank you so Todd I just wanted to ask um so the b-tam training is through the Michigan State Police so we can is all of Oakland schools getting some of this and I ask because there's transition of Staff between districts students between districts are we leading the efforts in this or is it something that we're working within our greater School communities to accomplish Oakland schools actually um some of their staff participated in our training so yeah Oakland schools will be participating with the BTM training county-wide so um but we are actually fortunately Miss pambiel was able to bring them in to actually train our staff on site which is
039really nice to bring be able to train two different cohorts of Staff right on site with actually one of the co-founders of the program [Applause] chat Todd thanks for uh talking us through this there's a lot of information um but it's it's obviously critical I've got two questions though that that came up and I you know going back um you were talking about the staff that's not part of a threat assessment right they're going through training of Their Own um to identify signals right I would I would assume that in that training those people once they identify those signals that they're directed to take those concerns to a threat assessment team member is is that fair to say yeah yeah that is really the purpose is to identify the process to act help and to
040access help or to um make a referral for Support Services okay um one thing that came out was last fall or actually the end of last school year Oakland schools created this card is a Lifeline which is it kind of goes along with that it's a support and it was really just identified as a necessary tool and a student students were given these and if they felt like they were anxious or depressed or struggling in some way they could simply hand this card to an adult and the adult could turn the card over and it would walk that adult through what steps they could do to support that actual child so Oakland schools actually created these for us and then disseminated them across the district in the secondary level which is a great school can
041I see that yeah do you have a follow-up thank you I I do have one other one other question um the navigate 360 that you mentioned are those the records that are created there are those durable records and and the reason I asked that is if if there's a if there's a child in elementary that's that's looked at right we create records on there do those records last through High School in the event that that a child comes back into that program and we have to take a look and see what that history has been the intent would be that that navigate 360 would be a data warehouse so it would store that information for us so that we would have that continuity it wouldn't potentially be lost from one school to another from one
042transition to another okay um and but we are still working with them as to building that platform what can we store on there okay if we do a suicide assessment and we happen to use the Columbia can the Columbia be included in that is you know the threat assessments the suicide screeners things of that nature so we are building that platform and they actually have a full specular services story information okay there's one thing that I would stress Janice is the trainings and whatnot once we get all of our staff trained I mean obviously we're building capacity in our staff right they're using those resources but we aren't at a point to change policy at this point until people are fully trained thank you Aaron just a jump off question to the navigate 360. um
043it won't be full access to all Oxford Community Schools staff correct it'll be only two okay that was one of my questions at what level does somebody have to be in order to access those records I mean I I would imagine that it's going to be somebody that's on a threat assessment team or maybe would a guidance counselor correct me if I'm wrong in this video but I believe it's administrative access so it would be the administrative team okay and just out of my curiosity is this something that Oakland county is looking at or everybody already has because it would seem to me that this would be beneficial for every District to put in a place where because families are transient you may move from one community in Oakland County to another or frankly for
044anywhere in the state if you move from one place to the next this type of information should go along with that student so Dan to answer your question I would say many districts across the county in the state just navigate 360 in one capacity or another so sometimes they store like their hrpds that are required annually annually your bloodborne pathogen PDS things of that nature and they access that and then it stores that information from a human resource perspective but I don't know that all districts my previous District that I worked for did use it utilize navigate 360 for suicidal homicide ideation and use their their process for evaluating so but I can't speak for all districts you know it is a platform available at times and I believe that's something that we may have
045to look into the the legalities of providing that information for a student from one to another because I know we can't not accept a student based on anything other than their academics so that's something that we have to look into the legalities if they have a disciplinary issue that's not a that's not a reason for not accepting somebody into your District because once you change that level of oh you got into three fights well then you look into everybody that's been in three fights in your school district and they're that's that's across the board it's not just for that student coming in so we have to make sure that the information that is being shared is this would only be for our District's information correct yeah it doesn't transfer to other districts at this point
046but your question was clear but I guess my question would be that's something that we're going to have to do in the future if this is something we feel as though is important enough to legislatively have those conversations okay any other questions what about those cards yeah um sorry the cards are have they been given to all the students district-wide or they've been distributed at the high school in the Middle School okay that would be typically where you would really encounter the focus around those um okay and do they and possibly repeatedly give those out I mean they were provided through Oakland schools okay yeah it is a tool okay so our actually our middle school students right which is really kind of a nice transition there from from peer-to-peer and we are focused on
047building some of that peer-to-peer supports around Suicide Prevention specifically so that's a great process of doing those things thanks thank you I have one other question what happens uh if an SRO is not available in the building where something comes up is this something that JV can handle um yeah definitely okay so we we do have that coverage by having um JV and the staff he can go from building to building the building um so I just want to make sure that you know because I know we don't have a resource officer in every single building but we have that coverage and even like with referenced the threat assessment team can serve in a different building if there if there's someone missing in a different building we can take a whole team over or individuals
048that that aren't available okay very good and just to give just a rough idea because I know there's been a lot of training going on in the recent months roughly how many people would you say are trained in which in our Channel yes um there are 62 staff members currently trained last count it could fluctuate just a little and I think we have three members of of our threat assessment team that two of them are signed up and the third one they might be signed up I couldn't verify that and that covers just about every across all buildings not just 62 in one building it's across okay very good thank you any other questions no Mary thank you hi I have a question about um your statement about team spending two to three hours I
049was I just had I had in my mind that it would be a lot more when you're talking about Gathering all this information I mean this isn't this isn't something you can just do in half an hour um you know or just like grab a team together right this second unless you've got these like one of these imminent threats right it just seems like that's not enough time really to be able no you have an entire team and so it is and I'm pretty methodical how they work and um so you'll have your SRO going and doing one thing and you'll have your your principal doing another your mental health professionals your psychologist who sits on that team working with that child um and they'll be sending out emails to instructional staff saying do you
050have any pieces to a particular puzzle here to bring information together so you have the entire team working on that two to three hours I was told as the average and it was it was roughly you know how long does it take you to complete these on average two to three hours some will take far longer that's for the complete assessment so I have a kind of a follow-up so um it sounds like the um the value is in the process too so you've got everybody knows what they're supposed to do and that's how it all works it's the training and the and the practice um fantastic okay thank you right and everybody does their piece and that's why we can get this done quickly okay thank you okay wouldn't that be it thank you
051Todd thank you [Applause] okay unscheduled audience participation item number nine I'm gonna go ahead and grab the cards um can we take a three minute break we just have to set something up real quick and then we'll take a quick break okay so then rud when your time is up when it hits red and your time is up just try to wrap up we'll give you a few seconds to wrap up your thought but we'll keep it there we'll try to keep it just to like five to ten seconds after your thought okay uh number first person up Jason McCarthy [Applause] good evening if I known last meeting was more of a cheerleading tryout than I probably would have stayed home now there's a complete difference from someone agreeing or supporting you than what I
052saw last week when there are people leaving the room saying claiming teachers were paid or heavily talked into doing it it doesn't seem like it's a good look on you guys but more importantly what about the students what about the victims and their siblings who ought to see that what about the students who trusted those teachers last meeting Mr Bigelow spent a good portion of the time talking about students having someone to go to a trusted adult by deciding to try to save face you also decided to put yourself above the student body more while students lost a trusted adult you got to be a hero and praised for either the hands that hold this community together you got told that you support thousands of students and families but I've not seen an ounce of
053support from you to the victims and their families but I'm glad you got to enjoy a half hour of Praise in all reality that didn't seem too authentic if you wanted real praise why don't you look in the mirror and take an ounce of responsibility for the mistakes you made along the way we are not asking you to be perfect we're asking you to be human when you make a Web of Lies of opacity for almost you how for almost a year how are we as a community supposed to respect you and stand by you I don't want to sit here and blame you for the cards that you've been dealt but in all honesty I think it's fair to blame you for how you've dealt with the cards and something that should have been
054more important that night was Memorial something that students and families alike have been fighting for it's been a year and we got an official update you toss blames to the members who are no longer sitting next to you in the community saying well we didn't have a request of what the people wanted when there's never room to speak to you anytime someone comes up here to talk they talk to a wall I doubt you reached out to the families either the people who should have been your number one priority for how the memorial should be done you gave you never gave the opportunity to the community until supposedly now to be transparent with you I don't trust that I feel like every week it switches between back and forth until people give up on fighting
055you when it and people have been fighting for memorial for almost a year it seems a little incompetent that you open it to the community now all we have as a memorial for the is where the students die is that where students are supposed to mourn the people who lost your lives deserve more than that they deserve to be more than where they took their last breaths they deserve more than a bathroom and they deserve more than just a hallway they deserve more than anything you've ever given them and it's not fair and it will never be fair that you've given us nothing thank you [Applause] George staffron no thank you for the opportunity to address the board my name is George stoffen my daughter is in 12th grade and my son is in 10th
056Grade before I speak to my reason for being here I wanted to mention that my daughter Josie was a part of the Uvalde trip this past weekend thank you for supporting this trip as a board I thank Mr Weaver and the administration and I thank Mrs Barnett for her tireless work and helping these students for these past months as well as the counselors and parents who help them prepare and who accompany them I have teared up every time I read about this in news stories and in social media I'm almost ready to tear up right now Josie came home the other day and told me this was life-changing I love all these kids what an amazing group of young people they're going to change the world and I'm so proud I'm here to express my
057hope that the district might consider the hiring of a Dei coordinator or at least integrate these responsibilities and this role into the duties and work of a current member of the administration I think this is a missing element in this District I believe that the addition of a Dei coordinator can play an important role in our students having a fulsome and well-rounded educational experience while ensuring that they are prepared for the diverse Multicultural World they will enter upon graduation it is also important for students faculty and staff of the lgbtq plus and minority communities for those with disabilities and generally the underserved as well as many others to feel welcome that this is a safe place that they are celebrated for who they are and that they are able to express themselves fully the Dei
058coordinator can insist in the Recruitment and Retention of staff and faculty and I believe we should aspire to achieve a more diverse faculty staff and student body it would be healthy a Dei Coordinator would also develop policies that support equity and inclusion in the work of the district and in the classroom to include training that addresses best and most updated practices engage in curricular development that supports these goals and consolidates the work of the district in the district's Communications in this area this person would bring expertise in diversity equity and inclusion and serve as a point person for the district diversity equity and inclusion is obviously a broad subject and can be applied in this position in any number of ways large and small My Hope Is that a gay teacher can speak comfortably about
059a spouse that transgender kids pronouns are always respected that people of color always feel included and that those with disabilities are never ever marginalized I hope that as a district we can do more with regard to Black History Month indigenous people's day gay pride month as well as learning more about less traditional holidays as a musician I hope we can celebrate the work and accomplishments of women musical composers who worked in the field traditionally dominated by white men these include Hildegard Von bingen the most famous 20th or 12th Century composer as well as Florence price the early 20th century black woman composer who remained obscure until recent discoveries in her music okay um the point is that we can and should do even more our students will enter college with colleagues from around the country
060and from around the world they'll enter a military with people from many different backgrounds they'll enter a Workforce if they work in the Detroit region that is Multicultural and diverse it is a com incumbent upon all of us as parents but also as a district that we ensure that our kids have the cultural competency and literacy so they are best prepared for this challenging world thank you foreign thank you Mr President I just want to make sure it's Mr we're okay this is the second meeting he's missed and after the last meeting you told me you didn't have authority to make any decision decisions regarding Staffing and such because it was his role so how are we as a community supposed to address that if he's not at the meeting and I do think you
061have more influence with the administration than you I mean you sit up here and you look at us like you have no Authority or you can't respond but we know you have the authority and I guess my point is if you're not going to use it why don't you just resign because what you're doing isn't helping we're almost 12 months into this okay is it can I speak or you don't have to like what I say Heather and and you should resign to it's about time time um you mentioned the memorial work I would be happy to volunteer for the memorial work anything the school needs I would be happy to really for that cause to keep the memory of all four students alive so that we always remember this um on November 30th or
062first Remembrance Day luminaries are available at the resiliency Center and Remembrance Day clothing is available on the Oxford Wildcat boosters.com you can get those um just a real couple things single-use bathrooms any money is going to be spent on the development of the facilities let's switch to single-use bathrooms and eliminate the security problems associated with the bathrooms um thank you for having guideposts come and update us I think that should be a happen at every meeting and I would like to know how much are we paying them for their services that number was posted it's it's accrued over time okay all right so it really doesn't matter they're not law enforcement so they're way I mean they may have some opinions but the truth is we know staff was counseled not to cooperate with us
063so it you know maybe there's some good information that'll come from that maybe not but the sheriff's report is going to be released and the depositions of the people who are involved is being released so we know the truth um generally if you read the lawsuits and uh specifically the information relating to the the four defendants that keep getting mentioned over and over we'd like to hear at every meeting the attorneys that we're paying to represent this District maybe since you don't want to talk to the community maybe you could have your attorneys come to the meeting every meeting and talk to us because you know it's been a year and you don't give us any information in fact it was just a few meetings ago where you actually were crying and told the whole
064Community you were sorry for keeping us in the dark and lying unto us so I looked on the website your value of trust is still number one if you want to help us with trust I would immediately recommend terminating the contracts of Mr throne and Mr Wolf who told this entire Community to shut up leading up to November 30th and that our concerns were invalid and to stop and then after November 30th they continued that pattern of trying to silence this community so we have no trust for them and then we have ejac and Hopkins who didn't who failed to report to CPS mandatory reporting or involve the law enforcement in the school that was here on November 30th they didn't do that they just put the kid back in the in the room and
065you said that's my opinion it's not my opinion it was information from their deposition and their statement Mr ejac and Mr Hopkins so I don't know how you expect us to trust you when you keep employing the people who are responsible on the day of the attack [Applause] Barbara Johnson foreign good evening um you'll have to excuse my entire I'm an elementary teacher in the district yeah it was PJ day so I apologize I'm not more formally tired to address the board um but being that Thanksgiving is coming up um I just wanted to say thank you for making a choice to do your job of being a public servant in a time where it can be really difficult if Mr Weaver were here I would also be saying thank you to him I've taught
066here since 2001 and he would be my fourth superintendent and I'd have to say that as a human being a father in our district who has children that go here a fellow teacher a leader an administrator I support him and I want to wish you all Happy Thanksgiving [Applause] okay it's okay Melissa Williams hi uh excuse me I'm a little nervous I didn't plan on talking tonight and um it's been a year and I decided that I wanted to say something tonight my name is Melissa Williams I am a parent here in the district I'm a parent of a junior who was there that day who's in the hallway in one in 200 rooms I'm also the administrative assistant to the principal and I was there that day and I just want to say thank
067you to a few people I wanted to say thank you to see wolf who locked me in my office and you said and said do not come back out I want to thank you for that while I was on the phone with 9-1-1 I want to say thank you to mark suckley who lacked all the exterior doors so that I was safe I want to say thank you to Pam fine who ran in and out of the building screaming for help and and Mr Weaver who did the same thing in it out without Kevlar bests in and out I want to say thank you to Christy Gibson Marshall and Kurt news you have been broken we've all been broken but I want you I want everyone to know that what breaks us also is the
068meetings that we hear and I know first and foremost I love every family I was on those cameras I've seen things I don't want anyone else ever to have to see I love every single one of you I could not imagine my son is alive today and and I know I'm blessed for that and I I you're in my heart every day your your children's faces and they're on my walls every day I pray for all of us but I just I just want to say thank you it's Thanksgiving and I wanted to say thank you to those people who helped me that day and and there's truth to come out but it's not my place but I hope that there's more truth than what we're hearing at this podium every week [Applause] okay we
069have some um scheduled activities Thanksgiving break is the 23rd through the 25th there's no school on November 30th it's Wildcat Remembrance Day we have some additional um okay yeah did you guys hear Angela yeah there's luminary bags over at the entrance oh of the media center over there maybe by the water Ron are they by there hon okay if I ride a roof over there by where the water is there's also remembrance week scheduled activities so please grab that put it on your fridge you never know what your kid might or might not want to go to or what you might go to yeah and there are quite a number of local businesses that are offering students family members to come in on the 30th just to be with other students it's important it's it's
070important to remember the day how you that that's their heart so we want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity um so that's what others scheduled or the other um events that are happening there's a couple other ones but they're um their board meetings on January 11th and January 24th January 11th meeting is at Lakeville Elementary and the 24th is here at the high school both of them are at 6 30. [Applause] um some clarification things that we want to bring up Mary you want to address the um National School Board Administration advocacy Institute go ahead thank you just a quick brief sure sure um so I have been participating in a number of um advocacy events um professional development events of school board related events with the Michigan Association of school boards the
071National School Board Association in January will again be hosting its advocacy Institute where school board members have an opportunity to learn about lobbying our Congress folks discuss the legal and legislative issues that are happening in Washington and what's coming up in Washington there's going to be a lot of changes in the state for sure I can talk about that next time we also have masb who arranges for us to meet with our own local legislators we have breakfast with Senator Peters and W stabenow senator stabenow who are big supporters of Education our new our new uh U.S rep Lisa McLean she's not new to Washington but she is new to Oxford so we'll have it looks like we'll have an opportunity to meet with her also um so we have we have a chance to
072sit face to face with legislators and tell them what's happening in our district and what it is that we need here the question is how does that what does that do for us what does go to Washington do for Oxford for our students well um I can tell you one of the ways that they were a piece of um getting help from Washington is the idea funding so um I just want to bring up that um it's been almost 50 years since the federal government authorized Federal funding for up to 40 percent of uh per pupil spending for our special needs populations that has never been fully funded it's has been sitting at 11 percent in about 2 000 that's out of 40 that they said that they would cover by asking us to do
073these things but because of a lot of the advocacy work that school board and administrators have done you know we're getting that funding moving forward so this is a way that it that this kind of work really really um makes a difference in our community here we really do bring that back to our our students and building the relationships with our legislators so when we do need support when there is funding available that they know what we need and and are willing to have conversations to do that so I just wanted to bring that up um Aaron and I were looking at going to this conference in Washington DC I know that some of the people that we work with on the Oakland Schools board said if there was any conference for school board members
074to go to that this one was it we get the biggest um we get the biggest return on investment in building these relationships so I just wanted to bring this to the attention of the rest of the board members and see if anybody had any questions there's also the equity Symposium on Saturday where they talk about we learn about advocating for Equitable practices in our schools okay very good thank you and we can use um training dollars in order to do that I checked and verified that we could do so correct it is very good thank you Mary um so one of the other things that we will be doing this evening is I want to read this so bear with me please dear school board members it is with a heavy heart that I
075write to inform you that I have been placed on a medical leave by my doctor from November 23 2022 until February 20th 20 2023 after much thought and reflection I have decided to resign my position as superintendent of Oxford Community Schools with the effective date of February 21st 2023. over the last couple of months my health wellness and my own recovery from the events of November 30th has been greatly impacted by the stress and responsibility of my position with the deterioration of my health I have come to understand that my own recovery path must now Lead Me Away from Oxford Community Schools over my 19 years 19 plus years with Oxford Community Schools I believe that I made every effort to help educate and improve the lives of our students in March of this year
076I was honored to be given the opportunity to lead the school district I knew it was going to be an almost impossible task and many difficult situations even then I underestimated the toll that this position would take on me there has never there there has been a never-ending succession of extremely extremely emotional and difficult decisions it saddens me to think that my long tenure with Oxford Schools will end but I also realize it is best for both the school district myself and my family my decision will allow the new school board to select a new superintendent to lead Oxford Community Schools through the second year of its recovery and it will allow me the opportunity to heal and recover from my own experiences I will participate in the district's independent review before officially leaving the
077school district and that will continue to uphold my responsibilities in legal proceedings I'm extremely proud of our staff and how they have responded to November 30th Tragedy by putting in place a comprehensive plan to address the many supports needed to help students and staff through this difficult period by their actions I know my own I know our staff truly loves and cares for our students I wish to express my love and care for students families and staff of Oxford as well for this reason I have struggled with this decision well I know the timing of this decision is at a crucial time in Oxford's recovery I could not have foreseen the impact the last couple of months would have on my health I wish to thank I wish to thank the current board for its
078support through these last couple months I understand that my decisions that my decision is irrevocable so the Oxford Community Schools can move forward with its recovery path I leave Oxford Community my love and will always cherish my friendships and interactions with students staff and community during my time in the school district I have been honored to work with you for the greater good of Oxford students sincerely Kenneth B Weber [Applause] okay so given that I've jotted down a few motions that I that we need to to make this um official and we can move forward as a district so um Heather would you mind reading the first one please [Applause] whenever you're ready move to accept the resignation of superintendent Ken Weaver as submitted is there support Mr Griffith any discussion I just want to
079say um it's not a formal discussion but um there's something called a servant leader and what a servant leader is is somebody who um does not lead by Authority but leads to serve other people and leads to serve the people he works for the people he governs over meaning student body and his community and that is exactly what Ken Weaver is that's how that's what I'm gonna say okay that's it any further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries Aaron would you like to read the next one please I moved to a point Anita konja Collins is the Acting Superintendent of Oxford Community Schools until an interim superintendent is identified is there support Mr Foster discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries Chad would you like to read the final one please move
080to authorize a board member appointed by board president to consult with Michigan Leadership Institute mli to confirm the terms for a contract to conduct a search process for an interim superintendent and success for for superintendent of Oxford Community Schools support support Aaron any discussion with if it's okay with the board I would prefer to have Heather be that pointed appointed person she was somebody that dealt with um mli in our first go-round when we were looking for Ken um and she has the familiarity with John silveri I would hope that she can do that first thing tomorrow any other further discussion all in favor aye opposed motion carries [Applause] okay final board comments anybody Colleen um I don't I don't really know what to say except that like all of you and many of you
081my heart is broken and I'm I'm so proud of Ken that he is putting his health um first um as I've told him many times he's a father of four children and a husband and that needs to be his first priority um and Anita thank you for stepping up for us and taking this responsibility out I appreciate that anybody else okay I want to um just briefly let everybody know that uh Ken Weaver new the position that he was taking on when he was named superintendent but one of the things that he didn't realize was just the way that the world seems to work these days the world doesn't have to have somebody to blame if they don't know what it is they just blame somebody that they just feel as though well that's the
082person I'm grateful for my time spent with Ken especially these last couple days these last couple weeks we've had some pretty good talks and he's a just a super super person and um this district will miss him sorely but as I told Ken and I will tell everybody that this District is bigger than me it's bigger than Ken Weaver it's bigger than any of us sitting here District Will Go On this District will see better days because of the staff and the students that fill these walls okay anybody else okay we've already jumped right to the other portion so with that our meeting is adjourned