001Please stand for the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. First first order of business is we need to appoint some acting officers for the night. Um I'd like to make a motion to appoint Angelina Barnes as the acting secretary for the night. >> All in favor? >> Opposed. Right. Angelina, thank you. And moving on, can you please take the role? Angelia Barnes here. Janelle Brzinski >> here. >> Hana Carpenter. Dwight Hans >> here. >> Brad. John. >> Brad Wever >> here. >> Cameron >> here. >> Right. Next up, we need to adopt the agenda. I get a motion. >> Motion and support. Any discussion? All right. Uh all those in favor say I. >>
002I agenda. First up is uh assistant superintendent Rob Spagnolo with a budget amendment presentation. Rob evening everyone. This presentation went through at the finance committee last week. Hasn't changed for those of you that were here last week for that. But it is that time of year for us to go through our budget amendment which be approved later tonight. So, as we jump in, we'll start with our revenues. Back in June, the board approved revenues of about $40.6 million. And with this budget amendment, we're projecting about a $41.4 million total revenue amount. That is an increase about $856,000. But what you're going to see on the next couple slides is we've got some dollars that we received from the state as well as an accounting pronouncement that we have to incorporate into this budget. It's really
003keeping the bottom line almost the same as what you saw in June. We're just having to reflect those revenues and expenditures within this budget amendment. So, as we get into our revenues a little more deeply, our local revenue is up about 82,000 from what we had projected in June. That's primarily due to property tax revenue increases about $69,000. The one thing to keep note uh with our property is that for every dollar increase we have in local revenue, the state reduces our state aid by a dollar. So, it's a life amount. So, the bottom line impact is to reflect the increased revenue on the local side. And then when we get to the state revenues, you'll see the decrease of that $69,000 on the state side. And then the other piece with our local revenue
004is that our athletic gate receipts, sports passes, and participation fees are trending a little bit more than what we had projected in June. So there's a little bit of an increase there. As we shift to our state revenue, you'll see that that's up about $480,000 from where we were in June. There's a lot of components to that. actually scrolls on to the next page. But let's run through those qualify bullets. So the first is that property tax value change $69,000 decrease in our state revenue due to that. The next two bullet points encapsulate our student enrollment as well as our student foundation allowance. We had budgeted 3,19 students back in June. Basically, we hit the mark. We're at 3112 with this amendment, an increase of three students, and that generates about a $30,000 increase in
005revenue. On the foundation side, we had budgeted off the governor's proposal, which was a $392 per pupil foundation increase, but the budget was finally settled in October. We were up $50 from what we had projected at $442 per pupil, which generated an additional $155,000 of revenue. Next three bullet points all highlight different categorical related to retirement. If you take the net of the three, it's actually a loss of revenue over what was projected in June. Um each of those have different components. So the first one is our meiper's cost offset DC contribution which is a reduction of $188,000. This is a categorical that was put in place gosh probably over 10 years now back when Governor Schneider was in office. He recognized and the legisle at that time receded that the retirement rate for school
006districts was going up fairly substantially year-over-year. And this was put in place to help mitigate some of those increases. Clearly, it wasn't kind of a silver bullet to eliminate all the increases, but it did eliminate some. Unfortunately, when the state budget was finalized in October, that categorical was completely eliminated. And that's why you're seeing that reduction of $188,000. The next two bullet points are interrelated, but they're kind of different. um really tones as to how they were they were tackled. So, governor and the legislature made some changes to the retirement system this past year. We were told that it was not supposed to have a negative impact on our retirement rate. However, when rates came out this February, we actually did have a negative impact. Rates were going up higher than what they had projected.
007So, the governor in her budget has put in [clears throat] a categorical to help offset some of those costs. Unfortunately, that did not make its way through the whole budget process, but they did come up with another category called that $35,000 that's listed here to help districts with that cost. However, they deemed it one time. The governor's proposal was a little unclear on if it was one time or would be ongoing. I'm being told that this $35,000 and the reason that they did it this one time is that they're hoping that this was kind of a blip in the retirement rate on the healthcare side and that it might actually go down next year. However, that's what they thought for this past year and we actually saw an increase. So, we'll have to wait till
008rates get released here. They're typically released in February with the governor's budget proposal. So, we'll have to see what happens and then the legislature will have a decision to make if they want to try to continue to fund this if it doesn't do what they're expecting or if they do end up eliminating going forward because the rate didn't what they were hoping for. Then the last uh bullet point related to retirement is the Miper UAL categorical that is for the unfunded liability portion of our retirement. Uh this is a flow through. So what happens is the state gives us dollars. We then a week later have to turn around and pay the retirement system the same am The reason that has to be done is that constitutionally school districts are the basically the beneficiaries through
009the retirement system and and staff. So the state can't just cut a check over the retirement system. So the way that they work this is they give districts the money that the districts turn around and pay the retirement system. So this has a net zero bottom line impact, but it is up about $25,000 based on our projections in June. And then the final bullet point here relates to our atrisisk categorical. That's actually down about $40,000 from where we were in June. Kind of two components to that. The first is that the state did increase at risk categorical funding for this this current year. However, we have fewer and fewer students that are qualifying. So the net impact of that is a loss of revenue about $40,000. Continuing on with a few more bullet points related
010to state revenue. The first one's just a small one. just a technical really adjustment um with our special ed costs that we get reimbured for. So what happens is every year when we close out our books, so in this case the 24 25 fiscal year, we have a series of reports that we have to send to the state and they run that through some calculations and they true up or down our cost based upon our actual final numbers. So this will be a one-time adjustment for the 25 26 year. The next four bullet points um all have corresponding expenditure increases or decreases. So none of them will have a bottom line impact. We do have to recognize either the increase or the loss of revenue related to these categorical. The first one's a little confusing
011to me. Uh they eliminated in the final budget proposal the early literacy categorical. And for anyone that pays attention to things that come out of legislature, they harp on early literacy, early literacy, early literacy. So I was shocked when I saw the final budget and this had been wiped out completely. Um, however, that's kind of where we find ourselves related to this this categorical benchmark assessment funding continues on in in the budget. So, we've reflected kind of a three-year average of what we've received. So, about $27,000 and then the my kids back on track category, something we've had for the last two years. Got just a little bit of carryover money and the states allowing that to be used for one more fiscal year. So, we reflected the revenue and the expenditures in this budget
012for that. This really the second last bullet point, but the last one that has a revenue expenditure decrease is one of the reasons why I say although our revenue is up over $800,000, the bottom line is basically flat. So, in the final budget that we received from the state, they've allocated to us $452,000 for educator compensation. These have to be new dollars that we provide to our staff. So, we get the revenue in, but we also have to reflect the same amount of expenditure costs as we flow those through. There's still with this funding. Um the treasurer of the state has to release the funds. So currently it's earmarked in a different pot of money. The money is lapsing. Once they officially run through this internal process, they will actually allocate the dollars to this
013new categorical. And then the second piece is the department of education actually has to come up with the guidance letting us know how uh this gets distributed. Historically they've not allowed us to use retirement costs um kind of offset. we would be on the fight for really roughly 32 to 33% of this $450,000. But until we actually see the guidance, um it's it's hard to say if this will be the one categorical that functions a little bit differently. But in any event, we've got we've got the revenue and the expenditures reflected. So whenever the state finally does release the guidance and the state treasury does release the funds, we will be ready to to go with that. Shifting to federal revenue a little bit easier. about $95,000 and it's exclusively due to the filter first
014healthy hydration grant. So, um all districts were able to apply for and receive some funding for installation and um purchase of bottle filler stations in our buildings. Uh this reflects the money that we've received to be able to do that. So, we were able to tackle a couple buildings this summer as part of construction. uh some of our buildings were already set up well with auto filler stations. So we've got a couple to replace, but we have until the end of this fiscal year to get that done. And so that reflects the dollars we'll receive. Um and then there'll be a corresponding expenditure increase for those installation and purchase costs. And then finally, we have our transfers and other and that's up about $199,000. The first two bullet points are ISD funds. So we've got
015about $42,000 more coming for special ed through uh CC Resa. However, our BAT is down about $41,000. That's about a wash. The third bullet point is again one of these ins and outs of revenue expenditures with no impact on the bottom line. So if you'll recall last month or the month before we approved copy release, uh there's a statement of accounting standards, big calculation we have to run through. In essence, we have to reflect some revenue and some expenditures to truly encapsulate that transaction. So again, it has no impact on the bottom line, but we have to make sure that we're are in compiance with this accounting standard revenue. Any questions? Actually simpler. So in June the board approved about 42.3 million of expenditures. We're projecting about million with this amendment which kind of similar
016to what you see on the revenue side $835,000 increase of expenditure. So basically we're we're at a wash of revenue and expenses. As we look at where our major adjustments are, the first two bullet points I'm not going to go through again. We talked about those on the revenue side. It's the categorical related retirement liability and those state categorical. Um we have all of our our contracts settled. We've rolled in all of our DA, DEA, DESPA, nonaffiliated amounts, and we did have a few more retirements this year than we have in the past. So, we reflected all those retirement payouts within this budget. Open enrollment wrapped up mid November. So, it's good timing from the budget amendment standpoint. We're able to get all the enrollment changes in this budget to reflect all staffing and what
017they've elected through that process. And then the last two bullet points are some programmatic changes reflected within special ed. So down two and a half special ed paras we are half special ed teaching staff. We continue the last few bullet points related to expenditures. Our workers comp insurance is up a little bit. Our utilities are also up as we have more and more buildings coming online with air conditioning. We've been looking at trends and seeing uh kind of how that plays into our utilities just along with utility rate increases that we continue to see. And then the last two bullet points again are ones that we talked on the revenue side with the healthy hydration grant and the copy release accounting standard. So when we take all of that roll it into our budget, it's
018a little small on screen. I apologize, but I think you have have it in front of you as well. Um total revenue is about 41.4 million. Total expenditure is about 43.1. So, we actually have a deficit for this year of just under $1.7 million, but you'll see on the next slide structurally where we're at. That's really the important number to look at. We do have some onetime costs in this budget. So, we'll see on the next slide what that looks like. And then as you look at our fund balance, we're at 9.3 million roughly to start the year. We're projecting to end at about 7.6 million, which is about 17.6% fund balance. As I flip to the next slide, you'll see how that breaks down. been assigning some of our fund balance for some positions
019that were put in place when we received some federal dollars during CO. So, breaking down first our uh deficit at 1,687,000, we back off our one-time payments, so our offset payments and equalization funds and our 11 positions. Structurally, we're at about a 354,000. So, a little bit less than a percent of our total budget of 4243 million. Um, it's important to watch that number though because that does become our baseline for 2627. So, we'll be starting at that building as we start to roll up things and start looking at what the 2627 year looks like. And that's largely unchanged from where we were in June. We're at about 338,000 in June. So, we're up only about $15,000 where we were back then. And then as we uh break that down a little bit further into
020fund balance. Uh so as I said we've been assigning fund balance for those 11 key positions. And when we closed out our books for the 2425 year we had a,376,000 of assigned fund balance. With this budget we're projecting to use about $58,000. So we'll still have about $868,000 available as we end the 5 26 year. And then if you look at that in a percentage standpoint down below, that's about 2% of that total fund balance, leaving our unassigned fund balance at about 15.6% which is right in range of where we want to be in that 15% range. So then you had the 15.6 and the 2% that get you the 17.6% we saw slide. A lot of information for Rob the 11T funds when do we have to spend because I know we've been reserving
021those from our dollars. When is the deadline to >> We don't So it's kind of quirky how it all played out. we were able to frontload the dollars in um and we had to go through a series of hoops to do that, but now we're free to use the funds. There's not really a timeline. Uh we've got about so we'll finish out the 26 year and we can go about two more years knowing that we're in about you know half million dollar spend every year on those funds. Uh and then we'll have to make the decision at that point with those positions really what we we do. We have worked in two positions um over the last three to four years, but we'll have to make decisions on the ones that are >> And then
022I I always ask you the the crystal ball question, but I mean long term, what do you and your colleagues talking about future budgets and future revenues? What do you where do you think this is going? >> Yeah, I think we're going to have to fight our bots going forward. I think what's going to be challenging is it's an election year and basically everybody's campaigning this year. So, they're going to want to paint as rosy a picture in the spring and in the summer as they can. I think it's going to be interesting when we get to the January revenue estimating conference in 27 because that's going to be after the election cycle. That's going to paint the picture longterm how it's going to be. So, I think we're not going to get the increases
023this year that we have the last few years, but I think they're going to want to try to get that foundation allowance as high as they can so they can campaign on that. The challenge with that is twofold. One, either the money is not there, or two, they eliminate categorical below the line that people don't quite understand what's going on there. So although you might get foundation increase, I do know that the citizens research did uh an analysis and after this budget cycle wrapped up if you from 2000 till now if you just adjust our increases for inflation, we're actually receiving less than we were in 2000 adjusted for inflation. So, in some respects, I think we're a bit of miracle workers and how we kind of keep the doors and lights open and on,
024but I do think long answer to your question, I think it's going to be challenging next year. >> Thanks, Moving on to Communications. >> I don't think we have one for All right. And then we'll move on to a report from our high school board representative, Cameron Windsor. Cameron, take it away. >> Um, hi, my name is Cameron Windsor and I participate in National Honor Society, Business Professionals of America, and I'm also the public relations officer for student government. So, that's a little bit about why I'm here. First off, we kicked off our change wars right before Thanksgiving break and we just wrapped it up. In total, our school raised about $2500 that was donated to Redeemer food pantry. Um, and now we have the Dickens back giving tree. Um, it's basically kind of like
025Angel Tree Walmart where um we try to donate gifts to those families in need. Specifically, there's seven in district families who receive some of these requested and also 130 gift bags for the GSRP program in neighboring districts. Um and our kids deliver these personally to this. Um next up is some of our clubs. Um our model United Nations club just performed on Friday in the Canadian Canadian American Security Councils. Um in total 21 students attended from High School and we had three award winners. Juan Diaz Garcia and Lind won awards. And then our business professionals of America are going to Kellogg Community College on Friday to perform in the BPA regionals. Um wrapping up from our fall seasons, some of our extracurriculars, um marching band finished runner up at the MCBA state finals in flight
026three. Um for our boys and girls cross country teams, our boys um and girls both qualified for states in the for the third consecutive year and girls cross country won a second consecutive regional championship. Girls golf um all qualified for states and they ended up tying for the third regional team. Boys soccer won the MHSAA district for their sixth time in the last seven years. Um girls swim and dive individuals and relay teams all Um, boys tennis, also qualify won elite championship along with the district championship for the fourth consecutive year. Lastly, for our big one, football, they ended up winning the 2025 state championship in district three. Um, and then moving on finally to our co-curriculars, which are our band and choir. They're both performing in their holiday concerts on uh Monday, December 15th.
027The concert will perform at 7 at the high school gymnasium and our concert is on Tuesday, December 16th at seven in our high school auditorium. So that's a little bit about what's going on the past few weeks. >> Thank you. >> Any questions for the update? Uh moving on in the agenda, uh we have our consent agenda. Recommendation by Superintendent Kevin Robitic that the board of education approve, accept, and adopt the following items for immediate implementation and appropriate action as presented. We have approval of minutes from our regular meeting from November 10th, 2025. Minutes from the curriculum and improvement committee meeting on November 10th. Work session on November 24th. We had a close session from November on November 24th as well. You should have received that. And then the finance committee on December 3rd. We
028also have the treasurer's report and bills payment for the month of November. Uh the treasurer reviewed and confirmed the checks, AC debits, and the purchase card for the month. Uh out of state and overnight student travel requests, the eighth grade students are going to go to Japan in uh January. U A motion for adoption of the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos? Nay. >> Motion passes. Thank you. All right. Now moving on to the action items. Recommendation by assistant superintendent Rob Spaggnolo and Superintendent Kevin Robitic that the board of education approve the following amended budget for the 2025 2026 fiscal year for DIT public schools. General fund total revenues of 4,426,960 total expenditures of 43,14,222 um dollars with expenditures exceeding revenue by 1,661,687,262 resulting in
029estimated fund balance as of June 30th 2026 of 7,595,410 as presented. I have a motion. >> So moved. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> The eyes have it. Recommendation by Superintendent Kevin Roitic that the board of education approve the master agreement between the Dit Public Schools Board of Education and the Det Education Support Personnel Association for 2025 through 2030 as presented. I have a motion. Any questions, discussion? >> Are there any key provisions that would be a change from the contract from last year or things to highlight? >> No, I think we did our language update just a few months ago. Rob, if you want to chip in, but I think we did language update a few months ago that was approved through the board. So, this is pretty
030much just finances. >> All those in favor say I. I >> oppos is adopted. Recommendation by Superintendent Kevin Roitic that the board of education approved the six requests for early graduation as presented in packet. I have a motion. >> Any discussion, questions? Seeing none. All those in favor? opposed. Recommendation by Superintendent Kevin Robitic that the board of education approved the 2026 2027 DITIT high school curriculum guide as presented. I have a motion. >> Any discussion? Matt, you have any comments or Um, one major piece is the sequencing of geometry and algebra. Um, our math department has been and other districts in the state kind of gone through the geometry, algebra in the sophomore year, algebra 2 in junior year. If you're kind of in that middle track, The rale behind that is algebra 1 and
031algebra 2 speed together eloquently than our geometry jump. So geometry also can allow freshman to have a little bit slower of pace. There's not as much geometry on standardized testing. Um really they're both requiring the same grade level knowledge. So as far as what's diffult coming into high school or what you're taking in high school, those two are interchangeable. They wanted to back up the algebra and given that about 75 to 80% of um some of our standardized testing is algebra or hard algebra. Those are the biggest reasons to do that. Um not as much reteing hopefully um between algebra 1 and algebra 2 still allows a lot of our students need in that of course that also push some of those kids who desire to be accelerated mathematics as well. So I don't know
032that's kind of longwinded but putting out closer to when they're going to take the test that matters for many of them and hopefully allowing um students that struggle in mathematics I did. Geometry was one of the math that really I excelled at. We're hopeful that kids in high school get off to a great start. >> Thank you. Any questions? >> Um it looks like and and this isn't a change, but young adult literature uh this is addressed. Um page numbers, but um young adult literature is only offered to ninth and tth graders. And I've received several questions on that as to why we don't let juniors or seniors take young adult literature. give you a picture. There aren't any. >> Um, that's a great question because I don't believe that's actually >> it is. I
033talked to Mr. because I had seniors who wanted to take it really badly and he was like, "Nope, I only take nth graders." So, >> I would love to hear more about that. >> And then I had a question about the audio visual media production. Is that a brand new class? >> Yes. mostly I believe that when Jeff Cley was here we had some production courses um I can't remember maybe Jeff did a lot with film and film creation um this was this class was actually proposed more as from the music side of it because the teacher who is excited about teaching this class is Chris Pike and Chris Pike has a large However, with a lot of the digital media that's on campus and around and potentially could expand in our district, we wanted
034to make sure that it was something that potentially our students could be running um what I term in the guide panther vision. That name could change, but like Spartan Vision at MSU similar where we have students who are creating this digital media. Maybe it's at the screens that are in the gymnasium. We have our live announcements right now that staff run. I'd love to see more of that be done by our kids. >> Yeah, it looks like they create and record original music development. That's social studies. Um there are some Looks like there's some edits there, but I'm not quite clear on what what is changing with that. There's like red text and green text both there. But >> simulation social studies. >> Oh, that's just a course description. >> Okay. Is he changing how
035he grades that are structured? >> No. For those of you who don't know, it's graded and structured like a video game. And so the kids get freedom to choose what content they're going to pick and how they're going to study it and what they just have to level up their own pace. >> All right. Any other questions? >> All those in favor say I. Post name. and it passes. Julian, I'm going to read a statement about the superintendent's evaluation. The DIT public schools board of education met in close session on Monday, November 24th, 2025 to evaluate Superintendent Kevin Robitic for the 2024 school year. Miss Trisha Murphy Alderman, MASB consultant, served as a facilitator for the closed session. The board's performance evaluation system objectively measured the superintendent's performance in several goal areas. These include governance
036and board relations, community relations, staff relations, business and finance, instructional leadership. Uh and then there's also a student growth kind of progress towards our district goals. Uh that's component that's included in this as well. Overall, we gave the superintendent a uh 97% or an effective rating. That is rating that is available under the current system. Uh there is a copy of the super the evaluation tool and the performance indicators uh that will be included in the minutes. Um I would entertain a motion that the board of education approve the superintendent's evaluation as presented. >> So >> any discussion? >> Seeing none all those in favor say I. He has evaluated the superintendent. Read another statement um from the board. Kevin has a level of passion for students and staff that is unprecedented. He's looking for
037ways to always engage the board uh in the schools and the community. The board feels visible and heard when they have questions or request additional information. We appreciate Kevin's thoughtfulness and leadership to build this that we have. Kevin has proven to be the right person at the right time. The board of education would like to approve the superintendent contract extension for Kevin Robitic to be extended through June 30th, 2030 pending successful negotiations. Entertain >> any discussion? I will just say was that >> I said I couldn't agree more. >> I will just say thank you Kevin. Um you're doing an outstanding job very much. >> Uh all those in favor say I. >> I n. >> All right. Now we are moving on to public communication for items not found on the agenda. >> We
038do have one shaker please. So, it is the practice of the board of education to permit persons in the audience to make statements. Uh, just fill out a form if you need to. Uh, we do limit comments to three minutes. No participant may speak more than once on the same topic. Thank you. Okay. >> Good evening. My name is Steve Schaer and I'm here tonight not because of a single incident or one difficult school year, but because of a pattern, a pattern that has been happening for years across schools, staff, and classrooms. A pattern that neurode divergent students, our autistic students, our ADHD students, our students with learning differences, systematically overlooked, misunderstood, and in many cases discriminated against. I want us to be honest about the system we are operating in because when something this
039widespread with something is this widespread, it is not an accident. It is not a misunderstanding. It is a system that was not built with neurodeivergent students in mind. And that system is holding them back today. Let's about what discrimination looks like. It looks like the students being punished for behaviors that are symptoms of disregulation and unmet sensory needs. It looks like a school calling a crisis team instead of offering accommodations that are already in the child's plan. It looks like teachers deciding without data that a student doesn't need the supports listed in their IEP or 504. It looks like children being labeled as defiant, lazy, non-compliant, or problematic simply because the adults do not understand their neurology. It looks like families having to fight not once but constantly for the basic supports their children have
040a legal right to. It looks like neurode divergent students are being suspended, isolated, or removed from classrooms or informally excluded far more than their neurotypical peers. These are not isolated events. They are a result of systemic beliefs and practices. That compliance is more important than understanding. That one-sizefits-all instruction is acceptable. That a quiet classroom means a successful class. That behavior a choice instead of communication. And the result, neurode divergent students learn to feel unsafe at school. They've learned their differences are a problem. They learn to mask, to shrink themselves, to push through the pain, anxiety, and sensory overwhelm just to get through the day. Some even learn to give up school entirely. This is a real cost of institutional discrimination, but it doesn't have to continue. This board, this district has the power to make
041meaningful structural change. We are not asking for treatment. We are asking for equatable treatment. We're asking for legal compliance. We're asking for dignity, safety, and understanding for every neurodeivergent learner who walks through these doors. Our children are not too much. They are not a problem to fix. They are human beings with incredible strengths, needs, and potential. And they deserve an education system that sees them not as burdens, but as students worth investing in. Tonight, I ask the board to acknowledge the systemic discrimination happening in our schools and real steps towards dismantling it. Not now, not next year. Not next year, not eventually. Now, our children deserve nothing less. Anybody else for public comment? Close public comment and move on to the superintendent report. So, first of all, I want to thank the board of education
042for providing holiday treats for the entire school staff this week. Staff will be treated to homemade cinnamon rolls and fresh fruit. So, thank you for that. Our staff will appreciate that. Um, as gaps are identified, we continue to strengthen our supports including universal accommodations that approved last June for our K through 5 and 6 through 12 students. Student experience is highly important to me and I know it is to our board of education, our administration team and teaching staff. We'll continue to work towards that. Um, student center focus. We're strive to meet all students whether academically, socially, behaviorally supported by our dedicated administration team staff committed to student success. I'm confident we will continue to work focused on continuous improvement to better serve students and their families. Continuous improvement is our goal. Uh, I'd like
043to school calendar. I'd like to remind everyone that Thursday, December 19th, will be a full day of school marks the start of our holiday break. Students will return to school on Monday, January 5th. I want to extend my sincere thanks to our families for your continued collaboration and support throughout the school year. It's truly a pleasure to serve our students, our families, and our community. On behalf of the district, I wish all of our families a wonderful holiday season joy and lasting memories. That's all I have to say. Any questions for Kevin? Kevin, I I I think just just given the public comment tonight, can you talk about the steps, if any, that we've taken as a district regards to our services for students with special needs? I know it's a complex system, federal laws
044and state laws and local responsibilities, but can you talk a little bit about that? >> Yeah, I think the biggest thing for uh each individual student should be working with, you know, the family should be working with building principles and building level teams to ensure because those teams are really making those decisions based on those supports, right? But really, um, Mrs. Farmer is only I don't know, M. you're in your second year here. I'm in my second year here. So, since we've arrived, um I tried to take a look at some of the things that we've done. As you know, um I'm I have a special ed background, a special ed teacher. So, it's highly important for me that we are supporting our special need students. So, one thing that we've done is we've added
045um some EI classrooms throughout the district because that was a that was a challenge >> emotionally impaired. Sorry. Um so, when I first arrived, we got into the staff room and we talked about how can we better support some of our students. I know we moved some staff around and all those things and we're able to do that without adding staff. So that was and then as Rob had indicated, we added a half um step or for special ed teachers most recently and so that's been beneficial. Julie has led some par professional boot camps. She uh went and got trained on that. So she's trying to work with our par professionals to make sure that they're trained appropriately staff. Um many other things that we started community based work opportunities at the high school recently
046and then now they're doing the unified school which is the part of the special Olympics. So they're starting that at the high school as well. Um there's many other things but I think the most important part is to make sure that we're always listening to the student experience and the parent experience. And so I certainly to disregard that. I think that we need to continue to work to improve and focus on that improvement. There are times that we when we do make mistakes, we need to do our best to but I think there are, you know, things that, you know, Julie and I are working on to improve the system for sure. I do think it's a challenge um just the way the district has set up two years, two years That is a challenge
047for not just I think that's a challenge for all families. Not saying that we can change that overnight, but that is a challenge. And so that that's my honest opinion as far as where we're at, but my goal is to always keep an open door, just do my best to listen. All I don't know is if I can fix everything right away. I'll do my best. So you know having two children that have attended school with them. How is it that we make sure that particularly when you reach the high school set of teachers to class? How do we make sure those teachers are informed and aware of plans that are in place? to get those students. >> Yeah, that's usually from the the counselor level communicating that out. >> But I I do think
048there are things that we can do and our our cabinet has talked a little bit about is, you know, is there stuff that we can do as far as professional development to ensure that teachers across the district are trained and more it's awareness, right? And then being able to support those students appropriately. So I think that's the area that we're talking about is what professional development wise um to help to help our staff too to feel as if they have the strength to be able to do that the knowledge >> have we know I mean to Angelina's point my son transitioning from fifth to sixth grade this is when sixth grade was invis before we went to middle school are we noticing any sort of difference between that I mean sixth grade like you from
049having one teacher to three or four. My son struggled with that. >> I think it's just, you know, it can be amplified for our students that struggle with >> is is the middle school model exacerbating that. >> I I would think in most districts, yeah, and I know that Mrs. Monica is working with her team right now to kind of change schedules, but we'll never be able to get away from like having five or six teachers, right? But that is a challenge for almost all students going into sixth grade. even just the transition to classes. So having a high school freshman and transitioning to classes and making sure teachers have a million other absolutely respect that. But I also have personal experience, you know, just because there extra time this play with like the universal
050accommodations now because I know like that really simplified my daughter's IEP in terms of like extra time and things like that because they're handled under universal accommodations. >> So the goal of that is to to ensure that any student That's that's been a more common practice across the country to make sure that students have that access. >> I just wondered how it came into play with like your conversation in high school. Like it's easy for my daughter. She's, you know, and shady, she's got one teacher. He knows she needs extra time. That's fine. I don't how does it work like with older students when they're transitioning classes to like how do the teachers know what they need? >> And that's what I was trying to figure out. >> Can I get that one? >> Oh,
051yeah. >> Like that. Sorry. >> No, no, [laughter] >> that shouldn't be a thing >> because of universal accommodations. So, the universal accommodations are set now. So, not just our special needs students, but all of our students. So, if I have a kiddo who says, "I need extra time on an assignment." That's one of our universal accommodations. It's not a negotiable thing. It's universal. So if a kid needs that for various reasons, that's that's like a thing. If a kid needs extra, >> the kid would have to say, "Hey, I need but that's for every but no, everybody does that. Not not just a special like all of them get that." >> So which is part of the reason to reduce any stigma, right? So it's not just a special needs kid. It could be
052my fourpoint kiddo in chemistry goes, "Hey, I need extra time on this lab." And I'm like, "Cool." or that actually happens the most of the time on tests, >> right? It's like the kids who don't have a 504 IP where like I need extra time on the test. >> So, if they're working on an assignment and they're struggling with it and they turn it in and it's incomplete because they need more time, but they don't want to ask, >> like they literally have to be like, >> most teachers would probably say, "Hey, it's incomplete. You need to take more time to do it." >> Yeah. But and that's that should be a pretty good conversation, right? because that shouldn't and for like most kiddos which it is hard right like I'm super scared. Yeah. >>
053But they'll just like shoot an email and be like Cameron's been in it. So like they just shoot me up and say, "Hey, I need time." Or >> it is developmental too, right? We wouldn't expect our elementary kids to do that right away, right? >> Oh, but also the neurode divergent of like staying on track, making sure he's asking, advocating for himself. >> And it's new for the teachers, too. These weren't universal before. >> So the this is our first year with the universal accommodations. So they're learning, too, because now they're they're not part of 504s or anything. Okay. >> Right. Because I have a question. So, since this is universal, where is it spelled out? Is it in your syllabus? >> They It's in I don't know if it's in the curriculum guide, but
054it's in the handbook and it's like a whole sheet on what the accommodations are. >> So, I guess thinking about this from a higher lens, what happens at the university level? >> I think that should be in the syllabi for the courses at least at the high school. I think it would give an actual definition for the steps you need to take >> so that you know what to do because then you can at least point back to it, >> right? >> But the expectation of having it read and if there's a syllabus quiz, if there's a syllabus assignment, >> right? So then it's it's it's noted. It's not Yeah. I remember it's been a while since I had a kid go through and sign the handbooks, right? >> Yeah. I always like >> but
055in that space if it's if it's spelled out in the syllabus then it's open for everybody to see. >> Yeah. >> And it might create a situation where someone can say hey I saw it in your syllabus. I need this versus feeling like well my peers aren't asking. So I'm the one that's at a disadvantage because I'm not just taking >> Right. Right. >> I think and I think this is what what Kevin's getting at because there's that's a high school college situation. really need to be aware of the younger kids. I mean, again, I go back to the sixth grade situation. Sixth grade is a big jump, >> big jump from you got one teacher, maybe two to I got to move physical spaceshow and it's for kids that struggle with that like we
056need to have a system in place to make sure that they know what is available to them and that it's it's communicated not just once but but multiple times. So, I That's what we're working towards, Kevin. And I mean, I I know change doesn't happen overnight, but sounds like we're on a good trajectory, but let's let's accelerate that a little bit as much as we can. Can we look at best practices for other districts to see what other districts are being successful in this space to figure out, like you said, we can't fix it all at one time, >> but it's a processally what can we fix to get to a better place so that there's >> if you just assume it's on the going to be good about navigating it. They're going to assume
057it's in the handbook. Everybody's going to be good about reading it. If it's not syllabus, people aren't going to have access through it. So, we got to make sure it's clear in enough places so that we can point back to it and say, "It's here. It's here. It's here. It's here. Let's talk about how we're going to manage it in this particular situation." That would be my >> Yeah, I like that. I think the universal combinations are great and I agree with you. I think if we can get those more visible, I mean, not for my little kids, she can't read it anyway, but for the older kids that are getting syllabus and can read and at home and talk to their parents. I think that makes a lot of sense [laughter] in terms orientations
058like is there some place that information can be spelled out so that parents know where to look for it? >> Infinite campus notifications like the beginning of the year if we have like an infinite campus notification. We can definitely talk about >> appreciate the discussion everyone. >> Um we'll move on to a discussion about the board scholarships. Um there's some background information in here kind of for those of you that are that are new here. We've done board scholarship for almost 15 years now. Uh we added a second one in 2021. the question before the board. There's no official action on this. It's whe >> But do we want to do a board scholarship for this next year? Do we want to do two? Like what is the comments? >> Can you clarify that a
059little bit? It's my understanding that these scholarships are coming from basically donating back that we get for attending meetings. But like that's where that's coming. >> So I I just signed my my thing and I think after taxes I'm probably owe about 10 bucks. >> Yeah. >> For the past six months. But yeah, I think the contribution per board member is $150. Um so that would equal two $500 scholarships for eligible students. And the criteria is is outlined here. citizenship, trying circumstances, high school counselors on that. >> I think it's been great and I I more than happy to I didn't I don't think any of us took this role to make any [laughter] um but I would like to see if we're doing a board scholarship that there's more involvement in like reading essays
060and knowing kind of being >> are you do you want do you want a board member on the selection committee or do would you just like to offer input or to the council? I don't know exactly how it's working now, but like say we got 30 applicants and then narrow it down to five. Like I would like an opportunity to like have a board member the top five >> because usually we just find out who they are. >> I just don't know what the process is currently. Yeah, I'm not sure on it either, but we can check that, but I can check into that, but I I don't see that there's an issue with that. >> So, but we donate to the Dwit Foundation, >> correct? >> And so, is it the foundation getting the
061scholarship then? >> Foundation is kind of the fiscal agent. >> Okay. >> For it. >> Okay. And so maybe that's why >> we'll reach out to how it's structured and that's how it has to work. >> Well, we can ask that question. Any other questions? Everybody kind of in agreement. >> So everybody De will track you down as she does for most things. So um just just look out for that. But any announcements from board members wanted to give everybody an opportunity to All right. So, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. >> All those in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you.