001Um the only reason you have two [Music] Salt. [Music] Good. [Music] You know, everyone's okay. Ready? The board of education meeting is called to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. All right. In the absence of Secretary Restitch, member McGregor will be serving as acting secretary. Would you please take roll call? Member Donahghue present. Member Wagner present. Mag member Rristitch is absent. Member Torres present. Member Srret present. Member Patruchia. Yes. Thank you. All right. Approval of the agenda. Unless there are objections, the agenda will be approved as printed. Good. All right. And now we are going to turn this over for the introduction of
002our new cabinet member to interim superintendent Eldra to introduce our new director of safety and security. Thank you, President Wagner. As discussed at our April meeting, Jim Beaver will be retiring at the end of the school year. And I am pleased to introduce Michael Surat, who will be replacing Jim Beaver as our new director of safety and security. Mike will be joining us with a wealth of experience and knowledge. Um, most recently he is s is serving as a special agent with the US Customs and Border Patrol where he's been since 2008. Prior to that, Mike worked as a special agent in the Secret Service. Um during the interview process, uh we recognized immediately that he will be very collaboratively collaborative and work well with staff, students, and the community as we continue to make
003safety our top priority. U Mike, we'd love to have you go to the podium and say hello. Hi everybody. Um and uh again, good evening. Uh I am Michael Serat and uh I would like to thank the board and the Waterford School District administration uh for giving secure environment consultants and myself the opportunity uh to provide safety and security to this district. It's a wonderful district and they've been amazing to me throughout the whole process. Uh I would also like to thank uh Jim Beaver uh the retiring uh he's retiring soon and he's been providing uh excellent mentorship for me throughout the process. Uh with that if anybody has any questions member Patricia Customs and Secret Service is pretty impressive but Jim's been in the district a long time. He knows a lot of things.
004Listen to him. That's why I'm I'm going to I'm going to absorb everything he has. You have all the titles but he has the knowledge. He is a great man and I hate to see him go. Maybe have him alone as a sidekicker. Convince him of that. I'll try. I will try to convince him. Anybody else? Any other questions? Well, we definitely welcome you to our district. We're very excited and as we as you know, we are all very sad that that Mr. Beaver is leaving us because Jim is a huge part of our district and but we have a lot of um faith and hope and excitement for you coming on and we appreciate that. uh you'll be part of our district. So, thank you. Thank you very much and welcome. Thank you. All
005right, we are now going to move on to our recognition of achievement starting off with the seal of biiteracy. Mrs. Rristitch will be presenting those to our students tonight. We're just going to take a minute to get set up here. We have a lot of students here to be recognized tonight, which is amazing. So, it is so exciting to be here tonight to help recognize our seniors who have earned the seal of biiteracy. This year, we have a new record high of 39 outstanding WSD students who have achieved this award. This exceptional group has demonstrated a commitment to embracing and mastering language. Their perseverance and developing a high level of academic language and literacy in not only one but two languages sets them apart. Because of the skills these students have worked hard to develop,
006many doors will open for them. Colleges and universities will view the seal as a symbol of excellence. Future employers will see it as a sign that these students are ready to thrive in a diverse job market. Waterford School District and the greater Waterford community should be very proud. It's a big honor to have this group of young people representing our district and our township. So, as we prepare to recognize each student individually, I want to introduce you to three of my teammates from the English language development um team. So, first we have Mrs. is Yami Row from Durant, Mr. Mr. Tony Sanchez from Kataring and Mrs. Virginia Deleó from M. And it's really important that these three are here to help honor our students because for a couple of reasons. one um one of their
007superpowers is all three of these individuals are bilingual. So that's just one amazing thing about them. But also they are a big help in promoting the seal of biiteracy in our buildings. Um helping with the assessment, helping with the honoring, helping with the recognize recognizing the students. So it's really important that they're here with us. So Mrs. uh Yamiro, if you'd join me and help uh recognize our Durant students first. Michelle Mendoza, Melissa Pledo, Miriam Robles, Gonzalez, Filipe Uma. And even if our students aren't here with us, we're going to call every name of every student that earned the award in case they're watching from home, too. So, all right, Mr. Tony. All right. Britanni Casarin Chaparo, Oscar Separano Flores, Jonathan De Laos Kamacho, Juan Espinosa Ortiz, Leslie Frius Garcia, Daisy Mendoza, Maria Okando, Sai
008Viegas, Rosa. Miss Vicki. And now our students from M. Jonathan Barca, Cam Bonitez, Jose Bravo, Leslie Dominguez, Ramirez, Roxeric, Flores, Ranel, Area Kovarius, Leslie Garcia, Ector Garcia Tero, Gustavo Gomez, Jennifer Gonzalez, Joseline Gonzalez, [Applause] Hennessy, Danielle Mas, Carol Vina, Jose Mendoza, Mia Pelo, Andrea Perez, Guadalupe Pita Valans Roxet Ruiz Coyman Amanda Ru Himenez Ashley Ashley Sanchez Navarete Noisal Nelis Lisa Goiano, Ila Cerna, Stephanie Varela, Hel [Applause] Velasquez. Thank you so much. These are seal of bi literacy recipients for 2025. Before you go, does anyone have any comments or questions for the students? Member Torres, I I just want to say how proud I am of of all of you to uh have a mastery in two languages is fantastic. And think of the opportunities that it opens up for you. Um, you can go to
009South America, most of South America with the exception of Brazil, Central America, uh, Puerto Rico, the Kuba, um, Spain, you can walk around, you can do business, you can do all kinds of things. So, the opportunities that it opens up for you to be ambassadors, if you will, of Waterford and and of the United States of America is a fantastic uh, opportunity. And secondly, I want to say, you know, it's awesome to see your mastery in two languages and the pride that you have and not only being Latino, but also being an American um and being part of the Waterford community. So, uh for me, this this makes me very proud to see. Thank you. Congratulations, everyone. and we look forward to seeing you at graduation. Thank you so much for coming. Be [Applause] proud.
010All right, we are going to move on with our recognition of achievement. And next up is Mr. Steve Wolf. These are students that have earned the Waterford Advance Achievement Endorsement. Okay. Good evening. Uh I am very excited and honored uh to have the privilege this year uh to share with you our Waterford Advanced Achievement Endorsement recipients. Uh and for those who don't know, this is for our Waterford students who uh are not only academically advanced uh they are also very dedicated uh very driven and overall very well-rounded students. So they represent our district uh really really well. And this year we're excited to uh announce and celebrate our 14 recipients uh for our high school seniors. So, this program affords students the opportunity to earn an academic accreditation on their diploma, which will be recognized
011on their transcripts for college admission as an advanced program of study. And the Waterford Advanced Achievement Endorsement Program uh is based on three pillars, which is scholarship, leadership, and citizenship. So, in scholarship, students successfully complete an advanced level of class requirements in all core areas by February of their senior year this year. And these students achieved a cumulative and weighted grade point average of 3.75 or higher. Also, leadership students complete a minimum of 40 hours of community service by the end of their four years in high school. And I know many of these students are uh also involved in a lot of extracurriculars and a lot of other programs and for many of them they far exceed those 40 hours uh of community service. We know lastly is citizenship and so our uh students in
012this program behave as role models for their peers. are looked upon as not only leaders but one who exhibit um the hard work and dedication and all the character traits that we value here in the Waterford School District. So, at this time, I'm going to read through our recipients. And so, up first, we have Carly Koskinan. And I've had the pleasure of meeting Carly. I'm surprised she doesn't have a game or an activity or something going on uh this evening. Up next, we have Riley Buch. I did fail to mention Carly is uh coming to us from Waterford Mott High School and Riley just a moment ago is from Ketarine High School. And next we have Cararissa Caldwell from Ketarine High School. Okay, next we have Oscar Cyperano [Applause] Flores and I believe Oscar was
013also a seal of by by literacy recipient as well. The only one tonight. Next we have Cheyenne Deal from Ketaring. Did I give you the wrong one? Maybe his. I have not earned the achievement award, have I? [Laughter] Okay, I do have the right certificate on this one. We have Gabrielle Estrada from Ketarine High School. Next, and also from Ketarine, we have Gavin [Applause] Leachch. And also from Ketarine High School, we have Carl Merkel. And this one comes in a package. Up first we have from Ketarine High School, Kylie Nickerson. And next, Kyra Nickerson from Next, we have also from Ketarine, Elizabeth [Applause] Ryell. And next from Ketarine, we have Mia Chapono. Um, I'm not sure if they are present with us, but we are certainly going to recognize them today. Also from Ketarine High
014School, we have James Charlo. And last but not least at Ketarine, we have Tyler UAS. Okay, that concludes our recipients for the advanced achievement endorsement. Um, folks, I'll probably walk you out and we're no doubt going to want to get a photo of everyone together out in the hallway. Okay, one more round of applause for our recip. And before you go, we just wanted to again congratulate you on what an amazing achievement. You should be so incredibly proud and we cannot wait to see the awesome things that you are going to do. So, we will see you at graduation. Congratulations. Parents, we'll give you a few minutes if if I know there are probably parents that want to go out and take the picture. So, feel free. We'll give you a few minutes to to
015kind of grab your stuff and head on out. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for bringing your kids and supporting your kids. Mhm. He's had better days. All right. So, we are going to move on and continue with our evening of recognition. We're moving on to our Waterford um teacher of the year, which is incredibly exciting. Yay. I'm like, where is she? All right. This evening, the board of education is excited to recognize the 2025 Waterford Foundation Teacher of the Year, Mag Grossnikl. Mag has been teaching at Waterford Ketering High School since 2010 and currently teaches English language arts. Mag is a shining example of educational excellence, consistently demonstrating passion, dedication, and impact that is that this award seeks to honor. On April 17th, members of the Waterford Foundation and District Administration surprised
016Mag and her students with the announcement. She was taken over to Lunghammer Chevrolet to select a vehicle that she will get to use for free for 2 years. This evening, we have a special video to share highlighting the celebration, which we're going to go run and grab Miss Sarah Davis. Oh, no. Mr. Holly is going to turn that on for us. Um, all right. Let's watch our video. or here we go. I'm Me Gross Nickel. I teach at Waterford Ketarine. I This is my 15th year and I teach um AP Lit LA3 yearbook and link crew. Fun and exciting. Yeah. Good morning. Hey, sorry. I want to tell you that Mrs. Gross Nichol is our teacher of the [Applause] year. All these people are here to celebrate Mrs. Gross Nickel. I am one of the
017members of the Waterford Foundation board and part of the teacher of the year committee. And what we did is there were nine nominees and Mrs. Gross Nickel was selected as our 2025 Waterford Foundation Teacher of the Year. We're [Applause] so they did a great job at keeping it a secret. I had no idea. So I really was um authentically surprised and yeah, I mean it was such a cool day. It was like extremely overwhelming but in a great way. Um so it was fun and exciting and honestly it's all kind of a blur. I apologize for interrupting your class, but boy do I have great news to share with everybody while you know that Mrs. Gro Nickel has been named the district's teacher of the year from Waterford Foundation. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I really feel
018like she goes above and beyond on uh making sure all of us are engaged in the learning and making collaborative experience for all of us. And each and every day I come to her class and she makes us laugh. She makes us have a good time. Also giving us the amount of information to get our work done and be prepared for our AP test coming up within this next month. She's really good because she's able to like get to your heart. She's able to like connect with you and she's really like she's good at explaining things and it's like she's one of those teachers where you you don't have to be like afraid to ask for help. So she's always down to help you. Um she's just like taught me the importance of like connecting
019with others and talking with others. She's the adviser of her link crew and yearbook. I think she is like well aware of like what makes a school like connected. So, she's taught me that. I think Miss Gross Nichols is a really special teacher because she uh it's really easy to ask her questions and I feel like for a lot of kids that makes a big difference in wanting to learn and wanting to be able to come to school and not dread going to her class or either or even other classes. Congratulations, Miss G. I really love seeing those aha moments. So creating relationships with students and then doing activities where you can see that learning become visible and you can see students making those connections and having those realizations where you know that they got
020something. I'm Dave Stelling, general manager at Joe Lunghammer Chevrolet here in Waterford and we'd like to congratulate Meg Gross Nickel on her being chosen as uh teacher of the year in Waterford. We're so happy and proud to be partners with the Waterford Foundation and being able to award her uh $15,000 towards the purchase lease of any automobile that we have. So, as a local business and in Waterford, we love our surroundings and our people that do business with us. So, it's very important for us to stay in touch with the community here in Waterford and as a partner with the foundation in this. We want to continue doing this and be part of that. I would love to thank the Waterford Foundation for hosting this and for putting a spotlight on all teachers and giving
021everybody that opportunity to recognize teachers. Um, and I'd like to thank the Waterford School District for supporting all of the initiatives and uh just for being really supportive of the things that teachers want to do. [Music] That is such a fabulous video. I don't know if it captures all the amazing things that you do, but that was that was very fun to watch. I would now like to invite you up to the podium. Oh, my voice just went. And member Donahghue, could you please join Miss Gnicle down at the podium? Oh. Oh, Miss McGregor's going to do it. I'm sorry, Miss McGregor, could you please join me down at the podium? So, on behalf of the board of education and the entire Waterford School District community, congratulations on this incredible honor and thank you for
022the countless contributions to the students of the Waterford School District. Please continue to do what you do to inspire, to educate, and empower our kids. Thank you so much and congratulations. Before you go, we may have some questions or comments. Does anyone have a question or a comment? Member Torres, I just want to thank you for, you know, just being a role model to kids, an educator, um, somebody who has a true impact on their lives. And I think one of the things that that I learned growing up was that teachers have a profound effect on students. said effect on me and I was reminded of that when the COVID 19 pandemic happened and saw the outpouring of teachers and what they were doing with the students and then seeing in that video what you
023do in the day-to-day and the way that your students admire you and your school admires you is just a wonderful beautiful thing and it really gives you hope in education and a lot of times when people want to downplay education and public ed and what's happening you are the the bright spot and you are the person that really shines the light on all all the good that they do. So, thank you for what you do and I hope you enjoy your new car. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. So, w with that being said, we do have one important question. What car did you pick? Um, I picked the 2025 Traverse. We're doing a big road trip this summer, so we thought that would be nice. Give us some room. Oh, well, enjoy your car and
024thank you so much for all that you do. You are amazing. is a well-deserved honor and we appreciate you very much. Thank you. Thank you. All right, I'll let you go ahead and sneak out. Um, we will now take public comments on action items that will be voted on this evening. So, I just want to clarify that these are action items. Are there any green cards for action items? All right, we are going to move on to the consent agenda. Unless there are objections, the consent agenda will be approved as printed. Good. All right. Next up, we have information items starting with Assistant Superintendent Hillbrandt. And our first information item will be the International Academy budget for 2526 school year. Good evening, trustees. In front of you and in your package you have an information
025item for the International Academy Oakma budget for the upcoming 2526 year. We are part of a consortium of districts participating at the Oakma campus and as part of that consortium. There is an obligation for a budget to be presented for approval from each one of the participating consortium members. You have the support documents included. I'll give you the overview of what was included within the package. They base the foundation allowance on the governor's executive order. As we're all fully aware, we don't yet know where the foundation allowance is going for the upcoming year, but they are placing it at that $392 per pupil increase, basing it at 10,000 per pupil. According to the consortium agreement, there's the ability to charge 10% over that foundation allowance and they are utilizing that full 10% within here. They
026are cutting one position. They are ending up with reserves of approximately 3% of note. They don't have the same obligations that we would have as it's an instructional program and not a whole district. And so the 3% or in that ballpark should not cause concern. I believe it's the preference to get it to 5%. Are there any questions? Do we have any questions? Member Torres. Um the uh so I know this uh IA program uh do we still have how many seats is it like 24 25 seats? We're authorized for 60 seats and we're we have I believe it's 28 kids there this year. We never fill it. But we never had we haven't filled our full obligation. So um but we don't pay for for that extra. Correct. We only pay for the students
027that actually participate. Okay. And then um I had always wanted us to have an international bachelorette program cuz that's what this is in Waterford. But after so many years of of seeing the advanced achievement academy and the honors tonight, that was something that we we mimicked that program about 10 years ago after um the IB program. So to see the fruits of that tonight is is just very rewarding. Um but I I really appreciate that international balorette program and this opportunity that provides our students. But the the downfall is is that they're still Waterford school district students, but they they attend campus somewhere else. Correct. And the social piece is different from being at a ketering or a mod. But um thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions, wonderings? Do we have any other questions?
028All right. Thank you so much. Don't go anywhere. Next up is our easement at Donaldson Hills Elementary. Good evening, trustees. In your package, you see a request. There's some work that's being planned during the 26 27 year that will impact Donaldelsson Hills and the township is requesting an easement on our property. We have with us township members to help answer any questions that you may have in regards to the request. I do have extra copies if anybody'd like a a paper copy. Okay. I think we we all do have it in our packet. Oh, perfect. So, that that should be good. Yeah. So, uh my name is Scott Schultz. I'm a project engineer at the water resources commissioner's office. Uh so, this uh easement request is in relation to a large amount of uh sewer
029lining that we're planning on doing. uh a lot of our sewers in need of rehabilitation and uh as a part of that rehabilitation we require that uh the flow gets bypassed uh around the rehabilitated area. So that is taking us in the uh backyard I guess you would say of Donson Hills uh elementary. So um as a part of of this uh easement access uh it really won't affect your day-to-day at all. You'll be able to access the property same as before. Um, essentially what's going to be in that uh easement is just uh a small probably like 20 to 30 ft to access the line itself, which will be going uh from west to east along the back side of the property. And then 20 ft of easement uh for the actual bypass pipe
030itself. It'll be around uh 18 to 24 in uh in diameter. Uh and it's a it's HDP, so it's a plastic looking pipe, just a black pipe. and we'll have a temporary fence as well uh coordinating that area off. Um I guess do you guys have any questions about the project or the easement request? Member McGregor and this is my understanding from reading this is that this is very short term. So with the HD HP, we're not worried about UV and no. So yeah, it's a very robust. I mean the essentially zero chance of leaking or any issues like that. There will be no odors at all uh that are created as a part of that either. Um it's really sturdy. Basically what they do is they take the sections of the plastic pipe and
031fuse them together using heat. So it's it's really robust. Um and yeah, very low. It will be monitored regularly as well to make sure that you know there aren't any issues. Yes. And you're always free to con I'm the project engineer on the project. So if you guys have any questions, you're feel free to contact me or the water resource commissioner's office if you have any additional questions or concerns. So all right, great. Do we have any other questions? No. Member Torres. So regularly, how what does that mean? How often? I'm sorry. Uh regularly. How often is regularly? Um, so on the specific bypass uh monitoring, we require 24-hour monitoring on our bypass systems. So on the actual flow itself uh with the basically there's a a diesel pump that will be pumping the water
032through. So that'll be moni monitored 24 hours and then periodically we we can go throughout the area of the bypass. But um before we even start the bypass there's uh pressure checking. So, we're not just going to put flow through it. You essentially fill it with air first to ensure that there's no leaking and then you you would run the project from there. So, 24 hours. So, does is there like an alarm or something? Is that what that is? So, no, it's that's actually a person that is that is personally watching that uh that diesel pump and ensuring that it's running properly. Um and uh on top of that too, there usually is uh float monitoring. So, you'll have a specific mechanical device within uh the manhole that you're pumping out of. Uh and if
033the flow gets too high, you will get an alarm that way, too. And that automatically will call uh proper staff to deal with that issue. And you guys are with Tim Nash's office. Correct. Thank you. All right. Are there member Patricia, is there going to be any order that's going to be affecting the school at all? There will be no order. No. Kids aren't going to go out there. Oh, this stinks. No. They're gonna be sitting at the fence watching dig or something. That's kids. I mean, it'll just be the laying of the pipe. So, there won't be digging or anything. Nothing exciting like that unfortunately for the kids to watch. But, and we do have it in here as well um within the access agreement that no heavy machinery will be on the property
034uh during any time that students are on the property as well. Great. All right. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for coming tonight to to answer questions as well. We appreciate it. No problem. Of course. Thank you. All right, we are moving on to Assistant Superintendent Holly for our GSRP lead teacher proposal. [Music] Good evening, Board of Education. Uh tonight I'll be talking to you about a proposal that we have for uh the Stansky lead teachers. Um I want to start with the why. Uh as you are aware there's been a lot of expansion in GSRP uh over the years and the governor has increased the the funding to local districts including Waterford. Um and that that it's designated to help expand programming and ensure sustainability. So one method um to achieve this goal
035we feel is to increase the compensation of our uh lead teacher wages. Uh there have been increased requirements for them. many of them have bachelor's and mast's degrees and teaching degrees and right now the the compensation doesn't quite match that. Uh this aligns with our strategic plan um as we want to hire and retain the the top of the top and we believe that this will help go a long way for that. Uh GSRP just as a reminder this funding can only be used for GSRP programming. It cannot supplant any other district funds or the general fund. So the funding that we get if we put it into the program uh that's that's going to be the best benefit. Uh so this will have no impact on general fund. Uh additionally we'll we will be
036expanding our programming from four to five days a week next year. Uh and that will impact funding which I'll show in the next slide. Um in addition county districts are all in the process of looking at their wage scales right now. Um and and that work will be reflected in the slides to come. So the current situation for our lead teachers is uh the starting rate is 2550 an hour and it goes up to 2926 per hour. Uh there are four steps in that but uh currently there is no additional compensation for uh degrees or extra masters or bachelor's or teaching degrees. And uh as I said before that Oakland County is moving in that direction uh as we speak. So, uh, the work from the work group in Oakland County, they are, um, they're
037looking at a starting rate of 27.50 an hour for, uh, lead teachers with a bachelor's degree. Um, and they are giving compensation for, um, a bachelor's with early childhood degree, bachelor's with teaching degree, and a master's degree with uh, uh, a teaching degree with prek. So, the how um for next year, like I said, we are moving from four to five days a week, and this will increase our pupil accounting or our pupil funding from about $9,200 to a little over $11,000 per pupil. Uh so that total increase in revenue moves from about 2.9 million to a little over $4 million. uh uh giving us a little little more than a million dollars in uh extra funding for the 256 uh school year. Um in creating a scale, we estimated on the high side, assuming
038that all of our teachers would earn a master's degree, and that may or may not happen, but we wanted to make sure that we were budgeting in a way that this is not only affordable, but sustainable to uh in the future. So uh in each of those uh scenarios, our budget still shows a surplus for each of the next five years. And this is the wage scale. And as you can see, uh scale one is uh it only has two steps uh because we're only allowed to have teachers uh not have a um a bachelor's degree for two years. They're on a a compliance plan at that point. So really the uh steps starts at scale two where um uh teachers would have at least a bachelor's degree in early childhood. Uh scale three shows
039uh what it would look like with a bachelor's and uh a teaching degree including uh prek and preschool. And scale four would be with a master's degree. I'm going to just hover over this for a minute because that's really it. Um, other than questions, our our goal is to have this go in front of the board for action at the next regular board meeting. Um, that is uh the timing of that will really help uh not only retain teachers but also attract uh teachers to the openings that we might have this summer. Questions? Does anyone have any questions? Member Patricia, can we afford this? Yes. Okay. I've heard that before. You're saying yes. I'm saying that. Thank you. That's what I'm looking for. Member McGregor. So, how does this proposed pay scale compare to the
040districts around us? Uh, this will it won't put us at the top, but we won't be at the bottom either. We'll be maybe a little bit more than the middle. Okay. Thank you. member Torres. Um, so, uh, this is keeping us in line with other districts as you stated below. Uh, they're districts with a higher starting rate than than us. So, it helps with the retention of keeping those that we have here. Um, andor recruiting the talent. Um, and then the GRSP money, we can afford it because it's appropriated specifically for GRS program only. That's correct. Yeah. And we we have uh a large group of our lead teachers. They've been here for a while. They're very dedicated. They like I said, many of them already have master's degrees. This will be um this will
041this will be very wellreceived in Stansky and ensure that we have some stability over there over the long time. And I I would like to recognize that we do have some of our fabulous Stapansky staff here in the room. And we are incredibly grateful for our Stansky staff and our Stansky teachers. It is a gem of our district. And we are grateful. We are grateful every day for all that you do for our kids. As a as a Stan a former Stpansky mom who spent a decade in that building with my three children, it is something I'm very proud of that building and very proud of our staff. We have amazing staff. So, thank you so much for sharing this with us. We appreciate it. Thank you. And thank you. All right, we are moving
042on to new business. Treasure John, superintendent's recommendation 58-24-25, Oakland Schools 2025-2026 general fund budget. Per the Michigan school code section 380.624-2, 624-2. The Oakland schools general fund budget must be presented to Oakland County's 28 school districts by May 1st each year. Accordingly, this board has received the fiscal year 2025-26 proposed budget documents. It is recommended that the board approve a resolution in disapproval of Oakland schools 25-26 general fund budget. I so move support. All right. The motion has been moved and supported. Are there any comments or questions? Member Patricia, did we want to explain why we're Yeah. Do Do you want me Do you want me I don't want to do it. We can have Well, I first want to thank um member Do you want to do it? No. Okay. I th first want
043to thank member Donahghue because he put together our letter this year that we will be sending on to Oakland schools and to their board and it does specify the reasons in which we again are not approving their budget and I am going to pass the mic over to member Donahghue to explain why we are not in support of Oakland school's budget. Um there are a few um our concerns are as follows. One is the inadequate al inadequate allocation for our center-based programs. Waterford operates Kinsley Montgomery School on behalf of Oakland County serving students with complex and severe needs. Yet the 26 budget lacks dedicated or proportional funding support to offset the high operational costs of this countywide mandated program. Insufficient support for adjudicated youth programs. The education of students at Children's Village is a legal
044requirement that Waterford fulfills for the entire county. Despite this, Oakland schools provides minimal financial support, approximately 2.45 million countywide, for all adjudicated incarcerated youth programs combined, leaving our district to shoulder disproportionate costs. Lack of funding for transportation and staffing. The budget doesn't does not provide adequate offsets for transportation or the staffing burden required to maintain centerbased and adjudicated youth services and Waterford absorbs these expenses without meaningful cost sharing or targeted relief. Minimal direct support to local districts and then the unequal cost burden among districts. These programs serve students from all of Oakland County districts. However, Waterford disproportionately bears the cost, the lack of equitable distribution of resources across districts, undermines the spirit of countywide collaboration and shared responsibility. So, those are some of the reasons why um we as a school district and as a
045board have decided that we will not approve their budget. And it's something that we historically have done year after year because continually because we are a district that does offer and the the center-based programs and we continually have to bear the burden often of the the costs of those they do help with some of the costs but there are some significant costs to those programs that we feel Oakland schools is responsible in sharing. All right. Oh, member Torres, I know in the past we talked about actually going to the Oakland schools meeting and and reading the letter. We plan to do that this year. We could do that this year. Joan did go last year. Joan Sutherland, our former treasur did did go, but we could look at the schedule and we could we could
046plan on going. The budget usually passes, but it's a protest vote in our opposition. So, I think it's good. I think Joan suggested it last year and she did it. So, uh I think it would be good. Yeah. yet. I think if we could go with with a number of us that would be helpful. All right. All those in favor please signify by raising your hand. All right. The motion carries 6. All right. We are moving on to member McGregor, our acting secretary. So, the administration recommends that the board of education approve the attached newspaper notice notice of public hearing on proposed 2025 2026 budget. I so move support. All right. Are there any comments or questions? All right. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Motion carries 6. And we are
047continuing on with member McGregor. It is recommended that the board of education approve the cooperative agreement for girls basketball for the 2025 2026 season. I so move. Support. Are there any comments or questions? Yes. Member Donahghue. Um, I'm going to support this because it is it is what we need to do for our girls in order to have uh a basketball team this next year. But I am severely disappointed in our director of athletics. Um, she was here at this time last year approving asking us to approve the same situation at this extension or this cooperative agreement. And at that point in time, we as a board told her that this was one year. we did not want it to go past one year and she needed to do um what whatever she needed to
048do to continue to increase and get um the students to participate. And uh to come back this year with numbers that are the same or less than what we had last year uh is absolutely disappointing in my mind. And um again, I will support this because it's what's right for the girls. Um, but again, I am not real thrilled that we are having to do this. We have two high schools in this district and we should each be supporting a team at each high school. Are there any other questions or comments? All right. All those in favor, please signify by raising your hand. Motion carry 6. All right. Now, it's on to me. President's recommendation. Recommendation 61-24-25 relative to OCSBA amendments. Proposed resolutions and changes to the Oakland County School Board Association bylaws and resolutions
049require a vote of member districts. This board is in receipt of the proposed amendments. I move that the board of education approve the proposed amendments to the association bylaws and resolutions as presented. You made the motion. I did. I said I move. Yeah, we have a support. Second. All right. Are there any questions or comments? Member Patruchia. Uh, and going through there's 10 or 15 pages. They kept just changing little words here and there, but one of them kind of hits me a little funny. Uh, where their section 4 notice of any special meetings will be done by phone. They cross out facts and the rationale is deleting the language that refers to sending notices by mail and facts which are outdated modes of communication. Am I that old that I don't want to answer
050that question that again it just gohead I remember when that was new and it was cool this again this isn't expressed this isn't you know the little happening thing this this has happened while I've been up here so I just had to say that that just seems kind of outdated making me feel older thank you all right are there any other questions or comments all those in favor please signify by raising your hand. The motion carries 6. All right, we are now going to move on to public comment on non-action items. I would like to remind our audience that comments are limited to three minutes in duration. Members of the public are invited to share comments. However, this is not intended to be a time for questions and answers. Lastly, participants may speak only once
051on the same topic and are asked to avoid statements that are personally directed, abusive, or obscene. Cecilia Stone, if you could come down to the podium right over here, there's a microphone so that way we can make sure that everyone can hear you. All right, welcome. Hi. Um, good evening. I'm here to talk about Coach Katie. Um, she's a great coach. I don't go to Ketering, but she helps coach the Lady Outlaws. She's a great person, and she's helped me improve and grow a lot. Um, she's just genuinely a great person and there's many people at Ketering and at Mott who care for her. It's a shame we are here for these circumstances, but I hope you'll find in your heart to reconsider. Thank you. Thank you. All right, next up we have Jack Bllelock.
052Okay. I have been playing basketball for baseball for seven years and last year I finally got to play for my school team. If my aunt Katie didn't set up a little league at schools, I wouldn't have gotten to play with all my school friends. Thank you, Joshua Dinard. And if I mispronounce anyone's name, please do not hold it against me. We got to go from the short mic to the tall mic. Uh good evening. Thank you, board, uh for the opportunity to speak. Um before I kind of read my written statement, uh just a few things I want to make sure that I get out there. Um I appreciate the opportunity, but I want to first before I again the statement will speak to about Coach Katie. Um but I do want to just say
053I appreciate her. Um I am on the board of the Lady Outlaws um which is a new organization for the girls. Um the boys have been around for 20 years or so. Um but the girls is in year two thanks to coach Katie. She's a big part of that. Um looking to build within our city. Um build a community here. Um I think uh board member Donnie just said something about the basketball and I think that's our a concern that I have um for all of our sports um here in our community and I think coach Ka coach Katie is a big part of that change. Um, I'm here just in support of her, in support of my daughter who is a softball player. Um, I have three children who will all go through this
054district and I think if we lose people like Coach Katie, we're losing a big commitment to this city and to our area. Um, so here's my written statement. Dear Waterford school board members, I'm writing to draw attention to a significant contribution of coach Katie to our Waterford community. Her ongoing work with Ketaring High School. Katie has been instrumental in revitalizing softball within our community. Her dedication to nurturing and next generation has been greatly benefited us through our organization um within the Lady Outlaws. Um she has been a part of putting together winter clinics um bringing bridging the gap between T-ball all the way up through high school. In addition to her role as varsity coach, she's on the board as well within the Waterford Little League as well as the Lady Outlaws organization. Her efforts
055have been crucial in developing a program that is integral to the success of young girls, not in sports alone, but also life. This exemplifies Katie's character and selflessness. Katie's commitment to creating opportunities to our youth is truly commendable. Her focus consistent consistently remains on the children in the community, never looking for personal gratification or recognition. Katie work aligns perfectly within our community and values what this district should be about. and she's always looking to develop well-rounded individuals. I appreciate your time for speaking tonight and thank you. Thank you. All right, Jolene Batti. [Music] Okay, good evening everyone. My name is Jolene Bellotti and I'm 8 years old. I'm in second grade at Bulma Elementary School. First, I want to say how much I love my teacher, Mrs. Wroer. She's one of the best teachers in
056the whole district. I want to talk about something that is really special to me, softball. This is my second year playing softball. I started last year in first grade when I attended my mom's softball camps at OC. It was fun. It was so much fun at the camps. We got to learn a lot of new skills and play games and we formed a little league team. I learned how to fast pitch there and then our little league team was invited to join a travel team called the Lady Outlast. I am so proud to be in the part to be part of this team. Softball is not only the only sport I love. I also like to play volleyball and basketball. I am very thankful that my mom brought softball into our schools so that I
057could play and enjoy the game. I'm thankful for Miss Drops who started a youth volleyball camp. I play basketball and collection because there's nothing for my age group yet here here yet. Thank you for listening to my speech. I hope you all support my mom think and the softball program because it means a lot to kids like me. Thank you. Thank you. Paul Baldwin. Hello, my name is Paul Baldwin. Uh along with Josh, I'm one of the coaches on the new uh ladies um outlaw softball team and I have prepared a statement as well. So, thank you for the time and consideration. Um, I'm here today to support my friend and fellow softball coach, Katie Bellotti. I've known Katie for a few years now, and in this time, I've come to know her as a
058dedicated teacher, a tireless volunteer, an outstanding coach. I was saddened to learn that she's been removed from her position as a high school softball coach. This decision doesn't affect her, doesn't just affect her. It affects the many students and families that benefited from her leadership and commitment. Katie is more than just a coach. She's a role model, a mentor, someone who has selflessly given her time and support to the growth of girls athletics here in our community. Over the past few years, I've seen firsthand just how much she's poured into helping launch and support the new girls softball league right here in Waterford. An initiative designed to give local girls a fun, active, and inclusive space to participate and grow. Waters Waterford is fortunate to have someone like Katie teaching in our area, living here,
059and volunteering here. Her removal from the coaching role is a step backwards for our students and families and especially for the culture of encouragement and opportunity she's worked so hard to foster. I respectfully ask the board to consider not just the position that was taken away, but the value and huge heart Katie brings to every role she holds in the community. Thank you. Heather Macintosh. I want to start by saying I don't want to be here. I have made it. My my daughter is a junior this year and I have never had to come before. So, I want you to understand how important I feel this is. I've had many situations I haven't agreed with, but I trust you guys. You were elected for a reason. I trust you to do what's right for our
060community. I need to make sure that I'm the loud voice today because my experience is that the loud person is who they're afraid of. And if you're not loud, they're going to go with the other person. So, I want to be the loudest person today. And I want you to hear me. You're going to hear from family. Everybody's family supports them. They're wonderful. The her daughter was amazing speaking. Okay. I don't even have a child that goes to Katarine. My child goes to Mott, but we have been able to take advantage of the culture change that she has done in our community. She is not just a coach. Most coaches get their job and they do it for a reason. They want to sell their wares that they make to their teams at the schools.
061They want the prestige. They feel it's prestigious to be a high school coach or they're looking to further their career. Katie's doing it to change a culture in a community that she grew up in. She has worked her tail off. And unfortunately, I think because let me back up. I have had kids in sports for 20 years. I have had to put them in travel baseball and softball in order to get them anywhere near the advantage of the schools we play. We're tired of getting beat terribly in softball. And Katie has come in with these clinics with the different changes that she's done and is trying to change that. I can't even see after reviewing her contract what she actually did wrong. I can't find it. I beg someone to explain it to me. I
062can't find it. There's nothing improper, immoral. She did nothing illegal. She did nothing that violated her contract. I think what we're dealing with is a man who nobody wanted here. Okay? And I'm going to tell you Katie was his biggest defender. He's probably extra cautious right now. And I respect him for that. He doesn't want to miss anything and make a mistake, but he's responding to a parent that I've seen hundreds of who didn't get her way and is just going to yell as loud as she can. That's what he's doing because he doesn't want to make a mistake. And I get that. I do. I understand that. But when we make mistakes, we have to correct them. And this was a mistake that needs correcting because our community needs more people like Katie, not
063less. We can't afford to lose one of them. We cannot. And my daughter wasn't here today. She couldn't be here. And I sent you guys both of our both of our letters, but I really hope you read them. I know Mr. Torres did. I appreciate you for responding that you got it. And I also know they were last minute sent, so I understand. Thank you, Miss McIntosh. We do have to end with the three minutes, but thank you very much. Lynette, I'm probably going to ruffle some feathers, but hey, Susan and Jim are used to this. You guys should know by now I support Waterford. That shouldn't be a surprise to any of you. I show up like a bad penny. I attend sporting and other events in the district all wide districtwide. In fact,
064tomorrow there's a car wash that I will be at for the Griffins. Some of my kids will be drawing cars. Hope to see you guys there. I don't have a dog in this fight, but how many people in this room have actually went to a softball game? I have. Fact: Ketaring softball used to be the best in the state. The last several years, both high school teams have been horrible. I would also like to add, kids are soft nowadays. They can't take it. They can't take getting their feelings hurt on the field. They're not like they were when I played. I played for Waterford Township High School. We could take it. We did it. You have a good solid individual who happens to be a female to coach a female softball team that wants to
065put in the time and to build a program. that will probably take a couple years, but could turn Waterford into a successful softball program once again. Built from the ground up, even touching and getting elementary girls excited. And you know the secret weapon that she has that others don't? She has her dad who has more knowledge and is one of the best coaches in Michigan. She grew up on a softball diamond. Somebody willing to do offseason training, do clinics, and I say combines for softball. I know it's football. We are so behind in this district in several sports and I've heard in the past couple parents have pulled their kids for better opportunities in the sporting world. I would hate to think that's going to become a regular thing, but I can see it happening.
066What a shame I think it is to let somebody like her get away from us. Thank you. Thank you, Marjorie Zizzleman. Good evening, esteemed members of the school board. My name is Marjorie Zizzleman and I am the niece of the former Waterford Ketering softball coach, Katie Bellotti. I stand before you today to advocate for my aunt and request her name be cleared as well as her reinstatement as head coach. Katie has dedicated herself to the Waterford softball program and has made significant contributions to the community and our youth. One of her most impactful achievements is the creation of a travel softball organization that I'm proud to be a part of. As a member of the 16U team, which includes players from both Waterford Mott and Ketering, I have witnessed firsthand how this initiative has transformed
067our program. For years, both teams struggled to be competitive, often finding themselves at the bottom of the league standings. But under Katie's leadership, we have seen a resurgence of talent and teamwork, uh, which gives us a real chance to compete. I also had the opportunity to play a year of middle school softball and that wouldn't have been possible if it wasn't for my aunt's commitment to building these programs. She has opened doors for so many players who want to pursue their passion for the game, including myself. Katie is not only a passionate coach, she is also a person of great integrity and character. She's highly respected on in our community and has always conducted herself in a manner that promotes sportsmanship and camaraderie. Her commitment to fostering a positive culture within the team is evident
068in every decision she makes. For example, the only reason the Ketaring team was at the Tigers game was because Katie actively organizes team bonding events. These events aren't just for fun. They are designed to strengthen the team's culture and build a sense of unity among the players. Her recent termination is an injustice and service to the softball community and to the future of Waterford softball. We need leaders like Katie who inspire and empower young athletes not only to excel in sports but also to grow as individuals. I urge you to reconsider the circumstances that led to the firing led to her firing and recognize the inval invaluable contribution she has made to our community and to the future success of our teams. Please take the necessary steps to clear her name and reinstate her as
069the head coach of water waterford ketering softball. Thank you for your time and in considering my request. Thank you. Amelia Dinard, there are two names on here. Amelia and Mariah, did you were you both planning to speak? Okay, no problem. Hi, my name is Amelia Dinard and I'm on the Lady Outlaws and I go to Kulie Elementary. Coach Katie helped start the Lady Outlaws. She helped me learn to pitch and helped my team a lot this year. She she ran camps to help kids learn softball. I want I want Coach Katie as my coach when I go to Ketering in a few years. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. If I apol if I cry, I apologize because this is something that means a lot to me and I'm just going to read what I wrote.
070Um, my name is Mariah Dinard and I want to speak on behalf of Katie who has been an essential part of growing the softball community these last couple of years to support the future high school programs. As a parent, a board member of many organizations in our community, a social worker within our community who serve students in the Waterford School District, I'm so disappointed by the actions taken by our school district on this matter. In the last couple of years, Katie has encouraged and motivated so many girls to want to play softball within and outside of our school district. Katie has created an environment for these young athletes who are excited for the sport of softball. They are eager to learn, eager to get better and be a part of a community, a community like
071Warrior Soccer, the Corsair's football and cheerleading program. Katie created this. She started a winter camp and partnered with a local softball team to teach over 40 girls each week the fundamentals of softball. She found creative and fun ways to engage these young athletes, making them eager to come back each week. I had the opportunity to help Katie start the Lady Outlaws and bring softball little league back to Waterford. So many athletes do not have the opportunity to play travel sports, whether it be financial reasons or not being given the opportunity. And Katie found a space to give these girls memories and opportunities of a lifetime while making this a successful theater program for our district. When there were girls who could not afford to play, Katie found creative ways and even donated herself so that
072they could have the same opportunity as others. Katie was in the midst of launching a mentoring opportunity for her current players and the youngest lady outlaw team to partner and become buddies. This initiative was an opportunity to have more people attend games, have current and future athletes learn life lessons and create community. I was so excited for the upcoming years for my daughter to have the opportunity to play for a coach who cares and pours into her community. that was taken away because of a decision that was wrongfully made. This decision impacts more than her current softball team. This impacts the future here in Waterford, especially at Ketaring High School. Case Katie is the face of softball here in our community. Without Katie, there would be no softball for the younger generation. There would be
073no feeder program for both high schools. I also want to add that Katie encourages all of these athletes to try new sports like the volleyball kinetics, the basketball clinics, and so many other things our district has to offer. Without coaches like Katie, we will be in the same situation we are in for girls basketball. I urge you to reconsider your decision. Thank you. Thank you, Angela Pñena. Good evening and thank you for this opportunity. My name is Angela and I am the mother of a seven-year-old girl who attends Kulie Elementary. As I write this and I sit here, she is out playing a softball game, an opportunity that came about in large part thanks to Katie's advocate advocacy in our community. Katie is deeply committed to youth sports and has gone above and beyond in
074recruiting players and parents encouraging participation and fostering a sense of belonging. Her outreach is intentional. It's inclusive. She ensures there are meaningful opportunities for students of all ages to get involved in softball and experience the benefits of team sports. On several occasions, I've re I've reached out to Katie with concerns about my daughter who is one of the younger players due to her birthday. Each time, Katie has responded with kindness, encouragement, and support. Her words are always uplifting because she genuinely cares about the girls and the parents and the broader community. Katie is a trailblaz blazer. She has built something special by making girls feel seen, heard, and valued. Full transparency, my daughter still has a lot to learn. I'm going to keep it real with you. She has a lot to learn. Um, but
075everything she knows so far and the confidence that she's gained to continue in softball is thanks in large part to Katie's consistent support and mentorship. Inclusion is a core value for me as a person in the community as a invol person also involved in social work myself and working with people with barriers. She empowers young women to believe in themselves, to try harder, and to be part of something bigger than themselves, be a part of a community. Removing Katie from her role would not be just a disservice to many young women that she inspires, but to our entire community. And I hope that you reconsider. Thank you. Thank you, Katie Bellotti. Um, good evening. I'm Katie Bellotti and I just want to say that I am a former GSRP teacher and I think that was
076a great proposal. Um, I currently um I have my bachelor's degree in early childhood and I teach early childhood in Bloomfield, but I'd love to one day move um to Waterford if they can be competitive. Um, but I'm here actually today um to talk about how I was terminated from my um position as Katarine softball coach. And um I'd like the district to reconsider and reinstate me or at the very least give me the opportunity to resign with no um disciplinary record associated with my termination. Um so um as many of you know people have said I'm not just a softball coach at Ketarine. the chair of softball for our little league, for our Lady Outlaws organization that we created in the last two years. Um, I didn't even really want to take the Ketarine
077softball job. I was super busy. I've got kids. Um, but you know, I thought I really loved to build this program. So, my daughter and her and everyone else can have a competitive place to play softball. And so, I just went in 100%. Okay, we're going to build um feeder system for M Thank you, Steve. OG Hi, my name is Steve Og and I stand before you today to request the board reconsider the firing of Katie Bellotti who is a valued leader with our community. As a head softball coach at Ketering, she has demonstrated outstanding leadership and I firmly believe she has done nothing wrong. It is imperative that we support leaders like her who have a positive impact on our youth. In my career as the director of athletics and staff development at Oakland
078Community College, as well as serving as head softball coach at OC, Rochester College, and Oakland University, I have witnessed unintentional mistakes similar to this one. Once both sides of an issue were thoroughly examined, situations have often been clarified, ultimately leading to the truth. I believe in this case the facts of what happened, the interactions of the accuser and the process that led to this conclusion must be considered with new information. Um when new information becomes available, we should be open to reassessing the situation and implementing a fair remedy. In my professional experience, we have at times faced unacceptable behavior by coaches and staff, while other times false accusations arise from disgruntled parents have also come up. I believe that Katie's removal stemmed from information provided by a disgruntled parent rather than based on factual evidence.
079The claims made against her are founded on inaccuracies. At the team bonding event in question held at the Tigers game, Katie was approached by a parent and asked to kick off one of the members of the Ketaring softball team, which she rightly refused to do. Shortly after she was photographed and accused of inappropriate behavior, leading to her swift termination within just a week. Is it justifiable to fire a highquality coach and dedicated youth leader based on unfounded accusations and an insignificant or insufficient investigation? I sincerely hope not. Attacking Katie's character and reputation in such a manner is unjust and unacceptable. Katie's volunteer efforts to reinstate youth programming at the elementary and middle school levels are vital for establishing feeder system programs that will enhance the quality of sports at the high school level. Again, eventually
080this process takes time and patience and occasionally there will be those who speak to undermine her work. I respectfully urge you to reconsider coach Katie's firing and reinstate her into her rightful coaching and leadership position. And on a final different note, I also express my support for the idea of Oakland County Parks and Wreck um creating a county park at OC site in Waterford School property off Hospital Road. This initiative could further benefit our community. Thanks for considering my request. Thank you. Kelly Zizzleman. Good evening. My name is Kelly Og Zizzleman. I am a parent of four children at the district that all play multiple sports. I'm PTA president at Kudson Elementary School, a lifelong resident of this community and actually I come from a multigenerational family here. In fact, we are having our 97th
081family reunion in July at Hathaway Park like we always do. Also, I am Katie Bellott's sister, but tonight I am here as more than her sister. I am here as a voice for the countless players, families, and community members who have been positively impacted by Katie's work. When Katie took over as a varsity softball coach at Ketaring, the program was struggling. Elementary and middle school softball had actually disappeared and high schools were barely able to keep fields on to field teams. Katie refused to let that be the end of softball in Waterford. She rebuilt it. She partnered with the community college, offered camps and clinics for young girls, connected the district with Waterford Little League to once again offer softball and baseball to our elementary and middle schools, and even started six softball travel teams
082right here in our community. There are 36 teams, 15 of which are girls playing softball. She did all of this without personal gain, purely for the kids and the love of the game. But I also need to address something new that came to light this week. I spoke with Superintendent Eldridge and she and I was told that there was a board policy prohibiting coaches from drinking in the presence of players at any events. I was confused and explained that there has always been a culture in Waterford Athletic for all of the years that I've been here for from golf outings to fundraisers at uh the end of the year banquetss. Anyways, shortly after my conversation, an email was sent out to all the coaches reminding them that this p of this policy specifically mentioning banquetss
083and golf outings. If this policy hasn't been enforced consistently until now, it is not fair to just single Katie out and make an example of her. The culture cannot be corrected by sacrificing one coach, especially one who has done more to rebuild this program and this community than anyone else in recent memory. If we are going to hold coaches to a standard, it needs to be fair, transparent, and applied to everyone, not retroactively used to justify removing one person who has done so much good. I urge this board to reconsider what's being lost here. Not just a coach, but a leader, a role model, and a builder of community. It seems the district is trying to portray a lesson here to be that they don't tolerate coaches drinking in any vicinity to players. And the
084actual perception of the lesson here is that a parent can get a coach fired if they want. Thank you. Thank you, Amber. I am not going to pronounce your last name correctly. Cake. Amber Cake. Thank you. I did not want to completely wreck your last name, so I appreciate that. My maiden name is Shim Q though, by the way, so I chose the easier. I like the cake. Okay. Um I'm nervous, but uh the kids were inspiring, so here I go. Uh good evening. Um did you know that Waterford Transportation can drop a 5-year-old off uh with no adult present? It's true. Hey, this is my daughter. Um, I learned yesterday that transportation will drop a child off um at a stop without an adult present uh starting in first grade. To put that into
085perspective, in first grade I was five. Uh, yesterday I was at work when I got a call from my neighbor. Um, I was actually surprised that she was calling me because like who calls anymore, right? We just we text. Um, and it was actually my daughter who was supposed to be at child care as was relayed to her teacher on Monday. Um, but she told me she accidentally took the bus home. Um, my neighbor was taking a nap. Uh, so she hadn't known how long she had been outside alone. Uh, so after I picked her up from my neighbor, I called transportation, spoke with supervisor Tammy Leighton, who told me that after school arrangement arrangements were my responsibility. She told me that they only take junior, kindergarten, and kindergarteners back to school if no one
086is at the stop. She told me the driver did nothing wrong. And as I was on the phone with transportation, my daughter stated that the driver told her to walk home, which is a quarter of a mile away. After she told him no one was at the stop, she said that he yelled at her to go home. Tammy still insisted that the driver did nothing wrong. There was no accountability, no apology, just snarkiness. So, after I watched the bus video today, I didn't hear any yelling. So, I think that was just my daughter's interpretation based on her emotional state, but I did hear my daughter tell the bus driver uh that no one was at the stop. And he was pretty insistent that she walk home. She stood outside the bus for a bit where
087you can see the driver get up and ask, "Do you know where you live?" When she said yes, he told her to go home. She was extremely hesitant through the whole interaction, but listened to his instructions because he's an adult. Of course, when she arrived home, no one was there and all the doors were locked. I watched our Ring camera footage and it showed her crying and pacing from door to door for 20 minutes, unsupervised and in distress. Sure, the school made a mistake in sending her on the bus, but the bus driver is supposed to be the second line of defense because teachers make mistakes sometimes. A bus driver's sole job is to ensure kids get home safely. And that wasn't done yesterday. If I'm not allowed by law to leave her home alone
088before the age of 10, they should not be allowed to leave her on the side of a busy road during rush hour traffic. This is the second incident that's happened in the in two weeks with the bus garage. The first happened on the first where a different bus driver told another 8-year-old to put your a word on the seat. that bus driver is still employed with transportation. I'm here to ask the board to look into transportation, both their policies and procedures. Thank you for your time. Thank you. All right, moving on. Are I think that was the last of our green cards. Yes, moving on. We are going to move to our board reports. Are there any board reports this evening? Member Torres. Um, so I was had an opportunity uh to attend a government
089relations committee meeting this past uh two weeks ago. Um, and uh we had Representative Tinsel uh from Rochester come and speak to us about some legislation uh and then the Oakland schools lobbyist come speak to us about potential cuts in funding to public education. So, first I want to talk about the uh proposed legislation coming out of the state legislature. Uh there's a bill going around and you've probably heard about it in other states um to ban cell phones from schools. Um initially in hearing that, you know, it sounds like a really good idea. And I'm not saying it wouldn't be completely a bad or good idea or bad idea, but in listening to them explain the legislation, I think the approach is a little off um in that um they want children to check
090in their cell phones when they come in the school and then they would check them out as they leave, which sounds good, but I think some of the ideas of it are is that um we're not looking at the fact of the day and age that we are in where technology uh does exist in our schools. And this has also been extended to tablets and in some cases actual laptops. We issue laptops to students for learning here in the Waterford School District. Uh one of the other issues that I saw with it um was that um there's this idea that they're blaming the schools uh about children's addiction to cell phones. Um which I raised issue with because apparently I I don't think that that is the issue. I think the issue is is that
091if a child is addicted to a cell phone, it's the parent. It's it's it's at home. And what's happening is is they're saying in this legislation that the uh cell phones, if they are found in the schools, that um essentially schools are breaking the law. And if the schools are breaking the law by not monitoring kids on their cell phones, but yet when we do monitor what kids do, we often get our hands slapped and told that we shouldn't be meddling into their lives. So, I think you can't have it both ways. I think the law needs uh some work to be done to it, but I think it could be a good idea in limiting students availability to cell phones in schools, but not completely erasing it. Um there's some potential cuts coming in
092public education. Um the uh talked about um the proposed bill packages that are coming through the Senate and the House. um looking at potential cuts in early uh language learners funding uh at risk funding which Waterford School District gets quite a bit of from. Um we're looking at uh an increase potentially in per pupil funding. Uh however, there's going to be strings attached to that. So that means that we get the money, but there are appropriations to it. There's strings that we can only spend it on. So, it's kind of like that uh that um GRP money we talked about earlier, how we can give an increase, but we can only give it for specific categories. So, that does not allow us the freedom to be able to utilize the money in the places that
093we know we need to use it as a school district. Also, cuts at the federal level and they're seeming to be massive for IDEIDA funding, which is um uh funding for special education, which has been vastly underfunded for years. uh DEI related programming um cuts to the pipeline grants for teachers um and uh also cuts uh to civil uh the civil rights office which could affect students. So there are a lot of things that are going through the state legislature and at the federal level. Um it was very enlightening to hear this information. Um, and I think one of the big things that we do, whether you agree with them or you not, um, is that you advocate on one side or the other. And if it's sounds like a good idea, you want to
094look a little bit more into it because sometimes the the idea isn't exactly what it needs to be and it needs the input from other individuals. So, as a school board member, I'm certainly putting forth my advocacy at the state uh, and at the federal level, and I know many of us have over the years. And I certainly gave my input on the cell phone law that I don't necessarily think it's a bad one to limit the use of cell phones in the school. However, we have to be very careful and cognizant that we're not putting all of the responsibility on the schools when it should be on the parents. Thank you, member Danahue. Yeah, I uh member Torres. Yeah, absolutely. It's interesting. Uh once again, we have politicians uh not asking educators for their
095opinions and and how to go about what's right for schools, but let's just let politicians uh do it on their own. Um I wanted just to give a uh a shout out again to our seal of biiteracy students and our waterford advanced achievement endorsement students. Uh two languages, great GPA, all the hard work that goes into to those two programs and the students. So, uh, cheers to you guys for for all that hard work and again would, uh, looking forward to seeing you guys at graduation. Um, May Gross Nickel, awesome job. Congratulations. Uh, everything has been uh that's wonderful to see and uh, so I just wanted to do those shout outs to to those people. All right, member Patricia. I don't like getting involved in the politics of, you know, people coming in speaking
096and but I just want to say you all did a wonderful job. Katie, your your daughter did a great job. I've known Katie for a long time since she kept we were closing schools and she come and was complaining. She's one of them whiny parents that stood up for for community. She's she's always been a good person. Uh like you know, part of the OG family that's been here forever, it's every other person you bump into Waterford, it's probably an OG. Um but we don't make those decisions. We have policies. That's that's how that works. So, I'm not getting involved, but I just want to say thank you for speaking. Uh, and thank you, Steve, for your years of of softball. I had a couple of other things, but like you're watching home. So, all
097right. In another month, I'll have we can save them for next time. Another report about some fun good stuff. All right, member McGregor. So, one of the important things every year that we don't always get to do throughout the year, but I think we're all appreciative of it is our our wonderful teachers and staff. And this last week was teacher appreciation week. And I want to thank all the teachers, but also all the staff in our buildings. the work you do is incredibly important and um it helps shapes the kids of this community and and not just in the moment for the future. So thank you. All right. So I am going to become member Rristitch for a minute because I have his board report on my phone. So this is per member wristitch. He
098wanted to make sure that we gave a shout out and a huge thank a huge thank you to all the businesses that supported our Stansky staff this week for their teacher appreciation. They were amazing. They donated lunch to the entire staff. So we want to give a huge shout out to Williams Lake Church Lynch and Suns Great Lakes Ace Hardware on Dixie specify that Brunch Babes Cafe and Bakery and Elevate Nutrition. So, we thank you so much for supporting our Stansky staff. And we know that there were a number of businesses throughout the community that helped support all of our teachers in all of our buildings this past week. And so, we are greatly appreciative of of everybody. And and we do have some of the most amazing teachers right here in the state here
099in Waterford. And I I often think that a week just is not enough to show our appreciation. So, thank you. And now I'm moving on to my board report. So, I don't do I don't think we have our slide. Do we have the slide? Sorry, Sarah. Do we have it? Okay. Well, I'll talk about something else before we get to the slide. I want to give out a shout a shout out to both Waterford M and Waterford Kettering. They had their art shows this past week. They are phenomenal. Um, I got a chance to go over to M. I will say my daughter had quite a few pieces, so I had to go over to that one. But I also saw quite a few posts from parents for the Ketaring artwork and it never ceases
100to amaze me the amount of talent we have in this district. So if you ever get an opportunity, check out the art shows. They're very cool to see to see our students artwork. And so here is um another great thing that we're doing. our former colleague and board member, Heather Halls, who is also, you know, a personal friend of mine I've known my entire childhood in life, um, sadly did pass from cancer a few years ago. So, one of the things that her friends and family have come up with is doing a donation in memory of Heather for our Sweet Reads program. Heather was a huge huge advocate for literacy and for reading. She often went to our our schools and read to our kids through March Reading Month. Um, I know that she is
101smiling down on this because this is such an amazing way to honor Heather's legacy. And so if you feel so inclined, um, we this is where you can send donations to Miss Deb Kramer. That is her address. The checks will be payable to Waterford School District. Um, please put uh Heather Halls in the memo with Sweet Reads. This way we can ensure all the money is going to those books. And then we are going to do well the district and the group that is putting this together, they're going to make special labels to put in all the books that they're able to purchase. And so Heather's love of reading will be passed on continually year after year through our sweet reads program. So she is still supporting Waterford and she's still supporting our kids. So
102I just wanted to share that. All right. And oh, and the next time we see each other, I think we'll be after graduation. So crazy. We only have my daughter gives me the countdown. I can't remember how many days are left, but wish all of you a fabulous end of the school year. Can't wait to see everyone at graduation. Another shout out to our amazing grads. And we're going to move on to our superintendent report with interim superintendent Eldridge. Thank you very much. Congratulations to Jerry Stevenson from WSD Transportation for being honored with the 2025 Excellence in Transportation Award. It's incredible that this is his first year driving a bus full-time and his peers were excited to recognize him. Jerry received his award at a special banquet last week hope hosted by Oakland schools. Congratulations
103to Pierce Middle School wrestlers. The team brought home a first place finish at the Waterford Team Tour tournament and earned the 2025 LVC league championship. Waterford M girls soccer also clenched the LVC championship, going undefeated in league play. Way to go, Corsair. Last week was teacher appreciation week. As Trusty McGregor indicated, from high fives to heartfelt thanks, we celebrated our incredible educators who make our school shine on a daily basis. I was proud to participate in a special video along with WSD students and member Danahghue to reflect on the impact that teachers make at WSD. Check it out on our social media or YouTube channel and be sure to let your teachers know what a difference they make in our students lives. Lastly, I'd like to echo the comments earlier tonight and congratulate our students
104and teacher of the year on their outstanding achievements. I had the privilege of attending the excellence and education reception put on by the Waterford Foundation earlier this week to honor Maggnickl and all of the 2025 nom nominees for teacher of the year. Congratulations to each and everyone. All right, seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.