001Good evening. It's now 6:15 and I will call the August 11th public school board meeting to order and you will rise with me for the federal. >> 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. If you would grab a roll call, please. And we do have Mr. Johnson out for a family um issue. And we have his bill. >> Okay. Trusty Bowser >> here. >> Trusty Patton excused. Trusty Lun >> here. >> Treasurer Gilmore >> here. >> Secretary Slagger here. Vice President Shner excused. and President Reed >> here. Thank you. We just established the forum present meeting and that brings us to the adoption of our agenda and I would entertain a motion
002for as presented. So support >> any discussion having none. Secretary Ser >> yes Gilmore. >> Yes. >> President Bowser. >> Yes. >> President Reed yes. Motion carries. That brings us to gratitudes and I will open up tables to share gratitudes. I was was grateful for the opportunity to tour Beach prior to the meeting and just super exciting to see all the progress that's been made and just beautiful building and I'm just really excited for our staff and our students who get to experience that as as well as all of the other um renovations and exciting changes among on campus. So, lots of lots of exciting things to look forward to this fall. >> I still appreciate that being just getting more beautiful with tennis courts being done. So, that's exciting to see these things getting
003ready for the first >> and I and I know business is usual for a lot of the teachers. They do it every year, but the prep work that goes into getting ready for first day of school is no small task. I know I know they're pouring into the into students before they even get here. So, that's exciting. I'm thankful for what they do. And I know we're only a couple weeks away, but that's that's big li very grateful for the people that are returning to campus, the staff, teachers, administrators, and students who are back, coaches who are back on campus. Uh it's a great space comes alive again. Um grateful for progress and I'm grateful for grace because where progress wer [Music] you okay representatives will probably see them from next month and that brings
004us to the consent items and I would entertain a motion for as presented. support. >> Secretary Cider, >> yes. >> Sergeant Gilmore, >> yes. >> President, >> yes. >> President Bowser, >> yes. >> President Reed, >> yes. Motion carries. That brings us to the discussion portion of our meeting and we're beginning with the middle school. Sharing. >> How are you guys? >> Good. Thanks for being here when it's gorgeous outside because we'd probably rather be out there, right? But bless you. Um, I wanted to chat tonight. Oh, do I need a microphone? >> Just for fun. Okay. Should I come to that one? >> Oh, we can move this. >> All right. All right. I'll just like hold it or walk around or All right. >> All right. I'm used to seeing just my teacher
005voice. So, um anyway, we had like our MGM meeting last week, right? Already. And I know we are signed up for different buildings throughout the year and there wasn't one for today. So, I thought, well, let's let's show up and and chat it up a little bit. So we are entering year two of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade all in one building. Uh last year was great to be honest with you. We didn't feel uh we didn't feel it that much to be honest. There were yeah a couple extra hundred kids but but it really flowed pretty well and we're thankful for that. So um we're currently sitting at 695 kids with eight and a hopper um for enrollment which is cool to see and we are ready for them. We've had pretty hires come
006in this year. I think we're adding, not adding, but we're we're filling eight spots and we're super excited with the different roles we have. But um the key things that I wanted to talk about with just um engagement and student ownership is truly that we're building ownership among our students, especially having sixth graders that can come in at like age 11 and eighth graders who can be 14, you know, and talking about drivers training and all sorts of other things we don't need to talk about sometimes, right? So, um we're really working on building that ownership. And a few things I wanted to share with you tonight that we're proud of. Um, one super simple. We're just having our kids literally clean their cafeteria tables. We talked about that a little bit last year, but
007we just created like a sanitation station and and we feel like that not only grows their ownership for cleaning up their space and what I'd say kind of common sense, right? Take care of your own space. It also shows that appreciation and respect to our custodians who actually work their day off all day. Bless them. Um, to take care of our middle schoolers. So, it just kind of shows that appreciation and that ownership and and we really see kids hop in. There will be kids who would just say, "Hey, Miss, do you care if I do like this section this week?" Sure, sweetie. Go ahead. That'd be awesome. Right. So, so we've got that going to build that ownership. Second, we we started student jobs that we plan to expand this year where where kids
008actually fill out an application and then they come in and sit down with us for an interview and discuss what their skill sets are and and the qualities uh of what what they want to give to the school. So, um we're pretty pumped about that. Those things range from um peer-to-peer support. Some kids just want to help out another student, volunteer to sit with someone at lunch, things like that. Um, sometimes it's uh if there's a new student, they're willing to have them shadow them for the day or a couple days. Um, and again, just to watch the kids come in and talk about why, like the what, why, and how of these jobs is pretty cool and and we want to build that in in the culture and uh nature of our society right
009now. I think we need kids to to see the what, why, and how of things, you know. Um, also we'll have kids just take on like office office work. They come in on their lunchtime if it's break time or in between classes and they fill all of the copy machines or drop off things to teachers and and it really it's a really big boost for them. And it's commonly your your students who you might not think want to do those jobs really do and rock it out and it allows us to have that extra one-on-one time them too. So we're loving that. And then um a big one last year I took on uh announcements. I've just kind of always done that in the morning and had some students join in with that to kind
010of be the voice of the red box, you know. Um, and they started doing that pretty well. We go from classroom to classroom. Well, this upcoming year, I actually have eight students who uh emailed me in May and set up a formal meeting time. We had lunch together. We met for an hour. They gave me their proposal of what they wanted to do. And these eight sweet students are planning to kick it off in September. They agreed that well August was say you guys should probably just do that because there's a lot of extra stuff you know but they're planning to kick that off and and as we move into this new phase of what we're calling hawk time as kind of our extension or intervention time that'll be a daily 30-ish minutes uh about
011might be 28 minutes don't quote me but about that many minutes a day that we'll be able to have those students specifically meet with me once to twice a week and they want to create almost a middle school media class of sorts like H presents. Obviously, we don't have all the facility for that, but um Amy McCarthy's been awesome to come down do some videos and create some news broadcast with them that they're really geeked about that. So, we're hoping to build that ownership within within the school that way. Um so, we're we're excited. We're we're pumped to see potentially 700 kids enter those doors in a couple weeks. We've got some nice boosts in the building. I know our front doors look like these front doors now with the the Hawks logos and things
012on and so again we're hoping to just build that ownership and excitement with kids throughout the entire room. So yeah, any thoughts, questions that that you have or if you ever want to hang out with middle schoolers, we're we're happy to take it boring. I promise you that. >> So all right, thank you guys. Thanks for being here and doing what you do. Thank you. >> Should I carry this to anyone else? >> Yeah. >> All right. Welcome right on to 2024 25 summer school improvement updates with Kristen, Ron. >> Hi. >> Thanks so much. So, our we've been working really hard um over in the last spring we did a deep dive into a lot of our data and we have established a new continuous improvement process. We've had processes in the past. We're
013just um morphing it into a process that um not only harnesses the strengths of each building, but puts all those strengths together for some more vertical alignment. So, we have that district-wide lens. So, this graphic here is from um our MYIP system. That stands for Michigan Integrated Continuous Improvement Process um or continuous improvement plan. um that is the site that we have to upload our plans into. It helps with accountability and just helps us document our work along the way. Um but it's cyclical. And so the goal is to, you know, have something where we assess our needs, make those plans after we've identified those needs, implement those plans, and then monitor our growth along the way. And the difference between the old school improvement cycle and the continuous improvement cycle is is it there's
014not really a due date. We put our own due dates based on what's meaningful to us and we gauge our own progress along the way. But if we've met our goals in January, then we can move on. We don't, you know, wait till um the end of the school year. It doesn't have to be in the same incremental times as as in the past, but we set meaningful goals along the way. And each building has some ownership, but those the ownership within each building is coming from a common space. Um I guess harnessed in our district's vision and mission. So, we're trying to get back of understanding what's important to us as a district as Cedar Spring Public Schools and honoring that as we build our um build our ship forward, I guess. So, um
015I gave this example to our administrators when we were talking about this work um just the importance of alignment and systems work. Um, you know, last year my son started taking showers in the morning and that threw off my group because I'm a morning shower and we just have the we have one shower and so it was just really hard to sync that all together. And I could change something about what I did, he could change something about what he did, but without us working together, we weren't really impacting the system to make us more efficient getting out the door. So we had to look at our pieces as one. And similarly, that's what we've been doing as a district administrative team along with our amazing administrators at every building. We've had some amazing leaders
016and amazing um staff members, educators doing amazing things, but it's hard when we look at that district data to see that that grow in our in our scores because they might have the focus of reading, they might have the focus of math, they might have the focus of engagement. And when that translates to that district lens, when we weren't all working on the same thing, we weren't as as easy. It wasn't as easy to see that growth in one area. So, we've had some amazing things. We're just trying to put that together into one um in our continuous improvement process. Oh, how do I go to the next slide? >> We should just be able to scroll down on the >> Oh, this. There we go. All right. So our goal, oh the picture didn't
017come out very well, but our overall goal that we're harnessing all the work in is increasing academic achievement through whole child support. So we're here at school because we want kids to learn and we want kids to be successful here at school. And sometimes that might work mean working on behavior and and social emotional things, attendance and those types of things. But that's all in the lens of helping be them be successful learners. So, we want to monitor that academic achievement while supporting that whole child with all of those components. So, this is just a graphic. It's straight from MDE's my kit process of that traditional school improvement process. And this is what we've had going on. So this is um we used to have a school improvement team and those were s siloed at
018each building and each building was again doing some amazing work and then they'd inform the district this is what my building plan is. Can you insert that? Well now that new Michigan continuous improvement process example is that that district team starts out with that district lens and then filters it down from there. So if we say we want to grow in reading as a district now the next level would be how does reading look in each building and they get to be a little more specific with reading goals in each building and then the classrooms get to say what's my ownership what's my stake in that game with that lens of our building goal with in reading so that we can start with that district. So again, we can start with that common lens to
019move us all forward together. And so that process of working through those layers of the team um and then filtering those layers back and forth between the teams and that communication and alignment is what's going to help the needle. So as a part of this process, I created a comprehensive needs assessment. Basically, it's all the data points you guys have been accustomed to be looking at and reading um about plus more um all in one document. And we're hoping that we can present this at least once a year, maybe a couple times a year depending um because some of our data points like the PSAT and SAT are just once a year data points. So, not a lot will change throughout each year. But the reason you put um together all those data points together
020into one document is you might think, "Oh, we have a reading achievement problem that might be accurate, but then when you look at attendance rates, you might realize, oh wow, attendance rates are poor. That could be contributing to poor reading achievement, right? So maybe we were targeting something but maybe misaligning where that support should frontload to maximize the benefit. So when we look at those points together, we can make a bigger difference. And so we are hoping that we can present to you guys um this comprehensive needs assessment on a regular basis so you can see how all of those data points work together and hopefully how our goals are making a difference. >> The comprehensive needs assessment is also linked in the workbook as a second artifact >> on this section. >> I was
021gonna How do I Oh, go back to the agenda. I can pull it up. Is that accurate? >> You don't you can >> I don't need to. Okay. Yeah. And you're welcome to look through that. It's got um information, demographic data about our district as a whole, about our community, about our staff and and our staff demographics and you know, how many males, how many females and those types of things, the level of experience. So, lots of data points again that can come together for that big picture. So our administrators, district leaders and as well as um building leaders all came together to look at that and then did a deep dive into where we see those gaps and then discuss how those gaps might be overlapping and where to maximize our support. So in
022elementary these are the goals that they're focusing on. Cedar Trails wants to learn from each other through a learning lab model where they're going to be going into a lot of classrooms to seek instructional best practices to maximize what they do in their classroom spaces as well as every building you're going to see that um goal alignment because again the name of the game has been within this process trying to align things because oftent times our PLC's might have been working on different goals than other layers of the pie and we're going to put those together this year. Um, beach is going to be working on um, differentiation, looking zeroing in on those MTSS layers. So, Beach View, um, high school and middle school, you'll see in all all four of those buildings have talked
023about their MTSS systems. um beach and Cedar View have all both had some systems, but we're making an intentional um we're being more intentional about not just saying this student is low and has some needs, but what needs do they have and aligning them with support that's more specific and same with Cedar View. Um whereas in the high school and middle school, they're um working on building that hawk time and sword time. Both of those are new to the high school and middle school. They've not had a time where they could proactively react to student achievement on a um quicker um level before. You know, they have had high school has had credit recovery. So after a student fails, they need to now recover. But these systems in place are supposed to be proactive measures
024to prevent failures um so that we don't have to have as many reactive measures in place. and hopefully those students feel more supported which will make their school experience more positive and hopefully increase the graduation. Right? So middle school and high school that's their huge deep dive this year. Um and so they've got some really exciting things going on in that way. Um after our teams um have had a chance to get settled, we're going to work on monitoring our plan all year. These questions are exactly from our MYIP system. So the team, the district team that we'll bring together will be responsible for monitoring those goals and reporting out on them. And these are the questions they'll have to answer for me to put into our MYIP system to document their progress uh throughout
025the year. Um, these are the data points we're going to zero in on because those are the data points the administrators have pinpointed as the ones that they're hoping to target um and and make the biggest difference on within their um their goals that they've named. So, those are the data points within that comprehensive needs assessment. We're hoping to see the biggest difference in various ways depending on the building. Can you clarify the tiered fidelity? Yes. That's one that's >> Sure. Yeah. >> Yep. I Ready is that benchmark you're used to seeing. I Excel diagnostic. High school has not had a diagnostic assessment. It's like I Ready, but it's accessible for the high school. So, high school this year will have access to an assessment similar to I Ready to have more data points more
026frequently throughout the year, which is exciting. They also have that PSAT SAT which you're you know of grades and graduation rate we monitor as well. Um 5D is our evaluation system and that's not for the sake of you know sharing what everybody's score is but to look at some of those common goals in our teaching staff as it pertains to evaluation to align them also to our work. Um and then the school system review and tiered fidelity in inventory. Those two are assessments that assess our systems. So um you know what resources do we have? Do we have a process for when we have adopt a new resource providing proper training tiered fidelity inventories talks about our processes for identifying students and making sure they're in the right right place for their needs. So those
027um two evaluate our systems which is what we use as a big part of our conversation to develop our goals for this year. And the last two are like surveys that administrators and teachers take and then submit their impression of how if they're if the supports are in place that our students need. >> Yeah. >> Yep. And again the the our baseline data is in the comprehensive needs assessment. So you can see where we felt for the last this last year. So alignment again is the name of the game this year. We're wanting to we're um aligning our data cycles because we can't have a meeting to talk about how our kids are doing if we don't have the data yet. So, we're trying to be cognizant to schedule meetings um in a way that
028aligns with our data cycles so that we know we have these data points and then we provide that collaboration around that data point to assess those needs and move forward. Um and then our meeting dates obviously that we align to that time to collaborate. It all needs to be in sync or else, you know, we'll just be meeting just to smile at each other that that wouldn't be the best use of time. So, uh, timeline, I've, um, gave this to all of the administrators and PLC leads. Um, so here's just a snapshot of what we're looking at. So, our, um, building level work is that MTSS BOI beginning of year. So we're we should have all of our data beginning of the year data by that week or within that week sometime. So we're hoping
029to have our um building level teams meet that week and then that will allow um our PLC's on the 19th to talk about the goals that the MTSS teams have now um nailed down or determined for their building. Um, and then they can make those goals into like classroom or content specific goals again to have us working together on the same things. And then our DIT stands for district improvement team. So after that, those layers have that goal. We're going to talk about the district improvement team and their role in the PI. Um, and then we'll give you a board update on October 29th on just the works that's been done. So, um, we've been trying to be cognizant about that timeline so that all those dates are in sync to maximize the work that
030we're doing. That's about it. Do you guys have any questions? I'll just add that uh last Thursday in this very room, we had all the MTSS coaches, uh PLC leaders and DI team members um invited to a meeting where we spent uh a good portion of time going through the myip plan with them. you know, not only did we share with our Billy admin during our MGM time on Tuesday, but also all these leaders. So when it fully gets implemented, a good understanding of how my keIP is the basis and foundation of the work that we do and then all the other support systems that we have in place in the district really help to grow from there with the overarching umbrella of MTSS. So, uh, we've got everybody in tune with the work that
031we're going to be doing and it was wellreceived that day. >> Question. >> So, you mention upload it as the state wants us to. >> Does anybody the state look at it or is there process the actual thing? >> There are some there are some random audits and especially as it pertains to our grant funds like what we have to do part of the circle is after we assess our needs and develop our plans and we align funds. So funds are supposed to come after all of that because in order to allocate our grant funds, it's supposed to be aligned to our needs. So it will be reviewed after when we are audited on those grant funds and then pro, you know, they could at any point in time just randomly audit us on that,
032but I think it will probably come into play more with the grant funds. >> Yeah, no problem. >> Quick plug for Kristen. She's been a tremendous ad to our team. very very knowledgeable about uh curriculum and uh and everything school improvement. So, she's done a fantastic job. Um sometimes I mistakenly get credit for her work. So, I'm just, you know, let letting him be known that she's doing a great job. Um the other thing I'm I'm going to give her a little jab now, too, because that's what I most like to do. Um she used a lot of amazings at the start of her presentation. And one thing that we know because we've had visitors tell us, "Hey, your data doesn't look so amazing to us." Okay, we don't disagree with that. And so, you
033know, it's often that, you know, we don't get to say, "Hey, we agree with you public. Um, we've got some work to do and and we're not shy about saying that." Um, we're not where we want to be yet. Um, and so one of the things that we're going to really focus on is uh is elementary literacy. We having only six out of 10 elementary students proficient year after year is not going to get it done. Okay? And our research says that if kids leave first grade, I know that seems really early because it's just the first building they started, but if they leave first grade at less than proficiency, they struggle mightily to catch up. And so, uh, Beach hasn't, you know, been super successful in catching them up. Cedar View hasn't been super
034successful at catching them up. that's really not the focus of their curriculum. And so that becomes a challenge that, you know, I I don't want to put it all on Cedar Trails, it's just the starting point. And when they're leaving first grade at 60% proficiency, we know that that's going to be an issue. And so, we're really going to uh pinpoint that. And the other thing we're going to encourage principles to do is share with the board, here are the challenges we're seeing. here's what we're doing about it so that you, you know, feel good that you're in the know um as to how they're addressing those needs and that they're identifying. And so we'll help them with that. Um but we really want them to be able to focus on those things with all
035of you this year. >> Any other questions? >> That was very helpful. >> Thank you. Okay, moving on to discussion item C update with all. Uh so we are still in the process of closing uh the FY 2425 school year. Um so this uh at the September board meeting I will have a actual budget to actual kind of final report for you that um actually the auditors are starting on Sep September 8th. So you will see the numbers that the auditors will be uh start digging through and performing their year end audit work on. Um couple quick updates. Um, still no state aid school budget. Um, it is starting to look more and more like that it will be closer to the October 1st deadline for the state's fiscal year. Uh, it's also a very
036real possibility that the state will have a state government shutdown and we will not have a budget um until sometime into October. uh that would lightning impact when we receive our first 20 25 26 state aid payments that's scheduled to go out in October 20th. So likely we would not receive that payment then until November 20th. So we could potentially go from mid August to mid November without receiving any state uh payments. Um, one thing to highlight is we do elect to do 100% summer tax collections. So that does help in a normal year that helps offset the fact that we don't receive any state in payments in the month of September. So doing that 100% summer tax collection will definitely help um offset any potential cash flow issues u as well as having a
037very healthy fund balance. So, I'm not overly concerned at this time that the payment could be uh pushed into November. Uh but if it starts getting even further, obviously that would be very uh alarming. Um it does appear a lot of the discussion around the budget is also incorporated with the the federal budget. It doesn't appear that the uh bill that was passed back in July will impact the state's general fund general purpose budget. Um one report estimates they have to uh cut about $1.1 billion from their $84 billion budget. Um the real impact on school aid fund could be if they decide to borrow from the school a fund to fill some um shortfalls in the general fund general purpose budget. So be keeping an eye on that. Um and then finally uh last
038Thursday I emailed each of you the um audit questionnaire and audit engagement letter. Um, so if if you haven't seen that yet, please check your emails. It's also included in board book. Um, and go ahead and review both those documents and send that questionnaire directly back to our auditors. I provided the two audit partners emails email. We had a superintendence meeting, countywide superintendent meeting on Friday and one of the agenda items was, you know, working um potentially working together as a as a grouping of districts who are indeed borrowing to make ends meet until we get the state funding through. So the idea there was you know four or five districts come together can they get a better rate from a bank uh borrowing the larger sum of money. So that is very real and
039very unsettling. >> Uh one thing, one question you may receive from uh community members, we've started to receive it. It's related to will there be uh will we continue to offer university free breakfast and lunch? Um unfortunately the answer is for the entire school year at this point. We're uncertain if that will be included in the budget. Uh uh the state did release a memo last week that I just saw today. The the funding that we currently have does go through September 30th. So we should be able to continue offering the the free breakfast, free lunch through September 30th. Um and we'll have to make a decision on how to handle that going forward. We still do not have a budget. Um so I'll be connecting with how to see what the approved service directors
040have to discuss and various options as well. >> So my like um my daughter graduated so I had like a surplus of $17. If I don't cash that can can that go in some sort of fund like if we don't offer that universally. >> Uh you can donate that. Yes. >> Okay. So like Okay. up to a >> I just don't cash it or is that gonna >> If you don't cash it, it sits on our outstanding check registry. [Music] >> Prefer cash. Okay, >> that doesn't bother the accountants at all. >> And then if you don't cash it for three or five years, then we have to shoot it back. So, >> and then just don't bring it back. And there you go. Okay. Maybe we could put something on our website or something
041of saying that if people or like this year or I don't know just I hope we get the funding but if we don't I just I don't want anyone >> going through I think the free and reduced component will not I don't I don't see that necessarily going away. >> Oh yeah. But the universal free lunch and breakfast may not be a program that's funded by the state. >> So individuals who are economically challenged, you know, there there should still be a provision in the in the federal either federal or state government or state budget to support that, but it may not be a universal program now. >> Yes. So, we will be pushing uh reminding families to fill out the family assistance questionnaire. That's what kind of drives whether or not they qualify for
042free and reduced lunch. Uh the the current program, the way it works is if a family qualifies at the federal level for free, free or reduced lunch, if they're free, then the federal government provides that funding. If they're reduced, the federal government provides let's say 50% the state pays the other 50. And then in families that don't qualify for either, that's where the state comes in and provides funding. Make it free across the board. >> So yes, the free and reduced lunch component at the federal level. U we don't anticipate that going away. the state portion. Will they have enough funds or will they choose to continue that program? Will we add discussion in the spring and summer 2025 policy recommendations back in? >> Yeah. So the second read again this is the progressive body
043of work. Um the first read was just more introductory in nature. Um now we're digging into a little bit. Had a couple questions from individuals regarding maybe some of the why or the legislative rationale behind some of the proposed changes. One document that is very helpful in this uh collection of documents is the um in in the very first component the overview document. So, um it's the first one that's in board book, the spring 2025 Bola policy update overview. Um opening that document will give you a one or two sentence why behind each recommended change unless there's a greater explanation needed. So, at least that might help answer some of your more simple questions. So, um, there was a question about unionization and the why is changes in the Michigan Department of Health and Human
044Services policies. So, it just aligns our policy with their policy. So, um, it it can be a nice way for you to, you know, get some frequently asked questions answered. Um or you can always reach out uh if you've got specific questions around language. Is there anything that's really jumping off the table right now that I can make sure that we go into further detail on September? >> Um it would be 5460 the emergency. >> Okay. Um that one you said you updated to adding decision to continue removing student from 10 days to 45 president. How is that something we have to go to the legal to make sure it's worded the correct way? >> Uh that and it would be that is a legal um it it is permissible. um because the board would
045be taking a more generalized action but I can get more clarity on that um for Marshall. Great. Madam, >> what is the reasoning behind including just the board president? >> The thinking was um there would be a connection to the board really. They're just isolated cases. um say we've got a student in November who's really gone through some difficult things. We don't want to suspend them for the remainder of the year. Um we're just looking to suspend that or give them a break until the beginning of the second semester. So the idea is to simplify the process a little bit. Um consult with the president of the board, work with the superintendent. uh but maybe not bring to a full uh full-blown uh board's hearing um if we're not suspending for for longer the shorter
046window. >> Well, as you're thinking to it, typically that happens like before Christmas break or at your end. Correct. Those are the typical times >> and because sometimes our meeting calendar doesn't match what's going to work for that situation. >> And now is that something like you said before president that you would relate to the rest of the board. This just happened >> or is this something that's only between you and Scott >> or president? >> I know that's just my question about wondering. >> Yeah, that's those are great questions. We want to keep the board informed. We don't want secrets. >> So this you know so this had to be right or this this is the wise then then you would know the word I was curious about 87 was so there's a usually
047this is policy and usually we kind of tie it back to the why. Um but there's a paragraph that kind of starts that one out that starts with the board of education beliefs. That's a that's a belief statement. I kind of am a fan of if it's required by the state just to start with that first sentence that says students must meet this requirement set by the state like take that belief statement out there's that that's making a belief statement for every individual on the board that may or may not be accurate I would >> that would be my radar as well Yes. >> Good catch. >> Yep. >> One of my wonders was in the wellness policy and there might be an opportunity to um remind everybody that recess should not be used as
048a reward or punishment. And that will also to there's number six um under C and it talks about activities such as tutoring and club meetings shall not be scheduled during no times those students may be during those meetings. It just is it just spells it out there and we're not going to hold classes any district you know pull the whole class because someone's always talking but I mean think about that and we know you know recess too sometimes the most active people >> my son is 29 9 his third grade teacher held his class in on a regular basis because another student was in the dingdong in class and being would go home and say I don't have any control over what this my class doing but I was being so I did that yeah
049and then there's all those things you said I didn't those are the two that come I didn't we fulfilled my hearts. No. I think this is we're going to take actually October. >> All right, we'll move on then to technology refresh fire replace. What's going on there? And that is on for action. take the lead. You want me to take the lead? >> Yeah, I can take the lead. Okay. >> Um, so back in October, Colin presented a FCC cyber certificate pilot program uh related to our replacing our firewall system. Um, so we had received some initial kind of estimates of the cost. uh the the total amounts were would have exceeded or had uh approval threshold but because with the - discount it would have brought it below that threshold. So we did not
050ask for poor approval at that time because what we were actually going to be paying out was less than what required approval by the board. Um well so we submitted the application in February. Um the FCC is currently reviewing the all applications. Uh it sounds like they are about twothirds of the way through uh reviewing and approving applications. Sounds like they haven't they've approved everything that they've looked at, but ours is of course the bottom of that uh stack. Uh so Colin brought this to our attention on Thursday. The issue is our current firewall software will be expiring. Um what it actually has already expired. We're using a temporary license through the IS and Sentinel is will try to get us an additional 30-day uh extension on the software. But we're getting to the point
051where we have to replace our firewall, sell the new one, and get a new software subscription in place or we will be operating without a fire. We still cannot definitively tell you when the FCC will approve this application. We feel confident that they will. Um, but so we did have it bid out. We received two bids. Sentinel was the low bid for this firewall at $33,99. [Music] Vector Technology was the other bidder. Their bid was $42,900. Um, based on the application, this is this project is 44% uh rate eligible. So we would receive a total discount of $14,919.96 and our net cost would be $18,9894. So the the 18989 is obviously less than the order approval threshold, but to guarantee that we have the unit in place up and running prior to the um the
052expiration of our current uh firewall protection, we need to give them a go no go uh this week. So once we kind of discussed that like well we need to present this to the board tonight for action so that we can get it up and running and be uh be protected because in today's day and age really cannot operate without firewall. the the the threats and liability would just be too you'd be too exposed to bad actors. So So the the ask is that we receive board approval tonight to proceed with the sentinel quote of $33,99. Uh if and when approved, we would then receive a rebate from Sentinel for $14,919.96. So the net cost of the project wouldn't be the just shy of $19,000. Just a question. How long is the temporary license to
053the point? >> Um want to say through this week and he's working with Sentinel to get 30 days. >> So once he brought it to our attention need to act on this very quickly. >> So when we approve it tonight, we can get the firework. We can correct >> and then all the backside work comes for the get it going based on actions. >> Yes. As the application it is >> that's where the rebate comes. That's whereas out comes from grade is quite confusing complicated but we we have done other projects where you pay the full full cost up front and then you receive a a rebate and it's at the end of the year when you look at the books it's a net cost of 18,000. >> Well said we didn't get the So
054correct for rebate space >> and we have done for the e-ray process we do have to bid it out. So we did do we did follow the bid process that was handled by our rate consultants funds or e funds one more. So that if this temporary uh through the ISD is only good for this week and I know we're working on 30-day like are we concerned that we're at risk even if we approve this tonight we get this thing turned around in a week or are we pretty confident we're going to get that 30-day extension? >> I think we're confident we'll get the sentinel take care of us and I was wondering that based on the dates that are in this letter because the dates in the letter suggest April is the start date and
055we're in August. Yeah, we anticipated the rate approval months ago. this way. >> You remember the initial proposal was back October >> Chris. All righty. 202526 overnight field trip requests. >> So, we have two field trip requests um for your consideration. Um the first and I don't know if Todd wants to share anything. Um it's the um Michigan Association of Student Councils and the Michigan Association of Honor Societies State Leadership Conference which takes place uh in late January, February on an annual basis. Uh this conference is in Grand Rapids and the high school team is just asking you to consider um permitting them to take another group of our students down um to this conference. While it is a short distance away, it's still an overnight conference uh because much of the experience for the
056sweet beers is having that opportunity to engage. Um it's just a fun like just a cool thing to do when you're a high school student. Um and it's also, you know, a lot of the um a lot of the programming does go later into the evening. Uh so it just enables them to stay right in a a constant location. Anything else, Mr. Simmons? >> No, sir. >> Okay, perfect. Um the second uh request is um you'll note we have just a a list of um trips that are anticipated trips for uh the 25 26 school year from our athletic program. Um none of these are guaranteed but it just gives our current policy language requires overnight field trips to be approved by the board. Um the proposed new language in the EO update is that
057the superintendent can approve um trips that are MHSA related or athletic related where we don't have the window of approval. So, you know, in in many cases during a sports season, you'll win a game on weekend A and you've got to be up north in the UP the following weekend and meeting accommodations. We don't have board meetings scheduled during that time. So, in those instances, it would allow us some flexibility. Um but in the event that that doesn't get changed, these are uh we're just approving these in the event that we could qualify. These are uh tournaments and levels of the MCSAA uh state level tournament that we've achieved in the past. So we're just putting on the radar for some pretty preemptive and those will both be uh will be seeking action in September.
058So that's why like on the athletic field trips uh there's limited um detail because we don't know where they would go, where they would stay, how many athletes would be going. Um so checks the box of approval and we can provide all those details at a later date. We'll see that again. Let's move on to discussion item G, the bond construction update. >> So, um, you know, one of the questions that came up during our tour at Beach was, will this building be done or will this building be finished and be able for us to open? Um, it's a great question. It's been asked many, many times over the last few weeks. Uh, they're making incredible progress and there is literally an army of uh, contractors on site. the new portions of the building and
059beach, they will be ready. Um, you know, really there's some superficial things that need to be completed and then it's just the manual labor involved with moving the furniture up to that third level um or waiting on the uh permitting of the elevator. That will make the moving process so much easier. But uh knowing that's still out there, we are starting to just physically uh carry uh desks and things upstairs to the second level. So um beach really isn't um you know, they've they've delivered on all of their other project promises so far. You know, they delivered on getting the middle school ready when we redid the drives. They delivered on getting the high school ready when we did that major renovation uh remodel of this space and remember this once upon a time was
060the office I think Ron's office was about where Diana is sitting right now um you know so they delivered project after project delivered on our front classroom edition so uh we're going to trust that they're going to deliver on each and on our waiting room uh and add here at the high school as well Um, so they're doing their uh the parking lot area at Seedar View is ready to go. They're going to do their first coat of asphalt for the beach parking lots on Wednesday uh is the plan. Um so I think we're really heading in the right direction. Um we did uh encounter another hiccup with the cold storage building. Um, so even though the structure is complete, we cannot get occupancy through the building until uh there's a paved walkway um to
061the structure for ADA compliance. So that's um that's where we are right now with the inspector. We've been working back and forth in terms of are there different interpretations of hard surface walkways. So, for example, Triangle Construction was able to work with the inspector on several of their city park projects and they used crush asphalt as their base and that was permissible to that inspector to our inspector. Nope. His comment was, well, that's another person's interpretation. That's not my interpretation. So right now it's looking like uh we were working back and forth. Again, the team from Triangle is really uh really going to bat for us. You know, we thought about would it be possible for us to pave just do an asphalt driveway up to the you know the overhead doors. Um and the
062latest word today was no, that's not sufficient. They want a specific walkway uh that leads from the sidewalk up to that building. So that's kind of where we are right now. It's so ironic that it's such a it's like the the thorn in lion's paw. It's such a little thing, but wow, it is so easy. But we'll keep you posted. >> I mean, and so that's that's what it's down to. What's the other? Yes, we should get occupancy once they have a paved path, paid walkway to that building. >> I guess why wouldn't the paved driveway be a walkway also? Like I guess it falls under 504 ADA and they're looking at it. They break it all down. >> Oh, okay. >> It's not a separate side, >> right? Okay. >> And they're just doing
063their job. They're not trying to >> I was just wondering we'll move on. Next up, we have public comments. Since the time for the board will hear from the public for three minutes discussed, do we have any forms to speak to the board? >> Having none, we will close public comments, but we don't have any tapers right now to address the board. That brings us to our action item for this evening and it's the technology refresh by your wall update and I would entertain a motion for to proceed with a sensible quote that was attached to the board for the amount of 33,99 and the rebate would be coming after that. So I move to accept the proposal uh for 33,99 while we wait the FCC approval. >> Second. >> Any questions? >> Dr. >>
064Yes. >> Treasury Gilmore. >> Yes. >> Trusty L. >> Yes. >> Bowser. >> Yes. Agree. Yes. Thank you. Motion carries. So you can get that far. All right. Then for communication for the board, I don't have anything specific. Um didn't know I printed it out at first. It was just like one or two pages, but we got the district um events for 256 months and events. There you go. So that that was there. And then for planning our September 8th board meeting, Mr. Do you have any follow-ups? >> Uh, yeah. So, under communication, I did have an attachment. So, one of the pieces of feedback that made the board table during my evaluation was have a more regularly scheduled calendar of updates um for the board. And so LinkedIn, you'll see um by department and
065by building who will be coming to provide you with a five to 10 minute update and what meetings they'll be coming uh to. And so, you know, there may be some changes here and there, but you'll see that you'll be um getting an update from each department uh three times per year. And then you'll be getting a update from each building three times per year. Um, and then we'll provide additional updates as needed, but at least that way you're getting something on a very regular basis that's scheduled out. So hopefully that matches uh with what you were looking for, but it definitely gives more opportunity for engagement with our leaders uh but also give you a chance to get a better sense of what's happening. Um, and then also under communication I listed the district
066events. So that's the annual calendar of everything right now that's in the schedule that's in the queue. Um, and so that's a like Heidi said, that's a pretty significant document. But as you'll as you'll watch, you know, you'll get this in board every month. you know, you'll see these large groups of items being, you know, uh, crossed out because we're going to move really quickly through that list and before we know it, it's going to be March, uh, or April or the end of the year. Um, so that'll be an ongoing piece of information, communications you use for your planning. Uh, and then lastly, we did get communication over the summer. Um it actually went to my spam and to Barb's spam. They got a new person working at MASB. Um the call to delegates
067is um something that we do on an annual basis. Uh they want our representative from Cedar Springs to be identified for the fall conference um by October 2nd. Uh and so in order for us to get uh that completed, we've got the the one meeting in September. So communication side of things, if you're interested in being the representative for Cedar Springs Public Schools, uh at the fall delegate assembly, um please be thinking about that. And then we'll um take action. It'll be presented for discussion and then also for action at the September meeting. So that way we can meet their timeline for October too. Typically it's the end of October. And so we have a variet a number of meetings that we can use to discuss it, but they've bumped up their uh requirement or
068their request to on February 2nd. I don't know if they moved their conflicts ahead a little bit this year or what, but that'll be on the table for both discussion and action in September. That's it. There we have it. We don't have to planning the course. We conclude our agenda. So we know our business reports the same return as 718.