001Can we get a roll call, please? Trustee Lyons. Here. Trustee Ferris Lyons. Here. Trustee Edson. Here. Trustee Martin. Here. Trustee Chambers. Present. Trustee Torres. Here. Trustee Takaki. Here. Student representative Megia. Here. And Superintendent Leiko. Here. All right, thank you very much. Trustee Chambers, can you read our mission statement for the charity? The mission of East Lansing Public Schools is educating all students, Nope. nurturing each child and enabling students and building world citizens. That's why I looked. Thank you very much. Can I get approval of agenda? I move the Board of Education approve the agenda for the April 13th, 2026 regular meeting as presented. Second. Motion by Trustee Ferris Lyons, second by Trustee Torres. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? And no discussion. I was getting there. >> [laughter] >> Any discussion? Too late. We
002voted. All right, it passes. Approval of minutes, can I get a motion? I move the Board of Education approve the March 9th, 2026 regular meeting minutes as presented. Second. Moved by Trustee Martin, second by Trustee Torres. Any discussion? Do I have to do that on that one? You just say any discussion. Not hearing any, um, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. All right. Before we move on, uh, we have a special presentation. Uh, I would like to welcome uh, Superintendent Jason Meloche to come up and talk to us about the 2026 Ingham ISD special education millage proposal. Thank you very much, uh, for the opportunity to just give you a few minutes of a of an overview. Uh, I know Superintendent Leiko and her staff have done fantastic job already presenting and pushing
003information out in various methods and I know you have two active, uh, advocacy members within side the board. So, very thankful for the support that we received. But, uh, I'll kind of go through about the next 8 to 10 minutes, quick overview, and then answer any questions that you might have just to make sure that everybody can be informed about this upcoming May 5th special education facilities bond. Um, so one of the things I think that's real important right up front is to be transparent with taxpayers what we are asking for. So, we are asking for 0.55 mills over a 20-year period that would generate, uh, 99.96 million dollars that would be specifically for special education facilities, namely the Beekman Center and Hartwood School. So, those two facilities serve our students with the highest levels
004of, uh, of, uh, special needs from throughout our service area. Uh, kind of three major reasons as to why we are going out at this point in time to ask. The facilities at this point are now 53 years of age. Uh, Beekman 58 and, uh, Hartwood 48. So, obviously they were built at a very different time period, which kind of leads us to the next one when we think about trying to make sure that we provide the right types of supports for the students that we serve. These were built before many of the accessibility laws and standards were created, as well as safety looks significantly different. We wouldn't design schools where that they are designed today. They did the best they could with what they had back in 1968 and 1978. And then, of course,
005as we think about the, uh, individualized instruction, the supports with respective therapy, the medical needs of the students, you know better, you do better. Um, these are students that when these facilities were designed, uh, different students that we are serving today from what they were back in the '60s and '70s. So, a quick overview, how did we get to where we're at? This is actually a picture, if you've never had the pleasure of seeing the Beekman Center, congratulations. This is 1972 and guess what? It's still the way it looks today. Um, except for there are less trees, and that's not a joke. Um, this was actually, uh, facility was began construction in 1966, opened in 1968, and the only structural renovation it's had has been a roof replacement 2014. Now, it's known as the Beekman
006Center because Marv Beekman began as the special education director for the Lansing School District in the 1950s. At point in time, special education was completely voluntary. In fact, it was a significant social stigma around that. Most parents did not want their child identified in any way, shape, or form as having special needs. It was unique cuz most school districts didn't offer anything like this. But, Marv was a significant advocate on behalf of students and believed that this was something that all students should have. We entered in the 1960s, of course, it was an era of civil rights. Students with special needs were not guaranteed an education, and he believed that that was not appropriate as well and continued to champion the cause. He wrote op-eds, he did tours, he gave speeches all over the state
007saying that he believed that everybody, regardless of ability, should have a right to education. From that came the idea of what are you going to do if we pass this? Hey, we need to get a school. And so, the idea of that school then was pitched. As I referenced, construction began in 1966. The feds pledged half the dollars, the ISD the other half. Six months into construction, the feds backed out their half of the dollars. The ISD had to pony up the rest and try to figure things out um, in making sure that the school would then be constructed with the 1.4 million dollars. That could buy you 50 acres and construct a school back in 1968. Yes, inflation is completely real. Looks significantly different today as we all know. Um, but to put this
008in the context, right, there were no laws with respect to providing students with special needs education. This was a huge deal because this wasn't only the first school in the Lansing area, this wasn't only the first school in the state of Michigan, this is the first school in the United States built just for students with center-based needs. It was a big enough deal that when the facility started, First Lady Nixon actually wanted to come visit. She came in 1970 cuz she wanted to see what a school looked like for serving students with special needs. The population, as you can imagine, quickly swelled. Couple of reasons. First, it was very difficult for schools to understand how many students should we build this for? Cuz what they couldn't do is they couldn't go to East Lansing and
009say, "Hey, you got 40 kids. Hey, Okemos, you've got 50 kids. Hey, Holt, you've got 20 kids. Let's add all this up and we'll build a school to the appropriate size." They built the school for 150. Now, why couldn't they do that? Cuz these kids weren't in schools. They were in one of two spots. If they were lucky, they were at home. More than likely, they were institutionalized. That's the reality of what we're talking about. So, we have to go back to that time period and understand the context of the challenges that were that were there. By the early '70s, the population swelled over 300 students. Not only there were there more students in the area, but many families from throughout the state actually started to move to the area so that their child could
010have an education. Um, that's you have to, again, think about the challenges of what families were trying to overcome. And so, with that, the ISD recognized there was a need for a second school. Um, the Hartwood School then began construction in 1976 and commenced operations in 1978. So, when it comes to the ISD, one of the things that's very important is people realize we are made up of our partner schools. We have 12 traditional school districts. If you reside within one of these 12 traditional school districts, you are part of Ingham ISD and this would show up on your ballot. If you've not received your absentee ballot by now, that means you'll be heading to the polls here on May 5th. Reside within any of these areas, you are eligible to vote. Um, as [clears
011throat] we think about, uh, what we are trying to accomplish with respect to facilities, we also have to recognize some of the challenges. Again, mobility devices are very important for our students that are there. Many students come utilizing a wheelchair. So, when we think about the service needs of our students, when they when they enter into the school, quite often they're transitioned into another device or another standing unit. We quite often have three or four different devices that are there as part of therapy for our students. Again, the therapy spaces that we have, making sure that they're appropriate for the needs of the kids that we're trying to provide those supports for. ADA. When this school was started, as I referenced, in 1968, the Beekman Center, and then Hartwood in 1978, we were the first
012school in the nation. Now, fun fact, Marv Beekman was actually tapped by the Michigan Department of Education after the school was created. He actually helped design the school. There was no other school to build this on, they did the best they could. He was tapped by the Michigan Department of Education to become the first director of special education for the state of Michigan. They said, "Congratulations." He said, "What does that mean?" They said, "You go write the laws." He literally authored the laws which came into effect in the 1972-1973 school year. At which point in time, Uncle Sam contacted him and said, "Congratulations, you're up to help write the laws." And he did. He continued to advocate on the national level. He had a heart attack, which actually stopped him from some of his work,
013but he still gave testimony in front of the Senate Education Committee. IDEA came into effect in 1975. ADA was still years after that. So, designing the school, again, we would design it differently cuz we know better. So, think about those contexts of what's there. And so, we do the best with what we can, but we have cramped spaces that we adjust to the best of our needs for kids. So, three kind of main goals, like pretty straightforward, accessibility, as we've referenced, noting, uh, the the differences of the time periods of what we're talking about. Engagement and how important that is to make sure that all of our students have opportunities to be engaged in their learning processes. And then, of course, safety. Uh, something I wish no school had to talk about, but something that
014is very realistic for all schools to have to take into mind. And let me kind of bring this back. If we think about designing a school, how do you design a school for students that can't run away if a bad actor shows up? Everything about these schools has to be designed differently because the students we serve aren't our neurotypical students. So, we have to think literally from the ceiling, and I'm looking up at the ceiling if you join me here for a minute, because this is the view of many of our students when they come in at times in their wheelchairs. All the way down to the floors where at times they're going to be receiving therapy. Everything we do has to be thought of differently, but we're trying to take it from this lens
015again, those three buckets, accessibility, engagement, and safety. What you see is a conceptual rendering. Uh we have already passed resolutions between our board and the uh Lansing School District Board. Should we be successful in May 5, we will acquire 20 of those 50 acres that were originally purchased and built directly adjacent to the current facility. We are purchasing that for the legal minimum of $1. So, getting as best possible to be free, the idea would be construct the school, after the school's constructed, move the students over, and then tear down the current facility. Um so, we are trying to be very thoughtful about that as well because you can't just take these kids and move them to another school thinking about the challenges they have. We need to make sure we identify the right types
016of spaces throughout this process. Um safety and security, uh as I kind of referenced already, it's very important as we think about how do we control access, how do we design a school differently. What you see actually is a picture here from High Point School. High Point is the most recently built school in the state for students with special needs. It's down in Washtenaw ISD. Um and you can actually see how they've set up some of their vestibules to make sure that students uh either wide doors so that we students can can easily proceed through, but also those are controlled, secure environments. And that's really important for us as we consider how to set this up. So, whether it's building codes for egress, whether it's fire protection, air quality, all the standards we want to
017make sure that all of our students would enjoy. And then as I referenced earlier, student-first environments. Considering how do we design a school that has to look different because of the students we serve. We have to start and look at all aspects that are there. What you see again is another picture of inside High Point. I'd reference a couple of things real quick. I already mentioned the challenge some of our students have with respect to the wheelchairs. When you're looking up all the time, what you're looking at matters. You see direct and indirect lighting as well as they take advantage of natural lighting cuz it's much easier on the eyes. You also see bumpers along the walls cuz for our students in wheelchairs, running into brick uh brick walls is not a lot of fun.
018So, just small things that we've learned as we go throughout this process. As we think about how to design the classrooms in a universal manner, easy access to outdoor spaces, um all of the play areas that are there, we want to be student-first in all that we do. With respect to where we started, as I referenced, we were asking for 0.55 mills over 20 years. I think this is important as well for people to understand what is the impact, what does that mean with respect to my own home. So, market value, of course, is what you paid. That's actually the street value. Taxable value is half of that. It can never be more than 50% of market value. So, if you purchased a home for $400,000, your taxable value is $200,000. So, just a frame
019of reference when we're looking at ballots cuz that can be challenging. With respect to the uh Ingham County Equalization uh department and the information that we were provided, the median parcel throughout our service area comes in at $153,000 of a street value, that's $76,000 of taxable value that would end up being 42, just over $42 a year. That's about $3.50 a month. I don't think you can get that Big Mac coffee for that, Miss Abby. >> [laughter] >> We believe it's reasonable, but we also recognize the challenges we have. We want to be respectful. We want to make sure everybody's educated. So, absentee ballots, uh there were over 70,000 absentee ballots that should have already been mailed out. If you've signed up for that and not received yours, please get a hold of your clerk
020soon. Um beyond that, uh the election day is May 5, and we just want to make sure that everybody's informed. The last thing I would I would state is something I think is very important. With respect to the students we serve, you have to understand that these are students with our highest level of challenges and needs. But let me take you back to the pathway for how do kids end up there? So, as a father of two young children, right? I remember when we found out we were expecting, and you start to daydream a little bit about things that might happen. Maybe they'll play on the tennis team. Maybe they'll be involved in the play. Maybe they'll be the valedictorian. Maybe they'll stay out of the principal's office. I don't know. Lots of different things
021you start to think about from your own experiences, right? As that pregnancy continues, for my situation, I think many others, what you start to think about all you want is them healthy and safe. What no parent has ever wished is for their child to age out as a Beekman Bobcat or a Heartwood Tiger at 26 years of age. Students are there cuz it's the most responsible way for us to make sure that they are provided the appropriate services. But students aren't there because they're choosing cuz that's where they want to be in the schools of choice. They're there because it's the best way for them to be supported. What questions might you have? So, students from both buildings will be moved to the There's one that's going to be rebuilt? Beekman would be a full
022rebuild, great question. Heartwood would see heavy renovations. So, the $99.96 million would essentially be split $65 million for the rebuild of Beekman Center. That includes the tearing down of the current facility as well. And then $35 million for heavy renovations at the Heartwood School. Students from seven districts currently attend the Beekman Center. Students from all 12 districts attend Heartwood. Some of that has to do with programming and the services that are provided, uh but we try to as best as possible minimize travel time, and so that's why we have students, if you think about our county kind of geographically, the most populated area is the northwest quadrant. So, when we can, we take students for shorter bus rides to the Beekman Center. How will that look at Heartwood during construction? Great question. So, what we've
023discussed is a couple of different possibilities, couple of different scenarios. One is a slow, staggered approach. First, Heartwood will be second. They're going to be Beekman Center will be tackled first, Heartwood will be second. So, first would be trying to stagger that to see if we can create the right types of opportunities within inside those wings. Second is if we would had to, maybe look for an overload whether it either be at Northstar or other facilities to figure out ways to ease that burden to make sure that we don't have too many challenges. Obviously, these are students with some uh significant medical challenges, so dust, debris, sound is something we all want to be concerned with, but we're trying to come up with the best solution. I'm uh that's a problem I'm looking forward to
024being able to solve. Anything else? I apologize. I may sneak out because I'm on my way to the Okemos School Board to go do the same presentation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We will move on to our recognition. Um Trustee Martin, do you have any recognition? Yes, do I ever. All right. Uh recognition for this week. Um and thanks to everybody who sent things in. Uh we'll start with McDonald Middle School. Big congratulations to the middle school archery team who participated in the Michigan NASP state archery tournament on March 14th. With over 2,000 archers and 41 teams from around the state competing, the Junior Trojans placed sixth in the state. This placement has earned them a spot in the national archery tournament this May. Special shout-out to Chloe
025Mont whose score of 270 278 ranked her as the sixth place in the middle school division. In addition, the high school team finished ninth overall. Both teams have qualified to go to the national finals in May in Louisville, Kentucky. Uh congratulations to the following students for placing first in the regional Olympic Science Olympiad tournament on uh March 21st. Anderson Marr and Miles Polushuk in helicopter, Severn Anderson and Sean Dye in hovercraft, Madeline Keen and Ashley Barger in water quality, Eloise Hedden and Sean Dye write it, do it. The team placed third overall and will compete in the state tournament on April 25th. Uh from Robert L. Green, Michelle Traven, media library paraprofessional, was awarded a Reading Is Fundamental drawing. She received 100 free books for our school library. From Marble, Ali Lovers, one of Marble's
026fourth grade teachers, won the Gruba Orthodontics One Class at a Time Grant. She was recognized on Friday, March 13th with a $1,000 check to support social emotional learning for children in her classroom. Way to go, Ali. From Glencairn Elementary, uh we had our professional development day for kids the day before spring break. It was a huge success with kids leaving a lot of different projects leav- uh leaving with a lot of different projects including crochet potholders, uh Cricut bags, and a 3D printed object of their own design, bookmarks, oobleck, and many more. Kicked off our mindful move-in drop-in class this week. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, kids have the opportunity to drop into our PE room and participate in mindful movement by a yoga instructor. And then from uh East Lansing High School, Dave Rosen
027and Dana Larciveaux here took 135 students and eight adults to Orlando over spring break. They enjoyed 4 days in the Disney Universal parks, Disney and Universal parks, and most importantly, a performance by the marching band at Epcot Center, and a performance by the orchestra at Universal City Walk. It was a great trip, and our East Lansing students represented our community and district well. We're so proud of them. Mr. Rosen. It's Dave Rosen. Rosen, sorry. Mr. Rosen, I apologize if you're out [clears throat] there. Those are all the That's the recognition I have today. I always like to hear all the great things our schools are doing. Anyone else have any recognition? I have one I wanted to mention. Um I wanted to acknowledge and recognize um Casey Keeton. Casey is the assistant director for student
028volunteer programs at Michigan State for the Center for Community Engagement Learning. And I want to recognize Casey because um on an annual basis, he comes to us at the beginning of the year and does um a fundraiser um with student organizations on campus to be able to provide supplies to our buildings. And he's done that with us for a few years, but most recently, um he reached out to us because uh part of um one of the events that they do that he said this is the sixth year putting on the event at that it launched on MLK Day in Rams for Black History Month. And the event aims to fill school libraries with books on topics of social justice and with characters representing diverse backgrounds. Their goal is to improve children's access to books,
029especially those that share diverse perspectives. So, Casey and Dan DeMaggio, um who also works for the university and whose um wife works for us, um they reached out and asked East Lansing Public Schools if we wanted to be the recipient of these books this year. Um last year the Lansing School District was the recipient. And then um recently, we found out that they completed their book drive and they raised over $2,500 in donations to purchase books, and they've also had several new books donated and purchased for the initiative. They're ordering the books um from also a local bookstore, Hooked Book Store in Lansing, and um Casey and Dan are working with our director of um equity and social justice, Mrs. Burton, to identify some areas of need with the diverse books. But it's just been
030um he's been a great partner for us in a couple different capacities, so I just wanted to uh recognize Casey Keeton for that work. Thank you, Casey Keeton. Um next is our student representative report. Hi everyone. Um I'm glad to be back. No Tonya today though, she wasn't feeling well. Um we actually have a lot to catch up on. I feel like we haven't had a meeting in like It's been a while. Yeah, yeah. Um so, I wanted to start off with sports. Um actually tennis, I'm coming from tennis, but we had a tournament this past weekend um at Loy Norx, and we took first place with um all of our doubles flights placing first, and then all of our singles place placing runners-up. So, that was pretty good. And then our softball girls had
031a win against Haslett last Tuesday and Williamson this past Saturday. Um track actually has a meet today. I don't know how they're doing, but they've had multiple meets also this past week with some wins scattered throughout the events. And girl's soccer won their first league game against Grand Ledge. And the lacrosse boys also won last weekend. Um academics-wise, applications for both the board um and to be a member of the National Honor Society went out this past weekend, so we're glad that all these students are super interested in helping out our community. Um we also have the mental health summit coming up on the 29th, which is like an event that provides numerous uh mental health resources, um inspirational speeches, and some other things. And this will poses great support to our community, and it
032also, you know, it's a good way for students to get involved, and also to get in some, you know, volunteer hours. Um everyone also there's a lot of state testing this week. I don't know if people are aware of like the juniors are going to be taking the SAT tomorrow, and they have two other uh tests following that. And sophomores have the PSATs next week. And then freshmen might also have some sort of like state testing next week. I'm not sure if it's like MSAP or PSAT, but they have some sort of state testing. And then jumping back to the past, I think this was like maybe the week before break, but um our basketball team had a great run this year. They made it to the state finals. Um and KJ Torrey was named
033or I'm not sure how to say his last name, but he was named Mr. Basketball. Um and he and his dad are the first like father-son duo to have won. And that's all I have. Um if you have any questions, uh please let me know. Thank you. Thank you, Casey. Thank you. All right, uh we'll move over to superintendent's report. Superintendent Legault. Thank you. Uh once again, I'm going to continue to include our registration link for uh kindergarten and pre-K families to begin the registration process for their students for this fall. Um We're usually pretty good at not overlapping with the student representative report, but I've got a little overlap tonight. Our third annual mental health and wellness summit is coming up. Uh that will be April 29th from 5:00 to 7:00. The event is
034free and open up to and open to all of the community. And the summit will include presentations, local resources, wellness activities, refreshments, K9s for change, and raffles. And it is sponsored by the Mental Health Advisory Committee. Um our East Lansing Health East Lansing Health Center is offering athletic physicals. So, it's just another opportunity for our students to access the health center. They have a couple days set aside specifically for physicals coming up. One of them is Tuesday, May 5th from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Wednesday, May 13th from 8:00 a.m. till 6:30 p.m. And you do need to schedule an appointment. I have the phone number here or the uh health center's website that's also included here. And if students get their physicals now, um they'll be set for all of next year. And
035there's also at our website, there's an FAQ on the physicals um from the health center as well. Um measles preparation um from the Ingham County Health Department. I had an opportunity last week one afternoon to attend a webinar with our Ingham County Health Department around measles preparedness. Um there are no known measles cases in Ingham County um or any of our bordering counties currently, or at least as of last Thursday. But the health department is uh working to ensure school leaders are aware of symptoms and how to how to respond to a confirmed measles case. And they also have provided us with um uh a brochure that is linked here and access to scheduling vaccinations if uh any family still need measles vaccinations. Uh next, a little bit about our construction update. The high school
036addition is taking shape. Um window frames and glazing have been installed for a majority of the exterior. All exterior masonry is completed. Framing and drywalling is nearly nearly complete for much of the new office and commons areas, and interior window and door frames have been installed. And we can display some of the photos up here on our screen, so you can kind of get a uh view of the progress that's being made on our high school um front office, secure entrance, and cafeteria and commons area addition. So, um there's a couple of the exterior views. I know the facilities committee had an opportunity Friday to uh do a walk-through. Uh so, if there's any additional information that you all have from your walk-through uh that you want to share or point out on these photos,
037you are more than welcome to chime in. Um and that project still is on on time, on budget, um scheduled to be complete this summer before our students come back to school um this coming fall. And finally, uh one more staff PD day still this school year, Friday, April 24th. There's no school for students, um but there is for staff PD. And then two other um no school dates, May 25th is Memorial Day, so there's no school. And um we are somewhat nearing I think we're still about uh 9 10 weeks away to June 5th, our last day of school which is a half day. And that's all I have today. Have a good evening. Thank you very much, Superintendent Legault. Any questions uh for the superintendent? I I'll make one comment about the walk-through
038for the facilities committee. One thing that I got a kick out of was uh Mr. Hastings uh was he was kind of showing us around, and um I had asked like, "Are Do you really think that you're going to be done early as they've been reporting a little bit?" He's like, "Yeah, but um you should know that we um we're doing all of the final cleanup in-house." And I was like, "Why?" He's like, "Well, because we can save some money by having our guys do it. We'll get it clean the way we want it. And then we'll have more money for some of the other projects in the bond." And so I thought that was just a good great illustration of his character and his priorities for the schools, but also how hard those guys
039work in the summer. Um so a shout-out to Mr. Hastings East Lansing Public Schools. That is a That is common for Mr. Hastings. He's looking always looking for ways that we can do more and save money and also ways we can um employ some of our folks in the summer who are only school year workers, but would like to work in the summer. Um and so he's always looking for ways for those who want to work in the summer um other ways we can employ some of our other staff members and this is one of the ways we can do it. And I I um I always just say we'll be done before school starts. I love that cuz I've gone through enough construction projects to know that something always comes up. Um but I
040do uh I I know that they're looking to be done early summer, but I'll just be really thrilled if we're open >> [snorts] >> um and ready to [clears throat] start it off when the kids all come back to school. But we are on budget and on schedule. Um in fact I I we have right now some funds that have not been designated um just based on some bids coming in lower than we had estimated. So we have a really expansive wish list going and are awaiting uh estimates on some of those projects from Clark Construction so that we can evaluate um the cost of some of those wish list items and then prioritize them and see what else we can um do with the excess funds for the middle and high school. The the
041bond proposal was only written for middle and high school, so all of the even the excess funds have to go toward the middle school and or high school. Can I also just amplify for a third time the mental health and wellness summit? Um I remember after last year's summit, which was phenomenal, that the mental health advisory committee did note that they had wished that there was better uh representation from the board. So if there's any way you can drop in, if like Tally, you went to the first one, right? It's just the coolest event. They line the whole hallways of uh the high school. There's giveaways, there's like massages, right? Like who couldn't use a little shoulder rub, right? So um if we have an opportunity, please put it on your calendar and swing by
042just to walk through and um feel the energy uh that's happening during that um event. It's really great. Um all right. We'll move on to our consent agenda. Can we get a motion? I move the Board of Education approve the consent agenda to include the following item: A new hire, hiring of John Tuttle, 1.0 FTE district-wide school nurse at BA step 16.5 effective April 27th, 2026. Second. All right. Uh moved by Trustee Martin, seconded by Trustee Bird-Hayland. Um this is a consent agenda, so there's no uh discussion. Um so with that, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Um the motion passes and Mr. Tuttle is not here today, but we congratulate him on this uh position with um East Lansing Public Schools. Um all right. We'll move to public comment. Um this is the opportunity
043to address the board. Speakers are are to confine their remarks to 5 minutes. If a speaker requires more than 5 minutes after all other persons who have requested to speak during this part of the meeting have spoken, that speaker will be allowed additional time. The superintendent or other district staff may comment to clear up or avoid significant misunderstandings. So if you would like to uh give public comment, there are um blue forms at the front you can grab and fill out. Um and I have a few up here right now. So uh first is Sarah Wilson um and she'd like to speak on special education concerns. >> [clears throat] >> All right. This is going to throw me off, but I just want to start with uh regarding the special education millage. We absolutely support
044that. Uh we are 100% for it. Uh that said, we do kind of have some harsh words tonight for the East Lansing program. Uh you may remember us. We came to the March 9th board meeting. Our son has attended this district for 7 years and I'm sure you had no idea who we were prior to that meeting. We're not the complaining types, certainly not the formal complaining types. We have gone along and relied on the expertise of the education professionals in the district and have given them very little pushback. >> [snorts] >> But something changed. It became clear to us that there was a serious issue with the White Hills ASD program. My husband emailed the director um of special education, Dr. Armstrong, and CC'd Superintendent Laiko on March 5th after conferences outlining our concerns.
045On March 6th, I emailed Superintendent Laiko directly requesting contact, providing both of our phone numbers. In fact, about 90% of what I said at the March 9th meeting was me reading the email I sent her. After receiving no response to our emails all day Friday and all day Monday, we came to the board meeting on March 9th and spoke of our concerns. Unbeknownst to us at the time, about 5 minutes after we walked into the administration building, we did receive a reply from Dr. Armstrong to my husband's email he sent on March 5th. That reply contained what's called a prior written notice. It has some vague assurances that we would receive weekly communications that we were concerned about and that our son would get the required time in gen ed while seemingly quietly acknowledging that
046these things had not been adequately done previously. And that message overall would have been fine, but then it contained something else that I really had like a visceral reaction to when I read it. We would not be allowed to amend our son's IEP due to the current IEP review being due April 30th and that it was best practice to wait until the actual IEP meeting almost 2 months away. I had to take a moment to articulate in my conscious brain why I was perceiving this as the threat it was. Then it hit me. Dr. Armstrong had actually suggested two school days prior that we could do an IEP amendment. We had been discussing our son hitting one of his language goals at his parent-teacher conference. And she asked if we wanted to do an amendment.
047Had we crossed some magical line where there was no longer it was no longer reasonable to amend an IEP? Had best practice changed in 2 days? Was there any discussion about specifically what we might want to amend? Had we even asked to amend the IEP yet? No. What we had done was push back against some claims made during the conference that Dr. Armstrong was running after the possibility of amendment had been discussed. What we had done was go above her head and CC'd the superintendent in emails about our concerns. What we had done was walk into the admin building where a board meeting was about to be conducted. This denial of an IEP amendment wasn't about what we might actually want to amend. It was about showing us who runs the show, who has the
048power. It was retaliation for daring to advocate for our son, for bringing someone who was above her into it. It was a threat that if we cross her, she will obstruct us whenever possible. It was an action that actively worked against the best interest of a student in her charge, an 11-year-old boy with autism. After this, I was lucky enough to speak with someone who has been involved with special education at the state level for decades. He felt mediation was appropriate for our situation. I contacted the special education mediation office in Okemos. The goal was to have a mediation meeting during the week of April 6th. On March 20th, an email was sent to Dr. Armstrong from the mediation office requesting to know if the district would participate. A second request was sent on March
04926th. A third request, also one about having a facilitator at our upcoming IEP meeting, was set for April 7th. I confirm today there's actually been at least one more email and two phone calls with no response. Dr. Armstrong has not replied to any of these emails. Obviously, there's a little tension here. Why would you not want a facilitator at an IEP meeting? It would not be someone I've ever met. They're present to keep parents in line as much as school officials. If you plan to handle yourself in an aboveboard manner, what would be the harm? Unless you're really planning to play more games. Our son goes to middle school next year, a completely new environment that we're not familiar with, and yet we have to do this new IEP this month. We're going into this
050blind. There have been no information sessions for special education students about what to expect. Previously, I would have thought if we didn't get everything right in this IEP, we could just amend it later. But can we? Apparently, 2 months of school isn't important. How about four, six, maybe nine? Given how Dr. Armstrong has conducted herself already, of course I'm concerned we won't be allowed to adjust things to best serve our son. There are several problems with this overall situation. Dr. Armstrong's power trip after being caught red-handed violating our son's IEP being only one of them. East Lansing has an exemption to state law for ASD programs. Instead of five children in an autism classroom with one certified teacher and one para, a number of surely arrived at based on research and data, we are allowed
051eight children with autism per classroom with one additional para. This does not sound like a huge change, 2.66 children per adult versus 2.5 children per adult. But in reality, this creates a huge additional workload for the certified teacher who is responsible for ensuring that all the proper documentation it does and has to design all the lesson plans and accommodations for children who have vastly different needs or in multiple grade levels. This must increase the actual teachers workload by around 50%. For a month the person who does all of this was replaced essentially by a warm body. Just day-to-day subs. I think this could explain why we've had two teachers quit mid-year. It's just too much and on top of that having Ms. Williams and Dr. Armstrong be your bosses, I see how they treated us
052as parents and I can only imagine being their employee must be like if they set their sights on you. And this cover-up after the teacher finally quits is enabled by the bizarre environment of secrecy around the ASD room. I have it on good authority that parents have actually been told they're not allowed to communicate directly with parents. We as parents weren't being told who was working in the room with our child even after bringing it up twice as a specific issue. I actually learned Ms. Sambova had resigned through a bounce-back email because apparently informing IT was a priority but not parents. And we certainly weren't being told all the ways that IEPs and subsequently state law were being violated. This kind of secrecy relies on exploiting the disabilities of children. If our son could talk,
053we would know more. And as someone who's spent 2 and 1/2 years in a unit investigating crimes against children, I find this situation beyond troubling. After the response we received from the school community following the March 9th board meeting, we know we cannot allow ourselves to be silenced. There are so many frustrated people and honestly our son's situation pales in comparison to things I've heard from other parents. So tonight after receiving no contact whatsoever from anyone above Dr. Armstrong for the last 5 weeks, we are here to inform you again that there is a big problem. We have located or located what you call the grievance procedure under Section 3115 in the policies. So tonight, I want to make a formal complaint to the board against Dr. Armstrong for violating policy 3115 non-discrimination, anti-harassment, and
054non-retaliation. This complaint is made specifically to you Board President Lyons as Superintendent Leiko has been CC'd in a long series of emails with Dr. Armstrong and is well aware of the situation. If she doesn't endorse it, she has yet to say anything. Thank you. >> [applause] >> I have a next for a state on special education. We really hope not to be here tonight. We assumed between emails and include with the principal, the special education director, and the superintendent things would get cleared up, especially since we brought it to the board's attention last month. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Our son Nick is still being denied his right to the least restrictive environment. You know, that pesky federal law. That's not only an ethical responsibility for any school district, it's also state and federal law.
055And still not being met. The last email we received in the form of a prior written notice, of course, insists they is receiving 205 minutes of gen ed time a week and that's adequate. His IEP requires 600 to 900 minutes. He's receiving 1/3 of the minimum time he should be in class and no one sees a problem with this. Gen ed time is very important for a number of reasons. First, it allows him to socialize with his peers. Nick gets waves, high fives, and fist bumps from his classmates when we see him around town cuz he's been in classes with his peers. Losing that time increases his social isolation, leaves him sad and missing people. Since Ms. Sambova is gone, Nick spends part of every day asking his about his classmates and looking at his
056class photo and pointing out people. Some days after that he cries. And what do I say to my son who doesn't understand why he can't see his school friends? Well, buddy, hopefully maybe someday the district will start following basic professional ethics, human decency, and the law. I don't have any evidence to support that, mind you, but it'd be nice to say. It's also a science and social studies class. He's not received that regularly in 2 months. Would that be acceptable if he was a gen ed student in the high school? Yet we are assured his time for the past 2 months has been academically rigorous. Without half his core classes? We comes home with less than a quarter of the work he used to? Would you believe that if that was your son? I don't.
057Speaking of that, I've been a day-to-day sub. I've been a long-term sub. And I'm currently a teacher. Despite that, I've never heard of a class having a day-to-day sub for 5 weeks before they hired a long-term substitute, ever. 21 years. If I'd been a math teacher at the high school or an AP teacher with a district that had over a month without a certified teacher providing lesson plans, I somehow doubt it. So the question is who is it that doesn't matter to the district? Is it elementary students in general or only those who can't speak for themselves? Which is it? We were told the para was designing the lessons, making sure the class ran smoothly. I sincerely hope they were compensated accordingly. I'd be shocked if that were actually the case. Even if she was,
058it isn't her job. I want to stress again, this is not casting aspersions on the paras, the subs, or Mr. Alton, the current long-term sub who's doing what he can. Again, we have no problem with any of the staff or teachers at either elementary school. They've been outstanding educators who do both their best with both of our students. Although I think it's a major problem parents aren't informed when a parent moves buildings or quits. They're a vital part of every classroom and they are part doubly so for education. The fact that they're ignored and treated as extra is insulting. The problem clearly lies in administration. The principal, superintendent, and special education director have been included in every email. Yet who watches the watchmen? Who oversees the administrators? You. Yet since coming before the board, we've
059been met by more stonewalling, less honest communication, sporadic emailing at best, and a confrontational attitude. We haven't had anyone from the district or the board reach out to us for more information, reassurance, anything. The district is currently being sued in federal court. That hasn't helped either, apparently. Who has contacted us are members of the community, parents who are facing similar frustrations, issues, and ill treatment. It's the single best thing to come of this for us. So why aren't there more of them here? First, public speaking is most people's number one fear. A system of oversight that requires public speaking is a system that does not want to be informed. But the worrisome reason that another dad expressed to me is the concern of retaliation. Retaliation. Not retaliation against him, but against his son with special
060needs. They're afraid of that not without reason. It's just disgusting. This district isn't It isn't meeting his IEP, not even close. It isn't providing a way for parents to understand what's going on in the schools. How can there be trust with no transparency? Why are parents only able to see a performance through a realistic observation? It isn't interested in communicating with parents by actually responding to emails. It isn't concerned with providing academic rigor. It isn't concerned with providing consistency in the classroom. From what I can tell, no one in the administration has any problem with those things. None. I'm a teacher. I've talked to special ed teachers, administrators, and a district that struggles with special education services, too. Well, it ain't easy. So we come here again tonight to ask you to do two simple
061things. Do better. Just do something. Next we have uh Kathleen Brady from ASD White Tails who wants to talk about ASD White Tails. Good evening. My name is Kathleen Brady. I am a parent of a first grade student at White Hills Elementary. He is in the ASD room. He has been in the program for 4 years. 2 weeks ago I sent an email to the board outlining concerns, communication, data collection, and IEP implementation. What I am sharing today are specific examples of those concerns. I am here because I'm concerned about my child's safety, support, and lack of con- consistent implementation in his IEP. My son has an IEP. My son is non-verbal, which means he relies entirely on adults for communication, support, and safety. On paper, it outlines support. But what has been happening in
062practice does not match what is written. Since his teacher left in February, there has been significant gaps in communication and consistency. During this time, I did not receive consistent behavior tracking. I received emails stating there was behavior but not what happened before, during, or after. This is not meaningful data. From February through mid-March, I did not receive phone calls regarding incidents even when behaviors occurred. My child is in first grade. At this age, he requires a high level of structure, supervision, and consistency. I have not been seeing that. My child already needs extra support to keep up. When the support isn't consistent, it makes things harder for him to put and puts his future behind. I have made repeated efforts to communicate and resolve these concerns directly. I have requested a new IEP in February
063to better understand what is happening. And that meeting did not take place until last week. I was told there were multiple substitutes. I was not given clear contact information despite multiple requests. I did not have direct access to classroom information. I could only communicate with administration. I did not have clear visibility into what was happening from day to day. There has been a consistent pattern of multiple unanswered emails. A meeting was offered and never confirmed despite eight follow-up emails. I contacted the superintendent and copied the superintendent I contacted the assistant superintendent and copied the superintendent on multiple emails. I received one response but no follow-up. I received no response from the superintendent. This added a lack of clarity and support. My child's IEP states that he receives consistent one-on-one support. Adult support. At the most
064recent meeting I was told this was not happening and was not possible. It would not be in his new IEP. These supports are not optional. They are required. After the IEP meeting there were serious incidents just within two days. He hit another student. He left the classroom and had to be brought back by another staff member. He had a severe head butt incident with visible bruising. There were about 10 additional incidents in the same two days. These are serious safety concerns. I do want to acknowledge the current long-term substitute has been helpful and communicates more clearly. However, he is not a certified teacher and I still have concerns on how services are being delivered. This also highlights what has been missing. Consistent communication, clear data and structured support. These are things that should have been
065in place all along not just recently. I'm also concerned my child is missing time in the general education class. I asked multiple times for information. At the meeting last week I was told he's only attended about five times since early February. His IEP states 100 to 300 minutes per week. This shows missed services and lack of transparency. These challenges with staff consistency and support. There have been multiple staff changes including the teacher leaving mid-year. This is also the second teacher to leave this position in the last three years due to the lack of support. When there is not enough consistent staff it becomes difficult to provide provide structure and support. This is when we see gaps in data, missed services and safety concerns. These concerns are not in the past. They are happening now. This
066is a clear breakdown of communication, follow through and oversight. These are leadership responsibilities. When there is lack of oversight and accountability it directly impacts students safety and IEP implementation. We chose to stay in East Lansing because we believed it would provide strong support for students with special needs. Right now that has not been our experience. I'm asking the district to ensure that IEPs are consistently implemented, supported with accurate data and held to clear accountability because right now I am not confident that that is happening. My child is in first grade. He needs structure, support and safety. This is not just about my child. It's about making sure all students who rely on these supports actually receive them. My goal is simple. I want my child safe. I want him supported and I want his IEP
067to actually be followed. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Do we have any other If I may just one more Oh no, I I won't have to. I'd like round two. I'll read up. Especially Because that clears up one thing very clearly. One of the emails that I received was included the fact that my son has 205 minutes of of in his gen ed time but then Dr. Armstrong labeled the wrong student. Kathleen's student. That's a FERPA violation. When I called it out she said, "Oh no, I just mistyped the name. The data is right." 205 is does not lie between 600 and 900 and I know I'm not a math teacher but I do know that. So that was a clear FERPA violation in the prior written notice. Add that to the joy. You can't
068come in and just complain. You need to make suggestions. You need to figure out how to improve the situation that we find ourselves in. And so this is the email This is the speech I'd rather have given tonight. But I couldn't. Education's in a weird place right now. Drastic reduction, potential elimination, the US Department of Education is a prime example. The book bans in school libraries. Fewer people believe a college education is worth it. I teach English. AI sucks. More specifically to East Lansing though. There's the issue with the former high school principal who wasn't a principal. The bathroom and violence problem at the high school. The federal law lawsuit against the district all of which are in the news. In times of upheaval and doubt in public institutions is not the time to endanger
069trust. Trust is based on clarity, consistency and communication. In short, transparency and that is sorely lacking. We tried going through the administration and the only one to respond sporadically at best has been more of a hindrance than a help. No one from the board followed up with us after our last meeting. No one asked if things were better for our son. We've been contacted by admin. Nothing. We need you to look into things. It's what we need. Follow up on issues or people will lose trust in the school board the way many are losing faith in the administration. They wouldn't come tonight cuz they're scared to be here. Scared to stand in front of you. What does that tell you about the district? You can't make good decisions though if you don't have information. You
070need more transparency just like we do. When Sarah wanted to observe Nick's class she was presented a board policy that makes it at the principal's discretion, arranged ahead of time and can last no more than half an hour. Maybe there's a good reason to put that in place. I've never worked in a school with those policies but I could see it especially as part of COVID protocols. COVID's over. But the rules are still being used. Clean up the rules and board policies make sure there aren't lingering issues that erode transparency. We had trust in the district. There's a previous teacher who quit midway through the year but it was handled in a way to increase the trust we had not diminish it. That trust could have easily been exploited if Ms. Laycock had ever answered
071Sarah's direct email to her. She had responded to any of the emails. All it would have taken was a simple, "We want to make sure Nick's IEP is being followed. I'll make sure it happens. Give me a week or two to get things sorted out." We wouldn't have pursued it. We'd have just trusted it was being done even if it wasn't cuz we trusted. If Dr. Armstrong's first email had stopped without the prior written notice refusing saying she had offered and we hadn't asked for it we'd have trusted. If we had been provided the accommodation logs and had many and been told the IEP team was too busy to amend right now we would have believed that cuz we're suckers. If our emails were answered within 48 hours instead of requiring three emails over two
072weeks to three different administrators to get one incomplete response we probably would have trusted. If we had been contacted before concurrently with the IT department requiring this is above his departure. If we knew why or even that there's such a high period turnover in the past several months. There's a myriad of off ramps that could have been taken we wouldn't be here. Even if we probably should have been. So in a way I'm thankful. Thankful for the district isn't good at times at covering up its mistakes cuz now I know not to trust you all. And I'm thankful for that I'm thankful for that says how messed up things are. There's good in the district. Hard working, caring staff, amazing teachers. The kinds of students that give me the hope for the future. It's too
073bad it doesn't extend to this building. Not following his IEP violates state law. Lack of least restrictive environment violates federal law. No one seems to care. And when you don't care about person professional ethics, common decency or the law what can we trust you all with? What? I'd like to know. So we know that the board I'm sure many of you have other jobs and you're very busy. We have prepared some documents for you as far as our communications. So I'm sure they are hard to gather and get and I know you all have a lot going on. It was hard for us to get them all together honestly. >> [clears throat] >> But I wanted to provide those. And could you CC us on the emails? Every single email is in there. >> Okay.
074And And we will forward them. Including a timeline. Everything. It's It's Sarah not me. And I don't have that. It's okay. I also have my own here though. There's via the website there is a um email that will go to all of us but all of our cards are also listed too. Okay. When you want to CC someone on an email that Yeah. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Um are there any other public comments with the board? All right. So that will close our public comment. Um we will move um to uh board discussion. Do we have any board discussion? I'd I'd like to address the folks that just spoke. Um I got to be careful uh because my I have a day job and um my day job um involves being a judge in cases
075where there are uh state for the state uh when districts violate these kinds of things. I I I have no position about what happened here. I need to read the materials you've given me. Okay. But, um And if you did if if you if you did take it through the whole administrative process to a judge, I would recuse myself. So, I can say that. Um but, um But, thank you for standing up for your kid. It's uh it is a I don't I don't fear retaliation, but I know I know it's hard sometimes. And, um that's all we can ask for parents. And, um I when we do when these cases work their way all the way through the system, one thing I can't I often speak with people I work with about is how
076evident the lack of trust is and how the bridges have been burned. And, I've seen it happen in a lot of other places, and it's something that concerns me in my, you know, as a curricular activity as a school board member, that we wouldn't want that to happen in our district. Um And so, um So, yeah. I I no I I don't I don't have a specific position, but I am grateful that you're here and you know, thank you for sticking up for your kids. Thank you. Thanks for doing that, John. That's We hear we hear a lot of different kinds of cases, and uh it's it's a it's a good gig. I I like my job, actually. Any other discussion for board members? Um not hearing any, so we will move on to action
077items. Um can I get a motion for action item A, renewal of the food service management contract with Chartwells School Dining for 2026-2027? I move that the Board of Education authorize the superintendent or designee to sign the attached food services management company contract renewal rate agreement form to renew with Chartwells School Dining for the fiscal year 2026-2027, July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027 as presented. Second. Moved by uh Trustee Ferris Highland, uh seconded by Trustee Takaki. Any um discussion? All right, not hearing any. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. Um can I get a motion for schools of choice 2026-2027 resolution? I move that the Board of Education adopt the schools of choice 2026-2027 resolution as presented. Second. Moved by Trustee Takaki, seconded by Trustee Etzel. Any discussion? All right. Um not
078hearing any, so all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. And, can I get a motion for ELHS addition uh addition technology and multimedia? I move the Board of Education approve the contract with Sound Planning Communications in the amount of $123,360.36 and the contract with Datacom Group in the amount of $57,000. $57,665. Second. All right. Well, uh motion by Trustee Etzel, seconded by Trustee Torres. Any uh discussion? Um I just wonder if um is there Trustee wants to say anything about this or clarify me? It's my understanding is this is just some the final um media things in the new addition on the current high school, right? >> It's all part of the way we're doing the electrical work for that space. Yeah, pretty standard stuff. >> Standard. Thank you for that comment. Um all
079in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion passes. I'll move to committee reports. Um Trustee Chambers, academic and technology. Yeah, we just addressed the one of the action items related to our conversation in our academic tech meeting from last week, is it Tuesday? Um about finishing entering the final stages of the addition and the um technology wiring and things that are happening there. Um so, that's great. We talked about that. Um I also was advised by my colleague, Trustee Takaki, that I might have an error in my minutes about what I have noted as RefWorks, but maybe it's RefBook. About um our students learning officiating officiating. Uh probably my error in transcribing correctly. RefWorks [clears throat] is uh you know, data management for like citation management software, so I don't think it's that. >> I
080have a third data in RefWorks, so we should probably Okay. Well, we'll fix the minutes. Um but, we got um a great update about um I'm always happy about our students having um access to new learning, and this is something that they can use to make a little bit of extra cash, which even better. Um we need more officials refs in the youth sports world, so that's super cool. Um yeah. Other items we dealt with, but everything pretty standard. And let me just shout out, we have two um students who serve on that committee, which is great, and the additional benefit of that is it means that our academic tech meetings still happen in the high school, which I love. Um because there are students on the committee, it makes it easier for them. Um
081but, they have Mason and Kyla have been outstanding um students this year and really helping us understand the implications of the work that we're doing from a student perspective, and they have stood stepped right up to, you know, make sure we understand um the ramifications from their perspective, so that's been cool. Wonderful. I always love that we have students on that committee. Me, too. Um facilities, uh Trustee Ferris Highland. We had a meeting on Friday, and um as discussed, there was a tour given on the um high school addition, and you know, updates for winter actions in spring. A lot of it had to do with that addition and the work um being done. Um and everything moving on as planned and in time, so that's great. Um additionally, the entire tech department is now
082in central office and open for business, so that's great as well as, you know, obviously the admin building is here. Um in terms of spring sports, um we got that awesome update from our student rep, and um athletic director Norris let us know that they'll be hosting girls lacrosse state semifinals Wednesday, June 3rd. Um so, that's pretty great for our district, and everything else is moving as planned. And our next Oh, we're going to meet summer summer time. Nothing set, but it was a good meeting. And our finance committee, Trustee Etzel. Um I have to delegate that to Trustee Torres as I had some health issues and missed today's meeting. So, um um we got us an update on the second semester class size overages. We have some Lisa's here. Okay, good. Um so, we
083have an agreement with all three unions. There is we uh items of information on the school of choice slots. We got an update on budget prep for 2026-2027, and we got What is this called? Designation of depositories um is an information item. Am I missing anything? Lisa? It was just me in this meeting, so I'm trying to >> [laughter] >> I wrote a lot of notes, but I had to remember if that was it, but I think that was that was really what we talked Those are all what we talked about. Am I missing anything? No. Thank you for covering it. >> Yeah. Yes. Well, that takes you takes us right back to you, Trustee Torres, for intergovernmental relations. >> Nothing to report. All right. Uh Trustee Martin, personnel [clears throat] committee. Nothing to report.
084And back to Trustee Etzel on policy committee. And over to I took the notes. Um once again, health issues. >> Tally took care of Um we met last Monday, and we made a modification to policy um on our media center materials. Um so, that should be coming forward back to us again soon. Um to we submitted or Did you submit to turn or No, I submitted directly. >> Okay, perfect. >> So, it should Was it an item of I Yes. It was an item of information tonight. Should tell you about that at our next meeting. Okay. Um we spoke about the district renaming policy and what's kind of in the works to draft an application for anyone to complete covering all bases um regarding this policy if anyone had interest in renaming facilities um or
085putting something forward as a suggestion. We had a land acknowledgement update. Um our um Ms. Burton and Mr. Neal are connecting with Nokomis contacts, um and the plan is for that contact to come in and speak with ELPS social justice team to talk with students on what they want to do and perhaps host professional development series with our staff and what we can do at ELPS. Um, so that's kind of still in the work in the works and we just have a couple things on future consideration, maybe readdressing old policy arounding surrounding media communications to update and make language a bit more clear on this. And our next meeting is May 18th at 10:30 a.m. Oh, okay. Um, and if I I didn't Our next meeting for academic tech is May 5th at 2:00 which
086is a slight change in time from what was previously announced. So, 2:00 instead of 1:00. I I just whispered to Tally that that the next meeting also conflicts with an appointment for me and so I will reach out to um, everyone and see if we can move the date or time. So, you'll let us know if you need enough to do. All [snorts] right, and then ISOA trustee Takaki. Uh, we have not met since our last meeting and we have no meeting in April. Our next meeting is May 6th at 8:00 a.m. and we'll be out at the Thorburn Education Center in person out in Mason. Thank you very much. Um, our announcements, the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Education is April 27th, 2026. Does anyone have any other further announcements? Uh,
087I should have just said it's ref reps. Mr. Our Dr. Dobson back there already sent me the correct term. So, ref reps. And I >> What's the first word? Ref. R E F? >> Yeah. Those students are learning officiating. Officiating? Yeah. [laughter] Reffing. We'll be taking young graduate adults. Say what? Will they take any young adult grad recent graduates? I mean, if they want to come back to the high school, that's the biggest question. Yeah, exactly. How old do they have to be to participate in this program? It's a class that they It's for freshmen. Yeah, they It's a It's an academic class for credit. So, freshmen can do it? I mean, it's as young as There might be pre-refs. Seniors could squeeze in, but you know, graduation. >> [laughter] >> All right, we will
088adjourn at 8:11. Thank you everyone for attending.