001e e e everybody at 7 o'clock we'll call the order the regular meeting of the claron Board of Education if you could all please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I Ali 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 Mrs mlan if you could please call the RO Mr here Mrs here Mrs mcginness here Mr Clark here mrsan here Mrs cran here Mr here we are all here this meeting is a meeting of the board of education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and it's not to be considered a community public hearing there is a time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in agenda items three and nine
002item two is approval of the consent agenda may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approves the consent agenda as presented support motions made and supported one of the items does require a roll call so Mrs mlan if you could please called the role again Mrs PR yes Mrs mcginness yes Mr Clark yes Mrs love yes Mr H yes Mrs yes Mr yes motion carried thank you item three is your first opportunity for the public to address the board you're given two opportunities to address the board under this item item 3.1 you can request to address the board on any topic that's on tonight's agenda which is displayed on the screen behind me and available at the table and then under item nine you're welcome to address the board on
003any topic we ask that you sign in there was a sign up sheet on the uh just inside the doors there when making comments please state your name and address direct your comments here to the board president each person may speak for up to 2 minutes and per established procedures the board will not respond to questions or interact with the speak during public comment although we may refer the matter to our Administration for followup so can somebody uh grab the sign up sheet thank you Mrs mlan thank you okay we have several requests to address the board and agenda item 6.3 and we will call on you when we get to that topic on the agenda item four is our superintendent update Dr Ryan thank you pres H good evening Community I a lot of
004Updates this evening dealing with sports and music as we end our our seasons for the winter um lots to celebrate here in Clarkston starting with our boys hockey team they won the district backto back and Regional champs this year our bowling team is the league Champs and four of our Bowlers Advanced to the state finals our wrestlers were Regional and District Champs nine individuals qualified for states with archer Anderson named state champion and coach Brian GS receiving D1 coach of the year so congratulations to coach Gibbs and our wrestling team our boys and girls ski team both plays fourth in the in the state championship coach Brian popular was named coach of the year and we have five swimmers and divers in the state finals later this week so busy week as these Seasons come
005to a close uh our cheer team are the district champs for the first time ever in Clarkson history and Coach Megan Collins was named coach of the year so obviously excellence in coaching and in our student performances um this past Friday I want to also congratulate our girls varsity basketball team and their huge win against Lake Oran I had the pleasure to sit not only with Mr call but with uh the lake Oran superintendent for that match and for those of you were there we were down roughly I think it was 18 or 20 points by halftime not to give the play byplay but it was one of the biggest best uh comebacks I had the opportunity to watch since I've been watching Clarks and sports the girls in one quarter in that third period
006completely brought it back and tied it up going into the fourth and then just with sheer will and determination for those of you who were there know exactly what I'm talking about those young ladies left it all on the courts and came away tied at the end of regulation went into overtime and pulled out the win for Clarkston girls basketball so I was so proud of the girls the tenacity the grit and uh a side bet I had with the lake orian superintendent so it kind of worked out on all avenues our girls team is actually playing tonight in leir against UDA Eisenhower that'll be a tough match which will be starting right now I think and then uh right now this moment and then hopefully uh they'll advance to continue in the regions not
007to knock on wood I'm going in further this week pretty exciting also this past weekend I had opportunity to listen to our bands uh were in competition at Festival that was h posted at Clarkson High School and when I left it was like midafternoon we had all ones which is the highest ranking for all of our music groups in Clarkston which is awesome and they carried it through to the end of the weekend so my uh congratulations go out to our music program and all the students involved and showing how smart and talented they are there um I'm still hugely impressed by site reading for those of you in the audience who don't know it where the students and director come into the room they don't know what piece of music they're going to play
008they get passed out blind envelopes they distribute it to them they have a couple minutes to like read hum look at the music uh anyway but they're not allowed to play their instruments and then cold they have to play it and uh I'm just amazed how kids can pick up an instrument and first time looking at music five minutes later be able to play it so I was so proud of our kids there um as per the usual I'm just so excited about all the different things that go in the way that our kids get out there and get involved and I want to keep encouraging everyone as we go into the spring season here whether it be track or any of the other uh sports that this week where things really start to get
009going um encourage your kids to go out try make some new friends engage um meet new people and get some exercise so all of it's really really good as well so that's the major part of the update and uh this week also brings parent teacher conferences at all our schools so go easy good luck and engage with your uh teachers and uh have a great week with that thank you Mr NE thank you Dr Ryan we have no presentation items tonight so we'll move in our action items item 6.1 is approval of our Personnel changes may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approves the Personnel changes as listed on the attached sheets support motions made and supported any questions from Mr luo or any comments seeing none all those
010in favor please signify by saying I I any oppos motion carried thank you item 6.2 is approval of our School of Choice programs let's start with Dr Ryan thank you the last meeting for those of you tuned in we presented both our various uh school choice programs that are selective like uh CSM Tech and other ones that are involving CLS and schools and we also presented a proposal for very limited Elementary um 75 students uh K5 uh to the Board of Education um since then we f it all questions related to it and uh this evening we're going to look for an approval so we can move forward into next year with this basically the same program that we had this year with it thank you the item we we have broken this down into
011two categories item 6.2.1 is approval of the limited enrollment for young FES in kindergarten may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approves the resolution authorizing The Limited open enrollment of young fives kindergarten through five fifth grade students for the year 202 526 as presented support motions made and supported questions or comments Mrs love yeah I would just like to make a comment uh I don't want to rely on this going forward um which is why I'm going to vote not tonight um I think our uh school should look how to attract students um in a different route and I feel like this could potentially lead lead to a slippery slope of adding more School of Choice um every year so I am going to vote no for that reason
012tonight thank you Mrs any other comments or questions just as a Mr a point of order there's is it three different resolutions two different resolutions well the resolution before us is for young fives in kindergarten is there another motion for the other ones we're doing them separately we're doing these separately okay we broke them out into two categories one is for the limited option for kindergarten for young fives and Kinder garden and then we have a one motion for all the unlimited open rural specialty programs okay got it any other comments or questions this does require a roll call vote Mrs mclan if you could please call the RO Mrs Ean yes Mrs crane yes Mr H higher yes Mrs love no Mr Clark yes Mrs mcginness yes Mr NE yes motion carried thank you
013item 6.2.2 is approval of the resolutions for the schools of choice options for various other programs CSM Tech International borate career immersion Construction technology online and Blended learning may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approves the resolutions authorizing unlimited open enrollment for the CSM Tech program International Borat diploma program career immersion programs construction technology program and online and Blended learning for the 2025 26 school year as presented is there support support motions made and supported any comments questions on the motion Mrs L I'm just going to make a comment I know I sound like a broken record but I do feel that we should make a different effort to attract students especially in the CSM Tech in the IB program it hasn't really increased in the years since I've
014been on the board it's been pretty stagnant and I would like to see A Better Effort to increase those numbers thank you any other comments or questions okay again this does require a roll call vote so Mrs mlan if you could please call again the rooll Mrs mcginness yes Mr Clark yes Mrs Egan yes Mrs love yes Mr hire yes Mrs crane yes Mr NE yes motion carried thank you item 6.3 is approval of the marching ban physical education proposal uh Dr Ryan I that Miss Mahoney would be giving the uh introduction to this but she had a family situation she had to go off and can be with us this evening so I'm going to do my best to pinch hint for her uh currently this evening we have a proposal um to put
015forward from the board that involves the utilization of marching ban several years of it to count for an elected PE credit uh the specifics of what will'll be outlined um by our representative from our marching band Mr Mike Lewis and uh we also have uh some information because this is would be coming from the PE angle as far as where the elective credit would be given and some concerns related to that from our PE Department we have Miss Katie Lambert's going to provide some information uh more in an abbreviated way than that was provided from our teaching learning Council uh for those in the audience and for those just at home watching our teaching learning Council for the district is a body of roughly 60 some individuals that represents subject car coordinat from various all
016the subject areas administrators parents um see teachers of different you know it's it's kind of a broad we have a couple students that sit in on it uh it's it's a broad representative group but it's definitely usually that the items that we bring as part of that group here before the Board of Education are you know approval of a textbook for Spanish and uh it's usually universally supported um nearly if not all 100% of the individuals that are part of that TLC team vote on it um this one is a little different it's not specifically in line with a textbook purchase or a specific curriculum but more of looking at credit granted within the program um to that end that's why we had at the meeting a little bit of a longer presentation by Miss
017Lambert Mr Lewis outlining um their thoughts related to this proposal and it did come U to a TLC vote electronically and when we counted all the ballots that way we're actually actually you know they automatically appear on your screen be honest here it was by razor thin margin a little over 50% voted to approve that for the marching Ban two years to account for that elected PE credit um there is history of that being done in the past is maybe some board members have sitting here a long time but we have not done that in many years and uh this evening my hope is to provide again an abbreviated um presentation by each of those individuals and then an opportunity for our Board of Education to ask any questions and also obviously some individuals that
018have signed up to address the board on this topic so it comes as a as as a recommendation by the margin that I outlined and it's up for now for the Board of Education review to add their own um either questions and judgment to this decision as relates to our educational community so at this time I guess I would introduce Mr Mike Lewis I'm sorry pointing to me okay and he has approximately 10 minutes to kind of go over some highlights all right so starting with our our first slide here this is a record of the enrollment in the high school band program um since 2003 um very confident in in the accuracy of these numbers so you can kind of Follow that along and as you see over the last number of years we've
019had a considerable decline in the enrollment numbers U that we've had if you actually worked the math here it's actually uh close to a 40% enrollment uh 35 I think it was um% decline in the enrollment over the years so we're trying to find ways uh to increase that we know the students would like to stay involved uh but it's just a matter of finding ways that they they can do that and fit in um all the elective choices and AP classes and everything that the students would like to also participate in um at the high school so the proposal that was put forth is students that participate in a combination of two seasons of marching band or wintergard would rece receive a waiver for a05 credit of PE this would cover only the PE
020elective portion of the requirement so not the PE Health um component of that so the students would still be um have a PE requirement during their high school years um there uh with March man being a co-curricular activity this proposal would make it easier for the students to fit in everything in their schedule over their four-year career allow them to remain in band Orchestra or choir while still allowing them to take additional elective courses um non-elective courses or AP classes uh a number of the band students might be enrolled for example in three AP classes in any given semester at the high school a large portion of them are or um I would guess uh close to 80% of them take two sometimes uh trying to get in more than that of a foreign language
021um while they're there so it's just that's the type of students that are they're trying to get in these these higher level level courses or many of them are trying to get in these higher level courses so this will help uh alleviate the the scheduling Log Jam that the students run into um while still trying to take that rigorous schedule um in addition students in Clarkston are already able to wave PE and the Fine Art elective requirement U by taking other approved courses so this is a a policy uh that we have in place as far as a W for for many classes for the students already um if they are you know meeting you know these requirements for instance two years of foreign language they can get their Fine Arts um requirement waved uh
022by the State of the State of Michigan requirement so it's it's already something that's in place at the high school um from directly from the Michigan Merit curriculum law the one half credit of physical education may also be awarded by the school district or Public School Academy for Approved participation in extracurricular activities or other extracurricular activities involving physical activity and a district May determine what extracurricular activities involving physical activity may be used as credit towards the physical education requirement so this is something that is allowed for school districts um across the state of Michigan and many do actually have this um just so you understand the amount of activity that students are involved in um you know as far as hours the total number of hours that a student spends at marching band in either
023rehearsal or performance is approximately 216 hours in a typical marching manner Winter Guard season uh this number of hours is much greater than the number of hours that they would be in a typical class um at the high school in any given semester definitely justifying the waiver for the students here's a short video um just to give you a little bit of background on what exactly this entails if I can hit you got it musical skills and a flare for performing are essential to drum coure but the physical and mental demands of marching rival that of well- conditioned athletes these kids make what they do look easy it is not we put a device oning that allowed us to measure how hard is working his metabolic R the one it actually measures is his oxygen
024consumption his carbon dioxide production the amount of air that he breeds in addition to the heart rate and it set the dmetry to a computer that does the calculation that tells us how much energy he's expending I curiosity let's go ahead and put your drum set on just to see how that all works if you look right now his values are going to start going up simply because this drum kits almost 30% more addition to your body weight you remember when we were watching from the sidelines your heart rate was shooting up as soon as they start playing even though you didn't even have your drugs on at that time his heart rate went up to 18 be per minute and he hadn't done anything it's just like the athletes hearing the gun go off
025this is being driven by probably in the sympathetic part of the nervous system you can think of it as an adrenaline rush and he's used to as soon as he hears those notes he's used to r in the middle of performance and so that kicks in the body was ready for that even though he's standing alongside we have high heart rat forance and it actually doesn't vary a lot your heart rate was up over 200 beats per minute what did mirror the activity on the field was the oxygen consumption it got as high very briefly as 40 ml per kg per minute now what does that mean that's about 13 14 times his resting metabolic rate [Music] the little black cros hatches are the heart rate response the little red squares are the oxygen consumption
026the oxygen consumption is generally about what it would be during the middle of a marathon for a well framed run who's halfway through amerathon if you look at the heart rate though you would think that you were looking at someone who's running a 400 or 800 M Dash maximum so he's working very very hard out there now what we were seeing was a heart rate that went up and stayed of and I suspect that's because of the performance portion because we saw that heart rate response alongside the field even though he wasn't performing that alone tells me that the music in and of itself and his reaction to it is having an effect on his heart rate and that's what kind of tipped us off there's something different about these guys these performers work very
027hard but they're also doing an amazing amount of work that most find very stressful and this stress encompasses everything from doing music correctly doing correctly handling he as well as just PL wow thanks to the Cavaliers Jordan Thomas for letting us wire him up for our it's not going on from here heidy let me get thank you all right so potential impact on the PD Department anytime an elective um anything comes up Us in the elective Department get a little bit nervous when it comes to this cuz um you know we're all there's only so many students at Clarkson High School so we're definitely uh Curious how what the impact is going to be on our department um currently there are approximately 100 students that participate in March B each year spread out over four
028years of high school this would only impact class sizes by less than 8 students per class uh this would likely be much lower as the number of some of the students uh that are in the high school band are still going to elect to to take a PE class during their High School career for for instance I have many athletes at the high school at least a third to half of the students that are in the Band program alone are also on various athletic teams um you know multiple throughout the year so it's not a situation where they don't enjoy taking a PE so I think many of these students are still going to so that point a will actually be much less than that as what I would excuse me expect uh some students
029also only participate in one year marching man so they would not qualify for the waiver as well uh schools in our area that already offer this PE waiver for marchu man this is actually a fairly common uh waiver around the state of Michigan uh Rochester has a 0.5 PE waiver for two years of marching band or School sport Bloomfield Hills 05 PE waver for 2 years of marching band Waterford .5 PE waiver 2 years of marching band Rockford .5 PE waiver for two years of marching B marching band excuse me and they can also apply for a waiver for outside athletic activities here on Valley a 0.5 PE waiver for any combination of four seasons of marching man Winter Guard winter drum line or School sanction sport Lon Cruz a05 PE waiver for three years
030of marching band Lake Orient a05 PE waiver for one year of marching band uh wal lake has a liberal use of the personal curriculum for instance students taking AP courses all the way through 4 years years of a foreign language uh four years of math and four years of man if they're doing all of that uh UDA 0.5 PE waiver for two years of marching band Ferndale 0.5 PE waiver two years of marching band Brighton .5 PE for two years Cedar Springs a 0.5 waiver for two years of marching band two seasons of a sport can Al can be different sports and band band can also be used as a second year of foreign languages a waiver that they have in place there and then one I just found out above excuse me over the
031weekend uh earling height Stevenson uh is a 0.5 PE waiver for two years of marching man as well so as you can see it's a very very common waiver around this around the state uh benefits of music education uh and these are all from studies and the the sources for these are at the end of the presentation um music education uh has an enhanced language capabilities for those that participate improve memory strengthen hand eye coordination powerful study habits uh teamwork mental processing and problem solving is heightened and music triggers pleas pleasure in the brain excess cortisol uh fuels your stress your stress levels and music can help keep that in check and music also helps to boost the feel-good chemicals in the in their brains as well uh so music is an emotional release music
032grounds you in the present music distracts you from stressors it Fosters creativity and it facilitates connection amongst the students and I know we talk a lot about the whole child and you know the stress that the students are going in this is a a definite uh stress or a way of helping the students reduce those levels of stress uh through their High School career five cognitive benefits of Music training concentration self-discipline empathy self-esteem and protection against age related decline I'm sure some of you have seen uh this studies that are being done with Alzheimer's now and the benefits that music has for those patients as well so it's not just students younger students it's it's all through uh so the students being involved in that at a younger age is actually going to help them
033as they as they mature as well and from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology musicians brains were vastly more structurally and functionally connected than non-musicians especially in the areas of the brain responsible for speech and sound especially the auditory cortices of both hemispheres the musical group also showed stronger connections from the auditory cortices to the other brain areas in the frontal parietal and temporal cortex known to be involved in the control of higher cognitive functions like memory working memory and executive functions and the Neuroscience research at the Royal conserva of Music in chirano Canada shows that uh music and art have a proven impact a positive impact in many ways encourages the verbal and non excuse me non-verbal self-expression of thoughts and feelings helps people process and work through pain and or traum traumatic experiences facilitates
034positive self-esteem promotes a sense of Independence feelings of control and problem solving skills creates and retrieves memories through music and art experiences teaches effective techniques to self-manage depression stress Stress and Anxiety which I know is very important amongst our youth facilitates hand hand eye coordination and gross motor skills while easing muscle tension raises awareness and orientation to things such as time date and place increases attention span and decreases frustration levels provides an opportunity to enhance imagination to be creative and to have fun creates a stronger neural connections improves memory and attention and improves reading listening and critical thinking skills which I'm sure you would agree are very important for our students and then in uh closing here we all know who Einstein is the theory of relativity this is his quote occurred to me by
035intuition and music is the driving force behind this intuition my parents had me study the violin from the time I was six my new discovery is a direct result of musical perception um the next video we're not going to watch right now um but you guys can take a moment when you want to um it's a the winner Guard from uh last year the state finals group if you ever would like to take a chance to to watch that it'll be there in ailable for you so thank you very much thank you Mr Lewis what we'll do is we will have questions from Mr Lewis if the board has any we'll then hear from Miss Lambert ask her questions I'll then ask for a motion we will hear from the public and then bring it
036back to the board for your comments and deliberation okay any questions at this time for Mr Lewis Mrs Lo um I have a question about the declining enrollment yes um I'm a little confused at the chart I have here because there's two sections um and it says marching band numbers at the bottom um and it says Heidi can you go back to the first screen just so I'm looking at what she is thank you so the the numbers at the top are the enrollment in the band classes during the day uhhuh the numbers at the bottom are just some additional information this was the size of the marching manand in each of each of the years as you can see it's it somewhat coincides with the numbers um not every student that's in the high
037school band program is in the marching band um I would say probably I'm going to roughly say a quarter to a third of the high school band students are not in the marching band though we do have some Coral students and some Orchestra students as well so those that's also why those numbers aren't going to line up exactly with that okay but marching band numbers went up from 23 to 24 uh just a little bit yes yeah we had a larger class that came in and do you think that this would help enrollment numbers having this waiver um I'm Le I think it could um I'm less concerned with the marching man enrollment numbers more concerned with the students being able to fit it into their schedule but I think it will have it will
038definitely help in both areas yeah I know we have a number of students every year that when it comes time to doing their schedule they're trying to fit everything together and you know as I mentioned before a lot of our students want to take you know three AP classes a semester um you know all the way through so getting that puzzle to fit together um is a little tricky um so we we feel questions from students and parents every year regarding this Mrs begines president need I just want to clarify on page 46 of our package which starts with the heading marching ban proposal the middle Square says allowing them to remain in ban Orchestra choir are we only talking about marching ban or are we talking about ban Orchestra and choir we are talking
039about the waiver applying only to those students who are in marching band it will have an impact on students that are in band Orchestra and choir because we do have a few students in orchestra that are also in the marching band um for instance um I think there's about four or five uh students in the orchestra that are in our Color Guard um some students that are in the percussion section as well kind of learning an additional instrument um and over the years we've had um a number of choir students as well involved in the same capacity though that number May fluctuate a little bit from year to year so I'm to understand that even though you outline Orchestra and choir those students also have in common that they are in the marching band Yes
040this waiver would only be if they were enrolled in those two years of marching band Winter Guard anything else from Mr Lewis okay thank you Mr Lewis right thank you and we you will hear now from M lanord good evening good evening I got to make sure I don't go too loud here thank you for having me this evening I'm Katie Lambert I'm a subject coordinator for PE and health um so physical education I am here um on behalf of my department the brain is only as healthy as the body that carries it so the Michigan Merit curriculum law um I've been in our district for 20 years and this proposal is new it is not something that has been approved in the last 20 years of my career um if you notice students with
041rigorous schedules can modify with a personal curriculum and that is already in place for our students here in Clarkson Community Schools while other districts allow substitutions not all districts do that especially here in Oakland County um each pupil attending public schools in the state who is physically fit and capable of doing so shall take a course in physical education I want to talk about the numbers just to make sure that we are comparing comping Apples to Apples so as I looked at the numbers at TLC it was brought that marching band numbers are dropping but so are the amount of students in our enrollment through TW 10th through 12th grade so there are lower marching band numbers but we also have lower enrollment as a whole so when I did the calculations it's really only
042a two 2% decrease and here in Clarkson Community Schools we really want to make sure that we have well-rounded students and citizens and and we should not be providing One content area at the exclusion of another when I looked at our community survey that was given in 2024 the top three survey results were that we recruit and retain highly qualified staff we prepare students to use life skills After High School and that we address mental concerns of staff and students the number one survey result was that our community wants to retain and recruit highly qualified staff band and Marchin band directors are highly qualified to teach band not physical education now there's no denying that marching band has many benefits for our students there's no argument that a drum me line member is exerting energy
043equivalent to a workout the argument lies in the type of instruction the student is receiving in an educational setting rather than a practice setting physical activity and physical education are not the same thing marching band can be very impressive but it is not the same as physical education marching band emphasizes on musical skills precise movements and visual storytelling it is aligned more with Performing Arts than physical education the training focuses on music and drills and instrumental techniques it's not the same type of physical conditioning that is received in a physical education to setting our PE teachers have undergrad and graduate Advanced degrees in content specific areas they are highly qualified to teach physical education activities and courses such as marching band do not meet the requirement and the recommended physical activity guidelines by our state
044and National standards marching bands carrying instruments that are large such as drums they are only using 9.5 minutes of their daily activity and students carrying lighter instruments are only moderately to intensely Physically Active for 8.3 minutes and this is t a survey physical activity versus physical education physical activity is different from physical education you can go out and cut your lawn and you are doing physical activity but you are not meeting the state standards and National requirements all students with the opportunity to learn motor skills developing Fitness gaining an understanding and importance of lifelong physical activity should be given that opportunity in our High School a high quality physical education is characterized by a standards-based instruction and it includes moderate to vigorous activity for at least 50% of the class time but not at the
045expense of skill development or high quality instruction our physical education program k 12 follows appropriate instructional practices and we are developmentally appropriate for the physical cognitive and social needs of all of our students physical activity is something that you do physical fitness is something you acquir the Michigan Department of Education states that physical education enhances memory improves concentration increases problem solving ability it is a critical aspect of our students growth and development here in Clarkson Community Schools we value whole school whole Community whole child music is not part of the 10 components but health and physical education are we want well-rounded students and citizens and again we should not be providing One content area at the exclusion of others we want our students to have active Lifestyles we want them to have a wide variety
046of physical activities we want to benefit their health and development for the whole person long after they leave us as they graduate from Clarkson schools or Renaissance High School PE again is only one component of whole school whole Community whole child model physical education is a tier one Intervention when we are utilizing the multi-tier system of support it is also a tier 2 inter vention for struggling students substantial evidence has shown that children and young people are less active now than ever the instructional programs in physical education are essential for building their skills advancing their knowledge and contributing to their disposition towards physical activity at all stages of their life here's a quick overview of that whole school whole Community whole child model I fear that we will have a school culture shift with the
047elimination of the mandatory PE elective we could have a decrease in students physical activity level without dedicated PE time during the school day students are more likely to become seditary increasing the risk of obesity and other negative health issues students do not learn the fundamentals of an active Health lifestyle in within their school day they would be at a loss we could have a negative impact on Mental Health regular physical activity is linked to improving mood reduces stress removing PE could negatively affect students overall well-being social isolation PE often provides opportunity for students to interact and build relationships with peers from different social groups which can be dism diminished without this the culture shift will be pronounced negatively and it will negatively affect the Clarks in high school students we can see lower self-esteem for
048some students some students struggle with ph physical activity and may not gain the confidence to be physically active for life would it not be for their involvement in our physical act education environment which impacts them on a daily basis we don't want to have a reduction in a sense of community within our high school these are the courses that are offered at Clarkson High School as their elective we have racket Sports and Leisure and when we look at this slide I want you to think about lifelong how many of you engage in pickleball or tennis or a racket Sport and we're building those foundations right there in our high school we have individual Fitness and individual training and we have Stress Management regular participation in any of our elective classes allows them to build a
049foundation for lifelong physical activity we build agility and coordination and strength we Foster self- motivation and discipline we promote relaxation techniques and how to deal with stressors within their school day and within their lives loss of FTE as our enrollment has declined and there are less and less options for our students at Clarkson High School and if we're only looking at the students in front of us we need to think of the big picture if we do this PE electives could be reduced even further over the course of the last few year years we have lost lifeguard training classes we ran that class successfully for many years we lost an FTE our pool is no longer in use our students no longer have a career pathway to become lifeguards in the summer within our walls
050because we no longer are running that class we have lost female team sports baseball softball volleyball Tech and recreational activities this doesn't just deny the students that are in the marching band that choose not to take the electives but it also would be a loss for all students if we no longer have the classes or the teachers to run the classes the opportunities are no longer there for all it is really important that we make sure that we are here to service all students of Clarks and Community Schools and give them as many opportunities as we can to find their passion for physical fitness for Life obesity obesity has more than tripled since 1970 this survey and this data comes from 2023 21.2% of 12 to 19 year olds are considered obese Michigan is one
051of the states with the highest obesity rates at above 35% we are trying to give kids the tools to stay active long after their time here in Clarkson Community Schools we want to create lifelong Learners we want them to find something that they're passionate about that they can engage in long after they leave our schools our PE electives give them those opportunities they they allow them to try new things they allow them to gain confidence physical education releases endorphins during the school day it releases stress it can help improve moods it can enhance cognitive functioning thank you thank you Miss Lambert questions from Miss Lambert M mcginness I have a slew of questions it may go back and forth so bear with me can a student test out a PE in they can do we
052have a zero hour available for PE we do not at this time I would ask the administration this question do you know of about how many students we have that are tier one or tier two students currently in marching ban all students are tier one all of our students are tier one students when we look at the at the tiered level well how many tier one receiving interventions so St I don't I wouldn't have that information on if you could follow up I'd like to know that number or if Mr Lewis knows that number of his staff or approximately under five or over five would be helpful or 10 U I can't say this 100% sure but I would guess in the neighborhood of about 10 to 15 dos okay um uh do we currently
053track the reason why a student may drop marching ban um I don't why they would track or excuse me drop marching band a lot of that is student choice on whether or not they would drop marching B but the class during the day uh we keep an eye on that and in any given year you know the number is going to change typical say 8th grade to 9th grade um could be anywhere from 5 to 15 students that Dro because of scheduling conflicts when wanting to fit that in so that's that was the reason behind this proposal yes so I'm hearing you say your your belief is the number one reason would be scheduling conflict yes okay um I have one more question here somewhere we currently deliver PE kindergarten through 12th grade correct okay
054those are my questions any other questions Mr H um it's my understanding this is this B would receive an extra half credit this is just a waiver for the half credit p is that correct they would not be taking the PE class correct but they don't get that credit they don't get that so they're not graduating any earlier based on this they're still taking a class in that slot no they only need 22 credits in which they have 24 spots to achieve those over four years yeah they still would be taking it a different class in that spot yes got it thank you Mrs Ean yeah do we um do we teach nutrition as part of the PE program we do we do nutrition in our eighth grade health program okay y eth grade all
055right um do we know the obesity rate here in clarkon I don't I do not have the information for specifically right here in Clarkson I don't have any figures to that related directly right what is the test out for PE um there's a physical portion and a written portion for physical education test out but that would be the test out for the physical education and health class that they can take between 9th and 12th grade you see electives don't have a test out I'm going to turn that Anthony which one Stress Management I'm sorry Stress Management has a test out and that is also a physical in written yes okay thanks so the physical test out is that years ago um my daughter wanted to test out she had to pass the Presidential Fitness that
056would be for the PE Health Credit correct the national standards how many students meet that we all I don't have those numbers in front of me but we don't often have a lot of kids that even attempt the test out um I would say probably Mr G to 10 10 that want to test out how many succeed and then um the loss of your full-time PE do you attribute that to the declining enrollment that we're experiencing here in our district I I could be that could be um I know that we had three sections slated to take that lifeguard class at the high school at they when they scheduled last year and then we didn't fill the void of somebody that was WSI certified to then run that class do we have opportunity for any
057students to take any of these during the summer online online okay thank you any other questions okay well the action item is item 6.3 before we get to public comment and board comments can I have a motion please it's page 27 of your package I move that the Board of Education approves 2 years of marching band to count as the equivalent of one half credit of a fiscal education elective as presented support motions made and supported do any board members wish to make comments before we call on the public I I'll wait um I'm a little disappointed on how we've handled this I think graduation requirement waiver is strictly in the board's purview I don't think this is a curricular change at all um we've done this before um in the not so distant past
058um I think there's been this might be slightly harsh for me to say this but like I think there's been hours wasted in going through the motions of this proposal where I I think it's extremely simple I don't know why we have The Angst around this I think it's extremely simple to say hey if you're taking ban for four years you're going to struggle to fit some other things in your schedule and if you could fit an AP class or another academic class or any class that you might want um you know I think that's a very positive thing where you know certainly only part of PE is physical activity but it is a substantial part and and I think all of the mental health components if some student stays in band for four years
059I I think that's covered so I I don't see The Angst I'm sorry that we've had to go through this process it's super simple and straightforward to me you know not something that I think requires a lot of um depth to it it makes a lot of sense to me thank you Mr Hyer anybody else from the board before we call in public well I would agree with Mr Hyer um I do think that allowing this to move forward gives our students the choice if if they want to be in band then um they can take a summer class in nutrition or um Stress Management I mean they have some options if they are they want to take the PE elective instead or they're struggling because they want to manage band and um AP classes
060I know my daughter her senior year did not play in the senior level band even though she could have um she just couldn't play at the time it was I think Sansa but she couldn't play in it because of an AP class that conflicted with it so she had a choice and uh she played with Juniors it was fun but um I I I like giving our kids the opportunity to make a choice what they want to do let them select what they want and when they want to take these classes so okay we do have several individuals that wish to address the board on this topic beginning with and I apologize I know I'm going to butcher this name Teresa Renault no that's fine uh Teresa Renault of 379 Warwick Trail Grand Blank uh
061I'm a teacher here in Clarkson I've been here 25 years um I have some concerns about the decision to make marching band which is an after school activity of physical education credit I do understand that the desire to recognize the physical demands of marching band um I am concerned that the decision may have unintended consequences on both the band program itself and the broader School culture making marching band a PE credit could alter its traditional value and cultural significance many students choose marching band because they are passionate about music and the Arts not because it's considered a physical activity by labeling marching band as a PE credit you risk reducing the value of the band as an artistic and academic Pursuit you will also be altering the current culture of Clarkson Community Schools uh students
062will be further divided as they will have fewer opportunities to interact with peers specifically in the Physical Realm uh who are coming from differing backgrounds and experiences uh these interactions are essential for building empathy and understanding across all School groups without exposure to diverse perspectives students can develop uh stereotypes misunderstandings about others some of these stereotypes can be dispelled in elective PE classes PE class classes bring students together from various extracurriculars including band Athletics theater art stem construction Etc uh this helps students to realize that despite different interests and Pursuits they can still relate collaborate and support one another uh it breaks down the barriers that often exist between differing social groups within our school uh PE classes allow students who may not be involved in music to work alongside band students fostering greater understanding
063and appreciation for one another's strengths this shared experience helps to dispel the notion that there is a lack of respect or understanding between the athletic and the artistic student populations separating students into non-diverse groups often mirrors existing social racial and economic divides when students are kept apart it becomes harder to break down prejudices and improve our school culture you would be preventing meaningful dialogue about Shar sh challenges social issues and asking questions about UNAM unfamiliar Traditions or activities the Cultural Literacy will suffer um I'm asking wind up your comments please the what we have you have two minutes so you're a little I had one sentence if you could just wind up oh I'm done yeah okay um I'm I tried to time um I'm asking you to vote no on allowing the after school
064activity of band to count as a physical education elective class thank you thank you very much next we have Anthony tiamina name and address and you have two minutes please thank Youk good evening members of the board my name is Anthony taramina I am a physical education teacher at Clarkson High School I started teaching in Clarkson uh 2012 and I arrived at CHS in 2022 uh my goal has been uh since I arrived at the high school my goal has been to create a safe environment for all Learners to grow physically and mentally I'm here to emphasize the importance of physical education and why extracurricular activities such as marching band should not count as a PE elective credit physical education is designed to promote lifelong health and wellness it provides structured instruction in Fitness strength
065training cardiovascular endurance flexibility and injury prevention none of which are explicitly taught in extracurricular activities like marching band PE helps students acquire motor cognitive Fitness and social emotional skills that enable them to live active Healthy Lifestyles bottom line is physical education is not physical activity students are learning how to be active they're learning about the physical capacities of fitness and how to live a healthy active Lifestyles while we want well-rounded students we should not prioritize One content area over another they serve two different purposes in fact students need physical education to develop the strength and endurance required uh to participate in activities like marching band successfully replacing PE with marching band increases liabilities and risks unlike PE which is taught by certified instructor is trained in injury prevention and proper conditioning if a student gets
066hurt in the ban while receiving a PE credit who is responsible approving this approving the substitution exposes direct direct unnecessary risks additionally granting the PE credit for marching band sets dangerous precedent what about other activities like Varsity Sports or club sports while these activities require physical effort they do not provide a comprehensive education and injury prevention strategies that are that are structured in the PE class uh that PE classes Ensure physical education prepares students for lifelong Health not just temporary physical activity weakening the PE requirements by allowing substitutions compromises student safety lowers educational standards and increases liability concerns I urge the board to protect the Integrity of the PE department and keep it as a core part of our students education thank you for your time and commitment uh to the well-being of our students
067in our district thank you very much next we have Jane senson good evening good evening Jane senson 8240 Caribou Trail I'm a I am a freshman coral and general music education major at Central Michigan University and a 2024 graduate of Clarkson High School um as my major tocks I have a deep love and appreciation for the Arts and I'm also a person who doesn't enjoy conventional music education classes however having the requirement and opportunity to take Stress Management as a class my senior year of high school was had a immense positive impact on my mental and my physical health as someone who has struggled with anxiety disorders my entire life Stress Management taught me tactics to meditate through my anxieties and breathe and different breathing exercises to calm my nerves that therapy has never even
068taught me all these all these tools have stuck with me and I still try to work them into my daily practices even at college and through this class I learned how important it is to be in tune with your inner self I also met so many amazing friends that I still talk to even when I'm in college these people come from all different backgrounds of sports and Athletics and different classes that we take I would never have interacted with on my day-to-day basis and this helped bridge the gap between people that I associate myself with and if I were solely in a band class or in a choir class and not any other electives I may not have had the chance to get to know these people that I call my friends this class also
069got my body moving multiple days a week we would engage in Pilates yoga hit workouts and all these different types of exercises to find out what worked for you to find out what you enjoy to hopefully one day later in life find an exercise that you want to continue doing and without this class I would have never figured out what I enjoyed doing and if I had the option to not take this class and to take an arts class instead I can guarante you I would have taken that and that would have taken away the opportunity to figure out how much I love yoga it's so much fun and kids need this opportunity in this day and age anxiety and depression rates are through the roof and finding these tactics through Stress Management is something
070that I will cherish down in my heart forever because it really has helped me and you guys remember how challenging High School is it it's awful and so providing a space where kids can learn how to cope with these stressors and how to take care of their bodies is a GameChanger and taking away that opportunity and requirement for CHS students would be a huge loss can you wind up your comment got it overall I believe having this requirement and opportunity to take Stress Management is vital to keep in the high school replacing PE collectives with marching band would take away the ability for kids to realize the benefit that having that having this opportunity could have on them later in life and hopefully it would have the positive impact on them that it did on
071me thank you thank you very much next we have Dane white what they good evening Dane white uh 65 north oal Clarkston um so so from a student perspective uh overall I believe that taking a music class starting in sixth grade all the way through your 12th grade year um gives you all these benefits and lifelong skills that um can really pursue and help you throughout your entire career um and this does not mean you have the major in a music uh career outside um after your high school career and with these lifelong skills um with being a huge work ethic a great uh structure throughout your daily life um just all this can really play in with everyday in music because you are working starting in sixth grade with over 30 to 40 people
072every single day including your music director that can really help you and benefit you with these lifelong skills such early in life and I even know um in my graduating class alone really when we think about 8th n9th and 10th grade with uh trying to fit in every single class with um all of our curriculum requirements I know that there could have at least been 8 to 12 people in band um and I bet even throughout different uh music classes as well that could have stayed in the music program um and really continued with these lifelong skills um to build out through this including um having just the choice of this option with this PE waiver with with marchy man outside was starting all the way in August um all the way through November and
073or even in July starting then so um I just really believe that this is a great opportunity um for kids to still uh fit in everything that they want to and have that choice um if they want to still take a PE elective they can um and I think that's just a great opportunity for this waiver so thank you thank you very much apprciate uh next we have ER deler Ortiz and again I apologize if I didn't get that right hi my name is AER Ortiz um 81 way dearwood and I'm coming to you on behalf of my son lcas Ura he's an 11th grade student in the marching band this is his second year he needs the choice my son was bully and I remember him being in sixth grade trying to figure out
074what to do next because he was being bullied in a PE class and nothing was done for him he cannot stand the idea of having to take a PE class right now so for the the past few years we keep postponing it and knowing that we are going into 12th grade next year trying to figure out what's the best choice for him we tell them that they need to make their own choices that they need to live their own experiences that they need to have all these tools well guess what he found his strive he found his tools he enjoys music why should he be put through having to take a class that brought that bad stuff to him I don't think so so so it's just a choice it's not putting one thing over
075another it's letting the kids make the choice to make them be comfortable and happy he's happy he's healthy he has lost over 20 lbs and he enjoys playing his throm bone every day his grades have improved he has a great GP I don't see why we have to choose or make them Force One thing over the other we want them to get independence because they're getting older once they go to college there will be other opportunities they can choose other activities but he is happy and I don't want my son to be exposed to something that will make him unhappy just to check a box or to make somebody else comfortable I think that's an opportunity for him to choose what he wants to do and he wants to do music let him do music
076let him do what he needs to do without having this requirement hanging over his head like a dead sentence he should be able able to choose what's best for him thank you thank you very much uh next we have Jen Welch good evening evening uh my name is Jennifer Welch and I live at 6367 w Center Drive um I'm a Clarkson teacher I'm also a coach and I'm a parent of two Clarkson Community School students um as a teacher in Clarkson I believe that we are meant to support one another in all of our fields to benefit the whole child um but by trying to have something take from one Department to another which essentially this is going to do I think we're creating more to divide in our in our act C in our
077particular areas um instead of unifying our students uh in our PE settings we do have uh students from all backgrounds like Janie even talked about uh where they get the opportunity to work together and learn how to cooperate with one another whether they are a band student an art student um somebody who is in Steam um but we're really just trying to get these students to work together together and when we allow students to um step away from an area we're we're not allowing that to happen so um I'm really I'm really hoping you guys um think about that and and say no thank you very much that is the list of citizens that wanted to address the board on this topic so we'll bring it back to the board comments Mr Clark as as
078someone was there another one okay well once come on up I'm sorry we'll get to you in a moment Mr Clark thank you y ladies and gentlemen of the board I appreciate your time I name is Steven Winnington um I live on dearwood road I have two children who attended who attend clarkon schools my oldest is currently a percussionist in the eighth grade band I was extremely surprised to learn that students in clarkon no longer have the opportunity to earn a PE credit for participating in the marching band I date myself here but I'm a 1995 Clarkson graduate and I participated in the marching band for three years uh I played my great grandfather's trombone interesting factoid he was a jazz musician in Chicago in the 1940s and the 1930s and I earned a PE
079credit I don't know when that changed but it's a disservice to Clarkston students in my mind marching band is extremely active it requires extended periods of physical activity flexibility strength and endurance during hot summer months at band camp and bit bitter cold football games in the fall Archard band is a serious commitment students spend hours upon hours learning a physical routine memorizing music and meeting together day after day after school hours to perfect a seamless integration of moving pieces and then present shows every weekend at band festivals and during home uh game halftime shows as someone who did it for 3 years I can attest to the fact that it is hard hard work and it's fulfilling you learn teamwork camaraderie sportsmanship the value of practice and the rewards of preparation and the pride of
080representing Clarkston schools based on my limited research it's repetitive I learn now is that since 2017 the Michigan Merit curriculum has allowed school districts to award the credit for marching Bank other school districts have come to learn uh allow students to earn PE credit for marching now I'm not here to criticize PE far from it PE is important I recognize that that is not for debate in my mind give Mr W you're a little overtime if you could wrap up your comments please the band students who take PE will be able to to but the ones who want to use their limited electives in a different ways should have the flexibility uh to explore other interests such as technology foreign language after all there are so many hours in a school day so I implore
081the board please give our students the same opportunity in Clarkson that they do in other places and the same opportunity that I had when I went here thank you Mr W I appreciate it I apologize you did sign up I thought you had crossed your name off so but thank you for your comments Mr Clark as uh someone that was in the band in uh middle school and as someone who has led a decently active lifestyle I let myself go a little bit but you know I know the importance of both when you do gym classes when you do PE you do get a wide variety students that you get to interact with but while I was in the band I got the same opportunities that I did in the PE classes where I got
082to meet students from all different backgrounds whenever I chose my instrument which was which was the Coronet I was placed into that group of Coronet uh musicians along with other brass musicians that I didn't know and I got the opportunity to meet them again it's from all different backgrounds I do think that that it has a benefit for both and I do want to have our kids have a choice to actually take that I I see the I see the importance of both but I think that the choice is is equally as important thank you Mr Clark I also played the Cornet in junior high so I can relate Mrs love um perhaps I'm missing something but I believe that if you are in marching band you can you can be in the gym and
083marching band at the same time so it's not saying if we keep PE as a requirement you can't also be a part of the marging band so I I don't know I think this is a diff difficult one for me but I don't think that I just I don't know this is a tough one for me to be honest I still don't know how I came in I don't know how I'm going to vote on it um and it's a tough one so I I do want to talk about it a little bit more Mrs is green uh also very tough one Mrs love and I sit on the TLC committee so we've been thinking about this for many many months now um and and that's as I was cogitating as I was reading this
084again as I was listening to everybody I mean all of this is going through my head and I like Mr H feel like this has been probably too much time has been spent on this and we should have chosen to either put it in the TLC committee and then put that forth or put it here and then have us vote on it um because it was chosen to go through the TLC committee I will say say that regardless of how I voted that day I will uphold the TLC which includes all of the stakeholders and it passed there and that was where it was chosen to go through so that is why I've come to the decision I have thank you Mrs crane you're welcome Mrs Ean yes um I I don't want anyone to
085walk away with the thought or feeling that this board is picking a win winner or picking a loser we're picking the kids I mean that's just how we vote we're going to choose what's right for we you know what we think is best for our kids so um and I think we all have our heart in the right place whether they vote Yes or No I'm going to respect the vote at the table um but I don't want anyone to walk out of here thinking that we don't have a great deal of respect for either Department everyone is suffering from uh declining enrollment it hits all the programs equally so that's all I have to say thank you Mrs Ean Mr H I would just add and double down on the point marching band is
086kind of its own unique thing in it's being co-curricular you know it's it's not an after school extracurricular activity there's a curricular component there's an extracurricular component it's co-curricular which is unlike anything else that we have and so that makes it somewhat unique I don't like this idea that we're pitting the physical education department against the music department I I think however we ended up to this point to have that debate in front of us is there were some missteps along the way to get us to this point because that is not what this is this isn't a choice between am I voting for the PE department or by voting for The Music Department like that that's not what this choice is this is a choice of do we give kids additional flexibility in choosing
087what is right for them it doesn't preclude a student who PE is right for them for taking PE it gives students additional flexibility to take whatever class might be right for them it might even be Stress Management that they couldn't fit in their schedule before and now they could take that in addition to doing marching band so I think the flexibility is there um again I'm I'm sorry that we had to go through this um process I hope we learn from the the process that we've done and and not repeat this in the future but to me this is very straightforward I think this is a Bor decision it comes under the purview of what it takes to graduate and it that simple Dr Ryan I just want to respond to that piece it was
088definitely my not my intent as superintendent to put anybody in a difficult spot or pit people against each other it was very much having heard years of concern about how we awarded credit or what could be counted for a class that had me thinking where I didn't come with a clear sense of solution my part knowing that graduation requirements are the part of VI of the board to me this this Lan and more is kind of a hybrid just from the basis of looking at credit and classes and it was the best uh option I felt that I had to have a larger uh representation group across the uh School District lots of stakeholders to be able to just weigh in uh I wanted to be able to provide that as kind of uh information
089for our Board of Education to see where a recommendation be derived from and as far as having PE all along um you know in consideration for anything regards to our marching ban and in this way of of doing credit I heard concerns along the way from our our physical education department and far from thinking that was adversarial I I thought it was an excellent opportunity for people to to say their peace on their belief systems how they process ideas differently and in a society right now that I think greatly struggles with functional debate and exploring ideas in a broader sense um that was my intent and my intent was fully to make sure that nobody felt like they weren't heard doesn't mean necessarily that at the end of the day that you have to be
090in agreement but that respect kind of was my intent so I'd be more than happy to speak with the board of leaders in in in the future if you would like a different process um again I felt very conflicted along the way with in terms of of hearing both sides and I you know as a superintendent when I'm conflicted then I usually fall back on involving more people and being as open and Broad as a process that we can have because I know for certain regardless how our Board of Education votes tonight they heard from our community and our stakeholders involved in these areas and again intent and but I would be willing and I understand Mr hire's concern of trying to make it more unnecessary conflict again that was not my intent thank you
091Dr Ryan any other comments before we call for a vote seeing none the motion on the table is to approve two years of marching band account as the equivalent of one half credit of a PE elective all those in favor please signify by saying I I I oppose opposed motion carried thank you everybody thank you all for coming up and expressing your viewpoints tonight we do appreciate that um I do agree with Dr Ryan I think debate is healthy and I appreciate your professionalism and the way you presented your respective Viewpoint so thank you very much item 6.4 for approval of 2022 Bond project change orders may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approved the construction change orders for Metro Electric bulletin number 7 in the amount of $79,999
092and for the abelli concrete stair replacement in the amount of $68,000 as presented who, 58 900 sorry support motions made and supported any comments or questions hearing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any oppose motion carried thank you item 6.5 is the approval again this is another project from the 2022 Bond approval of some districtwide Public public address system and clock upgrades may I have a motion please I move that the Board of Education approve the contract cont ract for SSD cabling and cameras LLC in the amount of $17,616.63 construction contingency in the amount of $144,100 as presented support motions made and supported any comments or questions Mrs La I had a question and forgive me I can't find it um in the packet but I do recall seeing that
093we on one of the items we didn't take the lowest bid we took the second lowest bid and I was just wondering uh why that was the case I can defer Mr Goodman to provide direct response to that trying to uh maybe you'll have a which one that was I'm assuming maybe it was the actual clocks and it says because we went with the voluntary alternate that's that's the ISS that's the item that Mrs love is asking about okay so when the bid was written um and our consultant CBD they requested um biders to bid both products which were the Atlas and the I sorry I don't have it right in front of me but a ADN or that the other clock brand um Moss bid both they they bid both of those but what
094they called the second which is what we're recommending a voluntary alternate as they use the base is that other brand I had that right in front of me I apologize I can pull it up and see what that the name of that brand is but they are the low bid within the brand we're recommending you got you okay so the other bidder did not bid the other brand I see where you're saying and so it looks but they they actually what we are comparing Apples to Apples and Moss was the low bid with the voluntary they called it a voluntary alternate but it was in writing on bidday and it was for that that item so they were low hope I'm making sense no makes sense any other comments or questions hearing none all those
095in favor please signify by saying I I any opposed motion carried thank you thank you Mr Goodman item 6.6 is approval of the 20242 first amended budget um Dr Ryan or Mrs Rogers who I'm Miss Rogers uh come up she did a lot of work to prepare this and it's kind of our yearly budget cycle to tighten in our our previous and our current year budget as we start looking forward to processing next year okay I have a couple of slides that I prepared for you just so you could see um with all the detail that was given to you you could just see a highlight of the um major changes or the things that changed that affected um the different areas the first slide is the revenue adjustments from the original budget in June
096to the um amended budget that I am asking you to approve tonight um I think your bigger ones you want to highlight here would be the the state aid funding including categoricals this is basically because the state aid did not have an approved budget the state did not have a state aid approved budget when um you approved it in June it didn't get approved until fall of 24 and there were some significant changes to what you guys approved we approved we had you approve what the governor's proposal was which was a $200 uh Foundation pupil increase and um there was no all the smiper changes that they made this year none of that was in the governor's proposal then in the fall when it was approved there was a zero Foundation allowance increase instead of
097200 and but there was um um a lot of a 5.75% miers rate reduction so when you add when you do all that and then we get the found we get our student count in and all that it ends up being about $1.6 million reduction in our state a so um trying to think there's anything else big mental health grant that was also something else that got approved in the fall we did not believe there was going to be any 31aa this year and then they approved a supplemental that we're supposed we haven't gotten it yet but we're supposed to be getting in it in like March or April so that's what that is it's a large one and then we received a first filter Grant that's a little bit larger one we received a
098cyber security Grant we received all them during the school year we didn't know about these grants and then the title federal funding again we went with the what they told us back in June we were going to get in title funding and then when our new allocations came out in they always come in out around December they when they came out in December they were um significantly higher $480,000 higher so those are your main areas and when you put all these together you end up with a revenue adjustment of just under $300,000 you're going to see your biggest changes in expenses you can see we were able to reduce our expenses by 4 million um the biggest thing would be in human resources and it would be in that UA rate reduction that's about a
099$4 million reduction the 5.75 that they had us reduce the UA but when they reduce that they also reduced the revenue so or they gave us the revenue I'm sorry they gave us the revenue but reduced the expenses so in regular terms the UAA is the reduction in the amount that the district pays for the retirement towards our current staff members that are not contracted services so all basically employees correct Miss yes then you'll see a couple increases you'll see the title expenses you seen that the allocation went up so did the expenses go up usually when the allocation goes up then the expenses will go up those are usually pretty matched we usually try to match our grants um the first filter Grant you see that in there um the mental health Grant security
100grants that I I increased a few of those expenses um we got a new transportation software that you guys approve these these are things all that has happened since June and um and then our special education expenses I increased those because I felt like I didn't have those high enough when I went through all the Staffing and all that so so that that gives you a reduction of $4 million in our expenses this puts our original budget was at just under 5.6 deficit and now I'm proposing an amended budget deficit of 1.8 million so any questions on the changes seeing no seeing no questions may I have a motion please to approve the first amended budget I motion that the Board of Education approves the First Amendment budget for the 2024 20 2025 year as
101presented support motions made and supported any comments or question seeing none all those in favor please signify by saying I I any the oppos motion carried thank you Mr Brown you can stay up there because the next item is our monthly Finance report y this is a financial uh update that'll get you through February um budget to actual revenues is 52% um and your budget to actual is 53% you're looking at about $24.4 million um fund balance right now and in as you know our June 30th ended at 30 million now when I bring the next update I'll have this amended budget in it so this is using the original budget so I'll be putting the amended budget to that so that'll change a little bit um any questions in any of the check registers
102or any of the information that was presented to you any questions from Mrs Rogers very good thank you very much for your report thank you mayor B we have several discussion items this evening item 8.1 is the first reading of several bws and policies and I will call on the chair of our policy committee Mrs mcginness thank you president uh policy committee met a couple weeks ago myself Mrs Ean um to discuss um an array of policies and tonight you have in front of you one two three policies that we're looking to bring forward first um reading the first policy is student representation at the board and you will see attached um a policy that was derived from several policies that are currently in use across the state and I believe a small little bit
103from one I think from New York State um School District um and I welcome any feedback from the board regarding this um I suppose maybe we can just have a discussion on each of these as we go by and if nobody has any comments as we're sitting here talking about them if they want to bring any before we have our final reading that will be fine too but this policy is um very high level allowing the administration um the latitude to develop uh a policy or I should say a working um working policy for for uh how students are selected or how a student is selected at the high school to represent the student body and participate at the board table and again these are before us for first reading we will take action at
104a subsequent board meeting after we provided input and the policy committee has a chance to evaluate any input whether received tonight or between now and the next policy committee meeting so comments on the student representation proposal Mr H I think we have some logistical things to think about here of something as simple as like where would they sit um I think it's a great idea I I think we could certainly handle some of the logistical Communications you know seated you know kind of a thing I think maybe you know I was thinking as we've thought about this for quite some time now like potentially having two students serving like a two-year term that would staggered so that you'd always have one new student every year but one returning student because I think if we if
105we actually want these students to offer meaningful input I feel like you throw a student on here it's going to take a while for them to figure out you know what this is all about you know I think Mr Clark could speak to the fact that you know in in your second or third meeting here there's still a lot to learn you know it's like it takes a minute to get comfortable and so I think you know if student in their second year would have a lot more to offer than in their first year you know so if it's we start with a junior and a senior and then a junior always comes on you know and the senior then you know retires off at the end of their term I I think something like
106that makes a lot of sense I'm open to other ideas as well but I feel like if if we truly want meaningful feedback that's a a way to get it Mrs Kine thank you Mr M I had very similar thoughts I was going to ask how you um came to the one high school one high school student because I I in my head and I don't know if we had talked about it before or not or maybe just in talking with the um the students who came forth to us but I in my head had also seen to I love the idea of a staggered I think it's really important that you have someone kind of leading and mentoring someone else going out um I don't know that I would cap it at senior or
107Junior I would say our High School uh which is 10th 11th and 12th um but in 2year terms with the Stagger is kind of how I saw it um especially um seeing as some of the kids who brought this forth to us were sophomores and I think were very capable of sitting up here and offering plenty of uh meaningful dialogue so those were that was my big thing um otherwise I really liked the policy that you had drafted because I thought that it put something in place it um leads it leaves it to uh the design of the the high school the principal um and how to appoint or elect the student I think um it doesn't specifically speak to like the term or length of term like I think we should clarify at the
108policy level that it would be all year just for the school year I mean I think it would be all year yeah but you know that I think is probably important at the high level Mrs Ean yeah in policy we we talked we reviewed some of these other sample policies and we tried to leave it a little bit more generic because we thought the the actual implementation and choice um is it the student body that elects them or is it someone appointed by the um High School principal so we try to leave it a little generic and maybe at that level whether it's one or two students or maybe you know it's one student with an alternate if somebody sick something like that we thought that might um be better at the administrative High School
109level let the you know let the administration make that choice but I mean we can certainly put it in the policy we just wanted to leave it generic enough that um and I don't know if generic is the right word but you know I think like when the selection part I really like how it's written where there's a lot of latitude and leeway for that to evolve over time without changing the policy but like just even from a a Prestige standpoint of you know this is I mean there's work involved right I mean they're going to read the same packet that we do that at times is quite long um there's prep work you know and and they're coming at it having significantly less life experience than those of us sitting up here I think
110it's a challenge and I think some of our students are up for that challenge and I think it would be a good experience for them and so I think in terms of like codifying the the position you know it's it's not like a honorary position like we want this I think we want this position to you know actually do the meaningful work that we're doing um and provide input you know on the different items that we're deliberating I I think that would be helpful I even think you know tonight if you think about what's on our agenda a students's perspective you know certainly would be helpful you know for some of those things and so that that's where I was coming at it of maybe just that term and quantity being a little more specific
111how they're selected and and that piece I think should be more open-ended because I think Dr Ryan and and uh you know the administration should have some flexibility to work with the students directly which would you know certainly more detailed than our efforts would be to figure out hey how do how do we want to do that so what I'm hearing is we want me um two students staggered but it doesn't necessarily have to be a junior and a senior maybe seniors get too busy I'm open to the ages my when I was thinking junior senior I was just thinking that sophomores are brand new to the building you know I mean we'd want to probably Define like when the term would start like it's a it's an interesting question because you know our terms
112start January 1st which I think is ridiculous um to start in the middle of the fiscal year you know do we want to do that to our students then that would span a school year I mean I think it makes way more sense to start probably at the start of a school year you know and so I I would probably put that in here of when we would expect their terms to run I mean it's from a organizational standpoint I think we may want to find certain committee jobs that make sense for them um you know I mean having a student sit on a policy committee I don't think there's any issue with that I mean we'd have to work the logistics of when we meet and whether that's a valuable use of their time
113I mean that we're it's not like we're constantly meeting but I think we could work those things out um those could in board operating procedures or something I don't think they have to be in the policy I think that's the flexibility you were referring to Mrs Ean um but I I I think um you know if you're a brand new sophomore you start school and then however you're selected for this um that could be a stretch I'm totally open to it I don't think we need to to put the ages in here I think we could let that go they're just high school student Mrs mcness so both policies looked at theas was extensive it did only provide for one the second policy from New York did say alternate um I'd like some feedback from
114the board members to understand better how they're defining staggered do they mean that in year one two people are selected but only one is seated in year two the person is second person is seated no I can take well I think the can bagger terms would start with if two is the number it would start with two one of those two would serve a one-year term one would serve a two-year term and then every year one would drop off and one would come out that's how I understand it that would be my understanding I I think like um as I'm thinking out loud and we're having this discussion I think you know in terms of the training available and um there is that student board member Association um if there's training available or what that
115looks like you know we might want to put that in at this level because you know certainly we have bylaws around our training and what that looks like like would that apply to the student at that level is that a different sort of requirement or you know I mean we wouldn't expect our student board members to take all the 100 level classes and get certified right I mean that would be a lot for a student and and would we allow them to take any of those classes are there separate student organization classes I think we may want to clarify what the you know uh maybe there's an orientation process and maybe we offer some PD but I mean are they coming to ocba with us are they you know going to a conference like I
116mean I don't know I guess I'm open to pieces of that but I mean that's a little bit of a can of worms I guess I would like to suggest that we start small and let it grow y because I think some of this is so unknown for us that um honestly I don't know can they can they even take a one1 class I mean I I would be open to it I mean I I work a full-time job and I take all my classes so students got a full-time job these classes are available this is this is the um commitment you make when you're a board member it's um it's work and so I would have no problem with uh student representation um being asked to have some training so that when they're at
117the table they can have a knowledge base that gives them the Comfort level that they can speak on the subject and speak on um what is the duty of a board member um to just come to the table to speak your opinion about something could possibly um derail the work of the board without the board and and I want our students to to gain knowledge of about what they're representing so I would have no problem with that but I would like to see if we can roll some of this out and put it in our operating procedures I would agree with that I like that I I think like the travel question is an interesting one right I mean I think maybe at the policy level we need something that says like we're not sanctioning
118and funding student board member travel I mean just from a permission standpoint like that would be it's beyond what we're what we can do you know and uh they're minors yeah they're they're minor well I think I can't even pick someone up and take them to a tennis match without them signing the permission slip so I couldn't pick up the student representative to bring them to a policy meeting either I don't think no right so I mean there's that that's logistical yeah so but our 101 classes are held virtually so that is a great but again that's something I think we can grow into I think policy-wise because I'm looking at the um National School Board students School Board member Association they do have classes but I would want someone to look at them first
119and I think like you said I think that would go into our board operating procedures when we decide what would the best the best fit for our student representative what that would be I have I don't know what this program is about right now and we can always revise this policy you know we get them on and get some input from our students and you know have them be part of Designing some of the details but those first two are going to be I think it's really I think it's important at least at the high level to at least draw the the sort of box around you know what I I don't I don't want to get to Ay who's going to annual conference and you know not be clear that it's not the students
120right right right so do I do I think that we need some inquiry with legal I mean is there anything on the legal side of it that we need to inquire about um student particip participating at masb or are are we only would we only look at virtual I would I would I guess I would say uh we'd want to get some input from the students but I would think it would have to be virtual I think ocba is maybe a question mark some of that might be worthwhile um I can I can ask but we can look into that I do like the idea of keeping it very simple to start with and then let's modify modify it as we go as you know we just see how the experience goes with the student
121and let them help us right M well I greatly appreciate the feedback we got because I think it's very helpful to get a more broad perspective of um this because it's new for everybody and the policies that we had only did have one one did have an alternate comment um so thank you very much for everybody's input I I would just say I don't like the idea of an alternate like I don't think that makes sense I think it would be extremely hard to like jump in for one meeting and have any idea what's going on like like us being an alternate and just yeah if I could move move uh to 8.1.2 which is policy 31208 um it is being rev oh and 54 5340 are both being revised to include language that reflects
122the forthcoming requirement that any any individual serving as a high school school athlete coach be certified in CPR and the use of aeds beginning with the 25 26 school year so there's just language um revised in both of those policies to accommodate that um change any comments or feedback for Mrs mcin on those two policies okay uh um policy 8.2 is a policy regarding naming and commemoration of facilities again this is mcginness we have ma staff member the one listen so grab the baby can I hold the baby theab I say I'll hold the baby baby give me the baby I'll take the baby it never does it's a cute one I might have to do you guys are out of practice all right Mrs MC discuss is about um a board policy regarding oh
123goodness gracious here we go um naming and commemoration of facilities um this has um is a discussion that's been had uh on several occasions in the district often after the fact and um knowing that um the conversations have been diverse in opinions of how to move forward on this I decided to bring this policy to the table for discussion to try to gain a consensus before I try to put anything to paper um I think that there have been some um deep opinions about this and before before I try to word Smith something that I think would um work for the entire board I'd like to get some feedback from the board as to some parameters that they would like considered and um creating a policy or understand that there is a consensus to create
124such policy can I ask for perhaps a little bit of historical perspective not to put Dr Ryan on the spot but I know that for example none of our elementary schools are named for individuals and my understanding is that you know at least a policy written or Unwritten is that you know we would not do that with regard to schools can you shed some perspective on the the last conversation I recall and I'm going to lean on uh trusty hire as well thinking back to uh when we were looking at Clarkston junior high school and we were looking at naming it when it was going to be first B Clarkson middle school and sville Middle School we went through a whole big naming piece to where was it going to be Clarkston Prep School clarkon
125junior high you know we we looked at several different uh iterations and the conversation I was a principal at the time and going to be principal the then going to be opening junior high was that the board at the time said well we don't do that we don't name things after people in Clarkston and as a as a principal I kind of looked at it as okay well then here what other options we had we had students even add in input and then it was eventually settled on very creatively clarson junior high school so where it ended and that was kind of it um since then the only other naming piece that I can recall in recent time had to do with review over over the f um Fieldhouse and um that kind of was
126was in process and I even looked to my colleague Heidi mlan to kind of help me in that yeah the other one that we looked at well we did uh was uh the sash b gym after Mr Bara yes and that was tied into I believe a financial support from the Gibson Foundation who who reached out to us wanting to adopt uh the auditorium to continue then to put money into into the theater program so I that involves as a plaque there I'm not even sure you know what the reference level is there and baring that I have no other information of anything else that was along that so I think in listening to the policy committee and I and listening to uh sh miss mcginness here it was really you know we had a
127plethora of different potential policies to look at but I think that again simply you just wanted is this the desire of the current board to evaluate a policy at all or is it just no because it seemed like a futile uh uh exercise that we were going to go through and try to find out the exact verbiage on different things we're we're not really interested in that is that fair I policy we finally have one um I I would just add when I started um a couple years ago the only thing that was named was the Dr Green boardroom um after a previous superintendent um since then I think we've named two things maybe after people um just historically speaking I think the district has been in a position of we don't want to name
128things after people I did didn't really get a rationale of why but the people that I began serving with were very steadfast that that was the way it was and that was the rule in clarkon and I think certainly the way the schools are named I don't know that that super makes sense um given what road each school is on and what is called but that seems to be our thing um I I would be in favor of and I let me take a step back I think a lot of um proposals have the best intentions to honor somebody or um you know name a facility or building a room uh something after somebody has the best of intentions and we have some really really really awesome people in Clarkston um you know we were
129talking about some of our if you want to call them our forefathers in an earlier meeting today you know that they just know everything that has gone on they're great resources they absolutely deserve recognition and I think I think um a lot of times a proposal comes with a sort of a ground swell of support and by the time it gets to us it's a train moving so fast that you know it's just going to knock us out of the way and and I don't particularly care for being in a position where I don't feel like I can say no if I think it's no um and I think you know if we look at colleges love to name things after people because there's usually money involved um you know we have a policy that
130deals with advertising you know we have a policy on school naming you know the room and other piece is a little bit more gray area I mean we plant trees and stick a ground a plaque in the ground um you know after former board members you know I think the tree dies I don't know where the plaque goes but I mean it's a very non-committal straightforward kind of a thing I think you know if if historical context has taught us anything in the the last couple decades I feel like there are all sorts of things where certain institutions are tearing statues down you know that they put up of people when certain circumstances come out or you know historical Norms change and you know it's I don't want to be in that position where we're
131having a discussion of whether or not we should take a plaque off of a a gym you know I think that's not a good use of our time um I don't know that even having a discussion whether we should put a plaque on on a gym is a good use of our time like how does that help kids right how does that keep the focus on kids you know that's a lot more about adults I think so I mean I would be in favor of saying we just don't name things after anybody um going forward I think it takes that off the table if the ground swell of comes up we have a policy to lean on that says I'm sorry that's not something we do here there's probably another way we could honor this
132individual and show our respect and appreciation because again we have some really awesome people in our community that made this place really special I'm not sure that a plaque makes sense I mean I I don't know who Dr Green is um I've heard a couple things about him from some of my predecessors but you know I I don't know that that helps honor Dr Green any more or less than another maybe more appropriate way thank you Mr H other comment Mrs K yes uh I find myself agreeing with Mr hire um especially after tonight's meeting I uh for me I feel like starting the train of naming anything is going to eventually pit good Clarkson people against good Clarkson People well my favorite so and so was named so now I need to make sure
133that the next something is named for the person that I think is the best um and so on and so forth and I think it can just really get out of hand very quickly um and I don't think that's doing what's best for kids um I had heard somebody say that maybe a policy would do a three-year limitation a policy you know a plaque calling it you know the Stephanie crane boardroom for three years and three years only um self serving people but I actually would prefer rather than any term limit on that to to to have a policy that says we don't do it any other comments well I wonder um you know we can certainly have a policy and just say we don't do that but I do wonder if just like board
134members we can plant a tree and put a plaque I mean at a school I don't know I mean what do you do you think that's going to get out of hand or not oh no I just think you know I mean I think back to influential teachers I had in the district you know I mean Chuck Keegan comes to mind you know I think I think there's a 5k or a 10K you know that they do annually that that honors him that I always appreciate seeing I'm not a runner it's not my thing um but I you know it's like that that's the way that honors you know that person there are scholarships right when we go to senior Awards night there are scholarships for various folks that have been influential that have chosen
135to go that route I think there's a lot of other ways um um that you know we could commemorate folks and I think you know that if a policy says we're not naming things after them permanently or in temporarily or permanently I think that's a way that people can look to other other avenues and I think that would be very appropriate to say hey what what else could there be Mr mcness I'm just wondering would it be appropriate to have a written policy that says we don't have a policy but here are other ideas of how you might want to honor someone I'm thinking we would want to say policy is we don't but um there are other approaches to honoring someone that has significantly contributed to Student Success you know and maybe going and
136like the Clarkston Foundation talk to the Clarkston Foundation and see if that would be the Avenue but I I don't want to I don't want to prescribe how to do it I would rather just say that you know while we appreciate that and we we certainly would um appreciate honorariums we just don't want to name our facilities you know 10 years from now another board could could change that too but I think if we're going to write a policy against it I mean we just we don't want to hold people back from doing something to hon that person feels like we need Outlets Mrs L so are we getting requests uh to do this Mrs mcginness is that why you're coming administ the administration okay and you'd like to potentially look here's a policy that
137we can't do it but here's other ways right okay yeah in fact Mr goal's here in the audience was we had reached out to both myself and and to president in regard to naming for uh coach Steve hurg former teacher and football coach at clarson junor high school so yeah I mean the the the list of super influential folks in our district is long and you know I wouldn't want to get in a position where we ran out things to name I mean I think it would get it would it would I don't want to say it would get out of hand like I mean it's a little bit of a slippery slope um I I just I think the easy thing to do is to say hey Administration and board like this is not
138a good use of our time to arbitrate who and what we name what after I think that's something that the the community and our stakeholders and our constituency can certainly be creative and and obviously we've got great people and that have been inspired by these folks um and we could come up with other other ways to do that President may ask then do we have a consensus to have a policy that says we don't make it a policy or is it the consensus to have no written statement whatsoever regarding naming well I've heard a couple of board members articulate that that the have a policy that indicates we do not do so but make you know unspecified statements as to other appropriate forms of recognition but we haven't heard from anybody everybody so if anybody
139has any contrary thoughts speak up Mr Clark I think that we have a policy where we don't name things you have appropriate feedback Mr mcginness all right thank you very much and thanks for the policy committee for I know you guys have been busy lately so thank you for your efforts on these um item 8.3 budget parameters discussion Dr Ryan do you want to start this or Mr Roger this is this time of year starting our our budget conversations for the 2526 school year and in front of that obviously we've already had a pupil counting uh presentation back before the holidays um we've had updates and we've heard from the governor in terms of her proposal for um school funding for next year Al although uh by all indications there's a big uphill climb before
140that to get completed that might stretch into next fall which we haven't seen in many years um additionally um we've also had information obviously on grants we've looked at the board tonight approving the School of Choice which obviously plays right into our budget formation for next year and those lists of assumptions are starting to provide a level of to call it far Clarity or um undefined Clarity you know I I want to kind of say simultaneously is giving some items that some variables are being take care of obviously there's going to be a lot of uh assumptions and variables that'll change between now and June 30th when we approve our final budget uh but as a step in that Road I have uh Mr Leo and M Rogers up here we would like to have
141some preliminary feedback on formation as we start the budgeting process um meaning that the this is not binding what we get from the board this is really directed to our new board members this is more you're pointing the administration based on board Viewpoint in the right direction and we'll start to move towards that obviously if we get a a curveball thrown at us and some very you know information with the state it takes it in a very different direction we come back shorter than longer in terms of getting further Clarity on that U but as it exists tonight we' like some feedback on our assumptions and as we go through the bud budgeting process for next year our final thing at our next meeting we would put forth some some ideas within our developing strategic
142plan for some potential expenditures for next year that might be in line with that um and we can kind of go from there so and Dr Ryan we had a different document in our board package okay I what the hard copy that we had at our table tonight is what we should be discussing yep I had M Rogers back in the office from being out of town and I wanted to get some final things that we kind of nail down um we did that today and then we provided that update so thank you and we'll continue to change it's an evolving document certainly you remind me what the shared service cap percentage increases 10% 10% and so is that uh 200 FTE it's it's it's in there we have as an assumption of 10% and
143then you'll see that it changes from 2144 to 2368 that's the max that we can do so we're going to we're saying we're we've always reached the 10% so we're saying we're going to reach it every year so does this 25 gain on top that's that's um that's that has nothing to do with shared service that's our enrollment and it is 50 student loss 75 open enrollment gain for 25 gain um this this is um always brought two in March after we have a Governor's proposal so this is got the governor proposal in it and so then I can start the direction of starting to build the 25 to 26 budget that I'll bring to you in June so your assumptions like you said are the 25 gain you have um the uh shared service
144going up 10% and the benefit changes are 2 and 1 12% that's a known Factor um for the us um and then the governor proposed a $392 increase taking us to $10,000 flat for our foundation allowance so those are your major assumptions and then I have the amended budget that you just approved that's the First Column and then I have the changes that these assumptions would happen to 2526 so the foundation change would be increasing it the state Foundation from the amended budget to to you know changing at 2.8 million and then the cator state fundings that's a big negative because that's just some onetime grants that are going to go away we still have some state onetime grants that aren't going to come back next year so that's what that is um and then
145the miers that is um negative because there are some onetime Ms or funding that are not in the governor's proposal she has eliminated two two of our categoricals for mixers that's um if you look at the $392 increase it's pretty much 8 up by her uh retirement rate one times that she's taking away from us um and then you have the shared service enhancement that's the 10% that's how much I go goes up in shared service this is just the revenue piece of shared service so and then you um the other big change Federal funding um that's just eliminating a section 11t that's that's all that we have left of covid funding we did one more summer school program in the summer of 24 and then now that money is all spent gone we won't
146get any more of that and it did all have to be spent by September 30th 24 anyway so that was our last bit that'll be gone that revenue and it pretty much just is a net it's only like 280,000 increase when you put all those factors into place for 25 26 using the governor's proposal and then onetime fundings that we lose so any questions on the revenue piece I don't have a question but I just have a comment um you're saying you're using the government's proposal to kind of come up with these numbers um but I know the Republicans in the house actually passed an emergency budget to kind of prevent a state shutdown so in the event that we couldn't come to an agreement with an with a budget they have uh passed a
147budget to put some things in place and I know that the actual the per pupil Foundation is a tad bit higher than what the government Governor uh proposed I think it's only like $25 more but I think it's pretty safe uh to stick with this 10,000 per pupil historically we've always used the governor's until and then that's what you've always approved in your June budget unless we get an approved State a but we've not and it's been several years before we've had approved State a budget in June we're supposed to be but we've not had one so we've always used the governor's proposal until we know any until something else is approved it's usually pretty close to the governor's proposal this year it wasn't as close this was probably the farest experience I've ever seen
148from the governor's proposal but in the past it's usually been pretty close Okay um usually I think it's the house they're they're always a lot more generous the states the Senate usually not ex it that house yeah then Senate's usually not and then the governor's usually in the middle and then but I don't know this year they're saying it's going to be a a good fight this year definitely for the other elements on here I believe it's risky but I think the per pupil is pretty safe yeah but um any other questions on the revenue the expenses um that we have the 2 and a half% of uh Insurance that's the that's our that's the our increase that's what's going to be put on our books the employees will also realize a 2 and a
149half% increase too and then Human Resources that's just the changes that I that's mainly our contract stuff and there's some little bit of retirement changes that's mainly our contracts that we have to still Implement and then shared service we have to we always take 70% from our incre increase so if our total revenue of shared service then we multiply that by 70% and then that's our expenses so and um then the miscellaneous expenses that negative is pretty much just eliminating some onetime Grant expenses if you have onetime some of our onetime grants that I eliminated I was able to eliminate some expenses CU those were only there because the grant was there so that's why you see those and um then that puts you if we use all those parameters and this is where we
150move forward with and I start to build the budget you're looking at what like a 3.6 million deficit budget for um 25 26 and then as you can see it goes out each year and this continued it would you end up with a 133% bance in 3 years so based on historical performance though and to your budget leadership on this it would not be uncommon for us to underspend this budget and it gets the variance gets larger from those that started with me years ago when we had like a 60 7080 million budget it was like wow you know five or 10 million was big as we push towards $140 million mid 130s for a year those variances become larger in terms of how we spend it and just for historical perspective to to Mr
151Clark looking at you know we've run as low as like 2 or 3% fund balance it's not a good place to make a living we need at least 9% in the bank slightly over not to borrow money from the other day when we talked about it and running anywhere between 13 and 15% is not a bad place I it's fund balance is kind of a two-edged sword in terms of your carrying money that the public has given you to educate kids how much is enough but we have kind of uh over the last several years where some districts have really spent down any dollars they've got extra from the state or federal government we took a much more conservative approach and decided instead of money in Money out which looks good on paper because you're
152zero deficit zero ex excess we took the approach of accumulating only spending where we needed to and then growing a little bit and then looking at being able to maintain that growth for a couple years of continuity within our program so that's kind of something to watch and we don't ever want to get into perspective where we're saying you know if we don't do anything we're we're going to be down to 133% in 2728 haven't been up here for 15 years I've never seen it to where I've seen us say that we're going right off a cliff and then we kind of between shared service all the different funding sources and everything that we do we've magically find a way to level off I'm saying this publicly because I'm being genuine in in my experience
153not necessarily you know as I'm holding right in 7 seconds on the bull here per for Clarkson schools um it is a wild ride is what I'm trying to say um but this right now I find very comforting over all these numbers are not in a way that I find any kind of immediate alarm or or peace and we'll continue to kind of make sure that whatever we invest in we invest in wisely I think that's been a kind of a a charge I've heard several times from Mr H higher you know find things that you want to do now is the time to incorporate that in a bigger picture find areas that you can reduce in as part of that that'll come in another month when we start looking at things that we propos
154to enhance for next year and to pull back on that next year potentially and then that's another area where we'd like to get board input and then Mary Beth Will Rogers will then look at formulating the you know the preliminary and final budgets as we go into May June I like make sure the team's all up Mrs Rogers or Mr lucdo can you explain again the relationship between shared service enhancement and expenses it it's simply a percentage because I'm looking at the three years and it doesn't seem to be the same relationship between the additional revenue and the expenses am I missing something it's 70% we only figure about a 70% profit or 30% profit I'm sorry 30% so the expenses are going to be around 70% of Revenue I understand that but I'm looking
155at the various years it seems to be a different percentage we do have a million dollars in administrative expenses also okay that's also included in the expenses so that might be what you're seeing okay that's not part of the 30% profit got it questions is dve or yeah I just want to ask the question I'm looking at that line item summer and after school programs 371,000 do does the superintendent don't mean put you on the spot but is that something that we might want to consider fund not only do we want to in next month when we talk about budget considerations for ups and downs for next year we're planning on it right now but I don't like to get too far ahead of myself we funded out of Grant it would be a bad
156assumption on my part to come to the board just assuming that it's going to be forever in there but I think we've got a lot of benefit out of it and it's not something I want to let go so you're hitting on my priorities there yeah I was just wondering if maybe that's um um do we have any kind of data on on just generically looking at that population that's participated how they did did we you know what kind of improvements we saw Yes and overall I think it plays right into the fact that Clarkson's been growing and improving academically each year while the rest of the country goes into the toilet okay it's pretty blunt but it's kind of what's Happening along those lines I think um I'm excited to hear about what the
157priorities are for enhancement CU I have said and have been pushing on hey how do we spend money on things that are going to help kids and I know we've spent a lot of time talking about supports for kids and and we've been very careful and probably um a little conservative in our roll out to not be wasteful and that we want to prove that things work before we really roll them out I think that's a good approach and I think it's one we continue to do but my my sense is the list of things we could do are long that would help kids and so I'm interested to see what the priorities are you know for next year and in addition to supports we've talked about gifted and talented and we've started to implement
158that um this year as well and that's something that I think you know needs to be in here as well with summer and after school programs I think part of that needs to be enrichment if we call it that um in there just in terms of strictly looking at the numbers um you know we're certainly fortunate enough that the state aid budget went the way it did um and and we end up you know reducing our deficit from 5.6 million to 1.8 million with the amendment we approved I I don't particularly want to see the deficit increasing as we go I think we need to get slightly ahead of that and I I heard you loud and clear and have the history of we typically underspend um I would like I would suggest to the
159board that really in this you know 2728 you know we're going to have A2 to3 million line item in there on human resources that isn't in there because we don't have contracts that long but I mean we could Bank on that being in there you know that raises that that deficit to you know 4 and a half 5.5 million dollar somewhere in that range I I don't want to get there um if we had a cut $5 million in a given year I think that would be that would be challenging um more challenging than we need I'd much rather cut some money going into next year look at what we would cut additionally to that the following year um and and kind of get prepared for that you know I think none of my colleagues
160I shouldn't say that most of my colleagues now on the board at this point like haven't ever been through a budget cutting process because we haven't cut the budget in 12 years something like that um and uh I I think in any organization I think it's important to look at hey what are the things things that we could do without that aren't going to impact kids and I think that would be a good exercise that we could undertake where it' be much easier for us to get into May and say actually we don't have to implement those we're in better shape than we thought we were let's back off of some of those and wait on some of those things verse getting to that point and saying oh this we don't want the deficit to
161be that high at this point because what what makes me nervous is the retirement rate reduction can go the other way just as quickly as it as it was decreased and we don't have a lot of say in those things and they tend to happen quickly and you know and in some cases with our budget already being approved they happen and fortunately this one went went our way so I I would suggest to the board that we should say hey let's let's look at maybe a a million for next year what what could we reduce and if we look at that we could certainly decide we want to back away from that because we have the ability to do that um but maybe hey what what if we said $2 million in 2627 you know
162what would that look like let's start working on that um but I think it would be prudent of us to talk about that well in advance before we have to make those decisions um to say what does that look like and I think you know you've Dr Ryan you've shared with us some very preliminary high level things of where you think we could we could do some things and just as we run toward you know if we just let things run which we would never do that um you know headed toward that say five five uh four and a half to five and a half million dollar deficit I I don't want to see the deficit increase I'm fine if we keep it relatively stable but as we've just had a $3 million swing to
163the good I want to be able to have a $3 million swing we can't control and still be okay anything else all right thank you Mrs Rogers thank you Mr Theo item nine this is the second opportunity for Citizens comments citizens at this point are welcome to address the board on any topic so and again you have two minutes please state your name and address uh Jackson MCN 8407 de with Drive um regarding the draft uh student representation policy I in general um agree with the board's statement on that especially that idea to have two students with stagger terms in addition like expanding that the eligibility of the um of the office to sophomores so to all students at Clarks of high school um I also appreciated the or appreciate the general nature of the
164draft proposal and I think that it would be important to narrow down some things but it Poss possible it I think it would be best to reserve refinement of the board policy until after the initial policy is already in place so student Representatives would have the ability to comment on their on their own system for being represented I think that would be more effective but in general I agreed with all the thank you thank you Mr mcon any other comments thank you Steve strer 6101 Chesire Park uh just to let you know I am currently the board president of csima it's Clarkson schools instrumental music association long name for band boosters I wanted to thank you for all the investment in your time and energy uh in the idea of the waiver for the half
165credit of uh PE um whether you were going to vote Yes or No the time you guys spent on that uh it it really is important and it's something that we appreciate as a board as parents and obviously the students as well so I just want to say thank you thank you for continued support and Dr Ryan thank you so much for showing up all the time to to to support the kids thank you thank you anything else Matt Goble uh for um 425 shaie um I was just I propos the naming of the field at the junior high to Dr Ryan um I totally appreciate everything you guys said on the practicality end of it um especially the limited nature of fields the lack of you know uh precedent for it um I just
166hope you guys would consider that working with the young people and you know as a teacher and a coach um I do think there's a lot to say the inspiration for people in our community that come back we talk a lot about I know Dr Ryan mentions the amount of alumni that we have come back as teachers I grew up in Clarkson came back as a teacher um and you know working with a lot of high schoolers a lot of them are like ah I can't wait to get out of Clarkston and we might love our school system and love our kids but I think it's important to have stories of people that did come back and we're fulfilled and not only fulfilled in their life but the impact that they had um I just
167think those are really important examples to set and I do think living and growing up in Clarkson the uh ground swell that can happen on some of these things is totally I totally understand I think it's perfectly reasonable to need signatures for a proposal or um put a limit on on the amount of time that a a field would be you know 20 years 25 years especially because yeah there are people that are named and no one knows them in a couple Generations go by but I think for the people that do have an impact on our community naming something significant not just planting a tree and putting a plaque up that could just walk by um is significant and I think would do a lot to inspire kids and um want them to come
168back and stay a part of the community so I just hope you'd consider that if you want to make it tough to make those proposals I get it um because there's a lot of things that I'm sure people will come to you looking a name and make it difficult make it hard like it's perfectly reasonable if somebody didn't have enough impact to have a ground swell of people putting their signatures behind it that maybe they're it's not worth it but um I just think it it's something that would have a big impact on a lot of kids and would be a great opportunity so thank you thank you Mr Gold anything else all right two information items this Friday March 14th is a half day for students for parent teacher conferences our next Board of
169Education meeting is a week from tonight our board self- evaluation meeting at 6:00 p.m. our next regular meeting of the board will be uh Monday April 14th again at 7:00 p.m. in the boardroom I item 11 is adjournment May I have a motion please I move to adjourn support motions made and supported all those in favor please say I I I I any oppose we are adjourned thank you everybody but