Regular Meeting of the Board of Education (May 19, 2025)

001regularly scheduled May 19th, 2025 meeting of the East Lancing Board of Education. Uh, Miss Hokor, can we get a roll call? Mr. Martin here. Dr. Edel here. Uh, Dr. Lions here. Miss Ferris Highland here. Dr. Chambers present. Dr. Torres here. Miss Taaki here. Um, student representative Stella Alfredson and Miss Leo here. Thank you. Uh, Trusty Taki, can you read our mission statement? You've never asked me to do that before. Sorry. Did not mean to put you on the spot. No, I wouldn't matter. The mission of the east of East Lancing Public Schools is to is nurturing each child, educating all students, and building world citizens. Thank you, Trusty Taiki. Can I get a motion for the approval of our agenda? Move to approve the May 19th, 2025 regular meeting agenda as presented. Second. It's moved

002by Trusty Lions, seconded by Trusty Torres. Is there any discussion on the agenda? All in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I. Any opposition? The motion carries unanimously. Can I get a motion for approval of the minutes of the April 28th meeting? I move to approve the April 28th, 2025 regular meeting minutes as presented. Second. Moved by Trusty Chambers, seconded by Trustee Taiki. Is there any discussion or changes to the minutes? All in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I. Any opposition? The motion carries unanimously. The uh next item on our agenda is recognition. And we have a very exciting recognition. We have some special guests from our state championship boys basketball team. So uh turn over to Trusty Ferris Highland. Let you You welcome. Um we obviously have

003our boys basketball state championship team. some of them and the coach lined up against the wall and some of their families. Um, this is the first state championship won by East Lancing since 1958, a division one state championship. Coach Mitchell was state division one coach of the year. And what a joy and a gift it was for our entire community to be able to come out and watch you guys win and win it big at the Brlin Center. So, well done. Thank you. And if and if coach if coach Mitchell or one of the players or a couple of the players want to say anything, you're welcome to come up to the podium and say a few words. Thank you. It is live streamed and they can see you better if you stand over there

004behind the podium. Yeah. [Music] Hello everyone. Hi. Hello. How you guys doing today? Pretty good. Hey. Hey. Um, you know, this state championship is is great. It's been great. Um, it's funny because we've been celebrating like it seemed like every week we've been having recognitions and tributes. And what I was trying to explain to the kids, man, this is going to be forever because you can't take away a state championship. But it couldn't happen to a better group of kids, man. We have an outstanding group of kids. You know, a lot of them had obligations today. They were texting me. They were sad, upset they couldn't make it. But we have a very strong character, great family base, high academic team. Um, I keep telling the story when we had our our award banquet, all

005like I believe 10 or 11 of our 15 guys are academically all conference. So, it's a beautiful thing. Not only that, I put them through the ringer. Like Cam said the other day at one of our uh tributes, Coach Hazard is doing all these same drills over and over and repeating and and that's what it's about, right? Repetition, practicing, just making sure you you dot your your eyes, cross your tees, make sure you get all the details down. And these guys did that. And it was tremendous what they did. It's not easy to win a state championship. It it's very hard. Um, a lot of people say you got to get lucky, but it's not luck. It's preparation. And these guys prepared and did everything I could possibly ask them to do and it resulted

006in a great run. Like our run was incredible throughout the playoffs. I mean I mean if you're if you understand sports, our defense was just top-notch and they say that wins championships and that's what we did. We played the best teams in the state and we made those teams work for every bucket that they could get, right? and you know, we came out victorious. So, I like to always empower our guys, make them come up here and talk when they don't want to talk because, you know, they're they're going into adulthood, right? And you can't be afraid to speak in front of people and and our guys are capable speakers, too. I just want to say one thing. Hey, man. Make sure y'all express y'allselves all the way through. I'm just keeping it real. I'm

007always that coach to keep real. Couple last one, couple of you guys came up here, that's all I got. No, you got more, man. Tell them. We got so many stories you can pull out your hat, man. Pull out a story or two, you know, like when you get up here, it's your it's your platform. It's your time to express yourself. Say what you feel. Say what this means to you cuz it's important because it's about you guys, right? You guys made the community very proud. You brought it together. It was a melting pot. Like that that that scene at the bre was incredible. It was blue and white everywhere. And to the to this day, everywhere I go, people are congratulating me about the work that you guys put in and did. So you

008got express yourself, man. You guys are wonderful. You guys are great. I know all you guys are going to go and do wonderful things after high school, man. It's just a great group of kids. And I'm tell I've been here all day talking about I got stories. Uh I guess I just want to say thank y'all for uh having us and uh celebrating us. Um it was a big deal for like the community to come out. I know the first game on Friday, having a half day at school, letting everybody um skip school to come watch us play. Uh going into the stadium, like seeing all the blue and white, it was like one of the greatest feelings like ever, just seeing everybody supporting us. I'm sure most of us has never played in a

009game with that many people cheering for us. So, it was just like a special moment and uh we just appreciate you guys and the whole community for uh supporting us and celebrating us when uh the special moment happened. So, thank you. Can you say say your name for all the people back home? Yeah. Uh my name is Cameron Hudson. I'm a senior. Thank you, Mr. Hudson. Uh hi everybody. I'm BJ Winhan. I played point guard this year. Number one. Um I just ran the team, did my job. That is what he did. We played point guard. Got everybody involved and just did my job. help everybody win championship. So, all right. Thank you. Good evening, y'all. I'm Jace Bernson. I was number three. All I got to say is I wouldn't have uh wanted to

010win this championship with no other group of guys. So, I mean, I I love my brothers. These my brothers. We we growing up uh since I I think like fourth grade. We've been playing basketball since we was kids, you know. It's I don't know. It's It's a lot that you I could say about them. I don't really want to know take a long time about that, but like um yeah, that's really it. [Applause] Uh Owen Fortman, I'm a three sport guy here at East Lancing. You know, first of all, I just want to say uh thank you to the community for coming out. You know, none of this is possible without you guys support. Thank you you guys for having us, you know, and uh get back to that three sport thing, you know, all

011these seasons that I played. Uh you could just tell there's something special in this group, you know, so like tightly bonded. All these I've known all these guys since like second grade, third grade, you know, we've been playing together forever and I mean it shows on the court, you know, I wasn't a huge huge contributor on the team, but you know, in practice making guys better every day. I mean it's things like that that win the state championship. So yeah, thank you all you guys. Thank you. [Applause] Well, I'll wrap it up. Um, it's funny because, you know, that's not the first time I've heard that. Well, Owen needs to understand he's everybody on our team is important, right? Right. Everyone's a champion. Like, it doesn't matter how many points you score, doesn't matter how

012many minutes you play. If you are a part of this, guess what? You are a champion for forever. And and everyone needs to understand that because it's about teamwork, right? And no matter what you do after this, you're going to have to work with a group. When that group win, everybody wins. Yeah. So, you know, I I didn't really tell my kids to don't say that, but I hate hearing that because No, you were very important. Not only that, he probably made some plays that pushed us to the championship. I'm sorry. I'm going to tell the story. So, he just said he don't play that much, but we're playing against the best player in the state, a McDonald's All-American. We're struggling. We come out down 10. The our opponent was up 10 points to zero.

013Right. First quarter, we're down. We have seven points in the quarter, six seconds left. Um, actually, even before that, Mr. Branson got in a little foul trouble. So, I had to put on on the best player in the state. Like I said, once again, a McDonald's All-American. He stopped this guy twice, right? So, now that leads up to where I just left off. It's 6 seconds left. It's end of the quarter. He inbounds the ball. And if you know basketball, you have six seconds to get that that uh shot. Everybody's counting down. Five, four, three, two, one. This guy takes the ball out, sprints all the way down the court. We missed a shot. He tips it in and he gives us some momentum to win that semi-final game which propelled us to the championship.

014So that's that's important. That's important. Understand that. So always remember that. All right. Everybody's important up here. But that that's it. I I'll talk for days. Thank you guys. Thanks for having us once again. We appreciate it. Um like I said, we're going to celebrate forever, man. We we Oh my goodness. I know these boys have been doing their thing. And uh if you want to have us again, we we're more than welcome to come. We'll try to bring more of our guys. with us. You know, today was kind of tough, but thank you. Thank you. Can we get a picture in front? Yes. All right. Stand in the back, but [Music] in the front since she has her shirt on. Make me feel worse. I was going to say, but I don't know. That

015got me too much watching from home. I would buy the games. We were losing our minds. [Music] All right. Well, that was That's fine. That's fine. Yeah, she does. We'll turn it back over to Tally. Yeah, I have a few more. Okay, that's fine. I just wanted to clear up. Yeah. Okay. We have a couple more amazing students to acknowledge right now and those are our stu our board student reps. Um Stella Alfredson and Holland Walsh. They've come week after week and given us reports on what's happening in the district and their schools and they put together really well thoughtout presentations for us. So, thank you so much ladies. We have a little something for you up here. So, if you both want to come up and if you either of you or both of

016you want to say something, that would be great. But we really appreciate you. Thank you. Can you tell us what you're doing next year? I'm going to the University of Michigan. And Ella is a She's gonna be a senior. Okay. So, you're moving into So, you'll be here. Yeah. Yay. I'm not I have I brought the next leit with my schedule next year, but great. Can you introduce the next leazison? Yeah. Yeah. We're going to Oh, during your student when you do it. Okay, got it. Let them run it. So, I will I will finish mine and then let the more competent representatives ignore. Okay, Ed, I have a couple items um districtwide. We'd like to offer our congratulations to the following students who participated in our Michigan Music Teachers Association Student Achievement Day for

017piano. We have Amir Akman Akmanov, excuse me, Ashley Barger, Caitlyn Barger, Henry Barryman, Langston Chambers, Sha Dy, and Samuel Kang. Students had to prepare for many months to successfully complete this program and as a sponsoring music organization and middle school administration, they are very proud of these students efforts. Also, the East Lancing archery team competed against the best archers around the country at the national archery and schools tournament in Louisville on May 10th. The middle school's team score at the state tournament qualified them for this national tournament where 31 states were representative represented represented per the city pulse top of the town. We have three high school teachers are that were acknowledged. Number one, the high school teacher Patty Sancheala won the best academic advisor award. Miss Sanchoala is a resource teacher at East Lancing

018High School. We have our high school band teacher, Dave Lararszelier, and he was recognized as the third best high school teacher by voters. And our East Lancing High School basketball coach, Ray Mitchell, won the best high school coach award through the city pulse. Um, Coach Mitchell has been our head coach since 2018 and obviously led our Trojans to our first state title since 1958. And that's our recognition for tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Do any other uh board members wish to make recognition? I just want my picture taken with Stella and Holland. I got basketball team. I need student rep. No, seriously. Can we? Yeah, we can do this. Yeah, let's do it. We can be in the backyard. Thank you so much. I know pictures. Although Kath, were you Kath, were you I mean

019uh Trusty Edel, were you going to say anything about Special Olympics? Well, I could. I think you should. Um when was that? The 15th day. Thursday the 15th. Um uh East Lancing had participation at all levels, the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. And uh uh one special child, Marcus Edelar, came away with two second place uh ribbons in the 50 meter dash and the softball throw. Um it was a great day. Really hot um by the end of the day, which is hard, but uh a lot of fun I think that the kids had. And Tara showed up right after I left and uh um just interact with the kids and seems like everybody was having fun. Absolutely. Thanks for the reminder. Yes, we have a teacher back here who was there as

020well. Yeah, it was a great day. All right. Well, so that will take us to the student representative report. So, Miss Walsh, Miss Alfredson, go ahead. Hi. Oh, this is so tall now. Um so student council has finished our elections and so we brought with us our two new uh liaison and they'll be giving their like self bios after we finish. Um but we created a new thing like through our PR team called wish you were here. It was like an update on our Instagram of like each each meeting and like what we went over and like what kind of like because there's no way for anybody to kind of like be inside the meetings and so it's like more of like a public view on what kind of goes on in student council. Um

021we had prom this weekend super fun. It was at the Kellogg Center. Theme was midnight meadow. I think at the Kellogg Center was like a big success. There was a lot of room for everyone. Sit down dinner was really good. Lots of dancing. It was really fun and postp prom was a blast. Um the girls varsity soccer districts are this week. I think if they win their game tomorrow, they might they're going to go on further. I think that's how districts works for other sports. Um the girls varsity tennis team, we won our CAAC's last week, our our um conference tournament, which pushed us on to regionals last Thursday, which we also won. So that's three straight regional titles in a row, which is pretty exciting. Yeah. Um, so we have we took down Battle

022Creek Lake View and Mason. Uh, both got second and Battle Creek is ranked ninth in the state. So that was a pretty big deal. So I think we might be top 10 in the state now. And then um now we have uh states at the end of the month in Calazoo. So we're looking forward to it. Great. Um water polo the water polo district tournament was this Saturday in Rockford and the team advanced to their regional tournament next week. That's why my hair is still wet and I'm still coming from practice. Um, our school, as many of you know, has a tradition where students can choose who hands them their diploma. Uh, students must submit their selection to Miss Kowalsski in the library w by Wednesday. So, if you know a senior who hasn't, give

023them a heads up. Um, the talent show is coming up. Auditions were on the 16th and the show is on the 25th. And senior's last day is on the 23rd. They'll be parading around the elementary schools and participating in a senior sendoff at the football field. And finally, I just want to say thank you to for everything you guys have done. I enjoyed being here over the last two years. Thank you. Thank you. And then we have Maya and Tanya who are gonna introduce themselves. Okay. Uh hi everyone. Um my name is Maya and I'm a rising senior um here at East Lancing High School. I just want to say that I'm excited to be your schoolboard liaison for the next school year. Um, and I just wanted to tell you a little bit about

024myself. Um, in school I've been involved in the band and orchestra program since the start of middle school and I enjoy playing in our school's jazz band. Um, I also play tennis on our school's varsity tennis team and I also love playing tennis outside of school as well. Um, next year I'm set to be president of the studentr run club, Students for Gender Equality, um, which I'm very passionate about. Um, outside of school, I just enjoy spending time with my friends and family, and I spend my summers in Romania, a small country in Europe where my family is from. So, yeah, that's me. Welcome. Thank you. Sorry. My name is Tanya De Jaga and I'm also a rising senior. I'm not currently involved in any of like our school athletic programs, but I've trained in

025soccer for years. I've also been in the music program for band, orchestra, and the marching band. And I'm also a part of National Honor Society, Student Council, Asian Student Union, and many other clubs. Other than these like school related activities, I work alongside my mom helping like less fortunate immigrant families, finding like new opportunities and experiences in America. And um on top of that, I've also had jobs all throughout high school. Because of all of this, I've been like in plenty of um sorry, in plenty of spaces where I get to support causes that I care about. And all of these experiences have helped me grow and understand my passion for amplifying student voices. And I'd just like to say that me and Maya are both very excited for the upcoming school year. And we've

026seen this role to be primarily about updates in the past, but we kind of wanted to shift it into like something that can celebrate both the achievements, but then also focus on some of the challenges that students might care about. And that's pretty much it. We're just very proud and excited to serve as the new student body representatives. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Well, uh, it's it's so nice to meet you, Maya and Tanya. I look forward to getting to know you over the next year. And, uh, Miss Walsh, Miss Alfredson, excited to see what comes next. It sounds like you have some exciting things coming up in your lives. and uh you're about to enter a really exciting time in your life. So, good luck to you both and it's been great working with

027you over the last couple years. Thank you. All right. And then I guess should I don't know if President Martin, can I just point? Sorry. Um Stella and Holland, if you want to take your name plates as a momento, you should do that. I just slide it out or take the Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Whatever you want. And I don't know if we should tell our new student representatives that a lot of times the student representatives leave after they report or if we should make them make them stay for the whole time. I feel like it's already a setup because they got music when they came in and lots of photo ops and a full room. This is what all of our meetings are like. Yeah. school. Well, well, thank you. Thank you all

028again. It's so great to have you here. All right. The next item on the agenda is our superintendent report. So, I'll turn it over to uh Superintendent Leo. Thank you. Uh first, I want to thank our families for their feedback. We had nearly 400 families who responded to our my student voice perception survey for parents and guardians. We'll be reviewing this data along with the data from our students and from our staff to inform our goals and action steps for next school year. And we'll prepare a presentation of this data, present it at an upcoming board meeting and share it with our staff, students, and families. Uh, also free preschool is available and registration is open now. Uh, East Lancing Public Schools is now enrolling preschool students for the 2526 school year. Uh you can

029contact Michelle Huskin and I have a phone number and there's also a website on here to get started or to learn more. This will get sent out to our families tomorrow. So if you need the phone number or website, this will be in your email tomorrow. Our preschool classrooms are housed at Red Seedar Elementary School and are now going to be five days a week and children need to be four years old by December 2000 December 1st, 2025 to be eligible eligible for a pre free preschool. a little construction update. I have some a few photos that will display up there, but just a heads up, they're mostly dirt right now. So, they'll get more exciting as time goes on, but this is the beginnings of our um new administration building over on Tower Avenue.

030So, that's our work in progress right now. Um the existing building has been removed and utilities were capped off. Uh temporary power station has been installed. Um, building site excavation has been completed and footings laid out. Excavation formwork and concrete placement has been completed for a majority of the footings minus an entrance area to the internal part of the site. And foundation wall form work is in progress and nearly complete for approximately half of the perimeter. So, those are um that's what you're looking at here in these four photos. I think there's a couple more, but they all it's mostly dirt. It gets better. Um, our high school edition, just an update on where we are with our East Lancing High School edition. Bids were received for the high school front entrance and cafeteria editions,

031and the board is being asked to take action on four of these recommendations this evening, and the remaining bid recommendations will come before the board on June 9th. Once school ends, mobilization of the front of our high school will begin. Communication will be coming out regarding summer entrance and access to the high school and central office staff as the main entrance will be under construction during the 2526 school year. Door number eight will become our main entrance for next school year and more details and communication will be coming. Also, a small group of central office and high school administrators and office staff participated in a furniture tour today where we had the opportunity to view and try out new office student common space and cafeteria furniture. And finally, bond pricing for our series two slash

032three combined bonds will take place um tomorrow. And uh some upcoming dates to know, May 26th, this coming Monday, a week from today, there's no school due to Memorial Day. June 5th is East Lancing High School graduation at 7 p.m. at the Breerland Student Event Center. And June 6th is our last day of school, which is a half day for all buildings. And um a week ago, Friday, I sent out to all families um tenative calendars for 2526, but I also attached them to this um report that will be sent out again tomorrow as well. They're um all very similar. They just have a there's an elementary, a middle school, and a high one high school one due to like different half days and exam days. So they're generally the same calendars, just a little

033tweaked based on the level. So that's what I have for you today. Thank you. Are there any questions for the superintendent about her report? I promise photos next meeting will be more exciting. All photos are exciting. I would just say, you know, I really I know that a lot of work uh a lot of work and a lot of thoughtfulness went into the calendars that you put together uh with ELA and as a parent, I see some things that are going to represent improvements over calendars we've had in the past. So, I just want to thank you for your work on that and thank our partners at the LEA for their contributions to that process as well. All right. If there's no questions for the superintendent, we'll move on to our consent agenda. There is

034no discussion of the consent agenda. Uh, can I please get a motion on item number one? I think it's actually just one item, isn't it? I move to approve the consent agenda to include the following new hires. One, hiring of Emma Sharp as a conditional hire pending obtainment of certification 1.0 FTE resource room teacher at Robert L. Green at BA step three effective at the start of the 2526 school year. The individual will be paid at a daily rate of $200 until certifica certification is received. Two, hiring of Anna Vanderbush Vandenbush as a conditional hire pending obtainment of certification 1.0 FTE resource room teacher at McDonald Middle School at BA step three effective at the start of the 2526 school year. The individual will be paid at the daily rate of 200 until certification is

035received. I'm going to screw up your last name, Renee. Hiring of Renee Wash as a justra. All right. As a conditional hire pending obtainment of cert certification 1.0 FTE resource room teacher at East Lancing High School MAP 3 effective at the start of the 2526 school year. The individual will be paid at a daily rate of 200 until certification is received. Hiring of Haley Boie as a conditional hire pending obtainment of certification 1.0 Oft vocal music teacher at McDonald Middle School and East Lancing High School at BA step 3. Effective at the start of the 2526 school year, the individual will be paid at the daily rate of 200 until certification is received. There second. Oh, second. Moved by Trusty Edel, seconded by Trustee Ferris Highland. Uh there is no discussion on the consent agenda,

036so we'll move straight to a vote. All in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I. Any opposition? The motion carries unanimously. I believe we have a few of our um most recent hires here and it is our custom to invite you up to the podium to introduce yourselves and say a few things about uh where you're coming from, what you're excited about uh moving into next year. So, it's not required, but if you'd like to, now is the time to do it. Come on. Hello, my name is Renee Wira. I am the new hireer in our special education department at resource teacher. Um, a little bit about me is that my family has been here since 1994 and started we stayed in the East Lancing School District because it was so wonderful.

037We actually were um coming here temporarily from Ann Arbor and we were so impressed that we stayed. So um I have four adult daughters that have all gone through the school district and so this is very full circle for me to actually be working here. I've been here at the high school since 2019. Um but I was over at Robert El Green my first year as a parah and the first week I knew I wanted to be a teacher. So, and I said, uh, Andrea Ramsey, um, is who I was working with, and I said, I want your job, but I want to work with special education. And she said, okay. And the opportunity, um, came that I'm doing the Grow Your Own Talent Together program. It's been wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. And, um, finished

038up my education at uh, Western, which is also a full circle moment. I wanted to do that after high school. And I ended up at Eastern. And then I said just did a whole bunch of school here and there, raised a family and then uh finished up where I originally wanted to go, but it was in education, not art. I think it was art advertising or something like that first. So I am super super excited. I had like such wonderful support um going through this program and actually just being in the school district endless. The encouragement that you receive and the support that you receive is outstanding. um my mentor Lizzie Baston is leaving us to have a baby and and raise her her family. So, it all kind of was serendipitous like she said.

039I said, "Absolutely. I think this all worked out really well and um we wish her the best, but um I'm looking forward to my classroom." I started calling it my classroom recently and it was really good. Um and I've just got the best support here at the high school and I'm going to miss administration being here. So, um that's about Yeah. Good, good, good, good. So, um don't wish me luck, wish me well because I I need I don't need luck. I I just need that support to keep going and and I'll be okay. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Anna Vannon Bush. I'm super excited to be in the school district. I grew up in Mason for a few years, a decade, but I came I used to live out in Nevada and then

040I moved to Mason and my whole family lives in Michigan. But um yeah, I've coached for the past four years at Mason and I'm excited to bring my talents to East Lancing and really uh start really strong out here at the middle school. I'm super excited. I have my dream classroom and I can't wait to start. Hey, thank you. So, welcome. Mason folks aren't too bad. Okay, we're okay. Oh. Uh, yeah. Wait to say hello. There we go. Okay. There will be loyalty tests at various points. Oh, boy. Here we go. Hi everyone. Uh, my name is Haley Boie. I'm going to be the new vocal music teacher at the middle school and high school. And, uh, this next year will actually be my first year teaching. So, I'm really excited. Uh, I just graduated

041from Western Michigan University in December and then I've just been doing some subbing and just when I entered the building and went through the interview process, I felt super welcomed and I'm just really excited to be here. So, thank you all. Thank you. Welcome. Hi, my name is Emma Sharp and I'm a recent graduate of Michigan State University. Um, I have been working as a site leader for the city of East Lancing's before and after school program at Red Seedar Elementary for the for the past four years. some of my families are here today. So, thank you guys. Um, and I that's also where I completed my um year-long internship here as well. And so, um, I'm also a coach for Girls on the Run at Red Seed Elementary. And so, I felt so welcomed

042here at East Lancing. And so, I wanted to continue my teaching journey here. And I'm so grateful for that experience. So, I'm looking forward to starting out as the resource room teacher at Robert El Green Elementary. So, thank you. You're welcome. All right. Well, thank thank you all for being here and um you certainly are welcome to stick around for the rest of the meeting, but we understand that you have busy lives back home and uh we won't be offended if you return to those. So, uh thank you all. We're so fortunate to have you and it's great to have you on board. Thank you. Thank you. All right. The next item on our agenda is public comment. And I will read the public comment statement before we begin public comment just to make sure

043it's clear. It says, "This is the opportunity to address the board." Thank you. Uh speakers are to confine their remarks uh to five minutes. If a speaker requires more than five minutes, all other persons who have requested to speak during this part of the meeting, um after they've had a chance to speak, that speaker will be allowed additional time. The superintendent or other district staff may comment to clear up or avoid significant misunderstandings. So, we have quite a few uh slips, blue slips, but if you haven't already filled one out and you would like to make a public comment, make sure that you have filled out a blue slip and Miss Hokor can collect those for you. Um, they will be in the back. Uh, Miss Hok can pick those up, can can get those

044for you. And I'm just going to uh I'm just going to take them in the order that I receive them. There's no particular order to these and they're not going to be organized in any way. Um, so the first one is John Lee and he wants to speak about third grade class for Red Seedar Elementary. So, uh, Mr. Lee. Hello everyone. Hello. Uh, I am a I just want to start with this so that you get an idea of why I'm all blue and white and green and white. Okay. All right. Go green. Go green. Go white. Uh, I moved here from uh suburbs of Chicago in 1979. My dad took the first job uh first black president of East Lancing High School at that time. I began school in Glen Karen Elementary. Came up

045favorite teacher, Mrs. Swanson. If she's still around, if anybody knows her, awesome. uh went on Hannah Middle School to East Lancing. Love, love, love my community, love the school, love the experiences I had. A little scary with dad being the principal. It's not too much trouble I was going to get into. He's 66 350. Not going to be too much I can get away with. So, I say all that to say the pride instilled in me in East Lancing Public Schools is is bone deep. and some of the things and I've moved away my professional life uh in North Carolina and have come back you know my mom and brother live in Portage Michigan so I wanted to be close enough to family but still uh benefit from community and uh my significant other and

046her children adopted me so uh we wanted the kids to experience what we experienced Both of us are East Lancing public school uh products and had awesome life. Well-rounded. I have friends from all aspects of of the world, which I attribute to my education at East Lancing, my experiences at East Lancing. Uh some things that uh like we said, we wanted them to experience here in East Lancing that you in my opinion, you can't find in other states, in other areas. things. There's a lot of violence. There's a lot of foolishness and things like that that I can go on and on about. But what I something that came across here in the school, the girls both go to, one is in second grade, one is in third grade. They both go to Red Cedar

047Elementary. Nice school. Uh again, it's an East Lancing school. What could be wrong? Unfortunately, there are some situations where that is alarming me. as a product and a parent and an adopted parent and that is class size. I've looked at other meetings and things that you all have had and spoken on this. So, I know it's not anything that I don't want to beat a horse to death, but uh my concern is that we're taking two third grade classes and combine them into one and at that age level, the excitement in the room, I'll say in a nice way, has got to be close and possible for the teacher. And then I'm concerned about comprehension levels. If we have that many kids, I think a number was 33 the last meeting I saw, April meeting

048that you all had. So I think that number's dropped down to 28. The involvement of Michigan State in their international student program. So five more kids put us puts us back at 33. I worry about what we're doing as a board as we can't continue with a two two two uh third grade classes for that school. They're kind of guessing guess guessing to see if okay well maybe we won't have enough where we can just add a couple more onto a class. I think I heard one of the board members say that's scary to me. Even years and years decades ago, I'm still kind of young though by the way, but uh years ago that many kids in a classroom would be outrageous. There would be no way of concentrating. There's going to be all

049type of personalities and activities going on in the room outside of the learning. And I worry about that. So I asked the board to think think deep and hard on that. It's one thing to have a helper. Someone's learning the the the field of teaching and they come into a classroom and they may be from Michigan State Green. Uh but at the same time scares I don't want to scare a brand new teacher out of our district. I'd like to also see some some color in our district. There's more there's a lot of minorities. We need to make a stronger push at getting minority educators. I come from a house of minority educators. So, it's possible. They went and got my dad from the suburbs of Chicago. I want you all to do the same

050thing. Reach. Do more for this community. There's there's people out here that is tearfully proud of this place. And I don't want to see us fall and I don't want to see us fail the kids even at the third grade level because we've got we piled in a bunch of kids in one classroom to benefit us and not them. That's all I got. Thank you, Mr. Lee. [Applause] Thank you. Put it in my stack. The next commenter is um is Madison Cumins um or no I'm sorry is is Cherylyn Brown and the um subject is teacher at Red Cedar. So, uh, Miss Brown, hi. Um, this is my first time doing this, so I'm a little nervous. Um, just want to say, okay, so I'm speaking for I have two girls at Red Seedar. Um,

051we came here three years ago. Um, one of my daughters was in kindergarten, the other one was in first grade. They've been here for three years. Um, both them both of them have experienced Miss CF, that's what we call her. Um, Madison Cummings. Um, she's like one of the best teachers I've ever experienced in my life. Um, like, um, I don't know. I have, like I said, I have two girls and it's difficult like girls and she's so good with them. She boosts their self-confidence. Um, my youngest one had she's like um she's gotten her boundaries like she's she'll stand up for herself because, you know, like if somebody's bothering her, she doesn't fight. She doesn't she just stands and like no, you know, and you know, like the teacher gave her a high five

052one day for standing up for herself and stuff like that. It's like you can't find that in every teacher. Um you can search high and low, but you it's hard to find a teacher like that that relates to children that way, that gets children to relate to them that way. That trust in a teacher. Um I just can't imagine her leaving now. Like I said, my children have these last three years just she's a constant. I even nominated her for the best teacher. If you all see that on the news, I did that and she won and yes, she did. She did. She did. Um, that was a moment for me. Um, oh gosh, I I had so much more. It's just, oh, how can you say it? It's like she's just a a treasure,

053as I must say. I don't see her being without a job, doing what she loves, and helping people's children the way she's helped mine. Um, anybody knows me, I'm a very tough cookie when it comes to my daughters. Um, and I just love the way she has taught them. Um, I love the way she takes charge of her classroom. Um, there's other teachers within that same building. They don't take charge of a classroom the way she does. They don't stand firm on what they're doing. They're teaching. I'm here to teach every child. Not just this one or that one. Everybody. And she does that. And I don't understand how this woman is facing not having a job at this school anymore. I don't there's no way. And if if it comes around numbers and stuff

054to me, like what you have on that wall, nurturing each child, educating all students, building world citizens, that's what you're supposed to do. It ain't supposed to be about numbers. It's not supposed to be about the a dollar bill. It's about these kids. And that's what I'm concerned about. And I'm going to This is just the start. I'm going to fight for this. Fight for my children. Fight for their education. That's what I'm supposed to do. I'm responsible for them. Um like I said, you don't find too many teachers that do that. You don't find too many teachers that go on the way she has. Um, and before I just bust into tears up here, I'm going to let somebody else have it. But I I just can't believe this that I have to stand

055up here today with in front of you all and for her because there's no way there's no way that she should not have a job that she's one of the best teachers you this school system has. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Miss Brown. Amanda Schneider is the next person. Uh, keeping staff positions, I should say. Amanda Schneider is appearing on behalf of ELA. Yes. So, I am um one of our union elementary vice presidents. So, I'm representing our teachers who have been notified of displacement. And normally I um try to come here to share my positives and um just with updates and things, but I do have more of a concern to raise with the staff members who have been notified of displacement. So, they're told that not necessarily without a job next year,

056right? that their positions are being removed and there is the possibility that if other staff don't leave um they won't have a job to move into. So um we are concerned about that as a union trying to represent our members to be able to stay here. And when our goal is to recruit and retain competent, dedicated professionals who can help us to nurture each child, educate all students, and build words world citizens, we need to continue to stand out as a supportive district that cares about our staff whether or not they are tenured yet. Um, I have enjoyed every moment I've taught here over the last eight years and I want our um, staff to feel that kind of support and uh, excitement to be here. Um, so when teachers learn about our district removing

057teaching positions, it does raise concerns that class sizes will keep growing and that layoffs um, may be impending, neither of which are attractive qualities for job prospects. Although I am glad we also have some positions filled midyear this year. We are glad to have our new teachers. Um as a district we support research and evidence-based practices to improve the ways we nurture and educate through a focus on mental health, social emotional well-being. We've heard stories of those shared already tonight. Um and academic excellence. And data supports the benefits of smaller classes which positively impact staff and students. The state school board recently accepted Mitchell Robinson's resolution to limit class sizes to 20 students in grades K through three. And the resolution stated, "Many studies show that class size reduction leads to better student outcomes in

058every way that can be measured, including better grades and test scores, fewer behavior problems, greater likelihood to graduate from high school on time, and subsequently enroll in college." Um, so keeping that in mind, I think now is not the time to reduce our teaching staff. Uh, our smartest investment would be to maintain smaller class sizes with effective teachers. Um, and I encourage the board um the district to look elsewhere for mo more coste effective changes. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Sch Snider. The next commenter is um Mr. Gorman. Ross Gorman on behalf of ELA says reduction in force is the subject. All right. I think this is the first time I haven't gone first. So, uh forgive me. I wrote a big long thing. I was hoping to provide context, but you already know what's going

059on. I also wrote a note for the basketball team, and they're already at home eating whatever was in the fridge. So, I will say this. If you caught the basketball game, it looked effortless. I've had almost all of those students in class. It was not effortless, right? I know that. I I helped to teach them. They they spent a lot of time working on on what they achieved. So, uh, greetings, uh, board of education superintendent Leo and East Lancing family. My name is Ross Gorman and I'm the president of ELA and I'm up here to represent our East Lancing teachers at this public comment. Uh, I'm also the lead negotiator for our teachers and our ongoing contract negotiations. And I would like to also thank the the public uh for supplying us with a lot

060of wonderful meals as we've negotiated. We have a lot of uh great family-owned restaurants with diverse food that have been supporting us through that process. So, I want to throw that thanks out as well. But otherwise, I am here to bring attention to the board's plan to reduce st uh sections at the elementary level below their current levels. This is happening within the context of a much larger COVID funding cliff that has left a lot of public schools across the country uh to reconcile budgetary shortfalls that uh now that emergency funding has kind of stopped flowing. Uh East Lancing is no exception to that. Uh what does make East Lancing special is that we're in no dire situation as we make these corrections. Our district's rainy day fund is robust. Uh however, part of East

061Lancing's plan to address these shortfalls is to combine two third grade sections uh into one classroom, which may have over 30 students by the time enrollment is done. We do not believe that a a third grade classroom with more than 30 students to a teacher is a type of environment that has earned East Lancing the reputation that it has. We believe that this will create a new reputation of its own and one that goes against the state board of education's newly stated goal of having a hard cap of 20 students in K through three classrooms. Uh we would like to know if this district has a long-term plan to ensure class sizes in that building, Red Seedar, remains stable and reasonable. I know I would want to know if I was a Red Seedar parent.

062Uh, with that point made, the ELEA is working closely with administration to try and ensure that the talent that makes East Lancing schools so exceptional stays at East Lancing Schools. It is unfortunate though that the protections that once governed teacher layoffs no longer apply. Otherwise, uh, we would know right now as a community the status of our teachers within our children's classrooms. We could surmise who will be teaching next year. However, due to changes to the law that were made in 2011 in the m uh Michigan legislature and changes made uh in board policy in the last year by our school board, this is no longer the case and we are in limbo as our community's educators do not know if they can still call this district home next year. Uh there's a long list

063of other ways that the district is working to resolve its budgetary woes, many of which I'm sure I could complain about here today. But whatever fiscal decisions we decide to dissect tonight, we should remember that the premise that smaller class sizes can only be uh funded on the back of sacrificing our students classroom experiences is a false one that did not exist when the board considered a myriad of other spending priorities throughout the year, several of which we've addressed in previous public comments. We would ask that the board revisits their budgetary priorities and enrollment strategies to ensure stable and reasonable class sizes for East Lancing students and staff across all buildings, but especially at Red Seedar in the upcoming year. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gorman. Uh the next commenter is Katie Hubard. It says

064parent at Red Cedar and it's uh Miss Maddie is the is the subject. Bring this down here. Thank you. Um Superintendent Leo, members of the school board, I wanted uh just to take a moment to encourage you to reconsider the elimination of uh Mrs. Maddie CF Beckman's teaching position and share my feedback regarding our family's experience at Red Seedar Elementary. We f I first met Miss CF in the spring of 2021 uh at Glen Karen actually where my son was during co he was attending at the time and she was completing her student teaching. Uh she was always smiling. She was greeting the parents. The kids loved her. Um Miss Beckman has a wonderful radiant warm engaging personality. That's just who she is. Um when she listens, she makes you feel like you are the

065most important person in the room. When I first met her, I assumed that she was one of the teachers because of the way she carried herself. She had confidence, poise, she was just skilled. Everyone seemed to know who she was. And so later when I found out that she'd been hired um by ELPS to be a kindergarten teacher at Red Seedar, I was thrilled. Um over the moon, I was telling my son, "Oh, Miss CF is coming to Red Seed. She's going to be the new kindergarten teacher." We were all excited. It was it was a great um a great gain for our school. She's kind, compassionate, she's fun. Um, she's everything that you would want for your teacher, for your child to have in a teacher. I can't say enough good things about her

066and the difference that she has made at Red Seedar. She is skilled at connecting with the kids. She makes learning fun, which is, you know, a challenge when you're trying to hold attentions of elementary age kids. Um, I'm heartbroken that the district has made the decision to eliminate her teaching position in Red Cedar and furthermore has not made any efforts to retain her uh as a teacher at another East Lancing Elementary. I know that that's subject to enrollment, but to I mean, if you if you tell her that her position is ended, she's going to have to look for a teaching job. And it's sad to me as a parent to think that that talent could could walk away to a different district. Red Cedar is truly a special place. Um because of the close

067proximity to campus, we do have a higher enrollment of English language learner students. Um a lot of international families. And I think that that is one of the things that makes it a really cool, unique uh campus. Typically, we have smaller class sizes. Currently, I have a um fifth grader and a second grader. And I know my second grader, rising third grader, is in a class with uh it was 19. I think it's dropped to 18 other kids. Um the small class sizes are what part of what make it remarkable and helps the students, especially our ELELLL learners to thrive. Um there's lots of supports that are available at Red Seedar. Um, the staff are just they're remarkable. They go above and beyond to make sure families are welcomed. Uh, Mrs. Clemens, Miss Tia Johnson,

068uh, Mr. Pew, they know every single child's name. Their kids are greeted by name as they walk in. And to be able to like to come and have someone know your name and be able to pronounce it correctly and you feel welcomed is is a parent is huge to see that for your kid. Uh, within within the teaching staff, it's a tight-knit group. There's been no turnover between 2022, 2023, and this year, the 2024, 2025 school year. I'm a proud red red seedar parent of red and third grader. I'm sad to that the district has chosen to collapse one of the third grade classes. Knowing that there are currently 35 second graders enrolled and enrollment for fall semester at MSU has not yet finished yet. Child development experts and educators agree that third grade is

069the most pivotal year for learning and research has shown that smaller class sizes are ideal. Asking a teacher, even a veteran like Mr. Ket whom we love, to accept responsibility for educating 30 plus kids, including a higher ratio of ELELLL students than other schools in the district is unfair and unreasonable. Furthermore, asking families who have been an active part of the school community for years to choose between moving their young child who's only ever known Red Seedar to a better learning environment or stay where they are known and loved but in a cramped classroom with nearly twice as many kids as they have in class this year is appalling. I ask you, Miss Leo, members of the school board, to please reconsider the decision to eliminate Miss Maddie CF Beckman's position. Reinstate her as a

070third grade teacher at Red Seedar. She's a skilled, experienced educator and the kind of caring, compassionate person that any child or parent would be thrilled to have as their teacher. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Hubard. Uh the next uh public comment request is from Cheryl um parent at Red Cedar. It says class size and teachers. Hi, my name is Cheryl. I am not quite well spoken as everybody else. I have a fear of public speaking. So this is really really hard for me to do. So, please bear with me. Um, I have a unique position at the school. I get to go in and out of classrooms and see how teachers interact with the kids. And I'm also a parent of a third grader who's in Mr. Kennet's class. And he is an amazing

071teacher. Um, he currently has 18 students in his classroom. How can you put 12 more desks in that physical space? How can you add 12 more students to that physical space? and expect him to educate everybody to engage them. Um, so my early life I used to work in daycare and I worked at this private place and I was the lead teacher in the classroom and every month or so the owner would come in in the middle of the night and change my classroom up. I'd come in the morning and nothing flowed right. I was in the space. I knew how the kids used it. She did not. Have you guys been into the classroom? Have you been into Mr. Kette's classroom. Have you seen this space? Do you see how he uses it? How

072can you add more students to that? You just can't. And you can't have him be an effective teacher, no matter how well he is or not. Um, and we've talked about I've had statistics about how it's important to have smaller class sizes and it equals the outcome that we've already talked about. So, I don't need to do that. But, I want to talk about also Maddie. She is a great teacher. I have, like I said, gone in and out of the classroom. And I I went to school to be a pilot. I have um I've taken a few meteorology classes. And I walked in one time and she had three students standing in the front of the classroom. And she told them to twirl. Everybody's twirling in their own little space, right? And then she's

073like, "Twirl faster. They're twirling faster. Come together." And then she had throwing in different things and and stuff and like you're a tornado now. You're you hit 74 miles an hour and you flip vertically and like that was amazing. If you don't have the physical space, you can't have that demonstration. I didn't fully understand tornadoes until I walked into a third grade classroom, right? Even though I've had the education, I've I've seen it. I've flown through them, you know? So, it is crazy that the impact a one teacher has on a student. And I think it's going to be really sad um that she was fired and that she's not going to be able to continue on at Red Cedar or other East Lancing schools. Um she like everybody has said, she is amazing amazing

074person and she does make you feel like you're really important and she doesn't call her kids her students or or any of like the names we have groundhogs and things like that. She calls them family. When there is something going on in the community, she sits on the floor with them and says, "Let's have a family meeting." and she talks to them like they're equals and things like that and it's really unfortunate that she is not going to be with Red Seedar. So I really would like you to consider keeping her and you know you can't put a price tag on education. You can't put a price tag on our kids and it feels like that is what you guys have done. You know it should not education and kids in elementary should not have

075a price tag. It doesn't make sense. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, uh, Cheryl. Uh, the next, um, commenter is it says, uh, Michelle White and Desmond Fincher Jones. I don't know if it's going to be a joint comment. Uh, and it's the same topic. Red Cedar teacher Madison uh, Freed Beckman. Hi, my name is Michelle White and this is my son Desmond Pincher Jones. He is a uh third grader with Miss F. And we have a few comments for you. So, can you read what you have for them? Uhhuh. My name is Desmond Fincher Joe's. I'm a third grade student at Red Cedar. Miss CF is my teacher. I'm just here to show support for the best teacher I've ever had. I My wish is that you not lay off this year. Thank you. [Applause]

076I just want to introduce myself as we are a family of school of choice. We live in the city of Lancing. I did not want my son in Lancing schools. I don't think we need to even have that conversation of why I didn't want him there. We went to a charter school. I come from a family of educators. I wasn't happy. where I knew I always wanted to be and where I thought we wanted to be was that we would stay five years in the charter. When that charter school aged out, we'd cross our fingers we got into East Lancing. So, I put in for school of choice after I was unhappy at first the first grade level and thought, "Here it goes. I'm not sure I may end up homeschooling my student as a

077full-time single mom. That would have been a nightmare, but if that's what it took, that's what I would have done for my child." So, I put in for school of choice and I hit the lottery. And the day I hit it, I told my family, I've hit the lottery and I'm not sure how. And there's not enough millions in the real lottery for what I've just gotten. I've got into East Lancing on my first try, my first year. How it happened, I'm not sure, but I am overly thrilled. I have been nothing but completely happy with East Lancing. The things that I wanted, I was guaranteed a spot in Halt. I was like, "No, thanks. You're a great long family friend. You've told me you'll find a spot for my son. The diversity is not

078there. The education level's not there. The social economics are not there. East Lancing had it all. And that's what I got. And I'm really the moon about it. But this third grade year with Miss CF has been exceptionally great. She's so emotionally caring for our students. I can't begin to tell you as a parent the relief it feels to drop your student off and know what matter what's going on in his day. She understands him and she can relate to him. It didn't necessarily have that last year for him and we struggled some days but we made it through. When Miss CF has been out of the class this year, my child has had anxiety. We've never had that problem. The thought of the district laying Maddie off has kept me up at night. This

079is a six-year veteran who's teaching in East Lansancy, whose students are thriving and they want to go to school, and she makes learning exceptionally fun. Desmond's birthday was recently and I was I slanting. We do not celebrate birthdays. I said to her, "Can I bring something into the classroom? A book, wipes, snacks. What is it?" And she said, "Well, what would you really like?" And I said, "Well, Desmond would love to bring pizza." And she said, "That's great. Bring pre pizza. It'll be a fractions lesson for math after lunch." I walked in with pizza and she asked the students to raise their hands of how many would like cheese pizza and she put the number on the board. How many would like pepperoni? And she put the number on the board and they discussed fractions

080with pizza. I don't know too many educators that can pull that one off. She did it and they loved it and was a great but we didn't acknowledge that it was a birthday. It was a fraction lesson. So I commend her for that. My concern with the district now is we have no home for Miss CF and we are threatening to lay her off. You're losing her. Where will she land up? Somebody else gets one of our best of the best. But the district is also keeping teachers who are teaching on subserts. Whoa, wait a minute. You're teaching on a subsert and we're keeping you and we're letting go of the best of the best. I asked the board to think about this twice and think about putting 30 students in one third grade class.

081My child has sat in that room with 30 desk and told me I couldn't back up my chair. Mom, that scares me. Fire drills, tornadoes, emergency evacuation from a class. That's scary to me. So I asked the board to please reconsider your thoughts on this step. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Desmond. Desmond, you did a really good job. Thanks for being here, Desmond. [Applause] The next um next commentary is Guadalupe Ayala and it's on Miss CF. My daughter decided to be next to me, standing next to me. I didn't ask her and now I see my son is probably also here. So, um, sorry, I was already crying with everyone because I just realized how amazing Missy F is times a thousand times just like listening to everything. How touching is that that every

082single one of us is saying a different story of how she has hit us with all her love. I did prepare some things because I'm also get really nervous. Um, so good evening board members, superintendent and community members and Red Seedar family. My name is Guadalupe Yala and I come to you tonight as a parent, a product of this district and also someone who deeply values. The education, diversity, and heart of our schools, especially Red Cedar Elementary. I'm here with my daughter who's in third grade and also my son who's in fifth grade. both attend Red Cedar and tonight I want to speak out what what's happening there and what we stand to lose if teachers like Miss CF are let go. I may not be as involved like in knowing everything that's going on

083and some of the details that the parents know here, but I want you to also ask yourself, do we actually know what's going on? Do we actually know why this keeps happening? But it's it's not the first time. Miss CF was my daughter's first grade teacher. And now again, due to what? Why does this keep happening? She was her third grade teacher as well. This year for us, the consistency has been life-changing for our family. My daughter has gone through some big emotional shifts as well and Missy F has been her anchor. She's a main reason my daughter looks forward to school. The reason she feels safe, capable, and inspired to show you how deep that bun runs. statements. Sometimes my daughter accidentally calls me Missy F. And I honestly love that because to me

084it shows the level of care and trust she feels at school in the classroom with Missy F. Missy F doesn't just teach. She empowers. She listens. She uplifts. among my daughter's very exclusive list when she what she wants to be when she grows up is to become a teacher herself because of the example Missy F has set. So not seeing Miss F in the staff changes for next year due to a third grade class reduction is not just upsetting, it's unfair and it hurts. She's been at Red Seedar longer than some of the teachers who are being kept or moved to other classrooms which again it's not un we don't understand they are all amazing but again why keep asking yourself why she has the experience the credentials the dedication and most importantly the relationship

085with students families that should matter Let's not forget Rita adder a third grade class for this current school year as I mentioned why if you know we would like to know that knowledge to and really understand if it's a fair reason and Mr. Kette, another phenomenal teacher, have been part of these shifts and had had to step up. My son was previously in second grade with Mr. Kette, had him in third grade. Again, a blessing, but they've had to take that shift year after year. Why? These teachers and our children should not be paying the price. It's not fair. Red Seedar has been a gift to our family. It is of one of the most diverse, loving, and inclusive schools I've seen. Not just a parent, but as someone who grew up in this district.

086I went to the same middle school and high school my kids will attend because I did go to Red uh to White Hills also. Um Donley and just thinking about it, Red Cedar has had a reputation of being something special. And I never understood why. And it still is. But now I understand that it's not being treated of how special it is. I speak both English and Spanish fluently, but not every student has that advantage at Red Seedar. And I've seen how Missy F cares for her English language learners just like she does the rest of her students. She doesn't just teach, she uplifts, she includes, and she supports every single child. That's not the kind of teacher that you are are willing to lose. Is that the kind of teacher that you're willing to

087lose? This school is a gem when I tell you that I've gotten to learn for this district. It's diverse again. It's loving and it's full of educators such as Miss CF and Mr. Kette who are doing transformative work with kids who are just as smart. Miss Ella, that's fine. Just as deserving as any other kids. Thank you. Uh you'll have an opportunity to say more if you'd like. Uh but we do need to limit the comments to five minutes. Thank you, Miss. We'll do. Thank you. The next commenter says Shannon Dilap. Uh, Miss CF is the hi board everybody. Thanks first of all for all you guys do. Um, I live in Red Cedar neighborhood. My name is Shannon Dilap. I came to East Lancing for school at Michigan State in education. So, I really

088appreciate all the educators and all the team of people here. Um, I have a third grader and a first grader at Red Cedar and we have had the most amazing experience there. It is definitely a special school. I appreciate everything about it. Um, I appreciate our principal, all of our teachers. excited about our new hire. She um was in my son's first grade class and also helped coach Girls on the Run. So, appreciate her. Um I just yeah, absolutely love our whole uh team or family we have at Red Seedar and just wanted to address the issue of the classes combining for third grade. Um, my daughter Lexi has Miss CF and absolutely adores her as does every single student and every single parent who has her. Um, she has helped my daughter flourish as

089a student. Uh, she's given her confidence. She's had some medical issues this year and Miss has walked alongside her so well in those. Um I live two blocks away from the school and we host a lot of little extra things for the kids that you know um just to help include everybody and welcome everybody since we do have so many families from around the world and the staff at Red Seedar including Miss CF oftentimes joins. I mean she goes above and beyond. Um I was a teacher and I tell my kids I mean your teachers do more than more than I ever did as a teacher and I really love my students too. Um, and so my concern is why we're letting such a fantastic teacher go. I am confident that she could get a

090job anywhere. Anybody anywhere would be so lucky to have her because she is so phenomenal and skilled at teaching um, and at connecting with the students, connecting with the families. Uh, I've seen her use like Google Translate on her phone to communicate with students in a very special individual way. We've had students come into Red Seedar who knew no English and um just made her she helped them make them feel at home. Um my daughter has been blessed to have her for two years. She's really hoping to have her for a third. I I told her maybe not to so high. Um but um yeah, she's just a phenomenal teacher. So, I just, you know, in addition to the many other people who have spoken, hopefully you guys can see how valuable she is and

091maybe reconsider um the decisions with reallocating finances to make a way that we can have two classrooms of that are a better class size at Red Seedar. Um it's just such a sweet family there. Um but yeah, I hope hope that hope you see from the large group here that she's very much appreciated. It would be and I just I feel like we're all a team here. like we're all working to make this a better experience for our kids and our community. And so as a team player, as part of this team, I just encourage you to think of her as and reconsider keeping her as part of our team. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. L. All right. Um before uh I read off this one, I will say that um if

092anybody else wishes to make I have two more uh slips. Uh Katie Blair and Molly Spooner. Um if anybody else wishes to make comment, you need to fill out a blue slip and get it to Miss Hokor. Uh but I'll call up our next one. I just want to make sure that everybody knows that we're kind of reaching the last call stage here. So, um, the next commenter is Katie Blair, uh, from Red Cedar and I assume it's about the same topic. So, Miss Blair, come on up. Hello. Um, yes, I'm Katie Blair and I have kind of a unique perspective because I'm both an employee in the district and a parent. Um, I'm the school social worker, one of the school social workers at Red Seedar. There are two of us there because we

093both work part-time. And then I am a parent of um three boys at Green Elementary and a daughter at the middle school. So I am here as well to speak on behalf of the um reduction of the third grade section next year at Red Cedar. And there are just kind of two points that I would like to share. The first one brings up um the equity issue. And I know our district really kind of focuses on this term and we aim to operate with equity in the forefront. Red Seedar is a very unique school, very different from the other elementary schools. We have a large international population. Families from many different countries send their children to Red Seedar. It's a big part of who we are as a school and a big reason why families

094and staff love it so much, as you have heard tonight. And it's also one of the reasons why smaller class sizes are so benefic beneficial to these students to better meet their unique needs um of our English language learners. So to increase the class size to that or more than the other third grade classrooms in the district does not seem equitable to these families. And quite surprising then was to later hear the approval of 21 additional upcoming third grade students into our district as we're closing a third grade section. It just doesn't really make sense to me. It worries me as an employee at Red Seedar and also as a parent in the district who has upcoming third graders who are in a classroom that classrooms we have twins um that are already pretty large.

095The second point I would like to make is kind of goes along with the financial issue because I know a lot of that has been brought up and a main reason why this third grade section is being closed. However, keeping another section of third grade has a very light budgetary impact on the district. This cohort only has three more years left in elementary school. And each year in Red Cedar, like we have one section that or we have yeah one section of um one grade level, sorry, that goes down to one section because of the upcoming grade level. Um but to close it a third grade section when we have two second grade classrooms does not make sense, especially when you're looking at such high numbers. So keeping this other section of third grade has

096like a two to threeyear financial impact. So I encourage the the board to look at other ways that we can make budget cuts that does not negatively impact our students and our teachers. And our students after all are the reason that we're all here. So thank you for your consideration. Thank you, Miss Blair. Thank you. Uh the next commenter is Molly Spooner. Uh and she is uh here to speak about um some information that appeared in East Lancing information today. Thank you. East Lancing info. Okay, so thank you. That kind of says it all. I was just working this afternoon and I looked happened to look at my phone and I saw an extremely disturbing news article pop up about McDonald Middle School and security there. I have a rising sixth grader and I do

097not want him dealing with that kind of baloney and I want it fixed. We are all talking about how great the school is. I went here. I love it. It is a great school. But we cannot have this stuff happening. I I'm What do I tell my kid? What do I tell him, Jack? Um, there's going to be some sexual violence language at your school when you're in sixth grade. You're 11. That's that's just going to happen. He doesn't know that stuff. I'm not happy and I want it discussed and I want it dealt with. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Spooner. Um, we're back to um All right. So, the next commenter is Jessica Ley and she's here to speak about Mr. Kette. Hi. Um, I am Jessica and this is my son Dominic.

098And I did not prepare anything because I was not thinking that I wanted to speak. Um but um this is the face brought him up here because this is the face of the third grade that is going to be in Mr. class. Um we are a prior military family. We moved here when Dominic started um preschool. So he started kindergarten in Red Cedar. And I'm going to be honest, I was very nervous to be chosen for Red Cedar because I am not from Lancing. I'm from Mary'sville. And I walked in to deliver our enrollment on like the very last day and I met Miss Jessica and Miss Swales and they put him in Miss Swes class and I cried walking out of the elementary school knowing that he would be so loved and so welcome

099at a school. But to think about him being in a class of over 30 students is a little alarming. I come from a family of educators. My mom taught high school. In high school, she did not have 30 kids in her class. And to think about the maturity level from someone who is eight to someone who is in high school, that is a vast difference. And to ask a high school student to not be in a class, but to ask an an eight-year-old to be in there. I'm just gonna let Dominic speak for a minute. How would you feel about being in a class of 30 kids? Would you be able to learn in there? No. I'd just be overwhelmed in a nervous wreck. I think that's all we need to say. Um, I can't

100speak about Maddie because I don't personally know Maddie. I think Maddie has been spoken for. So, we are just up here to speak for Mr. canette and what we feel he deserves as a teacher and for all the kids in that are going to be going into third grade. He's already lost friends that have had to move because they have made the choice to move. They don't want to be in a class that big. That's one of the reasons that we got out of the military was cuz we were moving and losing friends all the time and it's already happening. It's going to happen in life, sure. But if there's something that can be done to prevent these kids from feeling overwhelmed and what you say. Nervous rack. A nervous rack. A nervous rack. I'm

101a single mom. Imagine having your son come home. A nervous wreck. That's all. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Ley. And thank you, Dominic. Uh the next uh commenter is we're back to the last forum. Uh Leilani Ayala. [Music] [Applause] Hello. Um, I'm one of Miss CF's um, students and I'm going to really miss her and she's really nice and I really, really, really going to miss her. The first time I met her, she gave me a hug because she saw that I was really loving. She noticed it in my heart. She saw me. She knew that I was going to be a person who would love her and I knew she was is going to be a person who loved me too. And she's really nice. Every year when it's Christmas, she gives us a hat

102that she crochets every single person in our class. She gives a a crochet hat with a lollipop. And every day we wear them. And Miss has a big smile to everyone. And every morning we have four affirmations. And we say it as loud as we can so we can tell our our brains that we are the best people ever. We can do hard things. We're strong. We're smart. And I'm just really proud of Miss CF. And I want her to stay. And it's going to be really crowded cuz Miss F and Mr. Kette had this amazing idea to have to move our tables into her classroom into Mr. Kette's classroom to show them that it's not okay. And I couldn't move my legs. I couldn't move at all. We couldn't line up. It was hard.

103It was frustrating. We're not going to learn at all in that classroom if it's like that all the time. And that's it. That's all I want to say. And I love you, Miss CF, if you're watching. Thank you. Um, just one last thing that I wanted to say like in my closing is Red Cedar is a gem. Please, please take it as a model for all our schools. The diversity, my friends all came from Red Seedar and I met them in middle school and all through high school. We're losing that gem if you keep doing this and not and making our kids go through this over and over again. Thank you. And uh thank you again, Miss Hayella and Leilani. You did a very good job, too. Thank you, Leilani. All right, that's the last

104of the public comment forms that I have. Uh if anyone else has public comment they wish to make, now is the time to get your form in. Don't see anybody moving. So, uh we will close public comment. Thank you all for being here. It means a lot to to hear from you. Um, and so we will move on with our meeting, but I just want to say thank you. The engagement is something that we depend on and it makes our district a better place. So, thank you. The uh the next item on the agenda is board discussion. Um, we've had some interesting public comment today. Is there does anybody wish to discuss any of these topics before we move on to our action items? Uh I just I'll just make a comment that um having

105been in this chair for a very long time, it's hard when you come forward and you make comment and there's no response here, but we are listening to you. It's not necessarily how we do. It's not a back and forth. It's not a give and take, but we've listened to you. We'll we'll process what you've told us. Um and you know there will be other conversation and um and there has been conversation. There are things that are being thought about and worked on um in different ways in different avenues. Um and so to if you get up and walk out of here, it's not that you weren't heard just because we aren't talking about exactly what you said right now. I just want to make that clear. it you are heard and um and it's

106just the way the process is that sometimes it feels very because I've been in your seat before I was in this seat and it feels very like oh what good was that as you walk out of here but you were listened to and you were heard and uh I just wanted to make that clear anybody else wish to make comments All right, I will close the uh board discussion section and we will move on to our action items. Um item A is the Ingam Intermediate School District's 2526 proposed general fund budget. Can I get a motion? I move that the board of education adopt the resolution in support of the proposed 202526 Ingam Intermediate School District general fund budget as presented. Second. So it's moved by trustee Ferris Highland, seconded by Trustee Taiki. Is there

107any discussion on this topic? Um so this was discussed at finance meeting. Um uh our director of finance had looked over the budget closely and so had trustee Takakei. um uh discussion about it. No question about any issues with it or um approving it. All right. So, we will move to a vote. Uh all in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I. Any opposition? The motion carries unanimously. Um, the next item on the agenda is the Ingam ISD Board of Education candidate election. Can I get a motion? Uh, that the board of education approved the resolution designating the school district's election representative and alternate and authorize the representative to cast a vote on behalf of the school district as presented. Keep going. You got a designated representative. Uh, I usually pick Chris.

108Oh. Uh, oh, sorry. I see. B1, designate a representative and an alternate. Um, two, name two candidates for the two six-year board seats. The candidates are Michael Flowers, incumbent and Aaron Shaw, incumbent. And three, name one candidate for one open partial two-year board seat. The candidates are Joel Garing and Caitlyn Salow. Okay. So, we will have to amend it and just get a second and then amend it to add those things. Yeah. To add the names. That's what I would suggest. Um, so I guess um this is moved by Trusty Taiki. Do we have a second? Second. Uh, seconded by trustee Ferris Highland. Now, um, there are three steps in this process. The first is to designate a representative and an alternate. Trusty Taiaki, since you made the motion, do you have any ideas as

109to who you would like our district's representative and alternate to be? Um, I would be happy to be the representative. Have any ideas for the alternate? As the ISO representative, I think that would be you would be a great representative for the district and u I have in the past served as the alternate. So, um I would I would volunteer for that position if it's something that uh that the board would agree to. Um so, would you like to amend the motion to make yourself the representative and uh Trusty Martin the alternate? Do so. I amend the motion to designate myself as representative and Chris Martin as alternate. Would you accept that amendment, Trusty Ferris? Yes, I do. All right. And then the next item is to name two candidates for the two uh six-year

110board seats. It sounds like we have two seats available and two candidates. So that's an easy one. Am I reading that correctly? Correct. So that one number two does not need to be amended. Number three, one of the two candidates needs to be selected. And I I would amend the motion to select uh Joel Garing as the I'm sorry, not Joel. Caitlyn Salow as the um Oh, we're at odd. Sorry. There's going to be a showdown. There's going to be a showdown. Caitlyn Salow as the uh nominee. Okay. So, uh the proposed nominee for the third part of the motion is Caitlyn Salow. Is that a Do you accept that amendment? Trusty Ferris Highland. All right. So, you made the original motion. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I I name Well, I made the amendment. Do

111you accept my Oh, okay. Yes. I accept your amendment, Trusty Edel. And so, we have trustee Taiaki has accepted it and Trusty Fair has accepted it. So, we have a fully formed motion here. And um before we move to a vote, is there any discussion on this slate of candidates that we've designated for the uh Ingamist Board of Education candidates? All right. Are you ready to move to a vote on this one? All right. All in favor of the motion as amended, please say I. I. Any opposition? All right. The motion carries unanimously. Uh, do we have good notes on who we've elected? Trust uh, Superintendent Leo. Sure. And, uh, we we we have everything we need. Very good. Question. Uh, well, we don't we we don't engage in a lot of back and forth.

112That's that was one of the things that Trusty Edsel pointed out is that it's it is it's sometimes hard for us in our positions because you want to engage but um we would if we open that door it would create some potential issue come up after the meeting. We'll clarify we'll hang out and answer questions. Yeah. All right. Uh the next item for a vote is awards for bid uh award bids for safety, security, accessibility bond package number two for the addition to East Lancing High School. Can I get a motion? I move the board of education award the following bids related to the high school edition as follows. Category 5, structural steel Zach Welding and custom fabrics fabrication uh $346,650. Category 8, general trades, LJ Trumbull Builders, $625,85. Category 9, metal stud and drywall,

113Grand River interiors and plastic, $69,000. Category 31, site work, central excavation, 769,410 for a total of 2,350,45. Second. So, it's moved by Trustee Edel. It was seconded by uh Trusty Lions. Uh is there any discussion on this topic? There's some big numbers obviously. Thank you for leaving us as always. Oh, come come on up. Mr. Is there anything in particular we need to know about these bids? Uh the main thing is part of the process we're going through. These are the first four out of 17 bids that we'll be bringing forward. Okay. Uh so we're in the process of vetting all of the bids, making sure that what we bring you, they're good contractors, good safety records, financially stable. Very good. We've had great experiences with Clark over the past several years, and that's a

114credit to the the work you guys put in. Thank you. So, and I was also um I keep forgetting that we're going to have work happening at this site starting in just a month or so. That is just incredible to me. Yes, the the leg work for the high school. I'll be meeting with Ashley this week, the principal. We've already we've laid out all the plans for uh making sure that with secured secured site, fence lines, signage, etc. Very good. Well, thank you. Are there any questions before we move to a vote? All right. Well, thank you so much for being here. Uh, I think are we ready to move to a vote? All in favor of the motion as presented, please say I. I. Any opposition? The motion carries unanimously. Thanks again for being

115here. Uh, the next item on our agenda is committee reports. Uh, the academic and technology committee chair is Trusty Lions. Do you have a report from the last meeting? Yeah. Uh, we la we met last week. Um and we um had a presentation by uh Kathy um who gave a presentation on Book Break um which is a program that collaborates with authors who present to kids virtually. And all of the elementary libraries have been using it from day one. and um she gave us a very uh uh shared a very nice story about Red Cedar and how nine kids wrote a book and got it published and they it was awesome when we got to see the book and um um they are really really excited to continue working with uh Book Break um in

116the coming year. Um we also recognized our students um who sit on the academic and tech uh board and we presented them with a small gift and um they really uh shared um their appreciation of sitting on the um academic tech um and how um they were just so thankful to be a part of it and that they're really excited to have more students continue um with uh being a part of the board. or that committee. Um let's see, we had tech updates on Bright Arrow, which um Christian talked about an app um for the phone um for communicating with families, also offering translation um options. Um talked about final forms. Um we'll be rolling that out in 2526 year. um talked a little bit more about the book challenge update and Glenn is working

117on a form and then we'll be sharing it with um policy and we'll continue with that uh um working on that. Um what else? Uh, oh, and then we just ended with talking about the field trips and um, you know, K through five have chairs and they get to put in um, submit a proposal for district field trips and for all classes um, and then the school reviews and is able to give funding and um, it has worked out really well. Um, and um, I think the teachers and the students um, I have had a great um, time with the field trips over the last uh, Is this the first last year? Second year. Second year, right? Yeah, second year that this has happened and um um it seems to be working really well. So,

118that was our exciting academic and tech uh meeting. We will not have any more meetings for the rest of the school year. We will bring uh start back up in September. Thank you, Trusty Lions. Uh facilities committee trustee Ferris Island. We have not met since our last board meeting, but we'll schedule something right after school gets out and um also work to schedule a building tour with Billy to show board members the buildings that haven't gotten full tours yet. So, we'll do that right after school gets out. Very good. Thank you. Finance Committee Trusty Edel. Um we discussed the ISD budget that was approved earlier. We discussed the bid package that we just approved. Um there was discussion about the 2425 final budget and the preliminary 2526 uh revenues and salaries. Um uh but those

119weren't quite finalized. So we were actually meeting again this Thursday. Did you get that at 10 a.m.? Um because you hadn't replied, so I wasn't sure. This Thursday at 10 a.m. to look at some uh uh more definite numbers. Okay. Hope that's positive. Um, intergovernmental relations awaiting response. Okay. Uh, personnel committee that is uh my committee and we have our evaluation coming up in um two weeks. One June 23rd. June 23rd. Okay. So, actually I was confusing my June meetings. The second June meeting is our evaluation meeting. So, uh there may be some information coming about that before that date, but I know we've already been given a lot of information and we've gone through some training. So, we're just kind of gearing up for that June 23rd date. Uh policy committee trustee soul. Let's

120see. Uh we met May 5th and um uh Glenn had presented a draft process for reviewing books for reconsideration. Um Kathy Kowalsski, is that right? Kowalsski was in attendance um and uh shared some insights and so the two of them are going to work on an updated draft and bring it back to our next meeting. Um we're I'm still in discussion with the trun over the client attorney privilege letter that we had talked about. Um she did get back to me after our meeting. Um and because the you know things are changing minutely, hourly, there are now three injunctions against the certification um piece that uh you know I'm not sure that the letter is necessary or we might need to fine-tune that in order to have close close session discussion about any changes we

121would want to make in the district. Um we discussed a recognitions and honor honors policy and practice uh board policy 3304.01 01. Um, but we came to the realization that we need some more specific guidelines to go along with that policy. So, that discussion will continue at our next policy committee. And that is all. When was our next one? Uh, it should be the first Monday in June at 10:30. Sorry, my bad. Thank you, Trusty Edel. Uh, ISO, Ingam Officers Association. Trusty Taiki. Yes, we met on May 7. Um I believe the minutes have been circulated to all of us, but we mostly discussed the budget that we just approved and um we also talked about the pending impacts to the ISD um the proposed cuts to Medicaid at a federal level and we discussed

122the pros and cons of relying on block grants. Um so if anybody wants to talk more about that, let me know. Thank you, Trusty Taiki. Um, announcements. One of my favorite announcements of the year, uh, East Lancing High School graduation is Thursday, June 5th at 7 PM at the Branden Center. It's such a nice event and a great celebration of the class of 2025. I'm really looking forward to it. I hope that everybody's making a plan to be there, at least the board members. Um, and then our next regularly scheduled meeting will be June 9th, 2025. Is that at 7 PM or are we meet starting at a different time? The board meeting is at 7. The goal setting starts at 5. Okay. So, we have uh two meetings on that day. Will goal setting

123be in the union. Are there any other announcements from board members? All right. I will adjourn the meeting at 8:49 p.m. Thank you all for being here and uh have a great night.