001Good evening and we'll call the Cedar Springs public school board meeting to order and it's September 18th. And if you would rise for the pledge of allegiance I to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Do we have a roll call, please? Secretary. >> Yes. Trusty Bowser here. Trusty Patton here. Trusty L >> here. >> Treasurer Gilmore >> here. >> Secretary Slagger here. >> Vice President Schoffner >> here. >> President B >> here. >> Thank you. We've established a goal forum for tonight's meeting and that brings us to the adoption of the agenda and I would entertain a motion for as presented. So move >> support. Any discussion? Having none. Vice President
002Shner, >> yes. >> Secretary Slagger, >> yes. >> Treasure Gilmore, >> yes. >> Trusty L. >> Yes. >> Trusty Patton? Yes. Bowser? >> Yes. >> President Reed, yes. Motion carries. And opening up the tables for gratitudes. just I I think with the start of this school year there is just a flurry of activity wear and so I think just I would wanted to say thank you to the entire team from facilities and and maintenance to uh all of our support staff and administrators and teachers. there was I mean it's a was a massive effort but so many people coming on campus and new things starting so I was I think the team worked really well you heard lots of positives >> I'm thankful for the student engagement and I know school just started and I
003had not had a chance to park in this parking lot till just tonight but just the creativity of our students and the way that they just engage with the school I know it's something simple right just paint a parking spot but the level the creativity and the amount of of gifts that our students have really really really a blessing to the district and I can't I can't wait to spend a little more time walk through parks to just to take a little closer look out just really really cool the school spirit and engagement with our students they bring up every day >> yeah it is great to have students and all of our staff back on campus today was the first day for our uh GSR RP preschool students. And so that was our building
004was uh flourishing with a little bit of a buzz that it doesn't normally have. So it's it really is great to have people back and those full force and it's great to be able to use all of our spaces. We have people in the regular doors for meeting tonight and park in our regular spaces. It's just nice to go back to our level of moment. >> Thank you. All right, moving on. We have high school representatives, but I don't see them. So, they might be joining us next evening. And that brings us to our consent items. And I would entertain a motion for as presented. [Music] >> Vice President Shner, >> yes. >> Secretary Sligger, >> yes. >> Treasury Gilmore, >> yes. >> Trusty Luns, >> yes. >> Trusty Pton, >> yes. >> Trusty Bowser,
005>> yes. >> President Ree, yes. Motion carries. Moving on to our discussion items, we start out with our district spotlights. And first up, we have Beach Elementary School with Jen. >> I was like, I don't know how to get to it. >> Okay. Okay. Um, so I'm the principal at Beach. Um, we have some lettering up there now. Um the flag pole is up. So it's been a work in progress to get every last minute things up. But we're super excited about the building. Um excited to see um in the windows as you drive by. The boxes are becoming less and less. People are unpacking. Um we had a whirlwind when we first started. Um we got in the Wednesday before um open house was on Monday. So it was very very chaotic. Um but
006things are starting to settle down. So we're really excited for that. Um some of the things with the new building um that I want to kind of showcase is our media center. Um so we're going to have in there we have books that are lined that students won't be in there most likely, but their baskets and they're all being organized um when our building sub isn't being used by different genres. Um book clubs, any resource that staff can take that whole basket back to their room. So, if they're studying animals, they have a variety of different reading levels of books that they can take back to their classroom to use because we didn't have enough copies of it, but we have baskets full. So, you can go ahead and use those. Um, we're really excited
007about getting all those boxes unpacked. Um, we also have some decodable books that teachers could go ahead and use during win time to help support the students learning. Um, we also have breakout rooms um upstairs and downstairs. So they're little glass areas outside of the classroom that parent volunteers can use. Uh when we were doing our win um not our our sweeper team, so it's all the academic testing that interventionists were able to come up and place all of their material, pull students in there, test them, send them right back to class. Um we did this year a little different where we would do a couple days that they would test. We threw it all into an hour because we had all those breakout rooms. we could pull the student out, test test them with
008reading, test them with math, and they were all done for that whole week instead of breaking it up. So, that was really nice to have. Um, we have some up on the top floor we have a couple offices. So, we have um a school social worker that scared um shared between myself and Cedar View. So, she has an office up there decorated um different things in there that students can use when she's not present and also with her. Um, and then we have another room that our school psychologists can use and she has some interns so they're able to be up there um and have a beautiful space that overlooks our media center. Lots of natural light. Um, we also are able to have two different places for sensory needs for students. So, we have
009one large area where before it was really, really small. It was not a closet, but a large walk-in closet. Now, we have a really large room. So, we have lots of different things in there for the kids to get um their movement going. When they're um disregulated, they can come in there, get those sensory needs made, and head back to class. Um so, it's really nice to be able to have that. Also, with the large hallways, uh we're able to put some tape courses along the edge so students can use those as well. Um, as far as academics, um, when we met on August 19th as a staff, um, we sat down together and we really looked at what were some common themes that we had noticed from years in the past that the students
010were ever coming without those skills. Um, so we noticed addition and subtraction, um, place value, decade counting backwards. So that would be like if they're at 80 going back 79, it's hard for them to get those decades, especially in hundreds or 200s. Um, so we really focused on some of those areas that were needs that were patterned. So the teachers were able to use that data and implement that right away from day one. So maybe it was a transition and they're going to count backwards starting at 160 and getting the students into those um routines. Um we also um looked last year at the end of the year and we talked about how when we were talking about our 30 minute win time um students would come to us and we're they really needed math
011and reading. So we would have to decide are they going to go into a reading intervention group or are they going to go to a math one and we always trumped reading but we were able to work out the schedule. So this year we are running two different win schedules. So if for 30 minutes in the morning they might have reading or math and in the afternoon they have 30 minutes of the other. So they're able to do it. Um and we're going to try it out. So we'll keep you updated on how things go. Um we also had um some kids who were interviewed about the new building. Um behind them is a on the wall. Um it is puzzle pieces that each student decorated and our art teacher put them together um to
012show how we all work together at each. So do you have any questions? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All righty. Next district spotlighted facilities operations department. They've done again. >> Hello, I'm Staffer Chap, the assistant director of facilities. Um, I'm going to give you a brief update first on staffing. Over the summer, we've experienced some changes in our facilities team. few staff members either transitioned out or were let go. We've successfully filled the majority of those positions and the new team members are already contributing positively. We do still have two open positions and we have a good applicant pool and hope to fill those as soon as possible to ensure full support for the school year. Overall, we are retaining talented people and building a strong caretaker team committed to our mission,
013providing a safe, clean environment that promotes learning and fosters community engagement. Over the summer, we were busy with our annual summer projects in detail cleaning schedule. This includes deep cleaning classrooms, common areas, carpet cleaning, floorishing across the district. We also supported a number of teacher moves along with assisting in preparing beach and cedar trails to reopen to ensure a smooth start to the school year. One last project um you might have noticed, you might not have yet. Uh is our toilet tissue dispenser upgrade. Um so we were able to swap these out with a new product that offers a higher quality at a reduced cost. Uh as part of the switch, we receive brand new dispensers at no charge. All of which come with a lifetime warranty. Uh which represents post a nice cost savings
014and long-term improvements to our facilities. >> Hello, my name is Diane and this is Vic. And I have to read a little bit or I'll get going so fast that it just will get lost. So when I was asked for an update, I haven't quite come to meetings for a full year yet. So, I wasn't quite sure where to take this. So, I want to start with our summer crew because they're a huge part of the success we've had over the last couple of months. So, they painted, they moved, they pulled weeds, placed mulch, packed boxes, they sorted curriculum, they pulled more weeds, they painted again. They also did a lot of landscaping for us that we hadn't done in the past. That was exciting. We were blessed to have some returning veterans as well
015as some people that chose to make Cedar Springs Public Schools their very first job. So that was really exciting for our team to have both levels and kind of bring them together. In regard to maintenance, I went through our FMX work order system as well as my phone camera roll to kind of help tell our story. Our team has trimmed, cut down, and moved trees. They've done preventative maintenance on every single classroom and common area air handler this summer. So that involves blowing things out with CO2, changing filters, changing belts, making sure that we're ready for heating season, and then air conditioning season, too. It's a very dusty task if you're not familiar with that whole HVAC system. I don't pretend to be involved, but it's it's awesome to watch. The Boys Have Plug Group
016leads, they've treated for pests. They change out electrical needs. Some of you may not know, we are also the district's in-house furniture warehouse. So, in order to help save money, we do our best to match furniture in a room. So, if teacher has new desks or needs a table or chairs, we do our best to make sure we can find stuff that looks good in their room, not at cost. Uh we are your calvaryary. So, that picture on the bottom there, uh, when a principal calls us and they have a weird smell, sometimes that's just, you know, a really intense dodgeball game. And sometimes it's more than that, but we do our best to show up for those that ask us. The maintenance department, when I asked some of our crew what they feel like
017they do the most of, they said, "We are your in-n-out people." So, we pour the concrete pad for the new wayfinding sign, then we tear it right back out because there's a new construction road going through there. Um, we pull the original playground to prep for a fresh equipment install. Lockers are pulled out of this building and built into a bank for the next one. Drinking fountains are taken down. Bottle fillers with filters are put in. Uh, the boys use heavy equipment and tools to knock down brick walls and then put up new faces for our students. We prep ball fields at dawn to drag them again the next morning. We pull stadium trash and line fields to prepare for the next Red Hawks victory. We carefully set up stages, flowers, banners, signs to pack
018them away less than 24 hours later for the next thing. We cautiously move statues and bells and equipment to preserve the district's history. We are also your safety people. As of 2024, maintenance oversees all fire, weather, and lockdown drills with support from our facilities team. CPR, first aid, and staff that lead courses are coordinated with our communications team, and then they're trained specifically to our staff to help. We partner with technology to move and select placement for cameras, card readers, and the like. We remove exterior keyways so those entering our buildings can be tracked via the swipe badges to keep our staff and students safe. maintenance also supports all of our SRO's with awareness on campus. We recently became the parking people which we really like. Uh the boys are backup for anytime community enters
019the campus. So anytime somebody comes in as a vendor, we're usually there with them, especially if it's during the school day. Uh we do competition open houses. They're really excited about a parade of motorcycles and tractors that are both happening with the next week. And so they get to be a piece of that puzzle. Uh we lease on daily with our ISD safety officer, our triangle and GMBB bond partners as well as their vendors. and we do our best to coordinate with the city as well. I'm sure you've all noticed that we put those signs up last spring and that was really exciting for our athletic department as well as us. Uh we're also your branding helpers. If there's a Red Hawk being a fixed, it's likely one of our hands have touched it. Shortly,
020our team will become your weather people too with snow, which we're excited about. And we're thankful all the for all the resources this board and our advent team provide to make Cedar the destination it is. Thank you. >> Any questions? Any like I'm the bell. >> Yeah. >> Oh, I got to talk about the bell. So, the bell was up front. >> Okay. >> Um, and when the back wall started coming down, we happened to be at conference then. And the maintenance crew, we put out the word that we need to move it before something happens on that side. So, we able to lift it and reinstall it in front of the entrance at Red Hawk. Um, community members brought it up to me over the last few years. You know what are you going
021to do with the bell and I have the home. >> That's awesome. >> Statues are there by the flag pole also doesn't have those pictures up there. So >> you can almost daily see little people as they're going in and out of the child center stopping to talk to the statues. >> They're taking pictures with the statue. >> First day of school pictures. I saw that too. >> It's a much better location. more interactive than out on the corner of 17 mile north drive. So definitely a tip of the hat to the team. >> It turned out way better than we could all ever imagine. So um >> it is it's good. So it's it's a big part of history. There's a lot of people that graduated from Cedar Springs that asked about the bell.
022We can actually say it's not in the barn, it's out front. So >> yeah. Yes, sir. >> I have one question. I appreciate what you guys do. We do a lot. Um, but you talk about pulling weeds. Don't we have a landscaping crew to do that? So, you guys won't have to be doing that. >> So, our landscaping crew is only set up to like mow. We really don't We can contract them. We can pay them extra to pull weeds, but they're not set up to pull weeds on on every day. No. So, we have edging and we have trimming, but to pull weeds, >> um, we go back to that picture. Um it's it's something that we don't have the enough staff to take care of. Like this before this is behind the middle
023school. Okay. Now down below after this is after summer help. Okay. The difference we pulled weeds out of that for years but we never really groomed it back in. Okay. This is what our summer help was amazingly right there. I don't know if you recognize the man over, but he led all these teams that no one's you. It's unbelievable what they what they what they've done. People sent pictures at all the buildings to us as things were happening, you know. It's like, wow, I didn't even know they got it done today, you know. Um it it is their the way they felt about doing this is so much pride that you let them do and have this, you know, with their ability to let us set up to have summer help. There's no questions why
024we did it. Um, just even out here when you look, we're we're our lawn service does a great job grooming, trimming. We got them on board edging. Always takes we brought a new new crew in. So, it took a little bit while, you know, to get them back on par, but now they're on par. Then you add this, you look around, >> it it's never looked better. And utilizing the student health allows us to utilize the lease cost hour per yeah unit of work compared to going with a contractor or our higher skil team members. And really you look at the totality of their work it's not a maintenance team anymore. It's really operations and and that's partly because of opportunities that we have but also the skill and desire of those individuals who are
025>> it's really cool. >> Thank you. Thank you guys for really hard work and I know it's hard work. So >> there there's a lot of leadership that happens every day. Um Amy is not here, but between Amy, Diane, and Stafford, what they do is part of this operation scene is I can't talk enough. So that that's why we're at where we're at today. A year ago, things have changed. You You can witness it. You can see it. You can hear it. So So thank you for letting all this happen because it's it's good. Yeah. >> Thank you. All right, moving on to spring summer 125 policy regulations third reading. So, a couple things. First, um Tracy, thank you for sharing that computer science course for requirement legal alert will not open. Uh so, I'm
026going to have to load it again from Miola and I'll send that out to you via email so that way you got it fresh. It's been active in some of our past. um uh board meeting agendas. And so if you if you're looking to read it before I can get it to you in the morning or later this evening, you can jump back into a previous agenda and see it that way. Um the two other pieces that I wanted to point out and then address any new questions that have come to the table. Um one is around the medication or immunization um language. That's policy 5320. Um, and so you'll see the attachment is labeled EO5320 immunization revise. Uh, I did work with an attorney from Tron just to uh try to clarify and to
027uh maybe remove some language in that opening uh couple of sections. Um, so I'd love some feedback from you as far as if that's a better fit for the position that we want to take as a board or you want to take as a board in that policy language. Um, from the uh where the uh where it starts, these are three circumstances in which required vaccine may be waved or delayed. Those are the original changes that were presented from Viola and those uh that new language is just aligned with legislation the legislative changes that have come through state level. some thoughts on that. Those first three paragraphs and we can chew on it and we've got a couple more signs uh coming in in October to be a little more musical. >> First of all,
028it's a it seems okay. I mean, it definitely so look at it with that eye. >> I guess I do just have maybe one comment at this point. Under C, the second sentence, the district must follow up with the parent or legal guardian to ensure the student has received the required followup dose or doses of the vaccine. Does that open up the need for more specification of when does that need to happen by, who in the district needs to do that or >> Yeah, that's one of those great um pieces of legislation. It's required by a health department uh language or health department rule. Um they do have guidelines as far as uh timelines and protocols uh that we would implement. It would be more on that would be more an administrative guideline in terms
029of how we go about doing that work. Um but it just it is one of those elements and there are several things throughout uh the school code in in our state and in others where the health department really leans into uh public education as a partner when it comes to trying to uh mobilize or take action on uh specific health initiatives that are related to just the school age fun that work. So they can >> I do think we need to have that sense in because otherwise if you're just saying that you know are not doing that where would the bill happen that's something that I think is important but at least state and policy about how it happens is what you're talking about for administrative guidelines >> I think maybe Why it raises concern
030for me is the insured part. The district must follow up with the parent or legal guard guardian to ensure the student has received. So I guess I'm just bringing up. I mean that seems like that so a little bit our only way of being not our >> and and I think in practice if they don't do A or they don't do C we highlight that B is an option. So we can um we can be that can be a conversation. >> Yeah. >> Just say this B is an option for you. >> And I guess I was reading that as I see like you don't do A, you don't do B. So they're still not quite ready to get medicine. And so we need to do our due diligence and bottle up and say, "Hey,
031you know, we understand that, you know, the doctor has been three months down. >> Did you take that?" Right? And it might be six months. It might mean several checkups, but it is one of those partnership pieces between public education and public health department. Okay. And then the other piece that we talked a little bit about um was uh policy um 5610 uh and there was a question raised from the board table at our last meeting about the legality of the birth codes change. So what I did was I included two after consulting with the attorney included two artifacts basically language right out of the school code. Um and as you can see I highlighted a couple locations where the board is not the only agent that is required um to take action on an
032expulsion or on a suspension of of a longer term. um that that responsibility can lie within the hands of the board or it can be um directed to be done by district level administration or building level administration. So it just depends on how the board wants to set that up in board policy. Um the language does talk about three types of um two types of suspension and then one type of you know the obvious ex uh a short-term suspension is a suspension that uh is 10 days or less. Typically that's handled at the building level. Um, what we're looking at is that long-term suspension, which in the eyes of the state is a suspension that is less than 60 days but more than 10 days. So, a suspension, a long-term suspension is not the same
033uh thing in the eyes of the state as an expulsion. An expulsion is any type of action that um procludes a student from participating in in-person instruction of a period of 60 days or longer in the eyes of the state. So the feedback from the attorney was, you know, some districts, uh they're not going to tell you what to do or tell us what to do. They're going to give their perspective. Um what they've seen other districts do is um that basically that the shortterm suspension uh those suspensions that are 10 days or less that's typically a building level decision can be in consultation with a member of the central office team superintendent or design lead. um those long-term suspensions, so suspensions that are less than 60 days. Uh other districts have had that be
034a central office uh in consultation with the building level team and had that be that level of decisions. Uh but those suspensions, those long-term suspensions could be appealed uh to the board of education and then we would have a regular due process hearing. Um and then anything 60 days or longer, any expulsion would be uh would require a a due process hearing with board. Um, all three suspensions, regardless of who's managing it, requires the same measures of due process. And looking and considering uh those seven factors to see if suspension is the best way to u the best response to a given behavior. You know, no one wants to suspend students. We know that that's not uh necessarily what's best for that individual student. uh but sometimes circumstances you know you you you the suspension
035is the best option uh given the the totality of of of ex of um conditions that we're facing. >> So something to consider. >> Yeah. >> My question is it's worked in the past why change it? >> It's worked in the past. The reason we would change it is um the amount of time that's required. Um >> but isn't that due to the right for the child? Like the student the student has the right to appeal this decision and by speeding it up doesn't that take the right away from the student? >> It does not. >> Okay. >> No, it does not. U there are times when um a student at the high school for example, it's early December. Um there's still four to five weeks left in the semester. Um they pushed all their
036chips into the table and then pushed all their chips off the table. They're done for the semester. Um their behavior isn't such that we would want to consider expulsion. Uh but their their behavior is such that they really it'd be best for them. It would be best for the other students for them to just take a time out until the beginning of the second semester. >> That Yep. That could very well be. >> Why would we remove the hearing from the child or the students to get that hearing? >> So, I'm just asking the uh for your cons for the consideration of the board. Um there are there is a significant amount of time that's put into putting together the report packets. Um it's just an option. >> Yeah. Yeah. That would be the appeal
037that we would we would then put the regular process right in the >> Yeah. So it would take us a few days to put together a packet. Um, yeah, we're not. >> But it take a few days to get rid of the packet to do the hearing. Right. >> Correct. Yes. >> So either way, it's no different. It's just we're trying to expedate process. >> Yes. >> Got it. >> And sometimes the parents agree too or sometimes it's not they're all on board. It's a case to case based. You can't determine a case without hearing hearing. >> Question. Um the language in here says 40 uh more than 10 but less than 45 days. You said most the districts are doing 60. >> So this is a this is already a step back to a
038smaller time frame window than what a lot of our neighboring districts go at. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And I haven't done research to see how many of our neighboring districts have a 60-day window. >> Oh, okay. Yeah, my thinking was just half of a semester. Um, and that's why we >> the 60 number was coming from the state. >> Yeah. >> Right. We don't want to suspend students. But we are trying to be mindful of the time required. You know, if we had a situation where there were 13 days left to go in the school year, um, and a student needed to be done for the rest of the year, uh, we would have to, with the current language, we would have to put together a board hearing, assemble a board meeting to have
039a hearing uh, just to extend the number of days suspended for an extra three days, which we can do, but >> we're not doing family here. as long as I can. >> Yeah, >> the thing I just want to put that >> there's been a couple that it was a you know, >> right? >> We don't know. Sometimes we stop and sometimes we [Music] just think about it. So as those cases come up and and you're investigating those kind of in advance of the hearing usually have a pretty good idea of whether the parents agreed that the break would be good or not good. Is there anybody using language like uncontested or anything like that where the parents say, "Hey, no, we totally agree where that beggar admit that, you know, they totally disagree. We
040could, you know, schedule." I don't know. Maybe there's not language currently being used like that. I'm just wondering. >> Yeah, I'm not aware of any language like that. Um, the only thing that I could think of with that type of thinking is for suspensions, we would, if we were looking at a long-term suspension, we could offer the p offer the parent a hearing with the superintendent or offer the parent hearing with the board. I guess you know that could be an option but any type of expulsion would be a hearing move forward. You know that might give the parent a little bit more flexibility as well. I can meet with parent at any time when they meet the board. It's really and we've got to at least get four people together from the board to
041meet with the family. Any other questions regarding any of the language? All right, we will move forward to 2025 26 overnight no trip request. Seen these before. could have been actually but they aren't put them on next time. So any questions about those right no questions? We'll move on then to discussion item D the bond construction update. So, it was uh odd last Thursday to actually have a meeting where we didn't have any active um high, you know, high mobility construction sites on campus. It's been the first time in nearly four years uh that that's happened. Uh we talked about punch list items. Uh that's that was a big topic of conversation. uh and then also uh project ahead to uh start to look at that final uh bundle of packages uh that we would
042be presenting to the board for consideration um later this calendar year um depending upon how long it takes us to get some information back from PQ around or eagle sorry Eagle uh which is the uh environment great lakes and energy group uh they would they give feedback and provide approval or disallow action around wetlands and those types of things. Um, so more from an environmental perspective, but um, right now the big punch list items, we're reviewing all the work that's at each elementary school and we still have contractors as a building, not interrupting education, but um, you know, working out some punch list items, those final fixes, repairs, uh, on the projects that we're completing over the summer. There is a locker project that's going to be coming to the beach um that will be
043uh the lockers. They're looking to install those um over Christmas break um or possibly spring break depending upon the timing of that uh when those when those lockers to be delivered on campus. The other thing that we're looking at is um the flooring in the wait room area on this uh on this location on this site. Um there were some questions about the installation of the flooring. Um, we're currently working with the vendor that installed that flooring, uh, to make sure that that project is completed at a high level of quality, but also has the durability that's needed in order for that to move forward uh, and for us to have a long-term measure of satisfaction around that work. Um the thing that we are waiting on in the other uh more utilitarian space is
044um some batting cages to arrive so we can get those installed up into the rafters. Once those are in place uh then we'll be able to put down the turf and button up that project as well. Um we are also looking at um the installation of a lift so that we can get the cheer mats up off the floor which will give uh teams who are in that space uh working more floor space uh in order to do their uh you know do their workouts and do their activities that way as well. So, that's the big the big uh agenda moving forward. We're punch lists and waiting on a couple of items that we're uh going to be installing and we're going to continue the conversation around um the road paving for next summer uh
045and road repairs for next summer. Uh we'll be looking at doing some uh work around trails to uh just improve the quality of that uh parking area and and pedestrian traffic flowing through that area for our little people and their families when they're out of school. We're also looking into doing some um pathways uh background and baseball softball fields as well as creating a full network of trails and and sidewalks on campus. Right now it's they're broken up in parts. And so, for example, one uh on the north side of the bus loop at the elementary level, there's no sidewalk that runs parallel to the road. The sidewalk is up by the school. Well, humans walk in straight lines. And so, in their walking campus, they would they're going to walk in the road because
046there's not a sidewalk there. So, we're looking at that as not as well. We're looking to present you with several different options that we can consider all within the budget, the funds that we have available. So, we want to maximize that uh maximize those remaining dollars um and put together some options for you to consider um that would all fit within the budget. You can't say yes to everything. Uh so, we're going to ask you to say, you know, to help prioritize that list. just wondering about uh you said in some places we got the contracted work on punch list items where we have students and I I don't know how that process works because normally the contracts are here when students aren't here. So, do we know, you know, I guess I don't know
047how to say it without saying it, but like background checks on the contractors that are exposed to the students to make sure we've got student safety, right? >> Any any contractors on site do have background checks completed when students are in buildings. We're also doing work after hours. >> We try to minimize that work with students in the building because that's a distraction to learning. But there are small things that we can do that you know >> are we asking staff for input so the team doesn't end up doing much less things in six months so we're gathering your own thing like sometimes there's confusion oh I put that in work order or what I do >> yeah triangle's leading the work on the punch list so they're working with the principles and working with
048Rick and and their team on that as contractors are going to fix the the things that contractors did. >> That's not >> it's not our >> catch them all, >> right? That's their own. But great great question. >> All right, we'll move on then to the financial update with money. >> All right, cash in Borick. or book is the uh final general fund budget to actual on a modified approval basis. This is different than what you normally see which is generally not a catch basis. So what is presented here is what was presented to the auditors uh who started the June 30th 2025 audit uh earlier today. Um there there one final entry that I made after uh uploading this. Um but it is essentially what the auditors are looking at. Um hopefully we'll have
049a uh audit report to present to the board either in October or November time frame. Uh day eight budget update. Uh the state's new fiscal year starts three weeks from this Wednesday. Um and we still do not have a a budget. Obviously, we're u two uh a little over two months into our new fiscal year. Um and we still do not have a budget. So, um the three branches did get get together last week to start negotiating um but then quickly stalled out and um still seemed be out of impact. Uh the the risk of a government shutdown um October 1st is still very much in play. One thing we we are in excellent shape financially uh to kind of weather the if we don't receive state a payment in October or even November. Um
050I would start getting a little nervous if it went into December. Uh I would not anticipate a state a two-month state shutdown though. But I will start uh the dialogue with independent bank to see all right in an emergency situation and let start filing some paperwork. What do they need if we need to do some borrowing in late November, early December. Um I don't anticipate needing to um but I'd rather be prepared um and ready to go versus uh scrambling uh at the last minute. Um obviously any borrowing would have to be uh presented and approved by the board. But I'm going to start that conversation this month with them. Uh also impact another impact of the state aid uh of the state budget situation is food service planning. Um state funding for the mission
051school meals program will be expiring uh October 1st. Um, so if the state does not uh reup funding for the Michigan school meals program, our plan currently is to revert back to the uh the free and reduced federal food service program. So, that would then again require all of our families, if they haven't already done so, to fill out the uh free reduce federal free and reduce lunch program uh educational benefits form. That's what would qualify them for either free or reduced lunches. Uh Holly and I are also looking at an additional program that would essentially allow the district to use food service funds to uh cover the unreimbured portion of any uh reduced lunch eligible student. So if if they qualify for reduced, the federal government would say, "All right, we'll give you $4
052instead of five." Well, under this program, the food service fund balance would be allowed to basically make up that $1. So, we could have uh free lunch and breakfast for all students that are either 100% free or reduce. Now, our students that don't qualify for either would have to be paid. Um all three budgets that all three branches have included funding for uh mission school meals program but until we see something passed in the law uh we just don't know. So we have to start planning planning ahead. Uh some some positive news. Uh initial enrollment uh numbers. I asked um Erica for this last week. So as of 94, our current enrollment numbers, again, this is very preliminary, but our current enrollment numbers are 2,991 FTEES. So that would be uh up 41 FTEES from
053our spring count. Um this is the first time that I've been here at Cedar that we've talked about adding versus every count going down. So um again this is preliminary but um from what we're hearing you know the middle school is up, Cedar View is up. We've heard uh we picked up a lot of school of choice kids from Rockford. Um so uh count day is on October 1st. we'll get it, you know, even after count day, it'll still be end of October, early November before we really kind of pick through all the numbers. Um, and it'll be even later before we have that official audited count, but so far it's looking positive. Um, you know, I budgeted that we would be down about 45 FTEEs for our state aid membership. uh if this 90
054uh 2991 folds, we would be down that would be uh we'd only be down uh about nine from last year. So, uh very positive if it holds. Um so, any uh questions on any of this? I do have a question on stuff. Would we be good people to our perhaps >> if the state you know >> Yes. >> Okay. >> If if the there's a state shutdown. Um but normally we get 11 state aid payments throughout the year. We do not receive state aid payments in September. So every year under normal year we're operating, you know, from uh August 20th to October 20th. So a two-month period that we don't receive any money from the state. And what helps us is we collect 100% of our operating uh tax revenues. So we are 100% summer
055levy. So right now we're receiving money from the uh cities and townships that you know part part of it goes to our debt service fund part goes to our operating funds the general fund. So we are fortunate there that that helps us kind of get through that two-month period that we're not receiving any state aid. Um if there is a government uh state shutdown know there's a very real possibility that we won't receive that October 20th stage payment. So it would be November 11 before we see our first if let's say it's a two week shutdown. it likely would be November and the state doesn't have any uh mechanism in place to kind of say, "Oh, you know, we were shut down. We missed that October 20th payment. We'll pay it on to the 27th."
056I asked that question. It doesn't work that way. They would just we would get three months worth of state aid in November. So yes, you would be using our fund balance to essentially quote that miss payment. >> Do you have is there a number of how low your loan fund balance before we go to the bank? >> Uh there's most some boards would set kind of a we want a 10% making a 10% fund balance. Um that's really uh kind of something we would discuss but how long do we want to wait because obviously bank's not going to give us money for free. There will be a interest charge. Um so we we wouldn't want to necessarily borrow money and then incur the interest spent if we don't have to. So discussions will happen. Okay.
057Um, again, I don't I don't believe it will get to that point, but I want to be ready just in case. And the ISP is also working with Shroom to kind of put together a borrowing consortium that they're going to talk to a financial institute and say, "Hey, if if it gets to this point, can we get all a number of districts pre-approved for borrowing one set rate?" Um, and kind of almost create a an easy button. Now obviously even if they set that up any barn would have to be approved by the board. All right. Moving on to discussion item F. The 2526 parent advisors for special education also known as ACE. >> Yeah. So I'll take that. Dan, you can jump in if I miss out on any uh anything. Um the uh
058we have there's a there's a group uh called PACE uh it stands for parents um parent advocates for special education or parent uh advisory committee which is the pack but the advisors parent advisors for special education committee is PACE. It's a three member organization. Uh parents serve a three-year term. Um and the requirement is that uh the parent has a student in district who is uh receiving special education services throughout the duration of their term. Uh currently we have uh in in LinkedIn board uh there are two documents. One is the roles and responsibilities of PACE. The other is the PACE membership form. Um, so you'll see that Jenny and Christy uh both are serving uh through the 2526 school year. Uh Jenny and Christy were approved during the 23 24 school year. So they
059serve 23 2425 and then 2526 will be their third and final term. Uh we did have an individual who uh dropped off the team this year and so the recommendation is for uh Jenny Su to take that third position. Uh Jenny's turn would be the 25 26 26 27 27 28 school year. Um so since this is something that's a routine uh process uh it is on for action this evening but if there are questions from the board uh we can obviously pause that action item itself anything to add >> I can always add so if there's questions I can I can try to >> other there are teachers in the district. So, but I think that parents too if we covered we've got the parent basis covered. >> Yes. >> So, just a little
060bit of a clarification. Um, do you want me to stand up? >> Um, just a little bit of a clarification of the countywide board. So, every district has representatives. So what we try to do is find um people from different perspectives and there is value in um someone who has two perspectives in one right so sometimes it's really good to have a parent and a staff person who's also a parent because they serve together right and so the two of them literally I attend the PACE meetings as well so the two of our representatives as an example will sit at kind of our table um at the pace meeting in every local district in Kent county has members of PACE that sit at the meeting as well. And the advisory component of it is to
061really um bring information back so that if parents within our district need a contact to call that might have questions and they they they're looking for kind of a partner who knows something, um our parent advisory committee members do both advisory for parents within our district, but also advisory on the countywide pace that offers Kent ISD some valuable parent input. to policies and procedures from that lens. >> Is the special education parents aware of this? >> Yes. >> Are they given the phone numbers of these individuals? >> Yeah, they're they're also posted on our website as well as Kent Dascese's website, >> but it's not actually physically in the parents that have special education with children. >> Um, >> so yeah. So, so we provide parents every year at least once per year their procedural
062safeguards and parent handbook and all of our pack representatives typically are in that document >> countywide. Question that is on action. >> All righty. Moving on to our new beginnings handbook vision. So, we found a a section in the New Beginnings handbook on page 17 that really isn't applicable anymore. And so, we're simply asking uh you for permission to remove that section that's crossed out in the in the red line. It's on page 17 of the handbook. uh it simply is dated language that no longer uh is uh no longer applicable to our new beginnings students for >> and that one too again because it's just a removal language if you can expedite and approve it this evening that would be All righty, moving on to item H. Michigan Association of School Boards call for
063delegates. >> So, typically this is one that we do in October because the information the delegate call is due at the end of October. This year, the conference is at the end of October and so MASB is asking for the delegate uh in the alternate for at the beginning of the month of October. Uh and so that's why it's on this evening. I didn't mention it in August. Uh let's see if there was any any individuals who might be interested in being that delegate. So that's on >> it's on for your consideration for this evening, but we do need to take action uh tonight or hold a special meeting before August or October 2nd. in order to submit a name for a dog. And I did include the text or the email that Barb received
064from MASB um just for your information. Anybody wants to see? >> I I will >> deal with that. Next Thursday, October 23rd at 700 p.m. at the Grand Resort spot. I can get the alternate. >> Sure. >> Thank you, Matt and All right. Last discussion item is the Cedar Springs area parks and recreation bylaws revision. Um, so the Cedar Springs Area Parks and Recreation Board of Directors, which I sit on, uh, started talking back in June about the possibility of reverting back, oops, sorry, the North Kent Community Bridgement Board, which is what it's currently called, uh, started talking back in June about reverting back to its original name. Um there is just there's still confusion within the greater community around um North Kent Connect, North Kent Community Enrichment. Um the historically the reason we made
065the move away from the Cedar Springs area parks and recreation uh group was that there was some um thinking in some of the townships that that wasn't an inclusive enough title or inclusive enough name for the organization. Um, and so some of the townships wanted a more um regional name uh to to uh to use to cover the activities and and workings of the thus that the north can't enrichment. Um but we found again with the hiccups with marble and things uh maybe the old ways were better than the new ways. So the proposal uh approved by the board of directors uh was that we revert back to the original name. Um and any bylaw change or any change in the uh the workings of the organization need to be approved by each of the
066member boards uh before it can be back. So that's why I'm asking for your consideration. >> Any questions or concerns regarding that issue? >> Just a comment. I I just remember the switch and I understood the reason you >> Yeah. >> didn't have an issue with it, but I think in practice, yes, I definitely experienced a lot of questions and you know, it's This is >> that also is on for action se if you're comfortable. >> All right, that concludes the discussion portion of our meeting and at this time we would come to our public comment section and we would hear from the audience if they've signed up any um concerns they would like to address to the board for three minutes. won't be responding. Mr. Smith will be following up, but Mrs. Best, have
067you had anyone turn in public comment? >> No. >> Having none, we will go ahead and close public comment and we'll move on to our action items for this evening. And I am going to call the majority of them as presented. So, if anyone is listening on the tape, they're welcome to listen to the discussion earlier to hear the details, but to put all the details in some would be redundant. So here we go. The first action item is the MESB delegate selection. We have Matt Shner and Lucy Bowser who have um volunteered. So I would entertain a motion them to attend the Grand Trevors as >> any discussion and none. Vice President Shman >> yes. >> Secretary Serger. >> Yes. Yes. President Gilmore. >> Yes. >> Trusty L. >> Yes. >> Patton. >> Yes.
068Bowser. >> Yes. >> President. Yes. Motion carries. For action item B, we have the H recommendation in would entertain a motion for as presented. >> Support. >> Any discussion? None. Vice President Shner. Yes. Secretary Slater. >> Yes. >> President Gilmore. >> Yes. >> M. >> No. >> Justin Kton. >> Yes. >> Bowser. Yes. >> President Reed. Yes. Motion carried. Action item C is the new beginnings handbook revision with slight change. And I'm entertain a motion for as presented. >> Any discussion? Having none. Vice President Shner. >> Yes. >> Secretary Ser. >> Yes. >> President Delmore. >> Yes. >> Trusty L. >> Yes. >> Patton. >> Yes. >> Bowser. >> Yes. >> President. Yes. >> Yes. Motion carries. The last action item for this evening is the parks and Cedar Springs area parks and recreation bylaws
069revision and I would entertain a motion for as presented. [Music] >> Support any discussion having none. Vice President Shner, >> yes. >> Dr. Slider, >> yes. >> President Delmore, >> yes. >> Trusty L, >> yes. >> Dusty Ken, >> yes. Bowser, >> yes. >> President Green, yes. Motion carries. That brings us to the communication uh portion of our meeting tonight and you are up to date with anything I have. There was a certified envelope sitting here and it was a garnishment from a business to a business about a vendor's work for us and they turned that over to um so that's the certified communication >> and I have no additional communication from that I received for the to >> looking forward to planning we have the Ken ISD school board finance and legislative boot camp
070coming up September 30th. Do you have any? >> Uh, no. There's a link for you to look at. That'll be really a two-part boot camp. One is school finance. Kevin Phillips does an outstanding job with breaking down uh school finance. So, if you are interested in learning more about that topic, uh Kevin would be a great person to uh to learn from. Uh and then also Dan Bane uh former superintendent from Forest Hills will provide some legislative background to just help uh board members understand navigate some of the turbulence that comes out of ransom on a regular or irregular basis. Um so that's item one. Item two, of the KISAB, the 10th Intermediate School Board, H does three dinner meetings a year. Uh they do a fall, uh mid- winter, and then a spring meeting.
071The fall meeting is going to focus around unpacking the state budget if we have a budget by then. Um but again, that's just a great uh event. So just putting it on uh your radar for October 16th. More information uh will will be coming uh soon for that. And then the last piece under planning is that ongoing list of district events. Uh if you click on that, you'll see uh how many events have already been crossed out. So the school year is up and running. So, it's just a good way for you to track new things that are coming up for us. >> All right, we woke up when our next meetings are and having no more business before the board is 7:22 and J