Lansing School District Board of Education Regular Meeting 5-4-23 LIVE

001foreign all right good evening everyone we're starting just a little bit late because we have some exciting things going on in the Border this evening so I wanted to give folks a chance to um Gather in and filter in but I am going to call this regular meeting of the Board of Education to order at 602 and ask that everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance tomorrow thank you and will the clerk please call the roll doctor body Dr Kavanaugh present Miss lilji Mr Lopez president Miss Moore present Mr Richardson present Dr Rodriguez Miss Williams Miss Willis present performance present thank you glad to have everyone back here this evening we have a packed agenda of exciting things to review so first um to see if there's any additions to the agenda from board

002members seeing none next would be public comment on agenda items see none that brings us to our presentation so first up this evening we have our health and wellness update from Missouri Sue take it away well you've probably all heard that the U.S Department of Health and Human Services has said May 11th as the end date for the public health emergency which has been with us for three years related to coven although a response to covid-19 and that of the U.S Department of Health and Human Services will remain a top priority the emergency phase will end on May 11th we are ready to transition away that shift has been evident within the district 2. in April we had only 20 student cases across 11 schools this is the lowest case numbers for the year and

003actually we could say for two and a half years this is the lowest case number the staff cases were also very low with only 17 cases reported across 16 locations again the lowest number of the year the monthly case comparisons represent low case counts with only 37 total cases it's been a good month for the control of covid in our school and in our communities I'd like to continue the good news this evening by introducing my colleague John Horford to talk with you about the new and exciting student development program John has been instrumental in collaborating with me the superintendent and the office of school culture in the creation of a comprehensive student-centered program for academic and athletic development thank you sue so uh for those who don't know soon development program is housed at

004Don Johnson Field House we offer uh tutoring resources for students we have food and snacks for students every day and then we have structured training for the students so right now we're offering volleyball training which is being done by LCC um their coaches and players an assistant coach and then players we have basketball training speed and movement training and then we have uh strength and movement training and then we also have MSU football comes in and does football twice a week football training with students as well our tutoring partnership is with the Eastside Community Action Center which is a local organization they partner with Michigan State so the tutors are students coming over from Michigan State and then the food is in partnership with Sodexo and they've been wonderful in terms of uh allowing us

005to request certain items like the ones that the students want to eat and so far we've we're seeing we've seen acts weekly to students um my my only complaint is that we can't get enough kids utilizing the tutoring resources I try to talk to all the kids every day about it like if you don't have a 4.0 you should be in there like if you need help with your homework you should be in there and just trying to destigmatize tutoring because when I talk to the students a lot of them believe that going to tutoring it's all people think I'm dumb if I go to tutoring I'm like no it's not that at all like I I realize tutoring Services a million times whether it was in high school or college and you can't know

006everything so just trying to encourage them to participate in that and we actually have um we have access to but we could actually get a hundred students a day you know utilizing tutoring Services if not more um if the need was there and the need is there if the desire was there for them to to utilize those services so the other part of the program so the strength conditioning element of it all uh put in the brain weight room it's one of the nicest weight rooms in the district we're getting a good amount of students participating uh in the weight room activities but is and any possible to get more students engaging with this program I mean it's it's high level development but it's it's a fun environment it's a healthy environment it's a safe

007environment we're dealing with trainers that are getting really good at interacting with the students and learning you know when when to you know push them when they can push them a little bit harder or you know when they need to you know allow them to you know step back and take a break and it's not all about you know that it's not about them becoming amazing athletes right it's not about necessarily developing division one Stars it's about helping them to develop habits that will be beneficial to them in all aspects of life it's about you know time management it's about learning to work with other people it's about setting goals it's about perseverance um and when you come and I encourage anyone to stop by uh Monday through Thursday 3 30 to 6 30 and

008then Fridays we kind of have like an open gym sort of setup where students can stop in between uh 3 30 and like 5 30. they're having fun they're enjoying it a lot of the students that we're seeing consistently are coming like four for at least four days a week which is really impressive uh consistency is one of the most difficult parts of any sort of development program it's just getting kids to come and to participate and have a good attitude and outlook on everything consistently over a long period of time and when you're able to do that you're able to get like amazing results so I've worked with students for 13 years helping to develop kids mentoring kids with the primary objective for a lot of the students that I've worked with is for

009them to go on and play on the college level so if that is something that people do have interest in we're more than capable of setting students up on a path like that but that does not necessarily have to be the goal even if a student has no interest in being an athlete at all coming to just eat coming to move and learn how to move their body well and to develop healthy habits to learn how to navigate a weight room one of the biggest barriers to training in college or to utilizing a weight room is the fact that a lot of people don't know how to navigate a weight room they don't know what to do they don't want to look dumb when they go into the weight room so creating a healthy environment

010where people are allowed to be novices where people are allowed to make mistakes and where you have skilled coaches there helping to guide them along the way is extremely it's just it's invaluable um and we have that for for any student 6th through 12th grade in the Lansing school district I'm doing it about telling them how they can sign up and can come so if for whatever reason um access to a phone or computer is a barrier you can any student can just drop in and sign up in person and we also have computers at the field house that they can utilize but anyone who signs or scans one of these QR codes it'll take you to our website appointee very very basic um you go you click on it it asks you to put

011in your email you select the offerings that you want like let's say you're interested in tutoring you click on tutoring it shows the times where it's available the days that it's available and you just select it you book your appointment spot and that's it um right now we have a capacity for certain sessions um and we do reach capacity in some things so volleyball we've been reaching capacity basketball we've been reaching capacity uh but if students show up and we're at capacity participate anyway we're not going to turn anybody away even if we have to be it's a good issue for us to have for our capacity for a consistent period of time then we'll add a third session and we have that worked out with trainers and you know with our budget and things

012like that so it's all through a pointy um and it's super it's super easy and then for the summer uh two of our Partnerships so we have a partnership with Todd Martin tennis so it's we purchased the rackets and balls and things uh so we have a part students in Lansing will be able to utilize that and then we partnership with Lansing common soccer um so we'll also have a soccer offering for the summer and we'll have extended hours for the summer as well so I believe for the summer we'll be going from 11 A.M to uh 5 P.M three okay and you know I think one of the most exciting parts for us too is seeing the kids that are just coming in and saying well can I come and have dinner can I

013come and talk with one of the trainers can I just be a part of this here so it's off to a great start and we so appreciate the the commitment to this kind of a new and exciting initiative in the district [Music] any questions from board members Miss lilji it's amazing it's great I love I love everything about it um what is the capacity you said you have room for more about how many on and in a 90-minute session say on any given day how many students could you have I I would say [Music] 16 would be good for capacity right now 16 to 20 depending on the offering and depending on the skill level um for example uh Eastern's football team has started to utilize for the last two weeks they've come in like

014about three times a week to utilize strength conditioning if they bring in 20 20 players or we're not gonna you know tell them that oh it needs to be 16 like we'll allow them to bring in 20 players but as students become more skilled and they learn how to navigate the weight room and they become more responsible it will allow us to increase those numbers further because they won't need to be you know looked after as much because they'll know how to conduct themselves um but per offering it's about 16 is like a true capacity because it really is about development so we do want to focus on helping them to develop those skills if we get too many kids per session it just becomes kind of chaotic and it's hard to focus in and

015uh work on deficiencies and and help kids to to address issues that they have with you know finishing for basketball for example or coordination or you know even their ability to their hand-eye coordination their ability to to catch and to throw accurately okay and that's 16 though I just want to elaborate on that just a little there's at any session there's five offerings going on at once so really we could be about a hundred students okay you know there'd be basketball volleyball the weight World tutoring and then there's a website right now and it looks like there are seven offerings right now and I know it's Gonna Change in the summer depending on what else so that's that's pretty big so you could have like a hundred kids another session yeah um oh per session

016or yeah so okay yeah so 3 30 would have right now basketball volleyball speed and movement strength conditioning tutoring all at the same time all at the same time yeah and they could rotate yes and then there are kids who'll be in the hallways like just eating and stuff we have kids coming from practice or kids eating before they go to practice things like that so that's also uh factored in thank you yep I have two more questions um do they are they grouped by age or skill level or I mean I know they're grouped by like sport or whether doing strength or weight room or so we have um except for strength conditioning right now this is going to change for the summer because we did get a second strength conditioning coach for the

017summer um primarily actually for uh female students so they could work with a female uh strength conditioning coach and that was per their request they said that they felt like they would be more comfortable in an environment where it was like instead of having to lift with like the big scary football players like you know they could just be with like girls on their team and we were like we'll totally accommodate that so we have that for the summer um we have two trainers uh per session and sometimes we even have more because we have people who are coming in and just volunteering uh so we will split them up based on skill level so we'll take the people who are a little bit more advanced and put them with one trainer on one side

018and we'll take people that need you know are more of the beginner level and put them with another trainer or multiple trainers um like for basketball sometimes they'll have like up to four for volleyball have up to four sometimes and we'll just split them up that way so it's not necessarily by age it's more just by sort of skill level because I mean there are some middle school kids who are actually more coordinated and more skilled than some sophomores and juniors that we're seeing come in thank you my last question actually might be more like a little bit of feedback at it as a parent who didn't ever participate in sports I don't I have a sixth grader who's doing it for the first time I'm kind of like overwhelmed when I look when I

019look at and I don't know where to start and I don't know how like what the access point is um I guess for like a parent a beginner parent like me in sports it would be super helpful if somebody could go here's the package here's like the recommended like package that it would be these times on these days and like you can sign up for that or it's once a week or whatever it is like um as an entry point I think that may help more people um the website is um it's user friendly but for someone who doesn't know anything I'm kind of like don't know where to start or don't know where to go so I guess that's a little feedback so then my question to go with that is um what if

020it's a person like me a beginner Sports parent like me what would you recommend to tell them how to get started if you're looking at these seven offerings like I don't know what my six I don't I don't know my recommendation would be to either call or to come in and just get a feel for it walk around talk to some trainers um talk to me talk to sue uh that's probably the best way to do it I mean we I think the packet idea is a good idea and just sort of breaking down offerings in that way that could be a little bit more digestible for people who would be overwhelmed by that but just I I don't think there's a substitute for actually just coming in and seeing it and getting a feel

021for it and understanding that you do not have to have any skill whatsoever all you have to do is have an interest like we will work with you it's not about you know oh you're not good enough to participate anyone can participate we want any student that's interested to come has nothing to do with skill level whatsoever like we're just trying to create a safe healthy environment and I I think it's pretty apparent when people come in and actually like witness the work that's being done it's great thank you you're welcome any other questions I do I have a question so to verify the time it's Monday and Monday through Thursday 3 30 to 8. so not quite to eight right now so we had it at eight just in case we reached capacity and

022we could we would add a third session so a third hour and a half session so the goal is going forward to be a capacity to have to have that third session because um there's such a demand for it but right now it's uh there's a 3 30 to 5 o'clock session and a five to six thirty session and then there's usually you know 20-ish kids still in the gym at the end afterwards just waiting to get picked up shooting around or playing volleyball or you know having dinner eating snacks so next question because I do know that my kid goes and does this a couple of days a week I just realized this how do you what are you doing as somebody that's watching to see the potential and possibly pushing them into that

023track that they could possibly be successful in because that he does strength training and he does play basketball on the side note thinking he's down 14 pounds for doing this program so it does have benefits yeah um so what are you doing to help kids kind of because he he's he's not sure what sport he wants to play people say play football he wants to play basketball he wants so how were you seeing any potential in the kids that can say hey you should probably be doing this as well in all honesty I wouldn't personally tell I wouldn't tell a kid that I wouldn't tell a kid you should be doing this you should be doing this you should be doing this I'm very much uh what do you want to do what are you

024interested in if you're not sure you should try that like this week and last week I've had like 10 plus boys playing volleyball like nice I'm not telling them not to play volleyball like I even jumped in and played with them like it was fun um I'm not going to tell people what to do but if they have an interest and they do want to like pursue this like if I wanted to get better at this what would I have to do for basketball I I can help anyone like I can be a wealth of knowledge you know for football I'm not the one you know I don't have that knowledge but I'm happy to set them up with somebody who can help put them in that position for volleyball I'm happy to connect them

025with someone who can help guide them along that path um and our partners exactly so we that we have great Partnerships like I said LCC volleyball MSU football um Todd Martin tennis Lansing common soccer um these people can help to guide them if they have an interest in pursuing it in a serious manner but until they decide that they want to do that I encourage everyone to try everything so okay so let me switch it not how do you keep them motivated or consistent because he was coming consistently for a while now he's like um I don't know if I want to go yeah um you know we I guess we have to find that balance of development and the the students saying I want to be good I'm mad because I'm not making more

026shots I'm mad because I'm not finishing more layups and them understanding then you have to build your foundation so you can become more consistent and then also mixing in some games and some things to keep it fun and engaging so we're not perfect by any means and this is another thing that I wanted to mention I highly encourage you know if you guys have relationships with coaches in the district I've every coach I've spoken with I encourage them come in talk to us we do not think that we have oh you know we know everything like we don't need any advice we don't need any input we're happy to hear hear any advice any input from any coaches um I know that there was a concern with some of the coaches that it's like oh

027well you know I'm not even sure what you're going to be doing and to my point is come in give suggestions we're happy to implement things that you think would be beneficial and find a proper balance there um and the other thing is a lot of these kids wouldn't be doing anything otherwise and doing something and moving and being in the gym and being fed and being in a safe environment is better than doing nothing period um so it's it's just it's one of those things where we really do want to develop these relationships with these coaches and have them to encourage their players to participate because it it really will be beneficial but it will be much more beneficial to have their input and you know to even have them come around and um

028you know participate in the ways that they're allowed to Mr Richardson thank you madam president PSA first one of my favorite stories of Atlantic School District this year is I spent some time over there with sue Wheeler and um it was a couple days into somebody just showing up and eating every day and then she advised him a couple times to uh just check out tutoring and he went up and he figured out something that it sounded like from our interaction he had been chipping away at that for a while so I might have talked about the last board meeting because I think I was I came from there to here so for anyone that uh is not an athlete I think there's value in that and I appreciate you speaking to that point um

029another PSA Impact Sports where the strength conditioning staff is also affiliated with Alex Morris just as a community person they know their stuff they work with NFL athletes not that we're chasing down NFL athletes through this project but you know they've been entrusted across the country with some of the top athletic talent and we're lucky to have them here in Lansing developing Talent like they develop uh NFL stars like our very own Carl Brooks who was just drafted a couple days ago in terms of questions though so I really like insight into two things from your opinion Jordan what's the biggest friction point that needs to get alleviated and then secondarily in terms of utilization of the MSU football piece what's the participation rate looking like that because it seems like naturally that would be

030a hook for some of these coaches but um my understanding is that has not been so far either so cheer for thank you um and Impact Sports Performance I I forgot to mention them earlier and thanks for bringing that up because impact is they're they're big time they really are when most players high level football players and even basketball players are preparing for NBA and NFL combine in Michigan 90 of them go to impact so I mean they really are like the real deal um the biggest barrier period is transportation um it's tough it's tough I I know some kids that are coming all the way from the South Side taking the bus consistently amazing but not everybody has that like within them to do that I mean it's it's difficult so transportation is the

031biggest barrier that we have um if we had a better transportation method maybe directly from schools after school from the schools to the field house I'm sure we could triple you know participation um and then to your second question it's slipping my mind right now my apologies with the MSU football ah okay so much lower than much lower than expected I thought that would I genuinely thought that was going to be our biggest draw um because we're getting actual MSU football players to come in um you know up to four of them twice a week six hours a week and the numbers have been quite low for football participation although Eastern like I said the last two weeks has been bringing their football team in for training um and the MSU players have been a

032part of that as well so it's on the rise it's getting better because of that partnership but we would love to also you know get Saxons football team over get Everett's football team over um and it doesn't just have to be Varsity I mean it could be the freshman team it could be the JV team it could be the middle school team we're looking to accommodate any way that we can I tell coaches that all the time it's not like you guys have to you know it has to be this way no it doesn't like we will make it work for you because we want the best results for the kids we want them to be able to utilize these resources to the best of their abilities so we are extremely flexible extremely flexible [Music]

033hi I imagine that not every child has access to athletic clothing um is that something that you have available to borrow or to keep for students a small amount a small amount so we through some of our Partnerships we have been able to get uh some shoes shirts um some athletic shorts uh things like that um but we're working on acquiring more um and there definitely is need but we've I mean we've given out you know lots of shoes lots of lots of shorts lots of shirts things like that yeah and we're actually we have an order coming in for some more uh like gear shortly and then we're working on future Partnerships to make sure that no student ever has to worry about like you know shoes are a big one like you know

034things like that so it's in the it's in the works I appreciate that thank you thank you Mr President uh first of all Sue thank you for the work you've done and without this health issue and so on and so forth it's great that we have I I go around meetings and conferences and not many or have done what we're doing here in Lansing and thank you for for all that work and keeping us safe um thank you for the work you're doing with with our students and I think you're very kind of answered part of my question that I had was very simply what is the participation from from the city you know all together is more from the north than from the south you already said transportation is a problem so I think

035that answers part of my question but who are you getting most of your uh students from at this point Eastern and pattengo walking distance yeah exactly walking distance so when that's not a barrier it's like we're getting more students which is why we feel very confidently that if we can address the transportation issue um that that we could you know double triple our participation yeah yeah well I think some of our students do have the the credit cards yeah all of your high school students correct yeah yeah so but it's it's a long bus it's a long bus ride it's a long bus ride and I think there's like uh they have to like they have to go to the station switch buses get on another bus to come over and we have students that

036are actively doing that right now coming from the south side which is amazing but it's hard to you can't expect every student to have that sort of like desire or will do you think that um we're doing enough to um let students know what's going on in this Center do you think you have enough PR out there do you have enough information I know um talked about not having some information you know needing more but to make it attractive for for students to know and maybe the transportation if one is doing it maybe 10 more can do it you know but do you think that that's maybe a need uh more Outreach more information dissemination um it's 100 a need um we are going into some of the schools we have our posters up in

037a lot of the schools um Friday we're doing uh assembly at patongill for example and just talking all the students about the program and encouraging more to to participate but we could be doing more we should be doing more we will be doing more we want to be doing more um to just get the word out and to address some of the transportation barriers for example we have one mom who comes in she sits and watches both of her kids boy and a girl every day and she also gives rides to some of the other kids so I mean it there are situations where you know there have to be a couple other parents in the district who could you know if they could give a ride to a couple kids like that are around

038them or I mean they're just I don't want to we don't necessarily want to put that on them but just making just finding a way essentially until we can really have a better way to address this Transportation issue okay thank you [Music] any questions from any other board members Dr Rodriguez thank you very much um you talking about the support that you have received from the coaches what about the schools in general the principles the teachers Hummers they know about the program how the collaboration with them is going they know about the program um we've met and spoke with many of them I won't say all of them but many um all the High School principles for sure um it's one of those situations where I I guess there's always more that could be done

039there's more that we could do on our end to to reach out to them to to meet them in in ways that will allow them to feel more comfortable to promote our program to their students uh it's just finding ways to to navigate those relationships and then in terms of coaches um it it's just continuing to you know try to gain their trust and try to get them to understand that this is actually a supplement to what they're doing this isn't trying to replace them in any way no no one on Art no one that's working you know with us is looking to you know take over a coaching position in the district we want to help we want to get students you know we want them to to move better to be healthier to

040have better grades um you know to have another meal and a snack you know per day to make more friends to develop better habits to become you know better teammates and people which makes their jobs and their lives much much easier as coaches which they'll understand and some of them do understand um but I hope we get to the point where all of them understand that we're here to be partners and to work with them and you know we're not against them in any way we're going to start when the program started when long time ago how many weeks in the system it's been about two months two months yeah this is a great beginning great beginning and you can keep how the kids they attended the program and how they they reflect and their

041behavior and Grace in the schools and how that helps them to be better students that will be that will be a good way to evaluate the program yeah absolutely thank you oh thank you any other questions I feel like Dr Bobby you want to ask a question no okay okay all right great I was gonna say uh Miss wheeler I think this makes up for all the other times we haven't asked you questions about your presentation so I really appreciate my attention just bring your friend along thank you guys very much yeah thank you thank you yeah I mean I just want to say thanks um I think I've talked a lot about this Sports can be incredibly helpful to a community for so many reasons but the first and foremost is health and wellness

042of our children we know that our sports teams can get better we could win more games we can do more things but at the end of the day if a child comes to Lansing school district and becomes healthy that's all that matters academic learn pass those are all the things that we care about and you know for a long time really since I got here been talking to people about what can we do what can we do and one of the things that came up over and over again is can we have a program can we open our doors can we have maybe youth programs can we have other ways that children who might not necessarily be a attached to a team or attached to a sport could have something and what I'm just thankful

043for and I want to thank both Sue and John is taking this kind of crazy quixotic idea uh and really making it into something special um you should all go I'd love you all to witness what happens there because there are kids there that go sadly just to eat because it's a warm good healthy meal some kids go there just because they want to be with their friends and enjoy watching people play sports also fantastic and then some and of course the bulk are kids that are trying to better themselves both academically and physically and to be able to create a warm and nurturing program a kind of an open door for our children is really powerful so you know I look forward to the days when we have three full sessions from 3 30

044to 5 5 to 6 30 and from 6 30 to 8 I think we can do it I really appreciate the board support on this and certainly the Community hearing this and talking about this I just got a text from our comms folks that they will send out another blast email about this we will try to raise as much awareness but we all know um you know the best way is word of mouth and so everybody in the audience everybody here we have networks and connections the more that we get children into this program the better we have incredible staff there that are working it's a great facility you know there's nothing nothing better than the Don Johnson Field House and so I really look forward to this becoming a real model of success honestly

045throughout the state of Michigan so thank you to you both thank you thank you very much I appreciate the presentation next I'm going to call up our friends from the abresol center and eversol Foundation to do our land deed presentation I would like to invite up um Mr binbotswinski and Miss Donna old and whomever else she would like to bring it's her guest this Foundation [Music] is this mic on this is the mic on yeah okay good evening my name is Donna old I am a retired everything from the Lansing school district I served as an instructional assistant a classroom teacher and lastly as a principal at Mount Hope Elementary School I've been uh with the district I was with the district over 40 years I've been a promoter of the ebersol center since my

046first child attended the ebersol center over 50 years ago so you know I'm really old she and her brother both had the opportunity to experience the awesomeness of the Ebersole Center and later assisted me as adult chaperones since my retirement in 2010 I've served as a trustee and for a number of years now as the chair of the ebersol foundation let me introduce you to the other members of the foundation who are here with me this evening um I have to look because some of us weren't quite ready all holding the um deed you will see uh Leonard Lipinski Leonard is a Lansing parent or was a Lansing parent I think his kids are grown and gone whose children attended the ebersol center and who is also a very original member of the ebersol foundation

047for over 20 years now um he's the oldest that's been with this Foundation right well maybe you're not the oldest in age but you're the you've been there the longest right and holding on to the deed with him is Ken Jones some of you know can is a former Lansing Board of Education member um and Ken's own children experience the ebersol center when uh where he also assisted as a parent volunteer and he's been known at the drop of the hat to come serve as a chaperone at the center right here behind me is Marty mecker he's a Lansing parent whose own children attended the Ebersole Center a number of years ago he also is right behind Leonard in terms of longevity on the foundation board because uh Leonard happened to recruit Marty Robin Moritz

048is currently a Mount Hope teacher whose own children attended the center and whose students over the years sold thousands I think of one dollar candy bars to be able to attend the center I've seen first hand the time and dedication she devotes each year to ensure that her students have an amazing experience at the ebersol center right here Roger Lewis he served as a parent volunteer when his own children attended the ebersol center including your very own share of the board and he was recruited by his wife Robin um so let me see did I get everybody everybody that's here let me uh talk about the ones that are absent missing from our group tonight is Robert Ebersole who continues to serve as a trustee via Zoom from the Chicago area and whose father for

049whom the ever saw Center is named and was the longest ever serving Lansing Board of Education member absent also tonight um is Greg cinecropy Lansing business owner currently a parent at Evan Everett and Son of San cinicropy your uh previous superintendent his children also experienced the ebersol center Dave Brigham who some of you may know is a retired Lansing teacher and ebersol Center volunteer extraordinaire Dave's own children attended the Ebersole Center his students over many years sold hundreds of raffle tickets to be able to attend the ebersol center and he continues to volunteer in the teaching capacity at the center when called upon even today lastly I do not want to forget Robin Lewis a former member of the Lansing school district Board of Education Rachel's mother and spouse of foundation member Robert Roger Lewis

050as you know Robin is recently deceased but she's been an integral part and driving force of the ebersol foundation since day one when the foundation was formed over 20 years ago she's deeply missed I shared all this information about us to let you know our commitment to the ebersol center began more than 50 years ago and continues today the original founder of the ebersol foundation was John Schimmel another school district educator former ebersol Center Director and Lansing school district administrator 20 plus years ago he became aware of an 80 acre parcel of property that adjoins the ebersol center that came on the market with the vision of this property as an extension of the ebersol center's original 158 Acres and further uh uh he further imagined it to be a substantial extension of outdoor education

051opportunities for Lansing children John said about establishing the foundation he called on individuals who had attended the center as parent volunteers Educators and other friends to become trustees and the land was purchased we developed a mission statement from the opening paragraphs of our bylaws that says the ebersol foundation mission is to provide charitable scientific and educational support to the ebersol center more specifically to raise funds to assist the Ebersole Center in land acquisition Capital Improvements stewardship activities program development and to subsidize the cost of attendance for Lansing school district students we raised funds over a period of years holding large fundraiser events and with donations from hundreds of Lansing area individuals and businesses notable among those making sizable donations were the dark Foundation represented by Jim and Kathy Lammers Kelly and Marilyn Dean Lyle Stevens

052Steve Alexander Margaret L ebersaw the mother of our trustee Robert ebersol the schimel family and Whalen farmer Wayland Michigan farmer where the center is located Paul letting up in 2009 we were finally able to pay off the original five hundred thousand dollar price tag of the property plus an additional thirty five thousand dollars in interest since that time we've rented the farm on the ebersol foundation Farm to a family and 55 tillable acres to a local farmer the rental income along with funds raised from golf outings some of you have attended silent auctionist Raffles selling store coupons and smaller donations from the community at large have permitted us to provide assistance to teachers and students who needed transportation to the Center for field trips while at the center for materials for teachers lessons scholarship funds

053for students to attend a thirty five thousand dollar expansion and update to the fishing and canoe docks and a thirty five thousand dollar donation to build a fireplace in the new Amphitheater foundational support at the ebersol center for the ebersol center from us was not only financial almost all of us as I've mentioned before were delighted when our children were given the opportunity to experience the ebersol center all of us have chaperoned at one time or another over the years some of us recruited by necessity on location while visiting some of us developed and taught pieces of curriculum and activities that are still used at the center Dave Dave who's not here unfortunately and Robin can attest to that and some of us religiously took our classrooms in fact Robin Lawrence is taking her classroom

054in just a few days right all these years it has been the dream of those serving on the ever ever saw Foundation to see that this property would become part of the ebersol center property in years past it has not been feasible for the Lansing school district to acquire additional property however our vision remained on the initial goal of John Schimmel so we hung in there it's been with the visualization and farsightedness of the current director Ben botwinski hiding back there along with his enthusiasm for extending environmental and Outdoor Learning opportunities for children that are conversations about the district accepting our donation of 80 acres began Anew in the last several years it's been so exciting for us to witness the Lansky School District's commitment to making student access to the center exceedingly more affordable

055than in years past I don't think they're selling candy bars and raffle tickets anymore thank you it's been gratifying to see recent construction of the amphitheater The Pavilion and the counselor educator cabins it's been invigorating to see the planning for how this property may be utilized for further students appreciation and to further students appreciation for and love of the outdoors we were so pleased when Mr winsky invited superintendent schildinger for a weekend visit to the Center for a walkabout on the foundation property Mr schuldinger must have gotten caught up in Mr botwinsky's enthusiasm and shared that vision of what could have been uh what could be with all of you for the center uh let me do that sentence once more I'm sorry I'm a lousy extemporaneous speaker so I have to I have to

056read Mr scholdinger must have gotten caught up in Mr botwinsky's enthusiasm and shared that vision of what could be with all of you for the center because here we are today you know if you talk to a former student at the Lansing school district who's in his 30s 40s or 50s and asked him or her what is the single most good memory you have of your time in school without a doubt if they had been given the opportunity they almost always say it was going to the eversaw center so on behalf of all the trustees I hope I don't cry of the ebersol foundation past impressed present in our hundreds of donors across the Lansing area and I mean hundreds we are proud to donate the property to the Lansing school district and the Vernon

057D ebersol Environmental Education and Conference Center we are Beyond delighted to present to you this deed to the foundation's 80 acres adjacent to the ebersol center whose assessed valuation approaches one million dollars in today's market and includes a small house a pole barn a dairy barn a small pond and various other ecological niches where Lansing students will learn more about their environment and their role in it with the addition of the ebersol foundation Farm property the ebersol center is now 238 acres big thank you [Laughter] thank you is I just said a a statement of appreciation but but honestly I mean I'm happy to read it if you like I don't want to I don't want to ruin the momentum sure I just want to begin by acknowledging the board for your continued support of

058the center and the current Administration thank you to all of you um on behalf I'm going to read mine so I don't uh keep talking as well so on behalf of the eversol center staff I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the ever facile Foundation in the over 400 donors for being champions of this incredible facility your Collective efforts and commitment to providing Lansing school district students with this unique learning space has even prior to this donation made a significant life-changing positive impact on thousands of students the donation being celebrated today will provide thousands of more students the opportunity to experience in a Hands-On Minds on way some of the most important and exciting work happening in our district today agrisciences biotechnologies green businesses land to hand food Management near Wilderness experiences these

059are all critically important curriculum topics that are influencing the field of Education today one of the few pandemic positives if there were any is that educators are again considering the best way to teach and utilize outdoor spaces to maximize learning for students especially for students that live in urban areas there are far too few opportunities to learn outdoors and positively experience nature while the existing eversol Center campus was a wonderful place for students to learn about the natural world it didn't lend itself to the agroscience animal husbandry food and Land Management opportunities like this Farm property we're anxious and excited to expand our programming offerings and again on behalf of our staff I'd just like to say thank you to all of you [Applause] does any anyone from the podium want to share what's happening

060on June 10th at the airport Center June 10th um we're planning a celebration that at this point will be rather small in um size to just to say thanks to people that have given the most in for the center or or to the foundation um I think the time for a really big celebration will be fall 2024 when we cut the ribbon at the Farm property and so this time around we're looking at um people that have been involved recently and with maybe big purses um I you know so this will be pretty much an invitation only and be assured that all of you will be receiving an invitation does that help that does thank you all right Ben is are you in agreement with that yeah that's what I thought I would just I

061would only add to that that um in addition to the land donation there have been so many really wonderful projects that all of you have been so supportive of so it's an opportunity to come out and see all of the wonderful Investments that you've made in the center over the last couple of years and see what's happening out there thank you we'd love for you to be there thank you and again uh the fall of 24. sure can we gather around for a photo please [Music] [Laughter] [Music] maybe switch forward just a touch and then we can make sure to get everybody in there okay it'd be great it'll be open real soon okay all right everyone smile all right wonderful thank you very much I'll send it to you I'll email it to you

062I don't know well a big thank you to the eversoft foundation I will have to tell you it blew my mind when we saw a recent video and I saw kids were still dissecting owl pellets so I'm glad to see that tradition has not left us I just like to share that there were times when the Deborah Center was some was the thing that might go away but if it wasn't for board members that still had uh um you know support for it because of because it was a good place but many times it was almost ready to go but I'm glad that I had a little bit part in that that we're still in it and that it has grown to where it stood now so that's a long history of of ups and

063downs but now it's kind of on the rise and in the right way thank you comments from any other board members all right thank you guys very much we really appreciate it looking forward to all the continued excitement out there um next on our agenda is a report from superintendent I'm going to turn it over to Mr sheldoner well thank you so much uh good evening everyone uh this is the first time that I think I've done my uh presentation at seven o'clock uh but that's a good thing because I think having and hearing two really different yet really wonderful presentations shows you the strength and the multiplicity of the programs that the Lansing school district has you know we're now coming up uh to the end of my second year here and you know

064what I've been just so amazed by is how diverse Lansing is but in so many different variations of that word not only are we talking about race and Creed and ethnicity and religion but we're talking about languages and we're talking about spaces and we're talking about programs you know I would posit that a district of our size about 10 000 kids in a city of about a hundred and fifteen hundred and twenty five thousand nobody around the country has this kind of diversity and if we know anything from planting uh the idea of diversity and crops about tilling about changing about having all sorts of different kinds of things in the ground makes the crops better and not to think of our wonderful Community as crops but you get the idea which is that all

065of us are these kind of wonderful fruits and vegetables of past generations of the hard work of the folks of Lansing putting it together and creating something really special sometimes it's been here for a while like eversol where generations of folks have been going to a place and loving it and some of it is brand new something that's two months old but each of our programs is about putting Children First about putting experience first putting ideas and support first and so I'm really proud of the Ebersole work I do hope that board members can come up and see the big changes we've made over the last year and to also point out that one of the things that we've been doing with Ebersole is continuing this wonderful outdoor education work with our kind of younger

066kids but also creating it in some respects as a safe haven a place to come and go be in the woods and be able to focus on your education we've talked a little bit about this briefly but over this year we've run a number of weekend programs where students have gone out to eversole to do credit recovery to do programming and education just so that they can focus for a Friday night a Saturday and a Sunday on educational uh work we also ran a spring break school at eversole for credit recovery from with almost 40 students went up for the week and got numerous credits of work that they needed to do and so I think as we recognize the needs of all of our community uh utilizing all of our resources to the best

067of its abilities Don Johnson is a perfect example A A venerable old building which I'm sure almost all of you have been in multiple times but it had space that wasn't necessarily being used to best of its ability it was these three huge basketball courts and rooms upstairs and places that we could better utilize so that we could have tutoring so that we can give food foods that we can have uh you know work being done and put in as you heard say really a kind of state-of-the-art weightlifting gym that's for everybody and we're really proud of being able to take what we have uh and making it really really terrific um I would certainly be remiss if it did not bring up it was talked about with uh transportation is an issue in this

068District boy is it ever um we know that uh certainly right now we have 2 874 kids with gas cards 743 kids with cata cards and 3174 kids on Dean buses with 154 on the wait list of course and figuring out ways to get kids to and from after school is made uh inordinately more difficult when we can't get kids to school um and so certainly if folks have ideas around creating after school transportation where it's either using cata or families carpooling or things like that it would be fantastic um you know maybe we'll all get bicycles or something and we can all scoot together but you know we know that transportation is a key and as I think I pointed out maybe last time is as we look at our attendance numbers our elementary

069school numbers are still uh they're much higher than they were last year which is wonderful but they're still below uh pre-covered numbers and one of the big reasons is still the kind of veritableness of the transportation system whereas amazingly enough the High School attendance rate is higher than recovered and a lot of the kind of I wouldn't say scientific studies we've been doing but a lot of the people we've been talking to and looking at is the fact that we're on cata with high school students it allows kids to come uh and have control over that time whereas if a child had missed the school bus they really weren't coming to school so you know there's good here but certainly you heard Transportation be mentioned over and over again with the development center the more

070that we can figure out alternative ways of transportation the better because we really can't be at the kind of whims and capriciousness of uh bus companies who really care deeply about the our schools and our school districts but we do need to think about what our capacity is to able to support our students um one big event uh that I'm sure we all know about in this uh week uh was a conversation and finally decision and unveiling of one very special mascot and so uh I want to actually and my comments today by turning it over to our wonderful comms team to share with the board I don't know if it's really a did you know but it is a video of uh something that I think hopefully really resonates with this community as we

071all know we've spent a lot of time a lot of meetings a lot of conversations recognizing and understanding uh the past that was Lansing and the future that is to become Lansing and I think an incredibly symbolic and Incredibly important moment was when this board this community moved forward with leaving a moniker that had inordinately negative connotations behind and unable to create something really special and really new for this community so um I think all of the board members see that on their chairs is a t-shirt with the new logo and I will ask Jenna if we can turn on the video to show them what is about to be for the great School of Sexton foreign [Music] it doesn't take your sense of family and community you will always be expected you're just going

072to be the one to support [Music] I'm so honored that she thought if they hear me and now you can see who's bringing light to it and we'll bring a change to you and that's what's important not that we know the truth let's walk in so that's all I'm asking and that's I think that's all the Native Americans we can bring the past into the future um with many things that we've established here um it's not going to negate anything from the past it's going to hopefully bring people together and move forward it's a transition for all of us but I think it's a necessary one and I think uh it's getting easy for the mascot that we had is races for the Native Americans so to us I feel like the mascot change is

073the right thing to do it was just a derogatory term that was used a long time ago and it's uh the year 2023 I think it's time to just you know get a new slate and just start fresh I think it brings a lot of positive light to the school I think it shines a lot of light on how big diversity and inclusion is and how much it means to us to actually be a part of something that they can say they went here when they changed the mascot and they can tell their kids and their grandkids I think it's a nice thing we wanted to make make it feel like it's home here so if changes needed change will be done [Music] thank you [Music] so [Music] I just I I just want to

074thank I hope we start selling those uh chains with the video on it uh I think that'd be pretty great but you know look these are the kinds of things that are hard they're difficult for communities but they can bring us together and really rally us um out of the mouths of babes you heard the students right it's time for a change and we did it and it's amazing and I want to thank this community uh I will relay a little story is that a colleague of mine somebody I've known for many many years in a very different part of this country uh tried to make a mascot change that was quite derogatory and he finally got it through and uh the next board meeting they fired him and it was fascinating because this was

075a guy who had been the superintendent for about 20 years in the district and that we understand how important it is for the community uh these kinds of things mascots logos ways that you've connected for your entire lives but what was so powerful about this move from our community was that with some hiccups and with some bumps in the road we were actually I think able to be even stronger because we were able to come together as a community create this as a community come up with ideas and move forward as a community and though the board is more than welcome to fire me for whatever not something I might have done negatively would I think the idea here is I don't feel worried and I don't think the community should ever feel worried because

076we do this together and that's really what is powerful is we make changes when we have to and we do it together and we take the slings and arrows together and we take the verification the the anger and frustration uh together because we know it's the right thing but we also know that we have our backs and so with that I just want to thank this board because unlike in other places where the superintendent uh has to lead the charge all I did was stand here and applaud uh you did this work uh you should be very very proud as should the entire community of Sexton a big shout out to Dan Bogan a big shout out to the students of Sexton and a big shout out to the entire city of Lansing to be

077able to move forward so with that I will end my uh my remarks and turn it back to you thank you I appreciate it as was stated in the video it was a change that was long overdue and so I'm glad that we are on this side of that change that transition next on the agenda we have our routine matters and old business so first we are going to have our committee reports starting with our Personnel report from vice president Moore right the dent alrighty including your board packet this evening is our Personnel report I would like to highlight that we um have hired 17 nine teachers positions um 11 new High new teacher positions excuse or not positions but we've hired 11 new teachers um and I also want to highlight that one of

078those um hires is for our new Lansing tech school it's our culinary arts um teacher so I want to highlight that I'm pretty excited about that um we've got five resignations um two non-teachers and three teachers the Personnel um committee met on April 21st and um we did discuss uh recruitment it looks like the recruitment team um went to a fair in Bowling Green and um next year I wanna well I would like to report that next year they're looking to have an entire team of three that will specifically focus on recruitment um I don't know if any of our other committee members would like to chime in that attended that meeting nope okay perfect we also talked a little bit about um incentives bringing teachers here what can we do to get um to

079get teachers here at our district so we had a a nice conversation about that um but Madam president that concludes my my report for this evening unless you have something oh thank you are there any questions for vice president Moore just as a reminder to the board that the Personnel report is on our consent agenda this evening moving on to our policy committee Dr Rodriguez thank you madam president um we have the policy committee met um Monday April 24 at 12 o'clock and present well board members Robin Moore and Rosalind Williams and also the deputy superintendent for a special population under two circuit executive secretaries one from here another one from the superintendent and also the superintendent was there sometimes then we were a very very busy meeting and you had in your pockets a

080lot of work to do foreign policies 17 different policies nine of them is about technology it's all about technology and you know more and more I'm learning things tomorrow that Mr Lopez about the AI and your great presentation that you guys of your conference and how much AI is going to be part in the future for good or for whatever and these policies are very very important then please um do your best and reading all of them change propose another policies or any change of these nine policies referred to to um technology the author of then referred to tobacco and the use of tobacco by people by Prof by employees or in the properties of the lancino school district and then finally there are other four other policies and other um especially about grants and

081how to apply an animals in the lancino school district then then we had a lot of good things that maybe and my I'm having this to so many years still there are some of these policies new then um you got until for today's for the first reading that we have until May 18 I think for the second reading and then you don't want to approach at this time or you still have until June to be approved but I think that this policies are important also we will continue meeting the policy committee to Norway from Neola to tell us what to do but what to be more proactive and the policies and especially uh we are asking us about how the policies and regulation are in alignment that we have all this together in the lancina

082school district I would like for them for the two of our members and anybody else to add anything to this um this the best presentation okay good any questions from board members besides making sure you read your book between now and May 18th right here it's a hard copy you also have an electronic copy there's a home checklist you can make sure you get it um yeah page 153 to 2012. Madam president yes Lopez had a question and I'm calling you sorry well there was a question in the comment um what what is it that um that you're looking and yeah I'm gonna read it but tell me briefly what is it that the AI or uh I a artificial AI what intelligence where are you at with that because um the other thing is

083that recently I came through my computer uh through email a a conference on training of teachers to in in that particular field and and how to start to understand how it can be used in the classrooms on and so forth but uh thank you very much and I think it we discussed or we talk about that particular and is there and the policies and how they can use it houses what what they cannot be used and how to one of the sample is how to report the grace of the students if they are able to do it or not to do it the how is there in the policies is I don't think we are is there something about the future because we don't know exactly where AI is going and especially in applying to

084education but there are protecting manners of protecting the policies for the student for the parents for the teachers from everybody that we don't use um technology and the way we don't supposed to use [Music] sure Mr Children just a comment on all of these as was mentioned it's a lot um if you have any questions about any of these especially ones that have to do with medical like uh opioid or the tobacco or any of those that please feel free to reach out to the office uh we're here to support you a lot of this is now kind of new language that is being taken by most school districts in Michigan so a lot of this isn't kind of shocking I guess but it's a lot so certainly if there's anything in here that you

085have questions about feel free to of course reach out to the policy committee but also feel free to reach out to uh if it's the medical stuff to Sue or other stuff to uh Sergio and his team so thank you and let me yes to thank the superintendent Deputy superintendent for the support is given to the board and and the communication do we have together in order to put Neola to be coming because really they are taking care of the policies of the whole state then we are one of the service from them thank you madam president Miss Williams I I will say being a member on this it was a learning experience however if you look at your board book there is a folder that shows the comparison side by side um one of

086the things that he did share with us as we were going through is that we are still far ahead of most people um with the language that we've chosen um some of the things that we're doing some of the legislation is just coming down but we've already implemented so kudos to everybody on the board Sergio was really you know very affluential in this meeting helping us understand a lot of things so we have a good team in place that's working to do this so kudos to everybody that's been working hard to do this and also things that we had they had different kind of written and the people eliminate there are crossed that you that helps you in understanding what is happening what is eliminated thank you any other uh Crystal Lopez yeah you know

087say um look at this um artificial um oh geez whatever just AI is I fear that at some point point in time the legislature is going to get involved in this and come up with with legislation that doesn't make sense and and that's they always get they always do that whatever thing we're talking about in education they come up with rules without regard to what's uh best practice or whatever it's just what they feel that they should be so I I just say be aware of that make sure that the legislation comes up on on this subject that we're very um you know attentive to it because that's what we're going to need to talk with our legislators to help us navigate this through in legislation that may come up I I just fear that

088but anyway it was something that came to mind thank you okay moving on that brings us to our isoa update Dr Rodriguez see them thank you very very much uh the meeting of the isao was yesterday at eight o'clock in the morning I attended a person and that was the last meeting we are going to have in this school year I sent to you this afternoon the minutes the or this meeting I'm going to go over about one or two things and then um one of the more important the first thing we do was the superintendent Round Table update and maybe we are going to need the superintendent prop and my I'm going to talk about the talent together it's a program you have as a new computer a collaboration of 48 isd's a nice

089College universities who have come together to address the teacher Charters issue now I'm going to say what I think there's represent any employee anybody who is employed in the Lansing school district there is no a teacher or any volunteer they serving in Lansing school district you want to be a teacher they will can apply for that program and they will receive the certification not to be a teacher in the next few years that will give them also credit for what the service that they already have in the lunch and the schools and also they can continue their work at the same time that they are getting credits or whatever you want to call now different way to be certified to be teacher in the future um I think that the they have contribute to many

090of Southwest as employees they are not teaching but for many years they wanted to be teachers but economically they cannot do it they can start the job that they are having and go to the to together a university and that way they can keep working and still get the certification we'll take one two three four years but they will be available for them to the applications are already open and they have a talent together website the people can apply and um Iron choose the Lansing school district can have some fear of the people they want to be teachers and and use this Talent Italian um program Talent together to become teachers in the future that is a way to because you have to be realistic we need teachers um for one reason another we are

091not having that then they try to do something about this um also with the presentation of the budget or the iisd then you I think we have it today here and it's very similar to the one or last year maybe less still thousand dollars less this year but the whole thing is the same almost presentation um finally we talk about what every district is doing and everybody want to present the best teammates of the district and definitely I will be the best cheerleader for you all the time then I said clearly that we launching Regional teacher of the year video was shown to hear I emphasize that I emphasize the every robotic Steam and how much they were winning all over and third I gave them the idea that the future which you had meetings

092with the legislators no one every two years but one every year we only talk when they are going to the election but I think we more important is when they are going to pass the budget to support our kids to see what happened but more important is the this District complimenting what the superintendent was so we saw today here has so many programs so many things going on it is incredible no other District around us has what this District have then then we should be very proud and also being nine members and this board it's a kind of an addiction because all of you are involved in the community and giving you an example Monday I attending the mayor Ramadan celebration who organized one board member and you go to Lansing Community College I go

093to Christopher Fiesta Bowl of the lancino school district the congratulations to all of you and um I heard they continue working with the other districts around but you know we are unique too and we had unique students with different needs sometimes then we had to keep what we are and improve it thank you mother president candidates for board members just to highlight that Dr Rodriguez did send the minutes from the most recent isoa meeting to your email boxes this evening or this afternoon um any questions from board members all right Cena thank you always for being our champion and for going to that meeting at the crack of dawn um next up on our agenda is our consent agenda this evening we have the approval of the April 20th regular meeting minutes as well as

094the receipt and approval of the Personnel report may I have a motion Madam president Dr Kavanaugh I move that the Board of Education approved the consent agenda as presented thank you it's been moved by Dr Kavanaugh supported by Mr Lopez may all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye opposed same sign great motion passes 9-0 that moves us on to uh we don't have any action item really we do because our new business has actions so the first thing before us this evening is um board policy 83 110 which is also included in your packets um means that an appeal to a four-year request um comes from the board for consideration so in your packet this evening we you have a letter in response to a foia request and an appeal from the

095Mackinac Center I asked the superintendent to pack this up but I think I can queue it up you jump in if I okay so the Mackinac Center uh originally submitted to the foia office of the district a very vague foyer request um the request was to the the requester asked for the district to furnish any records indicating the district's total spending on diversity equity and inclusion this includes without limitations records relating to Personnel salaries classroom curriculum a bunch of different things we denied that for your request due to it being too vague there was no time found so that could go back to the beginning of the district how much money have we ever spent on Dei it's not possible also foia does not require us to generate documents that we do not already have

096in existence for the purpose of satisfying a request so originally the um District denied the four-year request the requester then sent an appeal and we are going the recommendation after consideration and consultation with District councils or lawyers the recommendation is that we deny in part and fulfill in part the foia request so that is what is before you this evening in order for that action to be returned back to the requester or according to our policy the board has to has to approve that um and so what we are willing to provide is outlined in your document as well as the request for fees which is outlined in our policy that we may assess fees for the work that is I'm surprised the fees weren't higher but you guys are way too generous but um

097that's what we have before us this evening and it's according to our board policy that was awesome perfect all right any uh questions comments thoughts about that before we ask for a motion and I want to make sure that I clarify that this is not the district's attempt to not answer the question it's the district's attempt to answer the question with the best information about the work that we're doing so that the context around um our deep investment in this work is portrayed as correctly as we can possibly have it portrayed when we don't control what comes out of it so I might get in trouble for that all right anyway um may I have a motion uh Dr Rodriguez okay it's moved by Dr Rodriguez supported by Mr Lopez any other questions or comments

098all right all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed same sign motion passes 9-0 that brings us to discussion and approval of purchase for special education items we have are we going to get a presentation oh wonderful uh Mr Keck I'm going to ask you to please join us at the podium or at the table to discuss um the Williams reading system Wilson Reading system good evening uh tonight we're here to uh request or seek approval of two purchase items for the special ed Department uh to support our children with IEPs and the staff that serves them unfortunately Miss prihora was not able to be here tonight our great super um a great special education director but with us we have a um Kerry Otis who is our new our newest assistant director

099in the department she is and was it was and he's a great teacher but this year she has become an assistant director and we wanted to give her an opportunity to make a presentation and the two purchase items that were seeking approval so miss Otis it's all yours hello um so the first thing we're asking for is a district license for a online program called goal book Gold book helps ensure a student's IEP program is aligned to standards and differentiated according to their unique needs it uses Universal Design for Learning foundations to determine a student's present level and then it takes that present level information connects it to State Standards specific to our state helps the team develop an IEP goal from that and then gives research-based instructional strategies to help teach that it's research

100and evidence-based and it's endorsed by the Council of Administrators of special education on the second item on there is the Wilson Reading system which is a curriculum for grades second through 12th grade it's a tier three curriculum so it's for our most intensive students it supports College and Career Readiness by providing students who have a language-based learning disability or those who are not making sufficient sufficient progress in Tier 1 tier 2 instruction it comes with a teacher kit like a you know a teacher guide book it comes with a consumable student workbook that the student Works through with lessons with the teacher it comes with letter sound manipulatives like flashcards with phonemes and stuff on it and then a textbook that you don't purchase every year but that they support the lessons they're sequential they

101touch on word study spelling writing fluency and comprehension um technically it's like grades two through twelve but the students work through it and if they did it in second grade and not in third grade they wouldn't automatically like jump to level four in fourth grade so it's really based on where the students are regardless of their grade it's research based and evidence-based again and it's recommended by the international dyslexia Association which is a pretty big deal because we need help for our students so with that we are here to seek approval of this to purchase items absolutely Mr sheldoner so I just wanted to say two things one is to thanks these wonderful people uh at the microphone uh carry and of course you all know Sergio have done some really terrific work with our

102special ed but I want to kind of highlight a second thing is you might be thinking huh we don't really get presentations like this why is this happening and so why is that typically I'm happy to turn the mic over to Jess but typically a lot of the stuff that we buy for curriculum is done through grants and because it's grant money it's done through a different way of agreeing and purchasing because this is going to be used out of General funds it it goes above the cap of when we need your blessings now I have no problem of course thinking that you should be able to see things or or whatever at any dollar figure but the board rules basically say if it's kind of expensive enough it's going to come to the board

103except if it's gone through grants and the reason for that is the grants have a whole other like just moodles of paperwork that has to be approved and things like that so it's kind of our bylaws say well if the feds in the state and the local kind of agree it's okay so this is going through General that's why it's here um as the coveted money wears off you'll probably see more of these kinds of presentations uh less so uh over the next year or so as we spend down after money so I just wanted to highlight why we're having this conversation which has been rare uh honestly because we've been using grant money for so much of the purchasing thank you thank you Mr Lopez and the Mr Richardson yeah well I think you

104answered part of my question number one is uh what's the cost of this items what does it cost yeah the the Wilson Reading system is a hundred and ninety eight thousand dollars and the goal book is a 65 000 per year subscription Okay so and then my next question was in the source of funds to purchase this items and so you're saying that it's general fund but it's s or money no no it's a grant no no I'm saying it's not a grant and it's not Esser that's why they're here Vanessa or Grant they wouldn't be uh in front of the board so it's G it's General uh General so it's general fund from what allocation in particular special ed the budget the special ed Department do we get any money from intermediate for special

105ed would discover some of it or or none of it I mean I'm happy to turn it over to all of these wonderful people in Sergio but yeah you know we certainly get a set amount of money uh from the ISD that's a kind of a trickle through um so we would be again the allocation is coming out of uh special ed and or uh you know instruction but you know if there's specifics we can certainly go into it but yeah we get money from the ISD and then we put it into our special ed program and this would be one of the zillions of things that we would be purchasing okay thank you madam president good to meet you um I'm actually so Global's been around for a while right I'm I think it

106really started like right before covid um and then from what I saw on their website they are really like advertising after covet it's online um coming back how can we assess present level and make a call on that and so I know they have District pricing and then per School pricing did we evaluate do we need the pervasiveness of this in the entire District um the whole District which is about 250 special education staff because it's not just teachers occupational therapists adaptive physical physical education Social Work tons of you know hands are in special ed so every person would need to have access to it or could have yeah since the goal book is on an annual subscription basis is there a plan in place if we approve this now and then later we no

107longer have funds for it and would need to transition off of that system I know we did a three-year I don't want to say commitment but um a three-year like pricing model um I don't have the numbers for whether it is going up but we have like you know set prices for the next three years so we're hoping that there would be a commitment for at least three years to train our people stick with it and make good changes what what system do we use now to write the IEPs and that's changing soon right can you talk about that a little bit so right now we use Synergy as um you know our sis side but also our SC side um and goals are written by staff based on recommendations so if I have a

108new student I'm going through my teacher toolbox and finding what um assessments I have to figure out where they're at and then basing a goal off that and frequently our goals are not specific enough goals have to be achievable measurable specific relevant and time-bound all to be compliant in the IEP process so sometimes you look at IEPs and it says student will read 80 percent it's like read what you know what grade level so goal book really helps us meet our compliance Factor as well and then it has built-in progress monitoring too where you can pull up a specific kid and like log their progress and pull up the tool that you'll use to progress monitor them so it's kind of like a One-Stop shop to help us be compliant as well so you'd use

109Synergy and goal book together yeah so the plan for next year yep we would still use energy um but gold book helps us write the goal um it takes all the info it finds present level and then you can like copy and paste the goal into Synergy to make it and so is this true am I making this up are we not going to be using Synergy for IEPs in the future I I might be getting converters so there is some pilot work that's being done throughout the state around some new platform uh that was created through the work of the Kent ISD it is quite possible that there's going to be a movement afoot to adopt and change but right now it's in a pilot phase and because our student management software the Synergy

110has a special ed component to it that has a lot of synergy to it uh the idea here is to be able to do kind of our job better with what we have we're going to be seeing how the pilot goes and we're in conversation with the ISD RISD as well as this Consortium of ISD is about what it might take for us to move there but at this point that we're not there we have our current system but we are evaluating and in constant I mean every month I go to the ISD and we talk about this and see how it's going so thank you um a couple of questions um because where's the training or the where's the piece that involves a parent um because right now I'm not hearing that and I

111think that's a lot of what's happening with a lot of the IEPs they're taking the parent piece out of it or the parents because when I got my son's IP I was like No we're going to do this together so I'm I'm actually one of those people that says no because it's becoming too digital and taking the personalization purse piece out of it because each child is different yes there are certain goals that need to be met but each child knowing that child knowing that child's strengths and abilities goal book I don't think or any of the programs can actually put that in a child's IEP that's where you need that training piece with the parent as well as everybody involved in that IEP so where's that component so go book um you highlight strengths

112and weaknesses that a child has and you could do that as a team at an IEP meeting with a parent and then it gives you a goal stand Bay School which is part of the IEP right so the IEP is a whole team meeting that everybody has to say in um but the goal book is just for goals really of the IEP and then you know there's a bunch of other elements of the IEP that would be decided at the team meeting does that make sense yeah it makes sense but again it's not answering the question that I need because as again sitting and having to fight for an IEP and then getting one it's still not being done the way that it should be from where I sit as a parent because when I

113get to the meeting it's already done and I'm like no no so again how are we going to start from the beginning because again I don't like Synergy doing it I I'm a Hands-On parent that says let's note he's good here he's not good here how are we going to make both of those things work to make that particular goal so again we how how is that going to work I would suggest like sitting down with the whole team with the parent and highlighting strengths and weaknesses it's part of the Plath the present level of academic achievement and functional performance that highlights where a student is in reading math writing social emotional occupational like all the different areas um and then taking all of that information to build a goal that's compliant with the state

114that we can progress monitor to because we don't just want to throw a goal out there and then not you know monitor it you want to offer that service and then provide evidence of what they're doing Miss Williams if it if it helps it's my understanding that gold book is the platform right so that's the platform that helps the teachers organize the conversation it should not subplan or supersede that one-on-one engagement the IEP is that is actually a conference and so I'm wondering if there's questions about the structure of the IEP conference I want to know where in this goal book is there going to be training whether parent can go in as well and help them develop so while okay I think oh go ahead I think if I understand your question correctly is

115like how if the parent going to be able to participate in the specificity of the goals but that can only happen if from what I'm hearing from you if the parent has a better understanding of what these goals are so you're asking what kind of training would the parents get to make sure that together they can come up with the same goals and I think that's a very good question that you ask and I think that's part of the process of the IEP that we need to discuss in the future to make sure that this specific component is connected with the relationship of the parent that plays such a big role in the IEPs okay so let me build on it a little bit yes it's what you're saying but I'm saying if you're going

116to be using goal book is there say the goals are met with the i the team the parent and everybody but somewhere during that the parent says okay I saw this goal and it wasn't that is that parent going to have access to Gold book to help build that IEP and is there going to be a training piece for that parent to use gold book along with you is what I'm asking we take it so goal book is really just the goal part so if I were at an IEP and you don't like the writing goal that's in there we can adjust it like as part of the IEP meeting we could log into goal book like together and look and see if there's like another writing goal that you like or just talking about

117your students like strengths and weaknesses we could develop a writing goal together we're not like mandating that people use this or you know that parents like follow what's in goal book um it's just a resource for staff because we don't really have a toolbox for teachers um yeah but there's not like a parent login function correct yeah yeah right this is strictly for staff to access support system yeah we swim does that satisfy your question okay Mr Richardson thank you my Wi-Fi is bad in here so this may be left field this could be left field so goal book is more known um from a quarter loaded page it looks like uh Wilson Reading systems owned by understood for all doesn't feel as well known what's the first question is what's the Genesis of how

118this landed in our lap like how do we find the software and then this looks like it's dyslexia specific can you talk to the numbers in dyslexia in our in our district yeah so two parts two-part question there right so there's this thing called maintenance of effort that we do with the state um and it shows the amount of money we're spending on special ed funds and how that compares to year to year um and there was a little bit of a gap this year so we were like oh we should build our teacher toolbox right what can we do to help teachers um so that's where goal book came from um our director Mr Hoda heard about it during covid um at some conferences that she goes to and we thought could really help

119our teachers second question well so Wilson Reading system also came out of that we don't have a special ed curriculum we have you know Journeys and go math which offer some tier three interventions but there's nothing that we use like specifically in our special ed classrooms that other classrooms don't have access to um so there's a what works Clearinghouse it has thousands of interventions all evidence-based research backed and we looked through them and we bought a couple others as well they just didn't meet that threshold to be approved by you so this was one that we um that I chose chose I guess but it covers so many grade levels that I thought it would be appropriate um it's it is marketed as like disability specific or sorry dyslexia specific but when you get in

120there it says any students like not making progress um traditionally even up to adults it says and there's a third criteria that I don't remember but it's not just for students with dyslexia anybody who's struggling and not making progress which likely means they have an IEP you know so it'll benefit a lot of our students do we know our dyslexia number roughly do not dyslexia is not a category of disability so it's harder to track thank you okay so before us this evening is the recommendation that the board approved the purchase of the items presented for special education me Dr Rodriguez thank you president I recommend that the board education improve the purchase of items for special education um since we have not since so we have a motion on the floor that has not

121been supported Dr Rodriguez would you like to amend your motion yes I can add okay thank you very much I draft so if I we can admit it that the Board of Education approved the purchase of Wilson Reading systems Richardson you support okay just a moment can I get a support for Wilson Reading systems the purchase of social media systems okay now we have a motion on the floor that the Board of Education approved the purchase of Wilson Reading systems now I open the floor for questions or comments okay all those in favor of that purchase please signify by saying aye aye opposed same sign motion passes seven to two and may I have a motion to approve the purchase of gold book it's been moved by Dr body supported by miss lilji that the

122Board of Education approve the purchase for gold book as presented any questions or comments all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed same sign motion passes eight to one next on the agenda this evening is thank you I'm sorry thank you trained business um next on the agenda this evening is the approval of that Ingham ISD budget I'm going to apologize in advance to our my colleagues typically we ask that members of the iscb present or present the budget presentation to us in lieu of that we have the budget presentation in our board book this evening um spoiler alert there's not much different than what we typically have over years over years and I don't think any of us are really happy about the split we get out of the ISD so that's

123no secret we're required to um were required there the ISD is required to secure approval of their budget from all of their partnering districts by June 1st so certainly it is within the capacity of this board to postpone the vote on this if we would like to have further information or a vote or we are we are happy to take a motion up on the floor today whichever is the will of the board don't all rush to your mics I mean we don't have much control over it it just is what it is right right so I why don't I just move to pass it then thank you opposing it actually doesn't do anything so um uh it's been moved by Dr body and supported by Miss Moore that the Board of Education um Miss

124Lil G I know are you are you leaving to but do you need to abstain okay go for it go for it go for it um sorry that might have been really awkward but I know that Miss lilji has a conflict and so I didn't know if I needed to postpone the vote if she's abstaining anyway we have to worry about it so um thank you so we have a motion by Dr body support by Miss Moore the Board of Education um express its support for the ISD budget as presented are there any other questions or comments see none all those in favor please signify by saying I I okay opposed same sign motion passes eight zero one with one abstention um from a slow G due to a conflict next up this evening we

125have the first reading of our 2012 pages of policy as presented by Dr Rodriguez earlier today I just wanted to put a reminder to our colleagues that reading adapting reviewing our policies thoroughly is one of our three jobs so I just want to strongly encourage you guys to be thoughtful as you review these policies as Miss Williams mentioned if it helps when you look online um because it's color coded and you can see this side by side it's a little bit easier to see the strikethroughs um or you know whatever you guys need to assist with reviewing those policies before the 18th please let us know um so the way that our board policy uh dictates as we typically do two readings of our policy before adoption and so before this evening is the consideration

126to have the enclosed policies considered um considered for first reading may have a motion Madam president Mr Lopez I move that the Board of Education consider the attached policies for first reading second reported by Miss Williams are there any other questions or comments from board members this evening all right see not I know it's been a marathon meeting guys um all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye opposed same sign great motion passes nine zero next on the agenda this evening um the revised school code requires that the Board of Education adopt and Implement a an evaluation of its superintendent annually our board policy that outlines our process is policy one two four zero again that's 1240 that's our board policy all board members should be in a receipt of an email from

127vice president Moore that outlines our district policy our our process so we adopt the policy and then implementing the policy which is required by School code is our our process has been that we adapt the timeline which moves forward our implementation of the completion of the evaluation so what we have in our presented timeline is that at today's meeting we will adopt the timeline and Tool as presented you guys have a um colleagues have a copy of the tool and your board book as well as as well as a copy electronically if you use the electronic document it will calculate your points for you so that's always a good tip on May 18th at 4 pm we are meeting here in the boardroom with Dr Green to complete the superintendent self-evaluation you do not have

128to have your tool completed at that time but I strongly advise that you bring it with you with any notes that you're able to take notes and ask questions of the superintendent that's also a great time for you guys to have done a first draft of your evaluation because if there's any evidence that you need to assist you with your scoring that May 18th meeting would be an excellent time to request any documentation from the superintendent following that our June 1st meeting we will be convening again at 4 pm to complete the r board consensus evaluation which will be facilitated by Dr Green and if all goes well the plan is to adopt the final evaluation and present it on June 8th are there any questions or comments from our board nope I'm sorry may

129I have a motion to adopt um the Board of Education evaluation tool and timeline as presented Madam president Miss Moore I moved as a board of education adopt the evaluation [Music] it's been moved by Miss Moore supported by Miss Lil G any questions or comments now that we have the motion on the floor all right all those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed same sign wonderful motion passes 9-0 that brings us back that brings us back to you Dr Rodriguez for report from secretary and announcement thank you very much there are many many um activities they are coming and I don't have all of them here but um our secretaries are doing so great yet and sending all information that please for instantaneous here the May 10 I think is going to be

130the celebration of 3.5 uh banquet for the students in the Lansing school district then that is one and I think the May 9th we also got to celebrate the Latino graduation on graduate celebration for for their accomplishments in the launching School District the national teacher appreciation week and then and I think the group and then they also sent uh invitation about this next week days they are going to be honoring and thank no to many people many teachers for five years 10 years 25 years I attending one of them last week and really it's a great way to celebrate and to be with them and what I thank them for what they are doing may may is the mental health awareness month and I think that more and more we do about that um is

131is the best we can do May 4th is the Star Wars Day major for the day with you I don't know how to stop telling what I mean but they celebrate May 6 is National Fitness day get out and go for a walk that is a good for everybody the May 12th no school district professional development day nesbourne meeting um I think is going to be May 11. I think they will receive an email from the superintendent the pre-read there and there is information there I'm finally regular board meeting will be May 18th but before meeting at four o'clock we will have this if superintendent self-evaluation that we have the information today um I did this I couldn't as a president no thank you Dr Rodriguez and I just want to highlight for our board

132colleagues that May 11th our meeting will be held at Pleasant pet no Pleasant View Pleasant View I have fumbled it no Pleasant View because Dr Hartley will be his final um official round with us so we're going to do some um review and cheer at the Learning Hub so that is where our next board meeting will be um that brings us to public comment on non-agenda items let's have some coming up uh sure Dr Rodriguez thank you um Mr Lopez and remind me that that tomorrow is May 5th Let There Be celebration and Cinco de Mayo the name you know anything that we can celebrate diversity and cultures and it's a learning and it's good for our community thank you Mr Lopez for reminding me I've done no more uh next this evening I would

133like to invite Ricardo riddle to the podium to address the board um the board allows three minutes for public comment and does not typically respond and you are able to start whenever you are ready right here at the podium please please hi thank you for having me uh require a sunshine riddle um I am a mother of a third grade student at brittle Elementary his name is Brian riddle Daniels I work in the district contracted to do resource Justice at Sexton high school and it's not only the work that I do but it's also part of my lifestyle and how I'd like to lead um with Progressive action um and I think that that's a very important piece what I want to talk about um so essentially this is my son's first year at Riddle

134Elementary School and first week of the God's pervasive issues happening at the school that um yes [Music] no problem thank you can you hear me better now okay awesome I was saying that we've had some pervasive issues that have not been addressed in a way that I think um it's just not in his best interest or any student's best interest so I'll just give you a brief timeline of the things that have occurred so incident one was week of August 28 2022 this is the first week of school my son was pulled into the bathroom stall the student tried to put his head in the toilet put his head under the sink instead and turned the water on his head and threatened him with poop pee and diarrhea this was brought to the attention of

135the principal who informed me that the corrective action was a conversation with that student incident number two was week of September 5th 2022 when my son was pushed out of line and his head was banged into a concrete wall twice by this said student and I was informed that the corrective action taken was a conversation with the student about his inappropriate behavior incident number three was ongoing harassment from September to November where the student tried to incite a fight with my son asking him to hit him and my son refused and he was bullied to hit back back and he also continually demanded that my son bring him snacks the recourse what from his teacher was that he addressed it with a student via conversation and was monitoring the behavior November 2nd of 2022 this

136was incident four at recess the student grabbed my son from behind carried him 20 yards and according to the principal Wing slammed him on the ground resulting in a broken collarbone he was out of school at that point for roughly a month and I my request was beyond a restorative approach because it just seems to be escalating that the student be removed from his class ultimately I was not able to get a meeting with the principal until March 10th this was after he returned to school and on January 30th my son tried to take his life in the cafeteria because he was still being bothered by the student I was told that the student can't be removed because he was already removed from another classroom for harming another student and the answers have just not

137been sufficient I haven't been able to get a meeting um to rectify the situation and my son deserves to be back in school as it's 14 weeks now thank you thank you next on the agenda is comment from board members oh can I go first okay thank you um it is teacher appreciation week day month all right I'll save it for next week no fun okay all right so I just want to make sure that we are um they're all of the district Personnel that help this District run are very important um but I don't think that there's anyone up here that couldn't um stake an important event in their life around something that they have with the teacher so I just wanted to say thanks to all of our teaching staff um next any

138other comments from board members Mr Richardson tough transition um I wanted to talk about something that hit me during this meeting on something that Ben botwinsky said about what could be and I think um you know as a district as as old as this one with varying different levels of accomplishment and Leadership we've swung a bunch of times and hit we swung a bunch of times in missed but clearly uh ebersol is been saved and been a hit um and I think much of what Sue and Jordan are working on is also one of these things where we looked at what could be and we've produced a hit so I just wanted to be really mindful of all of us that there'll be other things that emerge where we have opportunities to draw kids to

139education that are not inside classrooms and it's it's important that we don't become complacent on that as well because those two things like the ebersol thing you're talking Legacy that's a giant achievement for the district and as kids that are digital native emerge in other environments and have other interests I think it's important for us to be mindful of the draw of that kind of activity to a kid's heart for Education luckily the uh previous leaders have had foresight to understand that this is something to save the trustee Lopez's comments it's something we have to preserve and I think as emerging opportunities come out it's important that we are near them and stay sticky to them and advocate for them what could be thank you any other comments from board members may have a motion

140to adjourn remember Marissa Lopez supported by Miss Moore that the Board of Education adjourned all those in favor please signify by saying aye um post same sign at 807 we are adjourned