001[Music] Oh. [Music] [Applause] [Music] It's awesome. Well, we're gonna need a song at the end. Thank you. Um, so I have always known that I wanted to be a lawyer and I didn't want to go to a college for political science program. I wanted to jump right on into law or legal studies. There are a lot of colleges in Michigan that have just a legal studies or a law program. So it was really between Grand Valley and Wayne State and I did drink. I loved it. I was committed for a few months and when I got my way to Tempest letter, I was like, "Oh, it's Detroit. That's so scary. Like, I'm not going to like it there. But, u Mr. Zimmerman, both of his sons went to Wayne State." And he really really not
002pressured, but really pushed me to go check it out and I toured and I absolutely loved it. It was exactly what I was looking for. It has a program that I want. Will you be walking in as a freshman or I'll credit wise? I'll be going in as a sophomore. Great. But I decided to take all four years and get two degrees instead of one. Perfect. I will have one degree. Um so yeah, I picked Northern Michigan. I applied to about 20 different schools and I had a long audition process throughout the whole year. And then um everywhere I went, nowhere I couldn't see myself living in any of the places. And then I went there and I um talked to the program director and I saw the place and I it was the one
003place I thought, huh, I think this feels like And Hannah has also been cast in their fall musical already. Not even a freshman yet. Wow. Into the woods and she was cast as Rapunzel. That's awesome. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. All right. Chris, would you like to for next year. So that's been a lot of our conversation. Been some meetings that have been attended. Long range planning committee, Northwest North, excuse me, northwest ed superintendent meeting. I did not attend that. I had planned to, but some things came up. We have some other meetings coming up this week. And then our commencement, got a little bit of taste of that today. That's June 1st at 1 p.m. And then our last day of school, just a reminder, is June 12th with a new dismissal. Um,
004as I said, the calendar is very busy. I did email, and thank you to Mr. Stapleton and Miss Waltney for putting that together. Hopefully received the email and all the activities between now and the end of school. Uh we did have a meeting with our athletic trainer um Ad Adrien Jones from the hospital and our athletic tra train trainer Trevor Magno the other day. Um we'll bring that up for a contract uh discussion at the June meeting and the piece that was deleted from the agenda tonight. Mr. Hollandbeck had been in conversation with the New Covenant Christian Academy for a potential fall co-op with some athletic programs. He just came out uh to practice today and let me know that they had called him today and said they weren't ready to do that. So that's
005why it's been deleted from the agenda. I need to still get in place our Neola uh meeting. I'll be contacting you uh tomorrow or Wednesday. And then our budget hearing, this is really important because it's going to be a change in our typical time. On Monday, June 9th, we'll have our 5:30 p.m. uh budget hearing. That will be closing out the 2425 budget and approving the 2526. And Heather will be back and she will be here to help present that. And another uh contract we'll talk about at the June meeting is the Lockheart Field contract that we've been involved with for many, many years. And I believe that's it with the exception of the true law notes unless there are specific questions so far. Are there any questions on the true law notes? I just
006have one quick one. Sure. Was reading through some of the um information regarding graduations and being the newbie. Is there requirements for the board of education during our graduation? You don't have to sing, which is great. No, typ that's a great question, Megan, and thank you for that reminder. I sometimes forget those little details. Uh what will happen is you will invite all the board members. Typically, they attend. They don't really have a a role um in in the program itself. You'll be in the front row and be represented and recognized as the board and then we'll just move through. So, not any specific um duty, so to speak. Got it. Great question. And thank you. Can we sing? That's up to Mr. Stapleton. I know you can sing. That That wasn't what I meant.
007So I know you can both sing. Well, we could have a board duo. That'd be a first. I can think of better things we can do. Okay, there you go. We can do that. So long. Very well. That might be We'll stop there. Um, the other couple things, uh, I don't have any other in, uh, topics in the chewing law notice, but if you have any questions specifically, uh, we can go over those now or you can give me a call. Yeah, I I don't Some of it's so legally interesting to read, but um, I would I would encourage you if you have not had an opportunity because I know we're all super busy, it is a these notes are really a good read. Yeah. because I think it gives people a picture of of
008a lot of things that um we deal with as administrators and as teachers especially. Um there's lots of little things in here that you wouldn't expect, but the little things in here can cause some lots of conversation with our admin team and making sure we're covering things the right way. Yeah. I mean just so my general question is having read through it and seen that there are some pretty seemingly important things the process usually you guys get the notes and then talk about it as an admin team about what needs to take place. Yeah. And there's Yes. And there's some specific things anytime there's some legal changes in the law or things that we need to be especially alerted to. Um as I said things change quite a bit. Sometimes their law codes change that
009we talk about. So, it just varies. Some of these are pretty cut and dry and some of them bring up more conversation. Great. Uh, the only other question I had in regard to Niola recognizing that we need to meet um on the district policy topic, but for some reason I had it in my calendar too as a hold on um at some point handbook policies or like our dis our more handbook student policies like the athletic policy and yeah we'll do that prim once we get through the school year that's usually a June topic so we're ready to roll for the school year also sends us handbook kind of a handbook update like here are the legal things that need to be in your handbook right so we go through and make sure all those
010are there and then some other specific things to uh our district and there are some other handbook things we're going to have to update as well. Yeah, I just don't want that. Um I think what happened last year and the reason why it was in my calendar is that by the time the handbook got to the board for approval, we were like starting class. So there was no chance. We we need to make sure that's done prior to we really need to make sure the handbook is done by August for sure. Preferably earlier if we can get to that. But the other thing to keep in mind, we have our Neiola policies which run our district, but our handbook are really more of our administrative guidelines. But you don't want to have a policy that's
011not addressed and vice versa. Right. So that's where we have to be careful or covered. Yeah. But we do need to that is something we need to get to everybody earlier. Perfect. Good point. All right. Anything else for Jeff? Superintendent report. No. Um, finance committee. Okay. Um, I I hope it's okay. I I put together a report for the finance committee. I also put together a report for the long range planning committee, which I know isn't on the agenda, but could we do both of those? Is that okay? Sure. They're they kind of dubtail. I found in the last few weeks it's been few months it's been right on top. So, I uh Yes, it's fine. Here. I I have more my printer quit. So, I have more of the finance ones than this one
012here. You keep this one. It's a little bit busted, but I can talk you through it. So, you need one of the back ones and one of the top ones. They're like two different ones there. Okay. I I think people can just share the one. I think it's okay. Um, thank you though. Um, so, okay. So, starting with the finance committee, the finance uh committee update, we met last week. Um first uh bond series update. The remaining fund balance in the in the the the current ongoing bond uh the active bond that we have is about $3 million. Um of that about 480 There are like two pages on the first one and one page on the other one. Sorry. Yeah. Um about $480,000 of this is not presently allocated to planned projects. Uh the
013planned projects that are that are like planned but not necessarily we haven't approved bids and all that stuff for it yet. But the planned projects that are underway um include flooring at the high school and elementary school, furniture, lighting, new buses, things we've talked about construction of additional meeting spaces uh and parking lot upgrades. You'll note that some of these things we have approved bids for and people are getting ready to do stuff. Um I I should have also added technology, general technology spend is in there as well. So 3 million sounds like a lot of money, but of that most of it is spoken for in projects that are planned and have been planned for a long time. So we're keeping an eye on that as we go. Um other business that was discussed,
014we have uh teacher group negotiations are underway. Um so we spoke briefly about that. Um uh important and I wanted to call attention to this. We we reopened discussions with the land trust regarding the teacher preference housing project which we talked about maybe a year ago. Um this is uh potentially donating the a couple lots of land or trading a couple lots of land that are adjacent to the high school coming to the west um which we currently don't have any real plans for but that are zone residential uh with the notion that the land trust might be able to work with some other groups to develop um community housing um that is teacher preferenced meaning uh teachers who are uh either new to the district or in the district and have had a had
015a housing change would be first in line to have a place to live there. Um, we all know and have experienced in the hiring process. Um, and just as residents here that housing is a serious issue. Um, and we know of a few cases anecdotally where teachers we would have liked to have hired uh can't accept the position because they can't find a a reasonable place to live. And so this could be a really neat solution for that potentially. Um, and also the land trust is interested in doing this because of their overall goal to increase housing stock in the community. Uh, so we started talking about this a year ago, kind of lost some steam, but we re-engaged with them and have asked some additional follow-up questions. So, um, we are investigating this on
016the committee and we'll bring it to you guys, uh, when we have something ready to recommend. I just want to let you know that that's sort of back on the table. Um, we also spoke about the uh athletic trainer position. So, uh, we learned that the athletic trainer in the school, uh, has been in a contract that over time the the cost of the athletic trainer was originally fully taken by Mson has been kind of like decreasing MSON more FAS over time and now we're at the end of that contract and we have to basically take up the whole cost of the trainer or our um, whatever our full portion is uh, in order to continue that service. So, we heard about that. Um, uh, and we didn't really make any firm decisions there, I
017don't think. Um, but we will need to shortly. Mson needs an answer to to maintain Trevor, the trainer, on our staff. Um, we heard about all the positive things he's been doing for the school and for the school student athletes, and so we have to come to some conclusion there. I I did talk to uh Paul Oliver about that, and they're working on the contract to at least bring before the board in June. Great. Okay. And then um lastly we discussed budget budgetary planning which as Jeff mentioned is underway and which we will discuss in more detail in June. So okay only one quick point of clarification. So that the housing uh that we're looking at is not like district paid for housing. It's it's a housing. Oh that's right. It's teacher preference, meaning that
018it'll be the the concept that we're exploring is that it will be homes for rent, apartments essentially, or maybe cottages. They have a couple of ways of doing this. Uh Land Trust is working with the same group that's developed the the homes um on the east end of town. Um also some homes in Bula and of uh Honor, pardon me, and and uh one other community nearby. So they they know our community and they've developed different types of projects, some for sale, some for rent. These would be rental properties. Uh, and the notion is that, uh, teachers who were interested in housing would be able to kind of get to the top of the weight list. Um, and, uh, have a preference for being, um, allocated a unit if and when that came up. And
019of course, part of the the original thought here was, you know, new teachers coming into the district. And as we've thought about it more, we thought, well, maybe there could be existing teachers or staff members who could make use of this and it would be a good option to live right in town. Um, so yeah. Is is this a decent rental rate or is this uh it's a very decent rental rate? Yes. And it's uh the the the group that builds and operates these is a is a a nonprofit largely funded by grants um and has you know established rules around you know like the the new properties here. Liz help me out here. There there's a certain amount of income. Yeah. So there it's called attainable housing because it's based on the percentage of
020income which is not to exceed 30%. Um and so we may or may not go with a sliding scale and homestretch is the um the nonprofit group that actually would be building. Um so we're just getting some of the legalities figured out. And part of our requirements for this Scott are that um a a teacher at this at the at the first step of pay could afford to live there. Yeah. Yeah. And they may not all be the same units. I mean, we've got lots of design liberties. So, we're we're digging into this and trying to answer all the ask all the tricky questions and then we'll bring it to discuss that what would be required of us is these lots of land which we currently own, which we the assessed property value is kind
021of unknown. Um the number that's been shared is like $50,000. uh we would be donating that or trading it with the city potentially for something else so that these properties could be developed essentially. That's the two properties over at the Yeah, it's two two residential lots on Hall Street. Yeah. Sort of behind the track by the parking lot kind of there. So potentially very interesting and we're going to get some more details and bring it to you guys to discuss. Um the goal there of course is we want to do everything we can to attract the right people for teachers and staff to the district. Uh okay great. Um next we have the long range planning uh update. So what I did here was so the long-range planning committee has met uh again uh last
022week. Um, just to remind you guys, the plan for us for the year, one of our four priorities for the year for the whole board was to develop a 10-year infrastructure plan. And this was tasked to the long-range planning committee. Um, so pardon me. So, what I've done here is um I've laid out in this document uh on the left hand side. This was the plan that that we presented uh back in September. I think sort of the steps that we imagined at the time and I've tried to give short updates on where we are with everything. Spoiler alert, we are uh behind on our plans, but we made a lot of progress. So, the first part was to gather data. So the idea here, the big picture here, uh the big picture idea here
023was to develop a 10-year plan where we would decide all the improvements that might need to be done to the buildings, get them all on a list, prioritize them, figure out how much they cost, figure out how much money we can raise to pay for these things over 10 years, and make a schedule like a plan. Um the first portion of that was gathering data. So the committee uh has u done a bunch of work to gather information from interested parties to figure out what should be on the plan. Um we have uh completed a survey of interested parties mostly teachers and staff. Um we have received some input from Frank and Jeff of course. Uh and um we are also we've also engaged train the air conditioning people to do a survey of our
024buildings uh for upgrades required and efficiency improvements. Part of what will come along with that is them telling us, well, this compressor is out of date and is going to break and this switch is is, you know, on its last leg and those kinds of things which might also result in it's an infrastructure thing with potential energy savings, but it's also an infrastructure review. Um, that's free energy, whatever audit they're doing is free to us, which some other companies is not going to be free. Yeah. So, that's a that's a cool find. That was Jeff's find. So, thanks for that, Jeff. Um and then lastly, we have um received funding options for all this. Some of these projects are potentially quite expensive and would be a bondf funed project and we received information from our
025bond people about the ways in which we might fund this and how much we can raise and when we can raise it and how it would impact the tax rate etc. And um different from what I kind of expected there. Uh the funding options are really it's like a you tell us what you want and we'll tell you how you might do it and there's timing questions and tax rate questions and flow questions duration of the bond like how long we pay it back. So there are a lot of levers that can be moved there. Um uh uh so that has been very interesting learning for us as a committee. Um the second portion here so so we're not quite done yet. the train uh uh review has just been started and won't be done
026probably for actually don't know do you know when they they'll be done we have to find out when they'll be done but so we're still we have most of the information we think we need and there's still bits some bits and pieces coming in um uh we've also I should say taken what we received and we've kind of synthesized it which I have on the second page and I'll walk you through in a minute um the second part was estimating the cost of projects the third piece was selecting and prioritizing projects This was supposed to be done in May. What we've kind of seen as we've put this project list together, it's a little hard to like decide the costs for each project considering that some might be combined or some might be separate. Um,
027and similarly, the prioritization kind of connects to the cost. So, um, what we're trying to do now is is highlight the things that were most commonly suggested and that that we believe are most sort of urgent over a 10-year time horizon, put them together kind of building by building uh, and and develop sort of an overall plan. And then we're going to go out and try to figure out ballpark how much these things might cost to do. Um lastly, the last part was this was supposed to be finished in June. We are not going to be done in June. Um but perhaps through the summer we'll be able to get this done. Okay. Next on this just to give you guys an update. Um so the survey results were sort of the largest source of
028input for us. Um what we found the most significant question facing the committee and facing the board is the the future of the early childhood program. Uh and in particular I mean specifically the early childhood program consumes four classrooms out of 24 classrooms here in the elementary school building. Um that in and of itself is like potentially fine. Um but but as you see most of the needs the the the most urgent need in the elementary school they all connect to space availability. So, we're using a large portion of our rooms here for early childhood, which is a great program, which we very much support. But by doing so, we are we are hurting the elementary school infrastructure situation. Um, and that is the trickiest thing for us because it's not a matter of moving
029them to this room or that room. We just don't have more rooms. So, um, but in terms of in order, uh, uh, uh, uh, that we're looking at this in the elementary school, here are the key things that have been brought up. Uh, additional space. This is the number one thing at both the elementary school and the middle and high school. Um particularly additional space for meetings, for cool down rooms for kids who need a break. Um small group meeting rooms for ad hoc things or counseling sessions or parents who come in for a meeting. Um and storage were the things that were highlighted for the elementary school. Uh heating and plumbing was raised as an issue that parts of the building the heating and plumbing are inadequate and cause problems. Too hot, too cold.
030um interior improvement, lighting, flooring, general appearance. You'll note that lighting and flooring are potentially covered with bond funds that we have in place now. Um general appearance is, you know, sort of an upkeep, freshening up um parts of the building seem older than other parts of the building, that kind of thing. Um kitchen upgrades, we got some interesting comments that we were unaware of regarding the status of the kitchen here. Dedicated title one classroom. This is part of the space question. Uh we got several comments regarding uh the desire for a secured a more secured entrance and uh a method of entering the building where people aren't open and walking through the halls before they get to the office. Uh parking and bus flow improvements and the general parking lot. Uh and then of course
031scheduled tech maintenance. Uh uh Mr. Tyworth gave us the overall comment of don't forget about tech upgrades. Um I'll just go through all this then we can do any questions. Is that okay? Okay. middle high school. Um, additional space again, number one. Uh, meetings are are are came up a lot. Places to sit and talk with two or three people um where you're not sitting, you know, uh, on on each other's laps. Um, offices for different reasons. SRO's, nurse, we have these things. They're kind of inadequate. Um, small group meetings, storage is a big one, particularly at the high school. We've got stuff spread all over the place in nooks and crannies. Um, and then general activity rooms came up as a need. uh this is uh the um the theater needs a room to
032practice their dance number and there's no other thing or the the this sport could use some indoor space that's just for a couple weeks or or uh you know uh a community club would like to come in and have some space that isn't too big or too small. So sort of like general flex rooms uh is something that has been suggested again same thing interior improvement lighting flooring general appearance indoor health and fitness upgrades. So there was discussion earlier about moving and upgrading the weight room. Um there's discussion about you know track practice happens in hallways. Can that be improved? Uh and um there were questions other schools locally here have like cal like like exercise bike what do you call that? You know that that kind of that kind of cardio workout opportunities in
033the school for our students in the winter. Um outdoor space for middle school. So so that is something that's come up several times and certainly was highlighted in the survey. Uh, bus maintenance garage is a request from Frank. He'd like to be able to work on the buses without having them towed to Benzy, which could be sensible. That happens right now, which is what happens now. And um, schedule tech maintenance again. And then lastly, early childhood. So, as we've understood this, this is kind of the ballpark for what would be best for early childhood would be six classrooms in quotes because, of course, they're little people, so a classroom is a different thing. um a large communal space, some outdoor play area, some junior bathrooms, uh adult bathrooms for staff, and then some sort of
034an admin office would be the the ideal setup for a dedicated early childhood space. And making that six making that six classrooms instead of the four that they currently have because we know that for instance, Paul Oliver, like the place right across from Paul Oliver just closed their early education and theoretically we could be taking on at least one classroom of that. And so we've been in conversations with Amber Wilson about if we need more space like they could potentially do at least another infant, toddler and at least another prek like three, four, and 5year-old classroom. Um and so just leaving that room for growth so that we're not building something that's the size that we need it right now. And then but also not having extra classrooms that we don't need. But obviously at
035both of our other buildings, needing additional space is an issue. So, we just figure it's better to go a little bit bigger than to not. So, so just one last thing before I'd love to take any questions you guys have on this. Um, and hopefully this is a useful update. Uh, the the f first and most importantly, all of these questions we're addressing the the we are considering first what the basis for all this is what can what can improve the educational experience for the students in the school and the the well-being and happiness of the staff in the school. So those are those are sort of the guiding things here and we're trying to drive all of our decisions through those lenses. Um secondly, I think it's important to not note that that the
036things that aren't on this list, the things at the school that are really good already and that are taken care of. Um I know of a number of other schools in the area where this list is a lot longer and a lot scarier. Uh we're in okay shape here. we we need to we need to get some stuff done, but generally we were pleased to not have a bunch of skeletons tumbling out of closets when we asked the the questions. Um and then lastly, the thing I'll mention here is this is um the goal here is to make a 10-year plan from which we really try not to deviate. And so if anybody watching or any of you guys in your your contacts at the school, if people know of things that really should be
037on this list that aren't on the list, please have them call us because we're going to start making plans and getting not bids is the wrong word, but getting estimates and making drawings and asking for community approval and all that kind of stuff. And so, uh, we we really don't want to be surprised by stuff we missed. Fair enough. Is there a is there like a communication plan within the buildings to talk, you know, to kind of have you present? Uh, we don't have anything formal, but that would be the idea would be that we would get a little further along and sort of say we listen to that the survey was the asking of the questions. Okay. Okay. And so if people chose not to respond, maybe it meant that they thought everything was
038okay. Um or maybe they missed the survey. So, uh, but we really, you know, we've been doing this for a year and asking the questions and, uh, we got about 35 responses. Okay. And so, if we have about a hundred staff, you know, it's about third. But yes, if you don't feel like your thing was on the list and you didn't fill out your survey, then we need to know now because we did have something that came up that was kind of a surprise last week and we're trying to avoid those surprise things that we don't know about. And then when you guys look at these two, like I'm assuming there's some consideration of impact on operating expenses, like for instance, you know, a standalone early childhood space is going to potentially have increased operating
039expenses or like a bus maintenance garage where you're hiring a maintenance tech person, you know, how Yeah. So like for the early child care center for instance um we had Amber Wilson uh and Liz like they went through what the costs are currently here at the elementary school and they kind of the best way they could do it was kind of to divide it by what four classrooms isn't that how you did it and kind of figure it out that way. Um and hopefully there would be energy efficiency so it would actually be less than that but yeah we did kind of try to figure that out for that as well. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. And and the other thing is is hopefully the train efficiency will help us as well because the hope there is
040is that we'll be having a savings every year because we fixed the lights or we're paying less in water because we put in low efficiency. A lot of that Frank has done and so I think that we're in a better position than a lot of other schools, but you know there's things that they do this at for for businesses throughout the state, but they have worked in schools specifically. So they know a lot of those things that can save schools money. So hopefully we'll be some of the things that we'll be doing will be actually giving us a operations cost savings. Great. Theoretically. Awesome. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions? We thought it was important. We we've sort of hit a point we wanted to update everybody on where we were with this with this
041process and and again part of the idea for this is that like Brian said like not having any surprises and also being able to tell people because right now you know if someone's like well why did you know pottery get their why did ceramics get their update and we're still waiting for ours and we're the whatever we're the theater group or whoever. Um, that way we can say, "Oh, we have you on the schedule. You're scheduled in 5 years." Like, it's there. We're ready. We have to wait for the money to come in. And that way it just helps us to to get a lot. And also because a lot of the stuff that we've done in the past andor the things that are coming up at the future kind of live in Jeff and
042Frank's head and that way we're able to like put it down on paper and we're able to have a little bit more documentation and um so that when those kind of questions come up, we're able to answer those questions. Great. Awesome. Anything else? Okay, thank you. Technology report. perform the board meetings in person. So we thought we can help the students. So he's taking a step in that direction. A lot of initiative very organized problem solver. So I'm happy with that. I'm also happy with the connection through him. So we are no longer a second tier school for the but more of a first. Um the uh president introduced a policy called advancing artificial intelligence education for American youth April 23rd. I've looked over the text of it, but basically it's saying that um we
043do invest in our educators and equip them with the tools and knowledge not only train students but also utilize AI in the classroom to improve educational outcomes. So there's a bunch of stuff in there all that you already have on our back burner or our front burner that we've been working that a little bit more software that offer it for students We looked at policy a little bit as far as things they have in place and we're also developing training schedule for next year that will include training for staff regular towards that entire section Okay. I have a quick question. I meant to go back. Sorry, not from Sorry, not for you. Um, the athletic trainer. So, we're having a conversation about that at the next meeting and we'll just Okay. Is it possible that
044they could give us like stats, even just common stats of like how many kids they work with versus how many athlet athletes we have? I think that that would be really useful. I am proathletic trainer um having been a coach, but I think that might help with some of the people on the board who aren't athletic coaches. They gave us a presentation and included all the stats in there so we could maybe see if Adrian can I'll check with Adrian. She could probably send that to me and then I can send it out. Awesome. Thank you, Mike. I have a question for you. Have you read much research? Sorry. Have you read much research on um like the way AI is being used to increase effectiveness of teaching uh in in the classroom? I know
045that there are AI programs that are doing things with teachers to help teachers be better teachers. Not that they're not good already, but just improve, you know, and always that that strive to get better at what you do and hone your craft. The first thing that they've been kind of seeing as far as adoption goes tools that they offer changing the efficiency of whether it be summarizing articles, videos, creating lesson plans, creator um he's got a ch license and he uses that to devel discussion among students play around with it through the next step I think would be to look at how can we kind of doing what you're saying improving his actual teaching yeah I've said this before we need to discuss in the classroom with students make it more of an open topic
046on how it works the proper ways to use it um that curriculum at least with a purpose by right now it's just you know ton of tools out there and you just kind of swim around. I guess that's what I was getting at like I I've heard a little bit but I haven't read into it and I just wondered I mean it's your area of expertise. I didn't know if that was something that you could speak to, you know, and say, "Yeah, companies are really fine tuning that kind of stuff." And there's another website called uh commonsense.org. Um we use that for digital citizenship and they develop their own behind the scenes curriculum that we use for free and they incorporate a lot of stuff about education. They're more education based than looking for a
047profit, right? So that's kind of something to compare with the other ones to see if we're getting also like also like how to teach in a way that um and assignments that encourage them not to use AI at least not in a way where they're just having AI write their essays like and I know that we all have talked about that before but like for instance um after that there was a piece that just came out I think in the Washington Post or something about college students and how they're not writing their essays And so I sent it to two of my friends who are college professors and I said, "What are you seeing?" And they said that, "Yeah, they're seeing that." And they said that the way around that is to ask students to
048relate what they're learning to their own lives and to make it personal and that that's how she can tell whether someone has plagiarized uh essentially or used AI. It's like and so that's another like teaching tool I guess is my point is like teaching teachers how to get around it. obviously teaching our students not to cheat, not to use AI to cheat, but also like a workaround for teachers so that we're supporting them and that they have ways tools to to know how to get around that. I guess is my point. Some some schools I've heard or some teachers I guess I would say have part of their assignment this probably level where they fill out and they say I use AI this assignment and this is what it because talking to Brad he can
049spend hours creating this and that the other thing but nobody's going to come in and say you should have you know encyclopedia pencil professional. So, we're looking at it differently, but it's being efficient and knowing how to use your tools and not letting it just put you in cruise control. We're at a stage where asking students to not use the large language models is like asking them to not use a calculator or the internet or the It is. Sure. But keeping it with critical thinking though, being able to like apply your critical thinking. Yeah, but the answer isn't tell them not to use it. It's not going to work. It's like keeping water from flowing down head. That wasn't what I meant. I hope it wasn't taken how I meant. What I meant was more
050like that. There are students that will be using it in that way, right? And so how do we find ways to be able to apply critical thinking to it so it's not just it's a challenge for the teachers and the way curriculums are organized sending kids home to write papers is not it's not going to so even now it's not the future it's right now doesn't work. How much AI did you guys end up using in in how much was AI part of curriculum for has it been for you so far and do you feel like you're ready Carly like to go on and I do use it in good ways. Uh I've actually like I have used it before. I mean, everybody has um and I think it's a really useful tool as kind
051of like a fact checker to make sure that like I ran u my paper that I wrote for my final essay in my college class. I ran that through the AI and had it check for grammatical errors. I had it check to make sure my information was right. And I ended up getting all 200 points on my paper because I like I had been able to go in and fix those where like it doesn't matter how many people read it. like there could always be another mistake and those professors, they really do crack down on you. So, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Um, like I haven't heard much about it in most my classes. The only one that like I've heard about it is in Mr. Reed's and like he's told us like it
052helps him make his lessons and um like I've used it for a study guide before. I've input what our information was learn like what we learned and then I threw it into chat GBT and I was like make me a study guide and like it's just helpful that way. But I do think that students can take advantage of it which I mean if it's there it's easy to um just got to hold yourself accountable and right you know that you have to learn the material. Yeah, totally. It's important to learn. I mean, I I I use AI 50 times a day professionally and and so I think it's important to figure this out because we're going to be sending you guys off to college or wherever's next and you'll be sitting next to a bunch
053of kids who really know how to use it and get how to get the most out of it. It's like it's like having a calculator versus a slide rule, right? And I don't think that we like honestly have been told much about how to use it as a good tool. I mean, Mr. has told me like some tools to use, but like I don't I just don't think that there's a lot of knowledge about it yet. My biggest thought right now with like going off to school and stuff is like I'm going to be paying for a degree and I don't want to be paying for those classes and then having somebody else do the work and not learning the material. Like if I'm going to do whatever I end up doing in my professional
054career, I want to know how to do it. I don't want to slack off for four years and then graduate and be like, "Wait a minute." For sure. I have to AI the rest of my life. That not a good idea. Probably not. No. Yeah. Great. Good discussion. Anything else, Mike? No. Awesome. Any other questions? All right. Mrs. Gualtne, elementary school report. It's busy time here at the elementary school. I provided a report for you. Um We just have a lot going on right now. Get a chance to check out the courtyard in the front. We had seniors who came over and did an amazing job cleaning that up as well as um as as well as staff members. Mr. BD was here and he was toting the mulch just like everybody else. So um
055but it looks beautiful. uh chess club. We extended an extra week by popular demand. Um we were like gonna pull the plug and then we wanted to finish tournaments. So Liz is generously doing that. Um we are just working really hard to finish up the year strong. We had our last champs assembly today. Um and I'm just going to tell you listening to our Move the World song led by Mrs. Smith will set your day on the right course every single time. Um, and it kind of brings tears to your eyes because it's so beautiful to hear our kids singing this song that's just for us. So, uh, testing, we finished MSTEP. We are working on NWA this week. Next week is Ames and Delta. Then we have our data days and we have 22
056days left. Um, I included our events that we would love to have you join us for. Uh, I put a list of field trips there and which grades are taking the field trips. This is not something that I put times or places in a public thing um just so that we can make sure our kids say stay safe uh when they leave our building. But we've got quite a variety of things that we're doing. So, do you guys have any questions? Looks great. Thanks. No questions. All right, Mr. Stapleton, middle and high school. I've kind of um started with the same thing Ann said. It's busy time at the building. Um this spring, it is every spring, but uh you know, this one's off and running. May is the busiest month of the year without
057a doubt. Um there's uh in the principal's report that was included in your packet. Um there's several things. I put an updated one just because there was a couple cl uh clarifying things that I wanted to add that was at your table when you got here. Mentioned the drama. Uh we had our NHS. It went without a hitch. Um I'm going to make sure to acknowledge that one because our speaker was really good. Bill Megan, great job. Thank you. Um and then um and then you saw, you know, we've had multiple things with the uh our art awards. Um, I did want to put note like we have our list of kids who uh who earned awards for the Oliver Arts Center, but I did want to make note of the 39 ceramic robins that
058were placed out at the Legacy Park. That was it's a really cool thing that kids have taken part in. And we had two kids that helped this year get them out there. There's some great pictures. I'm going to put them I'll just forward them to you guys because of course can't put the link um on this sheet today, but uh I'll make sure you guys have a chance to see them. So those were forwarded on Friday. So, I'll make sure that you get them. Um, Mr. Be is in attendance, so I'll give him a shout out for prom. Uh, we had a our prom was at Watervale this year. Went off without a hitch. Some great planning. Juniors did a great job planning. Uh, over 100 kids in attendance and we did dinner and the
059dance at Watervale and uh it was a sunny perfect day for pictures and then just cold enough to keep everybody inside. So, it was perfect. It was It turned out great. So, shout out to both Mr. Baker Don and Miss Meyers who are our junior class adviserss. So, did a great job. You see some other updates that were uh through there. I do want to call attention to service day. Um I can't I'm not going to read the whole thing because it's a decent sized paragraph, but um some of you participated in service day. Um and um there are so many places that we had a chance to visit. Um Kristen Pencil and the interact club did a nice job of setting this up and organizing it. Um we had pl people all over the
060community and stretching into Bula and Bensonia. Um, you know, we we had kids doing water testing. We had kids digging out at the beach at the Point Betsy. Uh, my group was we had 50 yards of uh ADA um walkway to unshovel that was about two and a half, three feet deep over in Alberta. And they they did an amazing job, you know, no complaining. They worked their butts off and uh and they finished the job beforehinged and painting and just just a great day all around for the high school. So, um, shout out to our kids, but also to our teachers who have participated and then Miss Pencil and the Interact Club for organizing. And then, um, there was, I think, five or six field trips that were, uh, that were listed and all
061the information that went with them. Um, they were pretty incredible trips and there's information there. And then I did want to just call attention to, um, this Thursday is our extravaganza and band concert. And so at the high school from 5:00 to 7:00, we'll have a ton of artwork up and a number of other things that'll be on display in the middle school gym. And then the band concert for fifth grade through 12th grade uh is at 7:00 p.m. And there's a food truck there uh early so if people are trying to double double them up and uh and for our kids that have practices and all that kind of stuff. So and then uh the choir concert is next week on Monday and that's our first spring choir concert. um a nice uh early
062peek at some of the some of our talent there. And then a cool thing that our seniors are doing on Wednesday is they have their senior mock interviews. So they'll um show up dressed up. They'll we've got a number of businesses that'll come in and give our kids practice interviews and and try to um you know, put them in a professional setting at least to try to give them some questions and um and then they rate our kids on how they did and then they kick that information back. That's part of our financial literacy class, our life skills class. So, it's pretty cool. We've done it. This is our I don't know 10, 12, 13th year we've done this and uh it's always going really well. So, we're excited about it. And then spring calendar
063updates are listed as well. Um you see what the things that are big on there. And so, yeah, if anybody has any questions, give me a holler. Um, oh, I know one thing at our last meeting we talked about if there would be a possibility if it made sense for uh board members to sit with seniors and just get a senior feedback. Is are is that something we're still looking at like when that would Well, we're going to do the senior survey. So, like that's that's going to be something that we are going to do. Um we might and um we'll meet with their leadership team later later in the week about um some things that we have going into graduation. Um and then they're also involved in the mentoring with the middle schoolers. And
064so maybe we can do something maybe with the ones that we can like we can set it. Not probably not with all of them, but maybe with some of them. Yeah. We can get together and try to get that figured out. All right. Cool. I know it's busy. Yeah. Yeah. They're walking out the door pretty soon. Gosh. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Our high school student reports, Carly, the This is your last one. All right. But Bella is going first. Yeah. Okay. I'll go first. Uh he already hit on quite a few things, but prom went well. That was really pretty out at Waterville. Um spring sports are still in full swing right now. We have golf regionals coming up next Wednesday and track regionals this Saturday. Uh softball and baseball's coming up too.
065And then as you all know, Drama did their Into the Woods and that was awesome. They did such a good job. Um oh yeah, and we had the dance recital last weekend. That was I don't know if any of you guys made it out there, but that that was fun to watch. Um, and then all the field trips. So, 10th grade zoo field trip, ninth grade career quest field trip, and then the service day was I went out to Crystal and we did some water testing. So, that was neat. And um there was straight talk concert that went well. And then May 19th is the NHSN day. What was the takeaway from the street talk? Um, I think some people liked it. I don't I think it was good. Um, it I think there there
066was mixed reviews of it. Okay. So, what were the positives and what were a few negatives maybe? Um, I think a few of the positives were like it was engaging. Like he like tried to get people engaged. I don't know if people loved like the concert like entertainment aspect. Yeah. So, there was I forget his name. It was that one dude that it was last year. Oh, the one the Tony something. Yes. Yes. I think people liked him more because he was like I think they liked how he talked more and like engaged with us. Okay. Yeah. It felt kind of like a show maybe too much for some people. Yeah. What about the content? The content? Uh, I think it was good. like it brought awareness to things and um I thought it was
067kind of like he talked about things that other people like didn't talk about about like if you were like in the stands and like you're like oh this is about me like this kind of is about you and I don't know I don't think a lot of people talked about that. So yeah it was good. All right, last one. Last one. So the juniors went on their trip um at the end of April and I think they had fun. I hope they had fun because I had fun when I went. Um, we have a field day coming up next Wednesday. We have mock interviews this Wednesday. Um, we've got the extravaganza on Thursday and the band concert. So, that'll be really cool and I hope to see everybody there. Um, senior's last day is next
068Friday. Nine days left. Let's go. Um, and then commencement is in 20 days. I'm counting down. Um, we had the NHS induction and that was great. Um, and there's senior banners downtown, so that's pretty cool, too. Um, but I also just want to say thanks for the opportunity to be part of the board. Um, I feel like being here has been super influential for me, both educational wise and experience-wise. So, thank you guys for letting me have the opportunity. Well, thank you, Carly. [Applause] I think it's really cool when, and no pressure, Bella, but I think it's really cool when we have someone who's on here for two years, like as a junior and then a senior. I know that in the past we had just done seniors, but I think it's really nice to
069like have you have a year to kind of get it under your feet and then the next year. I just think that that's been a cool addition and this was you were the first person that we've had do that, right? I believe last year was the first one, Carly. Yeah. Is the first one I'm saying to to have us to have two years. So, I think that's been really cool. was our second. Yeah, we liked it. What did you think, Carly? Doing it two years. That's a lot of Mondays. It is a lot of Mondays. I think it was nice because like Ellis and I didn't know what was going on when we started. And I mean, after a few meetings, we kind of got the hang of it. And then I had this year
070to kind of like I knew what was happening. I knew how the meetings would go. I knew what to expect. And I feel like I could kind of let Bella know coming into it like, "Hey, this is how it is." like it's not scary. They don't bite. But um drink some caffeinated beverages before. Yeah. Some of them are long, some of them are 10 minutes. So yeah. She wanted to be here all on her own, saw the thing on schooly, and filled out the application. Yeah. Great. Well, you did a great job, Carly. Thanks for the value you added. Thanks for having a lot. Okay, business. Two items. Whoops. Two items. First one we've kind of talked about already last month. This is the the second portion uh to get ready to cast our votes
071as a board for the Northwest Ed Board. So, there's a resolution that follows this page on page 20 uh 30, excuse me. Barb has it completed. And the way this will work, um, the resolution calls for an alternate, which we selected. Wes will be our first voting person. Our alternate then will be Megan. And then we will select, it's an easy one this time. There are three openings and three candidates. And those follow, just so you know who those names are. Our local candidate um, is Rick Schmidt, as many of us know. And we're really excited about that. I had great conversations with Dr. Sigler um prior to determining uh to to run for the board. So, the good thing is there's three cop seats and three candidates. So, the recommendation is to approve the
072resolution following this page and it's the one we we did two years ago and you're basically giving West permission to cast the vote for the three candidates. So moved. And any comments, discussion, questions? I just want to say I think it's great. I think we all think it's great, but I think it's great that Rick is going to be our our local given that he was, you know, the school board president for however many years. He already has a knowledge base of what's going on. So that's great. Yeah, it is great. Any other He'll be a good advocate for us. All right. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? So, at the conclusion of of the meeting, Barb has that ready to roll and we'll get it signed and then up to the ISD to
073make. Thank you, Wes. Thank you, Wes, for going and if anything, there's nothing like a trip to Travers. I've got big city, Wes. Big city. I've got some Costco things I need. I know, right? Stop by. But it's before July, Wes. That's that'll be helpful. Thank you. The second item is uh conversation. Uh we met with uh who do um Dr. Sigler and the CFO. The CFO. It'll come to me in a minute. I'm sorry. Um Sean Bidd. See, it's a little slower than it used to be. Sean Bidd is here was here as well and went through the budget. Had good conversation. So, this topic tonight is to uh consider approving the general fund operating budget for 2526 for Northwest Ed. They did share um the CTC budget uh and a couple other things,
074but what we we are approving if you choose to do so is the general fund operating budget. And I I believe I shared that information with everyone. So, it's the recommendation of the superintendent to support the 2526 Northwest Education Services uh excuse me, Northwest Education Services general fund operating budget. I will make that motion. Second. Any discussion? We I'll just comment that we did have a really great meeting I thought with them and um expressed some of our desires and concerns and things that we'd like to see them do a little bit more for Frankfurt. Um and they seemed pretty receptive to it. Definitely heard us. Replied back via email like these were all the things they heard and they're going to work on. So would you say Liz that was accurate? All right. Great.
075So with that, all those in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. Anything else? No, just I just have a quick announcement, but I can wait till after public participation. All right. Public participation. I have Oh, go ahead, Wes. Oh, no. You go first. No, you go first, Wes. I'm going to Travis City. Is that a comment? Most people say Disney World, but no, on on a kind of a sad note, um some of you know Tom Stoy and he um passed away. Oh, no. Yeah. And he was a superintendent here for maybe six years. Seven. Seven. 10 years. 10 years. In his prior time here, he was, believe it or not, he was an elementary counselor and um one of our long-term football coaches and then moved to Jackson and determined to come back and I
076don't think he intended to spend 10 years with us, but he did, which was wonderful. Matt and I had a great relationship working with Tom. It's too bad. I'll try to get a card maybe or do you probably have already sent Yeah. What? I have not yet. I'm get in contact with Marca and see when we get the details. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. All right, Matt. Just wanted to give a shout out to um our girls track team. Um this year they won the Northwest Conference for the first time in school history. So Jeff's a big part of that coaching staff and of course Amy's husband, Ed, as well. And uh so congrats to the coaches, but also to the kids. What a what a cool year it's been for them. and regionals
077are this week. But that's one of those milestones they haven't been able to get and now they have it. So pretty pretty cool. Bell is a pole var and distance mid distance and yeah it's it's been a great experience and we have a ways to go yet and it's just I think that's the part that you notice when you get to spend time after school with these kids. They're really really great kids and I think sometimes we we don't lose sight of that but our busyiness sometimes overlooks that. So, it it really is positive and I know Matt's involved in and with kids all the time and it does shed a different light. It kind of reminds us why we're here. So, um it's a really great group of kids. Great place to be. So,
078but congrats girls. We're not quite done. Um, one other announcement. Our graduation speaker is going to be Dave Mangabir, who is the current CEO of the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, but also the president or CEO of the Michigan Council of Community Foundations, where I believe he he's retiring from our community foundation, and he'll be stepping up in a bigger role um down there. but he'll be a fantastic speaker. It's great because he knows this fivecount region probably better than any other human being knows it. Um, and he's always been a big fan of the youth advisory committee. Um, and getting youth involved in community problem solving. So, I think that'll be a good speaker. Anything else? No, just one quick announcement. Um, congratulations. uh to Dave Breesie as he's chosen to uh go into
079the world of retirement. Um really really has been really impactful to our programs. Uh we have some others as you are aware that are retiring that we will greatly miss. Um one thing about Frankfurt, we've had the opportunity to work with some wonderful people. Matt Nan and I have been here a while. Chris Baker Donn is even starting to be here a while. So uh and Mike. So, we've had some great staff and uh best wishes to those who have retided to retire. We'll miss them. And now we have some work to do to replace some big shoes. So, I want to make that announcement. Big work. Big work. Big shoes. But as a followup to that, um, because we were keeping our running list of tasks and one of them that I had was
080looking at some, um, other places to advertise and, um, and Jeff and I have been talking, but we've reached out to, uh, U of M, MSU, Central, and GVSU. Um, and there are some very specific ways to advertise and form relationships through those universities. So, we'll look into maybe some She's talking about job postings. Job postings. Yeah. One one more we found today and Ann we're going to work on that tomorrow. Grand Valley does what they call Handshake, which is associated, I think, with Michigan State. There's a couple others we're going to look into. So, we have an appointment tomorrow. So, awesome. Yeah. And then Brian, are you reaching out to all your robotics contacts? Cool. Sounds good. Okay. Anything else? Any other announcements? With that, we will take a motion to adjourn. I'll make
081that motion. Wes. I'll second it. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? Great. We are adjourned. The eyes have it. The eyes have it. And do note at the bottom the I sent a meeting notice about the budget hearing.