MAS Board of Education Live Stream

001of the United the States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you for attending this evening all board members are present except for Miss Miss haika she is excused this evening um I have uh I will appoint Miss Sarah Murray to be our temporary secretary for the meeting this evening uh the first order of business is I need a motion to enter into closed session pursuant to section 81b of the Michigan open meetings act and upon request of the student's parent Guardian for the purpose of conducting a hearing to consider the reinstatement of a student whose identity is known to the board as student 2022-2023-1 move by Rosen liacher support by pharaoh it's been moved and supported to enter into

002closed session pursuant to section 81b of the Michigan open meetings act and a pound request of the students parent Guardian for the purpose of conducting a hearing to consider the reinstatement of a student whose identity is known to the board of student 2022-2023-1 is there any discussion hearing none it's been moved and supported to enter into closed session pursuant to section 81b of the Michigan open meetings Act ms Murray yes they're Freight yes absent Murray yes Rose and leacher yes motion carries 5-0 all right we're going to go into closed session at 5 32 when we return we'll have a decision on the student reinstatement and then we will take a recess until 7 PM for regular business so you know you're welcome to stick around until we return to close if we return to

003open session foreign [Music] [Applause] yeah we'll do this and then all right we've returned from closed session at 6 14. need a motion to conditionally reinstate student 2022-2023-1 in accordance with the attached resolution moved by pharaoh support by Freight so moving supported to conditionally reinstate student 2022-2023-1 in accordance with the attached resolution any discussion so in Moon is supported to conditionally reinstate student 2022-2023-1 in accordance with the attached resolution Miss Marie yes great yes Beret yes Rosen liecher yes Cislo yes motion carries five zero next I need a motion to recess this meeting until 7 pm move by Rosen it's been moved by Rose and leacher supported by pharaoh to recess until 7 PM any discussion it's been moved and supported to recessed until 7 PM Miss Marie great yeah yeah yes Vera yes motion

004carries 5-0 all right we are 6 15 and we'll be back at seven o'clock foreign thank you foreign [Music] okay I think it'll be helpful for somebody to be with them to hold maybe somebody hold the ball and let him yeah you guys can have a seat because we got we got we have business to do before we get started so you get I would just sit right I would just sit right right next to the lecture nip foreign we'll reconvene from Recess just so everybody's aware all board members are in attendance uh Miss haika has joined us for the open meeting um just a few things with the agenda um potentially obviously with uh with 11 candidates and five questions it's probably going to be a long interview process and I've been in contact

005with Miss Bennett in regards to the wasd pack update so we will probably potentially be postponing that unless we get done by 8 15 or 8 30 just so folks are aware in regards to that on the agenda um with that I don't think I have anything else at this time um we will start with public comment so a reminder this meeting is a meeting of the Board of Education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered a public meeting there are two times for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda when addressing the aboard you'll be asked to state your name the board determines the amount of time granted to individuals or groups to speak each person shall be allowed to speak

006for up to three minutes board members May question speakers but are not obligated to answer questions or make statements or commitments in response to issues raised by the public in general such items will be referred to the superintendent for advisement investigation study and or recommendation or designated as future agenda items for board consideration are there any students who'd like to address the board public members who'd like to address the board Mr Cislo before you start my time I realized that the meeting already started at 5 30 but I think because it's a public meeting we should open it by uh saying the Pledge of Allegiance we did it at 5 30. I understand that but now this meeting is going again so I just request that we all stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance

007we have you know okay let's rise and say the Pledge of Allegiance thank you I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you for doing for doing um so I've I've asked many times I'm really struggling with a lot of issues going on in the district one in particular is dialogue I feel like dialogue is not being very well valued by the board I've asked many different times about some status updates I've asked for parent advisory committees to be formed you know in particular for safety school safety that is um and I'm just not seeing much and you know I I I think that something needs to be done um another

008issue that I'm struggling with is the decline in enrollment my son is a junior this year and when he started as a freshman that was the first year that senior Wing had been done away with now as some of you may be aware of not everybody but the the high school is now chosen to go from a Southern Southern period Day to a six period day which even limits the education opportunities available to my son and nobody's been able to give any sort of case driven data to support this um but I feel and you can correct me if I'm wrong I have a feeling that it's a direct result of the decline in enrollment and the decline in enrollment should not have a direct effect on our students and our teachers these Cuts should

009not be on our backs and you guys should be doing what you pledge to do and that's provide the best education for our students and I'm requesting that you guys start doing that I know that Brian continues to get raises every year when our task scores are not where they should be they're not above pre-covered levels and you know our enrollment is declining those are the two driving forces that point to the success of a school district and I think it's time to start taking some cuts at the top so that those underneath can can feel that they're you know being valued and that the efforts are putting put towards putting them first thank you thank you are there others good evening Andrea Benning and I just wanted to thank the board for encouraging the

010district to celebrate World Down syndrome day that was yesterday I appreciate your efforts towards helping us advocate for our students with Down Syndrome I also wanted to thank the staff and the students the local businesses and the city council for joining in by wearing their unique silly and fun socks in support of our community members with Down Syndrome I saw many posts shared on social media of our community of our community rocking their socks guests were welcome to classrooms to share information and read stories about people living with Down syndrome and Milan city council invited my son and some of his peers to join their meeting last night they were able to meet the mayor and the council members join them in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and they took pictures showing them in their

011socks thank you to everyone who participated in yesterday's celebration and it was a great opportunity to show that while people who have Down Syndrome have a little something extra and may have a unique genetic makeup they also have a lot in common with their typical peers and share many of the same interests like everyone everywhere people with Down Syndrome desire to be loved accepted and supported and Milan did a great job of showcasing their support thank you thank you Miss Benning [Applause] so I checked out the January 12th minutes and one of the few lines I found that I actually thought were accurate was when haika's board comment said she encouraged the community to come together to solve issues facing the district and I agree imagine that so here's my suggestion for the community to

012come together this board has to recognize that you are not currently representing a large portion of this community the majority of you are very left-leaning and many in this District are not including me shocker I know most of our disagreements are related to the fact that for many of you your political views have a huge influence on your decisions as board members and those views are proving to be destructive to students as well as the district as a whole however with your almost 100 Conformity of left-leaning board members there's very little pushback or balance to your decisions on the direction of the district or our superintendent I do not believe any political view should have an almost 100 majority on this board not even those I might agree with I know what happens when people

013don't have checks and balances power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and there are plenty of examples of that on our district YouTube channel contrary to what you might try to claim the school district is more Republican based on the previous presidential election which means having a board a predominantly Democrat members especially ones who perform their duties with their own political agenda in mind is not even close to an accurate representation of this community I know someone will try to twist this in their board comments and say not true they voted Us in except for that's not the case School bird races are nonpartisan so a lot of Voters didn't know your personal politics here's the truth if straight party votes had included School Board candidates most of you wouldn't be sitting up there today

014not to mention until recently most of us didn't think personal politics really mattered for school board candidates but I assure you we won't be making that mistake again most of the tension can be attributed to a lack of balance on this board and the resulting abuse of power that ensues you have the majority here you are not in a vulnerable position even appointing one conservative leaning candidate would not change the fact that you will still have a large majority on this board to allow your radical left agenda to continue to wreak havoc on our district therefore there are a lot of good reasons for you to choose a candidate tonight that might not be totally in line with your beliefs what about the goal of inclusion and diversity why wouldn't you choose to include other

015perspectives and have more diversity of thought this is the moment for you to show your leadership and commitment prove it by placing your personal politics aside this is your moment to take a huge step forward and follow Michelle's advice to come together this is when you show us where you really stand on these issues are you determined to be stubborn and maintain your left majority or do you have the wisdom to see this for what it is a turning point for us to find common ground and move forward in a productive way for parents for teachers for the community but most importantly for the students come on you have to see that this is not going well for you I meet people every day who are waking up to all these issues that are taking

016place in our schools and you know I'm not going anywhere so you can be assured that if you add another liberal majority tonight and continue down this path to create division in the community while destroying our school district in the process I will make sure the community is aware of your actions and know that is not inciting violence it's called holding you accountable thank you for your comment are there others all right thank you for those comments this evening um next up routine matters for approval I need a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 8th 2023. support by pharaoh it's been moved and supported to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of March 8 2023 is there any discussion hearing none it's been moved and supported to approve the

017minutes of the regular meeting of March 8 2023 Miss haika haika yes Murray yes Rose and leecher yes yes pharah yes Freight I abstain do my absence motion carries five to zero all right next up is the board candidate interviews so um we did have a session in between uh during recess where I met the candidates and we went over uh the process so we're going to start that process now I do want to thank all the candidates for submitting their application and then coming here for this interview tonight in Open Session it's a great honor to serve the community in this way and I appreciate putting your putting your name in the ring uh to do that and to answer these questions this evening um as we go through this um we're going to

018select board member names to ask questions and then we're going to select candidate names we did this to be as transparent as possible so that there's not an order that was predetermined of a board member asking a question and uh the order of the candidates answering the question so I do have three members from our Communications committee District Communications committee that are here helping us Mr Larry biederman Miss Alicia Powell and miss Karen Lambert are here to help with timekeeping and to select the names so again they're going to select the board member names to ask the questions and then we're going to select the candidate names and then there's going to be a rotation where the some can all candidates will be able to answer a question near the beginning all questions will be

019able to answer a question near the end and all questions all candidates will be able to ask answer a question in the middle so with 11 candidates we tried to do our best with that they're going to have two minutes to answer a question they'll be given a visual single signal when there's one minute remaining and then 30 seconds remaining and then they'll see a red card when the time is expired um once we've interviewed all the candidates the candidates can go back and sit where they want within the theater and then the board members will rank those candidates one through eleven um the open meetings act requires us to record these votes and open so that they can be known um our ballast will be handed to the secretary to be read and then

020those will be recorded and will come up with a tally that tally will indicate who more who who's going to move forward to the next round of voting and another talio will be formed and will go until that point that a a candidate has chosen again this is replacing uh Miss Carrie Macchio who resigned so we are required to fill this vacancy within 30 days of her resignation or it's the responsibility of the Washington Intermediate School District to fill that vacancy for us so that's the process that we're going through this evening all the candidates submitted written answers to questions that we have asked all candidates for a long period of time that have run for office or put their name into or be appointed so they've submitted a written answers for that and then

021they'll be responding to questions that are asked this evening um with that we're going to go ahead and get started Mr beaderman Miss Powell are going to draw the names of the board member the board member order to answer to ask the questions all right the first board member in our list is Sarah Murray and you want me to keep going right yeah just okay just hold on just for one minute sorry all right yep go ahead second one is Michelle haika yep third one is Tom Farrow fourth one is Kirsten Freight should be a surprise and last one is Betty rosen-leacher all right so next up uh they're going to draw the names of the 11 candidates um so when your name is called I will ask you to take a seat on in

022the number that you're called in so number one is uh over here in this chair along the the brick wall and then it goes to 11 across the brick wall here so we'll go ahead and start apologies if I mispronounce anybody's names number one is George Melvin Elder IV okay number two is Cassie Pryor number three is James Smith yeah right yeah go back in okay yeah I'm not sure yeah that's it all right uh number four is Gary tapekey number five is Angela chidester number six is Danielle Hoover number seven is Adam deangeli number eight is Robin Eggman number nine is William E Van Buren Jr and I'm not sure is Mr Van Buren here all right we'll just go ahead and we'll leave the seat for him if he does if he does

023show up we will call him yeah Ariana number leaf number 10 uh Carey carvonen Gutierrez and number 11 Laura Russo just give me a minute here to get this updated all right I've got that all updated does the candidates have any questions all right so again um we've got the board uh uh order determined uh they'll ask their question uh we'll start with candidate one to answer that question our timekeepers will hold up a sign at one minute and at 30 seconds and then show you the red when the time is expired the first question is going to come from Miss Murray and it'll be for Mr Elder so if you could come to the podium Mr Elder good evening all right the first question is what does the concept of a healthy and healing

024school mean to you and what steps would you take as a board member to promote a healthy and healing community I would say a healthy school would be to accept everyone you know we got different ethnic backgrounds we got different religion we got different sexual preferences we got we got everything they just we all had a set I think Jane said it best whenever she was uh done the town hall whenever she says you just can't think about yourself you got to think about all the students that that are in the school and set your personal thoughts aside and take care of every single student thank you Mr Elder next up is Miss Pryor I believe the definition of a healthy school is one that incorporates different ideas into their teachings who accepts that not

025everybody will like those teachings but gives the community the input to be heard and acknowledges when they do speak that you've taken into account what they have said that things aren't just ignored when a Community member something to the border to the school I think a healthy environment is one where we can talk about the actions that we're going to take that we sit together and make an action plan to make steps to resolve whatever differences we do have that it's not just a continuous back and forth where we can't seem to get anything resolved and we're turning in a circle over and over again I think steps that can be taken is more public involvement that you bring possibly have more Town Hall meetings that you start committee a committee on how to resolve

026some of the issues how we can how we can get along and how we can move forward in this political environment I believe our students and our community deserves a place where they can feel safe and comfortable but also a place where they can be heard because the backbone of a community is a school and we raise our kids here we watch sports here we come for activities it is a place where we come together as a community for good or for bad and it should be the centerpiece of a town and if we have a healthy school we have a healthy town and I believe that we need to strive more than anything to make our school healthy thank you Miss Pryor next up is Mr Smith well in terms of how to make

027our school system work better for our students and for our staff I think we need to first to cure their safety we need to develop diverse methods of educating our kids right now I think we tend to try and treat all kids the same in terms of how we can go about teaching them and that does not work very well um it's a substitute teacher I substituted for grades all the way from kindergarten to to high school and I can see that there's there are a lot of kids who just aren't learning by the conventional methods and that's not to say the conventional methods are bad for a lot of kids but they're bad for all kids um so I would like to see the school become more flexible in how they handle kids that

028are having difficulty with with learning um I remember for example when I was doing a substitute teaching I had a little girl come in I was supposed to be trying to help her with her math she was having trouble with with multiplication and division and so I as I started working with I said well you know you really can't get this if you don't have you have you haven't memorized your multiplication tables she said but there's just too many as to how many do you think there are and she said well thousand thousands into then I explained to her that she only needed to do one through 99 and I put a very complicated division problem on the board and it showed how you break it down and she was very excited to go back

029to her class about a half hour later another little girl from that same class came in with exactly the same preconception and said my friend told me and you know so these kids needed to be approached differently we need to listen what students can address their individual educational needs thank you Mr Smith Mr Tate key could I ask you to please repeat the question the question is what does the concept of a healthy and healing school mean to you and what steps would you take as a board member to promote a healthy and healing community well a healthy and healing school to me is a safe School pardon me um the school has to be safe for the kids they have to feel safe and in my opinion bullying is a huge problem that if

030not remedied prevents students from learning if they don't feel safe and coming to school they're not gonna they're not going to be willing to be and be able to learn so as far as having a welcoming School accepting all types of kids including races genders kids with special needs and I think that Milan has done a pretty good job with that the special needs kids but that has to be taken into account with deciding what is a safe school again going back to the the issue of the bullying I think that's that's a huge problem that needs to be taken care of thank you Mr JP Miss chitter to me the definition of a healthy and healing student body is engagement you can have all of the resources possible at your disposal but if your

031student body so as participate in that in a connection thank you Miss Hoover good evening everyone a health read the question again please check question is what does the concept of a healthy and healing school mean to you and what's that student staff deserve to feel valued community and I'm a social worker and what I do in my work is that the first step is always engagement so I would start there and communication and getting appointed to the school board thank you Miss Uber Mr d'angeli to the first part of your question what makes a community or School healthy to my mind it's peace in the valley it's the absence of conflict um it's when there aren't situations that the people being upset about a lot of things um I worked for a state lawmaker

032whose District included Oxford left Lansing before new Tim and we kept up with the stories very closely the finger pointing every which direction Aaron reduced see the adults just pointing fingers at each other I want to come back to changed but they can move on um so that's immune returning to that state thank you it's like man to me a healthy and healing School promotes diversity and inclusion and with a message and commitment of kindness to all to me a school that's healthy looks like a place that students want to come and be involved and it's a safe haven for students that they can come to school and know that they're seen and that they're there to learn and that they can just focus on learning and bettering themselves I think it's also important um

033to hold students and staff accountable I think that that really goes to having a healthy and healing school that knowing that certain actions may have consequences and knowing that everyone is being held accountable for their actions I think that also is a big part in promoting a healing and healthy in school my goal if I were a board member would just to be present and would to be would to know how the students are feeling in the school and would just want to communicate with the district and the community how their students are feeling in school and how the staff are feeling in school and what other ways we can do to support their learning environment so that they can come to school and all they have to worry about is that learning and being

034involved with their classmates and their peers thank you Miss Gutierrez hello thank you before I begin I'd just like to acknowledge and thank the board and fellow applicants for this process tonight I I'm grateful to be here and enjoy hearing from everyone my interpretation of a healthy Community is one in which every student and staff member is able to be and has the resources to be the very best version of themselves to do that I believe they must feel safe in their community and safe in their physical space to do this I think that a community or a school or whatever organization to be healthy needs to have varied opportunities listen to varied voices and different modalities for learning so that each person can exercise that opportunity to be the best version of themselves related

035to staff in particular I also think that this means that staff need to have some degree of autonomy to exercise their own personal expertise and be able to work with individual students as needed to be able to make sure that they are able to be the best versions of themselves as far as healing I think healing comes into play when we see one struggling whether it's another student or a fellow staff member that we are there to help support that individual provide for resources needed and uplift one another I think healing comes when we can listen to one another identify what those needs are in an open and productive manner as a board member my role in this process I believe would be to listen to All stakeholders students staff and other board members to

036identify what the restrictions and hiccups might be to report back to formulate a plan to listen again and then Implement that plan and evaluate and the process begins again thank you thank you Miss Russo I'm Laura Russo I think there are some great answers there when I think about health and healing I think of a living system I don't think that it's ever necessarily going to be perfect but striving to be better um finding resources engaging people where they are and taking care of the most vulnerable in the population because we can only be a successful as the like the most vulnerable vulnerable individuals as far as my role I think I give a maybe a unique perspective um I think looking outward looking for great examples of how to create a health a healthy

037environment are important and striving to be Innovative and and to be healthy I don't think that you can um reach success unless you're actively striving for it and that's all thank you thank you Mr so I just want to make Mr Van Buren is not a ride correct we'll keep him in the order if he does arrive next up the question is going to be for Miss haika and then we've changed up the order a little bit here uh it's going to be first answered by Mr tapkey can you hear me hello I have the worst luck with technology I really do um thank you everyone who took the time out of their schedules to come here tonight who applied and then are here to answer all these questions and everyone in the community came

038to support them and and to hear their their answers to these important questions as well so my first question is how do you believe that the Board of Education can best balance the need to prepare students for college the growing demand for Career and Technical education and what strategies would you advocate for to ensure that students are adequately equipped to pursue both traditional academic paths and careers in technical fields well this is something I know a little bit about since I'm an electrician and when I went to high school there were several vocational education programs available to me and and other students that helped shape the direction that I took in life with my career I think that all schools these days lack adequate vocational education so I would encourage the board to offer more

039of that so that kids when they make the decision whether they go to college or not it doesn't it's not a given that kids have to go to college but if they do they know number one what field they're going to go into or at least have a general idea and if not that's okay too because with adequate training they can step into a a trade which the market has proven is is in need of trade workers electricians heating cooling technicians Builders Carpenters I can go on and on bricklayers these are good paying jobs that you don't necessarily have to go to college for but uh I think kids need they need direction and in high school is the place where they can get that if they have a little bit of experience that help

040make it might help them to make that decision as to which direction they want to go thank you next up is Mr Smith well when my son went to school in my schools he participated in trade school um he was involved in Consortium with with Celine he did house building and you know other things like that and I think that was a good experience for him I don't think that everybody should be on a college track my son was not my two daughters are both graduated college one has a master's degree the other one's working on her master's degree so in their case college did the right thing for them in case of my son it was not and I think we need to not push kids in One Direction or the other let them

041move in the direction that they want to go in just have the resources available for them to be able to follow that path with a recognition that very few of us probably in our senior years of high school envisioned what we were going to be doing with the rest of our lives in terms of a job their kids are going to change their minds and I think that you know we should try and give them the opportunity to pursue what they were interested in now with the understanding that they may very well change that later thank you next up is Miss Hoover can you read the question one more time please let's see oh there we go how do you believe that the Board of Education can best balance the need to prepare students for

042college with the growing demand for Career and Technical education and what strategies would you advocate for to ensure that students are adequately equipped to pursue both traditional academic paths and careers and Technical fields well I think the the number one thing is attracting retaining and maintaining quality teachers and educators I have seen that with both of my two children that currently go to Maryland area school one here is the high school and one over to to Simon's and they they have done quite well because the teachers have done well for them so thank you for that also um not to repeat what the other folks said but College isn't just the only path for kids to go to school there's like trade school and that I'm I'm a union member so not in the trades

043and I have a brother who's a Boilermakers Apprentice up North so having another thing is just having a lot of actions and communication around that thank you thank you next up is Miss Eggman I'm sorry sorry about Miss Chinese Sorry Miss chitter thank you thank you for me it is as much making them aware of the options as it is backing that up with the figurative the growth and development these are developing adults and sooner or later they're going to be swallowed up by you know the World At Large and it's important to take a breath and not listen to the voices that are telling you what your future should be and to reflect on what you want your future to be and I wish I had listened to my own voice because I have

044a personal attachment to that where I led myself down a path that everyone said I was perfect for so I was perfect for that path and as a junior in college I suddenly realized that it wasn't what I wanted at all so I think allowing a student to to find themselves and to have an opportunity to feel comfortable in exploring what their passion might be and to know that in reality that passion could be their career um can foster their desire to go in whichever direction they may choose thank you not miss segment trades and Vocational careers are trending and there's something that we should support they're all things that students need and I think the um important part about is that we're teaching students how to learn I think that's the most important part

045is that we teach students to learn and we're teaching them the basics of critical thinking and how to read and how to write because once they know how to dig into that literature and read and digest and think about all those things critically then they're able to learn anything that they want and that's going to take them anywhere that they want to go Milan does a really good job already of offering different things like Consortium or ECA and different tech classes and I think that that's crucial in this time of students lives and I would Advocate that we continue doing that and continue supporting other clubs and activities and groups of students like things like first robotics and just anything that gets students engaged in something that they're passionate about and that they can find

046a career with I think that in the high school especially we should be offering classes that teach students how to focus on writing resumes interview and again just giving them the opportunity to explore different career paths and explore their passions and what they can do with their gifts I think the biggest thing is that students don't know all the options that are out there and if we just sat down and gave them more of an opportunity to explore those majors and those trades then we can set them up for Success that will take them far beyond High School thank you next up is Mr d'angeli we're so fortunate we have so many resources right in our community we have two major universities and a community college just down the street from us we have world-class

047manufacturing right here in Milan at Oakland Community College they partnered with manufacturers who needed one that took years to train that didn't have anywhere else to turn to so they just Incorporated with them and built these programs these CTE programs right into Oakland Community College if they don't already do that they could do the WCC they could do that right here but local stakeholders are critical for this um I I worked I worked on the hill for a year with what we call The Accidental Congressman but one of the things that we actually got to accomplish was in the every student succeeds act we put in an amendments to say that we should include entrepreneurs and local employers and how we develop our curriculum the amendment actually ended up getting it signed into law two

048years later even after my boss was gone but that's critical we have all these jobs right in Washington County right in Milan and in Monroe County and we should be talking to them and using them to help us develop programs so that people can come right from the high school into the workforce if that's the path that they choose to do or otherwise to go to the colleges that we have right here as well thank you next up Miss Gutierrez I believe that the role of education is to train our students to be active thriving and contributing members of a diverse and Democratic Society for some that means they may go into college or other types of higher education for some it may mean that they enter the trades or the military or any other

049possibility that is out available to them I think it's important for us to think about having the number of resources that are available for students to identify the breadth and depth of different opportunities that exist in the world for them so that they can be productive members of society I think many of us would argue that we are not doing today in our nine to five what we thought we might be doing when we were in high school I certainly am doing something that I didn't even know was possible when I was in high school that being said I think that we need to make sure the courses and the skills are taught to allow students to be able to have the opportunities for a variety of different opportunities allowing them to have core skills

050and academics but also key core skills that are applicable not only in different sectors but as contributing members of society these are skills in interpersonal communication conflict resolution shared decision making how to learn where to find answers thinking about problem solving and having respect for other experiences I want students also to know that it's okay to Pivot you may start on one track and end up on another and so having an educational Journey throughout high school that prepares you for a variety of skills from academic as well as interpersonal skills is critical to allow students to have their own trajectory as they enter the life course thank you next up Miss Rousseau I think they've really said it all but um yes I think the importance of core skills writing and math towards being able

051to take technical jobs offering you know any kind of Partnerships opportunities any opportunities for kids where you're collaborating with the community and obviously obviously have you know yeah the universities and businesses supporting like life skills interviewing giving people opportunities or kids opportunities to learn and grow while they're here and to make them able to adapt to changing conditions in the future so I think thank you Mr Van Buren Ms Pryor I believe the board can best prepare our students for College and Career Technical Career Technical programs by continuing to offer the programs they are but to take a better in-depth look at the programs that they currently do have I believe math science skills are all important to those technology and trades programs you have to have good mathematics good problem solving skills excellent communication

052I come from a household that is split college and Technical so I see both sides of what you would need and I have children preparing to go and eat you need these qualities of being able to communicate with others talk to people and be able to solve complex algebraic equations and electrical trades HVAC so those are important to continue to focus on preparing our students that way but we also have CTE consort and Consortium programs that we offer at the school however at this point I believe they do need to be looked at more in depth about the types of offerings they are having for example this year there's many boys in going to Building Trades and those types of programs however in the past year those have been limited by the one of the

053work sites being unavailable has impacted my household as far as them only afternoon programs there was no attempt sought out to fulfill that space for the morning program so which leaves out a group of kids who have other activities after school that they are no longer to participate in that program so that's a chunk of boys and girls who want to be part of that that can no longer do it so I think offering mentoring opportunities to fill that space working to create apprenticeship programs within the community for local electricians and Technical workers would help fill that Gap thank you thank you next is Mr Elder I think that we should uh retain or retain and train our staff to get to know our children and I think that we have a lot of resources

054in the schools now but we have mechanics we got motorcycle mechanics we got electricians we got plumbers and heating we got all them inside of our community if we could just you know get with our children and collaborate some way that they could uh Shadow them maybe through the middle school process or you know and make you determine what they want or whenever I was going through school we had a guidance counselor he met with us uh once every two months in in school and asked us what we were doing and he kept us on track of you know what we needed for next year for the classes to graduate and what classes we should take so we could get ready for the military for for whatever it is you want to do and and

055life thank you our third question will be asked by Mr pharaoh and the first candidate is Miss chidester welcome everyone can you guys hear me okay can you hear me yep all right welcome uh everyone for uh to Milan High School and thanks for coming to The Forum so my question is our district as well as other school districts in Michigan are experiencing declining enrollment what challenges do you see declining enrollment having on the district's budget well certainly it's directly correlated our budget is entailed in terms of per capita based on the student body and along with that you lose certain resources where if you have less student body you have fewer people participating in sports and that in and of itself brings in a certain amount of funding so yes it is alarming that

056enrollment is down everywhere the question is is it a Statewide issue I'm sure there are population studies all over the place to try to to pin those down but I think by and large in my opinion it is a Statewide issue so it almost seems like you could make a Consortium of a number of school boards across the state to try to identify and maybe try to figure out a way to rectify the problem thank you next up is Miss Hoover yes our district as well as other school districts in Michigan are experiencing declining enrollment what challenges do you see declining enrollment having on the district's budget well I mentioned earlier about new tracking and retaining quality Educators and to pay people more of our students will come and we'll get around and and kids

057will do better and and go on to do better things so the Fontaine you know has to come from somewhere and we need more of it teachers just simply need to be paid more thank you next up Mr d'angeli there's just no way around it you have to do more with less than money comes from pupils in a few years and then the budget has to shrink and that's a terrible thing um so you have to look at what's non-essential and you have to look at what's the most essential and do the best you can within those means I do think there may be some opportunities in some places to advocate for policies that can be changed I remember a few years ago there was a hearing in the energy committee talking about how the

058utilities the two big ones consumers in GT they have a 90 Monopoly and they were lodging to make that 100 energy Monopoly and as superintendent I think it was from Holly schools came in and she said if this passes I'm gonna have to lay off five teachers and that ground that building will halt really quickly but that's a thing we should be demanding as well I mean you know we think about the budget and of course the first thing that comes to mind is Educators and infrastructure but you know costs a lot of money to power a school building too so we have to look at everything we can do and advocate for every way that we can remove obstacles that stop us from being able to access lower costs thank you next up Miss

059Eggman student enrollment affects budget directly and again student enrollment is down not just in Milan but in tons of school districts across the state and again it's because of parents have lost Faith and Hope in the school district parents are doing more homeschooling now than they have ever before or doing other dual enrollment programs we're a small community and it may be and we may not be able to compete with a Brighton Area Schools or a Chelsea area schools but we can be a community and we can build a community and show that we're a school that parents can send their children to that we're a school that parents can trust and being School of Choice if we're able to create that and show that not just in our community but to other communities then

060parents are going to want to send their students here because they know that their teachers are looking at them and their teachers are teaching math and so that's why I think that by supporting teachers and by showing that we are a community that we are building a name bigger than just my life thank you next Mrs Mr Russo yeah I think the challenge is to be problem solvers and to empower people to think outside of the box to meet the needs that are there um certainly look to the community to find ways to fund what programs need to be funded whatever for the school it means that those are the same needs of the community same needs that each family has and I think the only way to work through that is to work together

061next up is Miss Gutierrez as several others have noted there has been declining enrollment not only in myelin across the state but frankly across the country there's a variety of reasons for that the very very big demographic level there's declining birth rates across the globe there's also however the importance of Parental choice and decisions about educational opportunities and the ability to choose where your family sends their students and I agree with the previous speaker who indicated that we want to have myelin be a place where families choose to send their students when I first came to Milan Milan at the time when we first moved to Milan about nine years ago Milan at the time was in the midst of a PR campaign I remember there were flyers on Ann Arbor city buses about Milan

062and it caused us first I never heard of Milan I lived in Ypsilanti for 10 years and it caused us to look at myelin as a place to school our children it made me think about moving here finding a community that felt like home and part of it is getting people to know about our grade school and putting forward what we have to offer that being said however I think it's challenging certainly right now for families wanting to move to Milan we have a housing shortage in the city and so I think even for families who may want to move here we need to think about the interconnectedness of opportunity and making that available that being said however declining enrollment certainly impacts budget and we need to think about how to handle those limited resources

063that we do have this requires extensive creativity and extensive flexibility on behalf of all of us on behalf of our students our families our administrators our teachers and I think we've seen that this is possible as we've pivoted to Home Learning for the coveted pandemic we saw our staff and students do extraordinary things and I think we can learn with some combination of the opportunities in which we can deliver our education thank you thank you Mr Van Buren next up is Mr Elder I think one way to you know definitely the Roman flags are our money comes in I think that we should uh focus on the bigger picture about what what good modeling is doing instead of everybody trying to have the last word in and posting negativity so and because you know for

064instance I had sold three chickens to somebody up in our picnic and they uh they said they were decided between modern picnic and I asked them why they pick them up and they're like well if you look on the internet it seems like everybody wants to have the last word so they decided that they wanted their kids in the picnic school so so I think that we should definitely start focusing on good things instead of the bad things thank you Miss Pryor loss of quality loss of teachers school districts that are close that can that have enrollment and have the funds to provide those raises to keep it on long term it's going to lead to loss of programming because we buy those programs which I believe is kind of what we are starting to

065see now so it leads to less programs and less also makes us have hard choices about what are we going to cut what is the thing that is needed the most to prepare our kids for school I mean for Life everybody has a different opinion on what that is so when you come choices if nobody can agree on what is the most important it also leads to as the opinion of the school district goes down at least a bit more so declining enrollment is a large issue that we need to get a handle on to start putting our schools if there is something that provides positivity that we are showing that we can work together to make the changes that we need to bring the kids the kids I also specifically chose the school district

066when I looked for schools it provided the right kinds of environment for my children a little bit of rural but close to the to this card for me to choose this school without some of the programs that you had decided to offer why would we give our voucher money to ECA when we and that's a program that's really benefiting my family so I think trying to increase our enrollment is a major issues thank you Mr Smith well that question is very very difficult for me to answer specifically because I don't know how much our enrollment declined and I don't know specifically what the state of our finances are but I'll take it as a given that our enrollment is declining and I think it's a given the money is an issue I think the relative

067thing this is a problem is to try and see it as an opportunity an opportunity maybe to decrease class sizes particularly at Paddock Consignments give us a chance to try and develop creative and innovative ways of funding the programs that we have maybe looking for outside monies through some of the foundations that have particular interest in Innovative educational programs we also need to make sure that the community is fully aware of what we're doing why we're doing it and how we're doing it and continue to solicit Community input on that but also input from the staff I was pleased to see that the board asked if there was any students that wanted to speak I would also like to see it encourage faculty to come and speak and I was disappointed that there weren't students

068here to speak but I think that this is an opportunity for us to reevaluate that's how we go about funding our programs and how we go about determining class size is what's appropriate thank you Mr tapke so declining enrollment as has been indicated is not only a district problem but it's a problem in many districts across the state um I in my personal opinion that is uh Society has changed and that is probably causing that until we can fix that we have to deal with the budget I mean declining enrollment means we have budget problems when I was elected uh supervisor in 2016 at London Township I was responsible for the budget of London Township when I was elected I had a i inherited a carryover of only twelve hundred dollars that was our entire

069carryover so the township was broke and deeply in debt the township hadn't had a balanced budget in over 20 years prior to me being elected every year I was in office the budget was balanced the first year hurt a lot because of the changes I had to make but it got better with each year after that and by the time my term ended we were not only out of debt we had a nice little carryover and that was increasing every year right now London Township enjoys a carryover of about 1.2 million dollars so that's about a thousand times the carryover when I was elected so I had some some experience with dealing with difficult very difficult budgets and I would welcome the challenge to help this board get through those problems as well thank you

070thank you next up is our fourth round the question will be asked by Ms Freight and the first candidate is Miss segment hello everyone thank you for being here tonight it's a long process and appreciate your patience and your understanding with everything my question is giving all the issues that arise our pandemic our budget Etc how can we as a board stay focused on our students I think the most important thing is at the end of the day to remember why we're all here and to remember that our goal is to offer the best possible education to the student I think that there are going to be a million and one things that always come up that don't have a perfect solution and can easily lead you down another path and I just think that

071it's important to remember why we're all here and know that you know at the end of the day the board all shares the same Michigan the same Mission um to educate our students and to make sure that our students are safe in getting the education that they deserve so I think that that's really what we need to be doing is making sure that we're talking to them and that we're seeing what we're doing and how it's affecting them and asking the students and just again being present and making sure that we're hearing what's going on and how everything is affecting the students and hearing what they have to say about what might help them in any of the transitional periods thank you Mr d'angeli you feel like I should turn the podium this way so

072I know to keep eye contact with the person asking the question uh I mean I would say uh you know School Board is a political office and your accountability of Voters every election cycle and that's part of the responsibility the way you stay focused on students is to continue to engage your constituents because they don't care what the issues are in the budget they care about their their children um but I think beyond that it's just an ongoing process of Engagement I mean that means you know talking extensively to of course obviously you coordinate closely with the superintendent but the principal the teachers and and the parents and you know it's but I mean it's what all public officials have to do is constantly be engaging with as many aspects of the constituencies as they

073can that means you know having coffee hours that means having um you know having regular constituent services that means having you know being available having staff or if you don't have don't have to can't afford to hire staff then you got to do it all yourself which you know I mean it's not an enormously large school district but you know I used to know a guy who didn't know when he was running for office that you have these things called likely voter lists and he knocked on every single door in his district and talked to every single person he said when he got elected my mission was to make sure I wanted every single constituent to have their own legislative tribute to themselves made up by my office somebody actually did that much but that's

074what it's always about it's constant engagement so um because yeah the the parents will tell you so that's that's my best answer I can get thank you thank you that's good goodarez you were doing so good all night Gutierrez Gutierrez will you please repeat the question certainly Carrie given all the issues that arise with our pandemic budget everything they have to face how can the board stay focused on our students thank you um I agree there's you know as I Was preparing for this process I spent a lot of time calling through the district's website each individual schools website reading policies and best practices and you know it made me really reflect on the importance of this role but also uh having a deep appreciation for all the strengths that we have here in this

075district and I think one of the things in light of all of those challenges that we we face is to really remind ourselves of the deep and wonderful assets and strengths we have here in this district and I'm not going to elaborate all on all of them here as I articulated those in my written application but I think that's important for us to take an assessment of what we have what resources we have and what we have in terms of priority is to move forward with that being said I think as we approach new challenges and stay focused on what's important what's important is the education and well-being of our students and our staff but also our families and as a scientist I would approach this in almost a scientific type of method I would

076start by listening and gathering information I would be speaking to students teachers parents I'd want to know what is going well but also what is not what are the things that we can learn from our constituents in terms of improvement I'd report this back I'd share this back with my fellow board members and engage in a dialogue about how to tackle that issue I would plan I would seek outside resources I would ask experts in areas in which I do not have expertise I would then work with my fellow board members to implement action I would brainstorm ideas put forth plans and set priorities but before implementing those I would bring those back to the community and engage again in dialogue and listening to get buy-in from those strategies and then I would evaluate the

077effectiveness of those changes and of course at the end listen some more thank you thank you Mr so it's very easy to get distracted my life and all the different voices and opinions but yes I think staying positive staying focused on on the things in Milan that potentially can make us better um and that's our students I think you know if you through communication finding out where people are finding out how to help them what would help the most not being afraid to look outside to you know find those answers find the best as Carrie said the best practices elsewhere and not being afraid to use them here and like as I've heard a couple things about fellow like other districts in town I'm starting to wonder if we aren't we don't do things better

078here in some ways so um yes being present being here and looking at our strengths and and just listening to the people around us and ours and of course the students I think that's where we can gain the most knowledge about staying in the moment thank you Miss Pryor I believe how we stay focused is to come back to the things that the board has already prepared our mission our values our strategic plan what are the things that we have found to be the most important in Milan to help prepare our kids for life it is easy to get sidetracked in propaganda in the loud voices that come in or even email or call who focus on one issue and try to Pigeon hustle pigeonhole us into being about one topic I think that if

079we acknowledge those issues if we are willing to communicate with people over and over again even if it's things we don't want to hear I think keeping that dialogue open but then coming back again okay we've heard you now we have to refocus in on what is important um to bring our kids into the next decade the next part of their life all of the things that they that our school provides to make our kids a whole person I believe that our small as a school that is pretty small that we have a strong community that we can get information from them easily that we can use that information to help us realign our Focus maybe the things that we have on our plan is not what needs to be in the plan going forward

080we just need to always come back to the policies and practices we put in place to continue to provide good education to our kids thank you thank you Mr tapekey oh I'm sorry I'm sorry Mr Elder Mr Elder I bought Mr Elder's next um I found key s in the parking lot did anybody miss their keys key it says inside Track Club these antibodies okay thank you just hold yeah hold on we'll donation all right Mr Elder this question reflects back to the big picture we've got the community we've got students we've got we got after we got board members we got everything and I think that the board should just sit and focus on the safety of their students educate our students retain their staff and quit circling back three board meetings later and

081trying to give a reason why you voted from somebody else or for for a reason you made that decision just move on move forward we've got we got these kids we got to educate thank you Mr tape key I think the easiest way that this board can stay focused on the students is to stay focused on the staff and teachers obviously we can't go out and talk with every student but by keeping an open line of communication with the other staff with the teachers Transportation everything find out where the shortages are see if we can correct that again a lot of that steers back to the budget without adequate funds you can't hire teachers you can't hire pay for Quality teachers quality bus drivers you can't get enough bus drivers we can't get the kids

082to school what's the point in having a good school if the kids aren't here so the board has to look at all of that and talk with the staff that is having problems if they're having problems we need to listen and act on it thank you thank you Mr Smith well I think the best way the board can stay involved with students is to pick me to be serving the board I would be both micro and macro focused on students I would want to give the schools and talk with all the principals of the schools with the teachers in the schools and the students in kindergarten with you the old Lincoln High School I think I have an army 50 years ago in working with education in one way or another and Milan I run

083a bulletproofing camp where I taught kids how to deal with bullying situations I've worked with kids in Little League particularly in the in the youngest kids four five six year olds I've worked with high school kids until covert hit I was involved with the um group that was trying to prevent suicide is called Lifesavers club that was developed when we had the unfortunate incident of losing some kids a number of years ago so I worked with kids in Milan at all levels for a long time thank you Miss Hoover will you please read the question again thank you certainly my question was given all the issues that arise how can the board stay focused on our students [Music] um so given you know given all the issues going on in the community in the world

084there certainly are a lot I think you know I think one of the main things is you know is just to meet students and and other parties and responsible parties and parents just you know just meet them where they're at and engage with them and and just be non-confrontational and you really have to have like a hyper focus on the issue it's not the angry parent it's not the Angry Kid you know it's not the angry like community members it's you know it's about the issue and like getting the students what they need thank you Miss chidester a lot of great ideas so far for me it's a matter of involving them in their education it's hard to feel like you're focused on something if you're not involving your Target in their own education um

085that could be in bits and pieces little things go a long way you could have a board member read the announcements every morning at school or come and meet and greet at lunch or or low-cost high energy activities that make students feel like you are involved you're here and you care um you are already focusing on the students with your strategic plan all of the pillars are focused on our duty to students and that is what ultimately matters and it is very targeted to all facets of what education requires um you are very good at smart goals smart goals is very important in my job small measurable attainable relevant and time-bound it's hard to have a goal that doesn't see fruition for 10 years it's nice to see a quick payoff with something that is

086actually measurable and and palatable to everyone involved and I think especially today um asking for the community's help in focusing on the students because if we are not all focused on the students and their needs it's going to fall down somewhere thank you thank you all right now we're on to our last question it'll be from Miss Rosen leacher the first candidate is Miss Rousseau hi how do you balance your personal beliefs and responsibility to promote diversity equity and inclusion in our school district and what concrete steps do you plan to take to ensure that students of all backgrounds identities and beliefs are welcomed and supported just one more time how do you balance your personal beliefs with the responsibility to promote diversity equity and inclusion in our school district and what concrete steps do

087you plan to take to ensure that students of all backgrounds identities and beliefs are welcomed and supported I'm very grateful for this opportunity to be here and I'm really glad that I threw my hat in the ring this question I think is pretty easy for me so my balance comes from my daughter my eight-year-old she has Down syndrome and really for me that's the only thing that's important like I was really behind doing like a city-wide thing of inclusion for like the rock your socks along with all the other special needs Advocates that are part of that tribe I think inclusion is ultimately important because everyone needs to be involved the fears that I have that I've shared with even some of the people on the board come from link what happens in middle school

088or what happens in high school like Elementary is schools are pretty easy and um and like my daughter's class had some of the most compassionate children in our school district I'm sure and what those fears kind of led me I'm a Problem Solver so I think about scaffolding and how do we help and so I looked to the leaders in town adults we lead by example and that was why it was so important to get businesses and organizations and reach out to the board and Mr gerbach to send out the word and you know get it in the high school I don't know how much it helps in reality it helps me as a mother and that's part of my balance because I need to I need to be active in the community and do

089what I can to make my daughter's life and all of the children you know if I'm whatever helps my daughter I know will help others so that's why I'm gonna do thank you thank you next up is Miss guterres the way I think of diversity equity and inclusion is is perhaps in a in a political way I think that this phrase over the last many years has become misinterpreted but I mentioned earlier that I think of the role of the educational system is preparing a diverse set of students that are active thriving and contributing members to society and the reality is that we live in a diverse and Democratic Society and so I believe that education as a public institution is one that is tasked with providing students the knowledge and the skills they need

090to thrive and contribute to that Society so I think it goes without saying that as a board member I would support aspects that would train our students to live work and interact with others who may be different from them in a variety of ways that is the Cornerstone of what it means to be a contributing member of Society as far as Equity Equity is not the same thing as equality and it doesn't mean providing the same thing to every single person one thing that I was very interested in and agreement with in reading the goals of the Board of Education was an individualized aspect of each child's education and with Equity that means that different students need different things and so I think that is something that we can all agree as parents as community

091members that we need to meet each student where they are and that too is a Cornerstone of diversity equity and inclusion and finally ultimately the goal of education is not only to help individuals succeed but to train them collectively as a society as a collective well-functioning society that means that inclusion coming together working together problem solving together must be a Cornerstone of our educational philosophy thank you thank you Mr Smith well I think now and I've thought for a long time that the key to that is trying to find a way to deal with the bullying situation in schools I was bullied when I was a kid I dealt with a whole lot of kids in Milan who've been bullied and they tell the kids nobody's born a bully you know they're they're taught to

092be a bully and one of the things that I'm aware of is we need to sympathize not only with the victim but also with the bully themselves I remember seeing numbers that 50 percent of kids who have bullies in middle school end up incarcerated at some point in their life when I went bulletproofing Camp I had a series of stories I wrote for the kids about a little boy called Billy bad not because he was an evil kid but because he made a lot of bad decisions he was impulsive and during the course of those five stories that we told the kids he learned about experiencing bullying seeing other kids being bullied starting to work with others to to re-socialize those who are bullying them and at the end of the story you know all

093the all the bullies have have come over to the away from the Dark Side um there's a lot of bullying that goes on and it goes on at all levels now I don't have fingers to point any specific people in Milan schools I know kids sometimes tell me that they're bullied by this teacher um sometimes that may be true sometimes it may not kids have different perceptions but I do think that we have to be particularly careful with people in positions of authority um what we call bullying and children had different names when people get to be adults it becomes domestic violence and other related issues and a lot of people that are bullies tend to go into positions where they have authority over other people so we need to be particularly careful of that

094in that school system thank you Mr Tate I would easily be able to balance my beliefs based on what I have seen with my my daughter I have an adult autistic daughter that is she's basically non-verbal but when she went through school I I witnessed she would go to school and you could see that she was an easy target but I usually didn't see her get bullied or teased I saw kids stepping up and helping her they couldn't even hardly communicate with her but they knew what her needs were and I see I see these kids who didn't even know Laura she would they would walk up to her and help her whether they're on the bus or in class so um in answer to the question specifically I would follow suit with those students

095that help my daughter thank you Mr to answer that first part of the question in brief my beliefs take a back seat to my duty regardless of what I believe we have an obligation to our students to make them feel supported included and to be placed in an environment where they're comfortable to learn as to what activities and programs we could do there are all sorts we could list here as small as incorporation into daily activities I can't come up with a quick example there but um making sure that they're aware of supportive opportunities if they're struggling if if anyone has questions it's concerns that there are support groups available for them and on the higher end of things having open conversations I have seen in all of my career the most progress happening where

096there are open conversations happening the classroom takes a step away from the educational portion if there's a chance to teach someone A Life Lesson that open conversation is more important than whatever math lesson thank you Miss Hoover sure how do you balance your personal beliefs with the responsibility to promote diversity equity and inclusion in our school district and what concrete steps do you plan to take to ensure that students of all backgrounds identities and beliefs are welcomed and supported so I mentioned earlier that seems kind of loud I mentioned earlier about being a social worker and we we have to follow the nasw code of ethics in that first ethical principle that I identify with most is service to others and we you know we really have to elevate service to others above self-interest so

097it doesn't matter what my beliefs are or how I believe I still I gotta work with everyone and I think that is really important to have that perspective in any elected or appoint as as far as like how to accomplish those things I think we have to think about cultural humility versus cultural competence because cultural humility implies in environmental learning and we cannot do that no matter our own belief lastly thank you all for this opportunity and thank you for the candidates and the audience and most of all um thank you to our teachers Mr d'angeli this question is kind of personal to me honestly um I would I would dare say that I went to a segregated Middle School it was a magnet school it was called and I grew up in the Washington

098DC area and every morning we had to share a bus the middle schoolers in the high schoolers shared a bus school started about an hour different time so it was about an hour hour and a half we were at five o'clock in the morning to be bus from one into the county all the way to the other one to go to Tacoma Park Middle School where magnet students who had one racial profile were very different from the profile of the non-magnet local students and not only that but we had different teachers there was one set of teachers that we had and once a teacher that they the exception was Jim and Van I'd had about enough of that after middle slain and father applying to the high school program um and that's something that was

099painful to see painful to experience to see what the students must have felt like I asked my mother why are we being fussed all the way across the county go to this school well because you see that's the lowest performing School in the county and this way we can add out the middle speed the non-magnet the magnet scores it appears that we have Equity across our County it was an illusion created for politicians reports to say oh we have Equity we need equality in all of our schools in the county but the reality was they were importing students from one part of the kind of the other create the illusion of that when we had two very different educational environments the answer is integration and you know my great-grandmother she was a famous children's book

100author and illustrator we read the door in the wall when I was in fifth grade shamefully that's now considered seventh to ninth grade level book but the theme of it was was the Middle Ages are talking about overcoming physical disabilities in in Middle Ages England in the time of war and uh in the and disease she's written books about racial Prejudice she's written the books about polish coal miners and the theme in all those books was we're all the same we all have this common humanity is that the is that the cutoff sign or is it the five to ten seconds you can teach tolerance and equality in your materials you don't get that by obsessing about it and drilling it into students you get it by demonstrating them with leadership thank you thank you

101this segment it's like yep part to the question is a pretty easy answer for me and that this isn't for me this is for the students and I would hope that that's why we're all here for the students and our goal as Educators and as member of members of the board to create that inclusive classroom that gives each and every student a place where they feel safe and they feel like they belong and I think to achieving that is making sure that we have the best and most qualified staff it's making sure that our staff know how to accommodate for every type of student our students are coming from all different backgrounds have all different strengths and in the classroom they need to all get the same education so in order to need staff that

102knows how to accommodate for them and knows how to work with them we want staff that is going to go out of their way to teach them what it is that they need to learn we need parapros that are there to help them and again accommodate for them we don't want students or we don't want teachers that are going to buy and change the education that they're getting we want all of our students to leave the classroom with the same education and at the same level we don't want to modify Things based off their level um so again I think that um all students need to be supported in the ways that they need that better suit their education and that's part of the reason why I wanted to be on the board because I

103don't get to just create and ensure that there is this inclusion and diversity in one classroom I get to make sure that it's in all classrooms in all the districts because all students deserve that in every step of their education thank you thank you Mr Elder I look at inclusion as having two different daughters and you know once a month I allow them to have friends over and they have four friends and we normally eat out and some kids aren't allowed to eat pork some people or some kids are allergic to cheese or you know some kids aren't allowed to have fast food so I gotta accommodate to that so I take them and I get let them pick what they want to say at Subway like the board does you got to pick you

104know you have to leave the options you have to give good options and hire good teachers and retain good teachers so that the teachers know the students that way they can accommodate to their their behaviors on whatever they need to be have thank you Mr Elder Ms Pryor I think that we balance our personal beliefs by by knowing what we believe and recognizing that even though we hold those beliefs strongly the other people that other people also hold their beliefs just as strongly so if we can't meet find a way to meet and discuss those then we let our personal beliefs overtake our ability to work with others so I believe that for me I would try to stay focused on what is best for the whole student body remembering that diversity Equity inclusion isn't

105just about one issue it can be diversity of socioeconomic status of how a kid shows up to school and has different how prepared they are not through any fault of their own or their parents just by the economics life that they live how what type of Parental environment they do have one mom two moms Two Dads one parent maybe they're in a foster home how do we meet the needs of those kids by recognizing um and including them in all the conversations but I think it also means having safe spaces for everybody for people who believe differently to have be able to have open dialogue and I think that that's hard now but I am not a person who's above believing that we can find a way to make those changes to make um the

106environment more encouraging I think that by having diversity we encourage empathy which Fosters understanding which helps us get along better and to have a better school environment I would just like to say that I believe being part of the board it would make me I would know that I would have to focus on the whole student body and not just focus on my own beliefs but I do believe in service to others because through serving each other we become free let's give a round of applause to all our candidates here and also to the members of the district Communications team for helping out thank you [Applause] [Music] everyone is welcome to go find a seat a more comfortable seat than that hard chair so while we do that we can kind of just kind of

107take a little stretch break here yeah we'll reset let's I don't think a motion to recess motion by Rose and leecher support by Marie it's been moved and seconded to recess Miss hika haika yes uh Murray yes Rose and leecher yes Cislo yes Pharaoh yes motion carries six zero right all right we'll take a five minute break foreign all right we'll call the meeting back to order 851 um at this time the board members have balance with each of the candidates name on them I'll ask them to rank them from one to ten one being the highest 10 being the lowest once and then we'll ask them to be passed into the secretary for those votes to be read and then I will I will tally those boats as they're read and from that point

108we'll uh we'll see how those tallies come out and determine uh who will move forward to the next round of voting so at this time board members will rank the candidates one to ten and then we'll ask you to pass those into Miss haika foreign just a reminder but we're we're just going to rank again it's one through ten we will not we will not rank Mr Van Buren foreign and then so what I'll do is I'll read each candidate and then their number that's the easiest way for you okay um so this is the ballot of Sarah Murray Angela chadster three Adam d'angeli eight Robin Edgeman five George Melvin Elder IV 10. Danielle Hoover for Carrie carvanan Gutierrez won Cassie prior to Laura Russo 6 James Smith 9. Gary tapke seven Tom farrow's ballot

109Angela chidester two Adam deangeli 7. robin egg Edmund five George Melvin Elder IV four Danielle Hoover nine Carrie carvanan Gutierrez one Cassie Pryor three Laura Russo eight James M Smith 10 Gary topkey ten or six sorry sixth um got it this is Kirsten Freight's palette Angela chidester three Adam d'angeli one Robin Eggman eight George Melvin Elder IV five Danielle Hoover 10. Carrie carvanan Gutierrez six Cassie Pryor for Laura Russo nine James Smith seven Gary topkey two got it this is Betty Rose and leecher's Palette Angela chidester three Adam deangeli eight Robin Eggman seven George Melvin Elder IV five Danielle Hoover six Carrie carvanon Gutierrez two Cassie Pryor one Laura Russo nine James Smith 10 Gary tapke 4. got it this is Andrew sislow's ballot Angela chidester II Adam deangeli eight Robin Eggman five George Melvin

110Elder IV nine Danielle Hoover 10. Carrie carvanon Gutierrez one Cassie Pryor three Laura Russo seven James Smith six Gary topkey four got it and this is my ballot Angela tried to stir three Adam deangeli seven Robin Eggman eight George Melvin Elder IV nine Danielle Hoover six Carrie carvanon Gutierrez one Cassie Pryor two Laura Russo four James Smith five and Gary topkey 10. all right so just quickly you can write down should a sir is 16. deangeli is 39. Eggman is 38. Elder is 42. Hoover is 45. Gutierrez is 12. Kenneth's prior is 15. Russo is 43. Smith is 47. tapke tapkey is 33. all right so that means the top uh ranking them it's uh Gutierrez prior shouldister Eggman wait a minute I'm sorry Gutierrez is 12 prior is 15. should a series 16. take

111e is 33 Eggman is 38. deangeli is 39. Elders 42 Rousseau's 43 Hoover's 45 and Smith is 47. so from there we can take we can take the top five or the top six we take the top five that would be Gutierrez prior to the sir tapke Eggman and deangeli yeah I'm just I guess is that what you guys do you want to go with the top five or the top six top five is fine I agree yep so the top five going on is Gutierrez prior Ester tapkey and Eggman so what I'll ask you to do is write those candidate names in the boxes so the top box will be uh in alphabetical order again let me put that back to alphabetical order all right so the names that you'll write in are chitister

112next is Eggman next is guterres next is prior and next is tape game so your ballot should reach Sinister Eggman Gutierrez prior intake you'll rank these candidates from one to five foreign this is Mr sislow's ballot try to stir two Eggman five carbonan Gutierrez one prior three tapkey four this is Sarah Marie's ballot chidester three Eggman four carbonon Gutierrez one prior to top key five this is Kirsten Freight's ballot try to stir two Eggman 3 caravanan Gutierrez five prior for top key one got it this is Rose and leecher's Palette chidester 3 Eggman five carvenon Gutierrez 2 prior one top key four got it this is Tom farrow's ballot try to stir two Eggman 4 carvanan Gutierrez one prior three tapkey five got it it's my ballot chidester 3 Eggman four carbonan Gutierrez one prior

113to tapki five all right that puts shytester at 15. Eggman at 25. uderez at 11. prior at 15. and tape key at 24. so I think from here we'll take the top three which would be um I'll have you write these down will be chidester uterus and prior foreign this is Andrew sislow's ballot try to stir two carvanan Gutierrez one prior three got it this is Sarah Murray's ballot try to stir three carvanan Gutierrez one prior two foreign got it this is Kirsten Freight's ballot try to stir one carvanan Gutierrez three prior to got it Tom farrow's ballot chidester II covered on Gutierrez one prior three got it this is Betty rosen-leacher's palette try to stir three Gutierrez two prior one got it this is my ballot chidester 3 carvedon Gutierrez won prior to chidester

114and 14. goodyears at nine and prior at 13. with that vote I would entertain emotion Mr sislow I moved to appoint carry carvana Gutierrez to serve as a member of the Board of Education of milanary schools for the unexpired term of Carrie Macchio who resigned ending on December 31st 2024 as authorized by law report by pharaoh it's been moved and supported to a point carry a carbon on Gutierrez to serve as a member of the board of education at milanary schools for the unexpired term of Carrie Macchio who resigned ending on December 31st 2024 as authorized by law is there any discussion again I would just like to thank the candidates for coming out I appreciate all the time that you did in preparing the written answers and being here to answer the questions it's

115a great sign of the community that there's somebody that wants to be involved we appreciate it and again thank you for the help during the interview process no comments I agree I want to thank all of the candidates that's a grueling process um I never have to go through the appointment process but I've had to go through and meet the candidates Forum I know how difficult and nerve-wracking that can be and I thought all of you were very well prepared and and did a great job I do and thank you so much to our Communications committee members you continue to help us through everything and so I really appreciate all that you have done and all that you continue to do for us thank you thank you all right it's been moved and supported to

116appoint Kerry Caravan Gutierrez to serve as a member of the Board of Education Milan area schools for the honorary term of Kerry machio who resigned and the term ends on December 31st 2024 is authorized by law Miss haika Murray yes Rose and leecher yes yes Cislo yes Pharaoh yes Freight yes hika yes motion carries 6-0 all right congratulations um you will be in contact with uh uh Mr gearbon and miss Ann Ford in order to take the the oath of office so that you can serve at our our next board meeting again let's give a round of applause to all the candidates [Applause] [Music] [Applause] all right next up on the agenda is we have the book study of why Meadow died again this was a book that was provided ability for us to even

117consider it's about the shooting down in Florida and regards to the the measures of the reasons why that that school shooting occurred we're reviewing chapters this evening so just this kind of a starting point chapter five the the authors studied the upbringing of the school shooter his name was Nicholas Cruz but they refer to him as his Prison number his birth mother had a violent criminal history related to drugs his adoption and home life early violent acts and school history he was briefly treated at a school for students with extreme behavioral disabilities and then entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas as a sophomore despite continued obsession with violence there is an ultimate decision that he was to mate to mainstream Crews which his mother was pushing for along with a teacher consultant at the school he merged

118with another school during that time and the author argues that the decision to mainstream Crews was to make the school appear orderly and successful so that was what chapter 5 was about chapter six this is when he went to Stoneman Douglas High School uh continues to speak about his poor Behavior there was even a time that a citizen warned law enforcement about an Instagram post of him with guns and comments that he planned to kill people in his school law enforcement declined to write a report off of that Instagram post um it's reported that share of deputies went to Cruz's home 45 times prior to the school shooting and none of those times resulted in his arrest there's a time that Cruz instigated a fight um and school officials ordered the students who took the

119videos of the fight to delete them the students asked for help complaining that Crews had threatened to kill them and or their families he had threatened to rape people he brought dead animals knives and bullets to school and Cruz was given me in-house suspension and a safety plan that banned him from bringing a backpack on campus and required him to be frisked every day that was what chapter six was about others have comments you summarized that quite well um the chapter 5 delineates um just an extraordinary amount of disturbing behaviors in Mr Cruz's disciplinary logs the author suggests that the institutions of Mr Cruz especially the briard school system failed and that there were warning signs for various institutions to intervene uh when Mr Cruz entered middle school he was not placed in a specialized

120classroom despite his behavioral issues he would curse threaten others in short students who are afraid of him um Kevin Cruz's disciplinary history he should have been moved to one of three schools in Broward schools for students with extreme behavioral disabilities once that Cross Creek after several months the teachers recommended that Crews be mainstreamed to attend MSD despite their knowledge of his Disturbing Behavior at West Glade School they knew about his obsession with guns and dreams about killing people as Mr sister referenced um the ese specialist was especially alarmed by entries made by three different Educators about Cruz's fixation with guns and killing the ese Specialists had voiced her concerns about Crews indicating he was dangerous and it would be a mistake to mainstream Crews full-time the author indicates that the ESC Specialists recalled being told

121to quote stay in your lane because the decisions were not hers to make the promise program agreement is referenced as well as Mr sissler indicated there were a number of calls to the crew's home references made to a fight where Cruz was punching another student and that student's face several students related to High School administration that Crews had threatened to rape people brought dead animals knives bullets to school again as Mr Cisco referenced and again he received a two-day internal suspension and developed a safety plan that banned him from bringing a backpack to campus I think Mr sister's summary was was was very good thank you I agree I think that um the other parts um that this book or these two chapters at least um delineate are some of the traumas that Mr Cruz

122himself witnessed so Mr Cruz was adopted by his by his parents I do take issue I know it's not going to surprise a lot of people I take issue with some of the language that's used around Mr Cruz's adoption the book the author specifically says that um his parents effectively bought him for fifty thousand dollars I think any adaptive parent much like I am takes very significant offense to that statement I know adoptive parent purchases their children having said that though um they're Mr Cruz's adoptive father died in front of him in the living room um which um he was a very young when that happened I can't remember he was very young um but then also uh in middle school I believe Mr Cruz attempted to kill himself um by running into a crowd

123running into a very busy street in the middle of a fire drill and that act alone should have um placed him in some sort of or given him some Services through the state which under Florida's red flag route laws if he had been placed and given the help that he clearly needed he would have been prevented under Florida's red flag law from purchasing the guns that he later purchased and then used in a school shooting so I think what is important here or my Takeaway on this and I've said this before is that it really does take everyone who's involved in the community from the schools from the parents from the students because there are some recounting of students interactions with Mr Cruz and it's not clear and some of the recounting of whether or

124not the students reported that behavior to staff or administrators and some of it's pretty disturbing I mean he brought dead animals to school and he had videos apparently of him skinning animals and things like that but then and so was any of this reported I'm not really sure but then you know his his parents could have been more proactive and as if you keep reading you will see that yeah I believe the book doesn't say this but it's my own thought that his mom just was so defeated she kind of gave up it seems like um the school district kind of moved him around and didn't necessarily get him the help that he needed and then even the state when this child he's a child at this point attempts to kill himself the state doesn't

125give him the assistance that he needs so I you don't see another example of a kid who's crying out for I need help and no one is listening from the top to the bottom Mr Cislo yes I appreciate the summary and what others have shared already um but I'm going to put on my 30 years of education and School administration and completely say there were thousands of things based upon this take thousands of things within that school system that went wrong but there's also many things that went wrong in the home as hard as I think the mother who was left alone to raise him she tried but did she have the support she needed there were law enforcement failures you know when when a report is made and and you have a law enforcement

126officer who says well they're not going to do anything we don't know that to be true but I took I took umbrance with in chapter five when the author tried to talk about response to intervention and restorative justice or restorative practices as being it felt to me that there was blame placed on those practices and one of the statements that's made in chapter five is that restorative practice restorative justice is without consequence what we know about restorative practices and restorative justice in our schools at least here in Washington County is that restorative justice and restorative practices are not without consequence there are times when issues happen children make poor choices that may or may not or may not require a specific consequence but a men's needs to be made that's particularly true when we're working

127with Elementary School students when we're teaching them how to be a part of a community and a part of society but as our young people grow older and their acts continue to grow restorative justice restorative practices may only be a part of it but it doesn't exclude consequences and I believe very strongly in the short time I've been on this board I've seen that in action I've seen how we've attempted restorative practices it may or may have not worked there have been consequences in many cases very severe consequences but we continue to try to educate the youth that are involved with these egregious acts and continue to provide restorative practices when and where the person who has been the center of the attack would be open to it but under no circumstances and there's there's

128a really horrific scene in here where there's a young female that's put in charge of him and left alone unattended for an hour as his counseling helper coach in restorative practices I cannot begin to imagine that that would occur here in our district our County our state so I just I want to be cautious um that we oversimplify practices we know our benefit to children and response to intervention isn't just Behavior related it's also academic related it's adding those tiers of services to ensure that every one of our children have the opportunity to grow succeed and learn at their very highest levels thank you Miss rosaliture others all right um so we will read uh for next time for chapter seven and eight next up on the agenda is Communications and Community engagement we're going

129to have a discussion about the big red chat scheduling that's going to be led by miss rosen-leacher the chair of the communications committee thank you very much Mr Cislo as our community knows we originally had a big red chat scheduled for this evening but due to Ms Macchio's resignation and the need the necessity to have our interviews today that was canceled so a couple of things I'd like to ensure that we um have our last two for this school here on the calendar so I'm seeking input from the board on looking at your calendars for April 17th 19th or 26th at five o'clock P.M 5 to 6 30 P.M and as a reminder June 20th was already on our calendar for our last one of the year um not specifically I kind of kept it

130at that five to six thirty we were seemingly getting some pretty nice crowds at that time so thank you what could you share the April dates again April 17th 19th or 28th were our others at five o'clock I thought they were later sorry we had a couple that were before the board meeting so they were at like I think it was 5 30 to 6 30. and we just you know and that worked well because then we just came right into the board meeting too so and I'm open to conversation to hosting it at a later time as well well I just um for somehow for some reason in my head I feel like the one I did was later um but uh I'm not opposed to having at least one of these at five

131o'clock I just personally five o'clock is a very hard time because you're trying to get home from work you're trying to get the kids settled people are coming in for one event going out to another event um so that's just my take is that you know a little bit better because then you can get everyone where they need to be and then people to a meeting but that's just my personal sure the one that we had on May 12th of 2022 was at seven o'clock at Simon's the one that we had September 14th of 2022 was 5 30 at the high school and that was before board meeting the last one that we had was January 17th and that was seven o'clock at the middle school maybe we can split the difference so we'll try

132six o'clock I think it's I should share your effort I could make it work but it's difficult um enough food into my child and myself to get here in time 5 30 tonight was more doable for me personally so is there one of those dates that's seemingly working better we would need three people to attend um and I think the topic um to kind of wrap up where we're at at this point in the year on communication the work that Mr gearbaugh has done communication committee has done and how we can how we plan to move forward with continuing to improve our communication in the district I'm open to any of those dates so I think I have a preference on the April one you can make those dates I can make any of those

133okay I'm open to all so I don't want to be a determining Factor that's right it would probably make sense I mean we could uh I can make those dates as well so maybe with YouTube being on the communications committee and leaves starting on the communications committee we can make one of those dates work but I think this time we'll have it at Paddock okay April 17th so the 19th is that looks good to me and we're thinking at six o'clock does that work I have the I actually printed the calendar too so I have that with me okay April 19th at six o'clock at Paddock [Music] are we thinking about changing the time for the 20th Betty I think we can probably approach that at another time I think that'll be great thank you

134I appreciate that and then just um another point that I guess I want to bring to the board is we kind of scheduled these during the year I would like to just kind of recommend that we look at moving forward when we do our um 2324 board schedule that we look at scheduling our big red chats at the same time with the understanding those may need to be moved if we have a situation like came tonight but if we can get them on the calendar when we build our Board calendar then it could be posted with that board calendar at the same time I agree and are you thinking of having one before the school season still he's in I can't even talk tonight before school starts in the fall we can I mean I

135guess it's it's really that one media what are because I'm thinking um the first time we did it when after school started so it's kind of like everybody got back into the groove right um because it's just sometimes it feels kind of tough with summer vacations no I agree I just wonder if you have one um because they seem to be kind of topical based on the time of year or what's happening in the school or what's happening in the world even because the last one we did was the school safety issue um and so I'm wondering if you do one before school starts if people are in kind of back to school mode if they have concerns about the back to school process that maybe that's a topic you could just a suggestion because

136people will be in that mindset I think the other thing that we're talking about is to also just keep it around the Strategic plan I mean we had a the first one was about board service and then we had a plan a bigger chat in the Strategic plan then we had school safety if we focus on communication potentially another one could be budget especially with uh what's what we get from Lansing and budget amendments that and our the budgets that we have to form for the schools so um that's my thought I agree with that and I would suggest that we do that one in June because the budget is due July right June 30th June 30th I was going to say July 1 so if it's due June 30th then I think that's a

137maybe a good time to explain that process and my favorite topic and how we have to set our budget even though maybe the state's budget isn't set yet just a suggestion for next year too is we will have the school quality survey again at the end of this school year oh yeah so that might be a topic for one of the early ones next year that you could the board could go over the results of that and let the community know how they voiced their opinion in that survey oh yeah just a suggestion that'd be a good back to school thank you okay but at least we got April plan for communication at Paddock and then we'll maybe the next meeting will decide what we're going to do for June and then we'll also have

138our organizational meeting where we'll tentatively schedule for for the year going forward Mr sislow is the is the first okay thank you no organizational means July oh it's the first of the first meeting the first meeting in July okay thank you yeah we'll start looking at the calendar in June but you'll approve excellent thank you all right any other discussion about we'll have you post those post that on the various um area the Facebook and Twitter and on the district website and then also send out communication via the email channels all right as I discussed earlier um the wisd pack update I was in communication with Miss Bennett we will postpone her update until the first meeting in April I appreciate her flexibility with that um that does bring us back to public comment so

139a reminder this meeting is a meeting of the Board of Education in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business to be considered a public meeting there are two times for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda when addressing the board you will be asked to state your name the board determines the amount of time granted to individuals or groups to speak each person shall be allowed to speak for up to three minutes board members May question speakers but are not obligated to answer questions or make statements or commitment response to issues raised by the public in general such items will be referred to the superintendent for advisement investigation study and or recommendation are designated as future agenda items for board consideration are there any students who would like to

140address the board public members to address the board well I see your commitment to diversity and inclusion is about as genuine as or many others sanctimonious claims it's all talk and Virgie signaling until it requires action um wanted to address one of the questions that happened tonight about declining enrollment which I mean let's be honest you should all be aware of this so it shouldn't be news to anyone but for those of you that may not know this um is not something that's happening at all districts across the state not even around this area as a matter of fact Dundee airport and Aika they are all considering not even offering School of Choice next year because they're already so full they can't take anymore um so this is not something that is just happening there's

141there's definitely things happening here in Milan specifically that's causing this all this is also available at myschooledata.org mischooledata.org Mylan was a destination district for a long time that's part of the reason that a lot of people that we know are here you know they were a School of Choice District in 2013 494 students came to Milan only 260 in Milan left in 2021 though that was a banner year for us it actually became the almost equal 440 students came to Milan 425 students left Milan and congratulations congratulations to the board and the superintendent because as of 2022 school year there are more children in Milan choosing to go to school outside of Milan than kids that are choosing to come to Milan in the last 10 years that metric has now officially flipped the number

142of children who are choosing to go outside of Milan's district has more than doubled what it was in 2013. that is a huge factor in our decline in enrollment and now our concerns of future budget if this is news to you you need to ask your superintendent why because it shouldn't be news to him and then you need to look around and see what's happening because maybe it's possible that some of these parents who are coming here talking to you are not your enemy maybe they're actually saying some things that you guys need to consider because there is a reason why people are leaving this district and it's not because we want certain books taken out of the library speculating about that criminal investigation but here's the reality of it it's a politically charged issue

143which means it might drag out but as you may be aware Mylan isn't the only District that has an investigation so although Michelle totally confident in her assertion that you're not violating it in statute it appears that there are several County Prosecutors who don't agree with her so regardless of the truth regardless of what happens the truth is that the issue is already being tried in the court of public opinion and the reaction from your community is overwhelmingly against keeping these books in the school so even though if you claim to be so concerned about this mythical ACLU lawsuit perhaps you should show the same concern for the opinions of your neighbors who elected you as much as I'd love to stay government passively aggressively attacked me without restrictions I'll be leaving sorry Michelle thank

144you for your comment are there others next up is student board reference representative comments ladies um we would like to give a congrats to all the students who are inducted into the National Honor Society last night to everyone who was involved with the amazing MHS production of Mamma Mia that took place this these past two weekends to the saline Milan water polo team for their season opener win against Ann Arbor Huron and to the Milan girls varsity soccer team for their 11-0 win today against Ida in an upcoming event includes a saline myelin water below match against Walled Lake Central High School at saline high school at 7 pm thank you um okay once again is it on okay I can't hear um congratulations to all the middle school and high school kids that participated

145in the play it was amazing um again congratulations to the teams that won and the girls soccer team for starting up the season so great with 11-0 win um the girls varsity softball team had scrimmaged against Clinton High School at Clinton at 4 30. not sure how that went um coming up next Wednesday March 29th the boys varsity baseball team plays against father Gabriel Richard high school at O strike Stadium or Eastern Michigan baseball at 5 pm and 7 P.M the boys and girls track have their first track meet of the season um versus the Michigan the Eastern Michigan relays at Eastern Michigan University at 9am um and I I spoke with Mr Cislo about this at the last meeting afterwards how I um was sending out an email from both student Representatives regarding to

146all the high schoolers and middle schoolers um about they had any news or issues or events that were coming up that weren't posted on the school pages and some of the things that they had to say were there's a choir concert on May 25th not sure what time there is a Spring Fling dance I'm guessing in the Middle School also no date or time added to that um but one of the biggest comments that I received was the band room does not have working speakers and Miss Upton currently has to use her phone and a little portable speaker since uh like to play back any recordings that they have along with their recording system they haven't had either since the flood of whenever that was and um they said that when they tried to address

147it it just when they tried to come to the board about it it just didn't get addressed um but I have a concern I have had many students Juniors specifically come up and ask me about how it's going to work next year for the six hour change especially uh like regarding their credits and graduation especially the kids that are in Consortium programs here um most of them are only have two three hours every day now to make up any credits that they have or that are needed to graduate um personally I'm in cosmetology and next year that is going to be taking up five of my courses here and with only six how am I supposed to get the extra two that I'm required to have to graduate Milan so that's all there's a yearbook

148will you look into the speaker issue yeah I already have it on my list to do okay yep thank you next up is uh superintendent comments so a couple of things that I will say will be reiterating things the students said thank you for sharing um we had several boys head to the mhsaa state swim meet on March 10th and 11th the team ended up placing 20th overall with several lifetime bests being achieved and one School record being broken the medley of Zach haika Sam Kennedy Gavin Cruz and Gunner Cruz took 11th um Stephen gitardi took 33rd in diving against some of the state's best Zach haika took 14th in the 50 freestyle and took fifth um to finish all state in the hundred backstroke he also broke his own School record in the backstroke

149Gavin Cruz who finished 20th and Sam Kennedy who finished 25th both recorded lifetime vests in the hundred fly the 200 free relay of Gavin crew Sam Kennedy Gunner Cruz and Ben heike took 25th place and the 400 free relay of Zach hike at Gunner Cruz Gavin Cruz and Sam Kennedy took 14th Place so congratulations to the team as a whole and to our individual swimmers who had an outstanding performance spring sports teams have started practicing and as the two student reps said some of them had their first games today and we congratulate all the teams and wish them well in their seasons I was able to attend the High School production of Mamma Mia the show was truly amazing in my opinion the production is definitely in the top five shows that I've seen during

150my time in the district and in 30 years that's a lot of shows so congratulations to those students they really did well I was also able to attend the Middle School production of James and the Giant Peach Junior the cast and crew did a great job and I know that the High School drama program is definitely going to look forward to having all of those student recruits over the next three years as they move into the high school students at all of our buildings but specifically at Paddock and Simons are in the middle of March's reading month the students have enjoyed hearing books being read by mystery readers as well as numerous other fun activities revolving around the importance of reading last night as was stated the NHS induction ceremony occurred I heard I was

151not able to attend I was actually doing a new teacher orientation session but I heard the ceremony went very well and we had a large number of students inducted into the NHS and we congratulate all of them as I just said last night I hosted the third session of our annual new teacher orientation program this year's new teacher spent time talking about and learning about teacher evaluations student assessments the district strategic plan teacher certification time management classroom management and the mentor mentee relationship on Friday March 10th I met with the Washington County superintendents and police Chiefs from around the county we do hold these meetings regularly this meeting focused on providing a refresher course to our staff regarding the threat assessment for students using z-stag we talked about learning we actually had someone from the

152Washington County prosecutor's office come and talk to us about how they are addressing School threats we continued our Alice training and are preparing for refresher courses for all of our districts and we talked about critical incident mapping of our facilities which is a grant that myelin received and we will be looking at a vendor to perform that what that does is that creates maps of all of the buildings that are then able to be pushed out by 9-1-1 to any police officer in any Department in the county if they needed to respond to an incident at one of our schools so that's something that the state funded and we did apply and received the Grant and we will be doing that later this year on Thursday March 9th I attended a meeting with the other

153County superintendents with the dean of emu School of Education and several other top administrators from U of M's College of EduCare I'm sorry emu's College of Education we are working together with the university to implement initiatives that will help overcome the teacher shortage this group will be holding regular meetings moving forward and making every effort to make sure that we have the teaching force that we need in the county the district has been working with K-12 insights in preparation for the 2223 School quality survey this year we will be adding a series of questions specific about the school district Communications these responses will allow us to use that data in the district Communications committee and the current plan is to launch that end-of-year survey in April on Tuesday March 14th I conducted a zoom Community

154input session regarding the return to in-person instruction and continuity of services plan the zoom session was announced at the previous meeting held on 9 26 was on the district calendar and was publicized via email to the entire School community the presentation Zoom recording and plan are all available on the district's transparency website thank you for your mom Mr McMahon thank you just love to have a few updates the first is a couple Grant updates the district finally received the funding for the 99 H robotics Grant the first robotics Grant it's a little over thirteen thousand dollars I do want to thank all of our coaches for their involvement in helping the Grant application um kind of you know see its way through but also the work they do with our teams and the coaches are

155McKenzie chapel and Jen Lucian at the high school Anna Arroyo at the middle school Sarah Farmer at Simon's and Mackenzie and Jen are actually coaching the paddock teams as well this year and then a host of parent volunteers so thanks to all of them for all the work they do for a robotics program and we also received funding for our 11t it's it's actually ARP to mckinney-vento through 11t funding it's about 14 000 it goes directly towards our McKinney Bento students which is our homeless program and I want to throw a specific things out there to Sarah O'Neill she's our mckinney-vento coordinator that's a position this year that is funded by the 11t funds and she has done a spectacular job of driving services for our students that are experiencing homelessness it's quite invaluable want

156to thank her for that I also want to let you know that at the last meeting updated you that we're talking about tutoring plans the before after school tutoring now those are sort of solidified it is funded through 11t so it's by invite only the hours are not equal at each building that we've pushed more hours down towards the lower grade level like we'll have more hours of tutoring and it goes down as you go up to grade levels that's going to start after spring break so we're looking forward to getting those Services provided and the final update I want to give you is just now about summer school planning is underway there essentially we're going to operate the same as we did last year which is basically a six-week program three days per week

157Tuesday Wednesday Thursday starting June 20th so we're going to follow kind of the same model we did last year at all the buildings and that is also funded through 11t Equalization funds which will likely be expiring at the end of this summer they last through the following summer but we've spent them like we wanted to and so we're going to probably expend a majority of them by the end of this summer through that program Mr McMahon board member conference okay oh that's like going order oh my God okay um I have a couple of updates from the wasb um so on March 9th we had the advocacy training that I sent emails out to the board um Mr Cislo and Mr gearball were able to attend um it was Matt curta am I saying that

158correctly he came and spoke to um the different people that showed up and gave us a lot of just really great advice and some some very bluntness in that we should go back to our districts I think I've already gone back to all of you and said hey you know what do we want to focus on um because we're trying with all the new legislators we as in the wasb um to take advantage of the newness and the opportunity we have with the Dems being in control if you will and his um biggest suggestion to us was that we go back and sit and discuss or have a direct easily accessible list of asks as a district and asks as a county so that when we have these legislative copies or we meet with our

159legislators we just go right to them and this is what we want this is what we're looking for this is what we need as in mylinary schools and this is what we're looking for and what we want as in Washington ISD so if the board is pretty cool with that I sent an email to Mr Garba about potentially sitting down and having you guys send suggestions or maybe Mr um Cislo and I to make sure we have that because we'd like to proceed as Mrs heike brought up there's a lot in there about the budget and trying to get them knowing what our needs are now so that they're thinking about when they're planning the budget that these are the needs and how we're going to meet them so we can meet them head on

160with this is what Milo wants is Washtenaw wants and they're already thinking about it so that's the big thought with the board so if anybody has any suggestions concerns if you please let us know because I think it'd be a good idea because we're going to move on to have these meetings we're hoping to have a think a legislative coffee again in April so we'll meet once again in person with the legislators and the faster we have those needs the better we can put them in their pockets to have also to go back and have and hopefully plant those ideas for the budget that they're planning and we get something of what we want since we have to come up with it by July right right um the other thing that we're looking at and

161I think you guys are done getting emails pestering you to be a part of the nomination um uh committee is we have a slate um so we were looking at next week no actually tomorrow to have a meeting to vote but I think that they are trying to finesse it so we're going to have a real quick five-minute Zoom meeting on March 30th to officially so that we're still within the bylaws elect the officers of the wacb exec board um and I'm your lrn representative so I'll be voting but in full transparency I'm on that board so I want you all know that uh with your permission I'll be voting for myself um and the the um rundown that we have is Thomas Rawlings who is from Lincoln will be the president right now president-elect

162I will move into the vice president position um Denise Townsend from uh Gibson school Yip salante let's try slowing down um is the secretary treasurer and then Michael McVeigh from Celine will turn to the lrn the basic flip-flop between Michael and I is I'm sub in the morning so I miss the legislative breakfast so he'll be there to guide those and I'll be able to do more with Thomas when we're doing things and planning out the meetings and trying to get all the advocacy so the main thing I have is making sure that it's okay with everybody that we get that asks because that's one of our biggest things we're truly truly trying as the districts and to work together to have a cohesive list of boom boom everybody's saying the same things and these

163are what we want and to really try to take advantage of the opportunity we have right now where we have some room to ask some big asks and and see how it goes so that is our biggest thing um playing off of Ryan's with our robotics Grant which is awesome thank you because it's always so expensive I believe they're going to Grand Rapids over spring break or right before this weekend next weekend for their first competition and Grand Rapids is really a stiff competition because they have a lot of really great teams that have a lot of money over in that area so we wish them the absolute best and I always get excited over my own or my Cow Town is going to be in Saline so they're great competitions if you ever get

164a chance they're also streamed live they're only two minutes and they're really rather cool to see all of our kids put all that into action and do that we have a great team and I appreciate the grants and the funding of all that and all of our coaches because it's just been a phenomenal experience for a lot of different students so that's it thank you cool thank you Miss free um I'll try to keep it really brief um and at risk of repetition I just also want to extend massive congratulations to our Milan High School Productions students for Mamma Mia and our Milan Middle School theater program for James and the Giant Peach Junior both were phenomenal not that I was expecting any less and I also just want to lift up a great big

165thank you to all of the parents and the community members and the volunteers Who come out each season to support our students in doing theater it is no small undertaking when you think about young people running power tools and I heard that there was welding that happened courtesy and thanks to Tom Pinner I want to lift him up to he's been a tireless supporter of our theater programs both at the middle school and the high school level and has just really done amazing things with our kids so um and thank you to both directors at both levels I've been there and it's a lot and you did marvelously and then second I just want to wish all of our staff and students a fantastic spring break because we won't see back until after that and

166yeah just make sure that you're resting up doing good things for yourself so that you can come back and keep doing good things for our students that's it you're cool I'm going to Echo a lot of the same thing the the mama I did not get to see James in the Giant Peach but Mamma Mia was extraordinary and I I attended the second Saturday with my husband and he was quite the thespian when he 100 years ago when he was back in high school um but he he was in awe of the set I mean not not just the performances but the set and so the crew and what they put together like it was phenomenal he he said I'm not sure I've seen a set I looked at it and said the only thing

167it's missing is an ocean yeah right like that was the only thing missing from that side it was it was extraordinary and I can't I mean it's gonna be amazing to watch particularly what our seniors that were in that performance what they do next because what a talented bunch of of young people I also I really want to say thank you to our student reps you guys are a wealth of knowledge and thank you for seeking input from your fellow students um that it just helps us to get better and better and better so thank you for being here and putting in the time with us um I also I don't know if people are aware but I want to thank our building administrators those who include us in their Communications to our families it

168has been so valuable to know because if you don't have a child in a school in a particular school you don't always know directly what's going on so to see their newsletters um and I mean huge props to Mrs Jasper because she's been super communicative and so I look at everything I'm getting from her from you know I'm sending these to those people who are invited for added support it's just been so if somebody asked me a question I I know I can respond and I really I really appreciate being able to support our staff and and people in that way and I'd also like to just wish everybody a really safe healthy happy spring break if you're traveling on the roads be safe or in the air um take time to just breathe and

169enjoy yourself pharaoh so spring spring sports are underway so good luck to all of our student athletes with their season I also want to congratulate the students and all the others associated with the High School Musical Mamma Mia and the students and staff that were associated with James and the Giant Peach production just truly outstanding I mean I was on my feet clapping it was just awesome the students were tremendous outstanding performances so congratulations to all that were involved in that I also want to congratulate and welcome our newest Board of Education member Carrie Gutierrez I'm looking forward to to working with you thank you Mr Sparrow psycho um at the last meeting I was accused by Miss valade of spreading false information related to the criminal statute that's been relied upon and in filing

170the criminal complaint against the district I'd like to direct the community to a recent Free Press article in which it was reported that the Lapeer County prosecutor is investigating the librarian despite the exception investigating the librarian of a public library the Lapeer Public Library for the book genderqueer which is being housed in the adult section of the library so there is real concern here again I want to I fully stated last time and I'll say again I believe that we're all compliant with all of the statutes um but but these criminal complaints are a big disruption to not only our libraries and the way that we manage them but also now public libraries as well I do want to congratulate the boys swim team on their accomplishments at the state meet I've been following that

171backstroker for a long time now and I'm very proud of him and I'm excited to see what he and the rest of the swim team does especially our seniors there's there's a lot of they're just great kids and so I'm really excited to see what they all accomplished after they leave here and that they will be good representatives of what all of all that Milan has to offer um I want to congratulate the the band members the robotics teams um so much was happening in the district and over the last couple of weeks and it was just wonderful to see on true friends everyone posting everything that their kids were doing um and just seeing such a wide array of kids doing so many different activities um and and being very successful at it so

172congratulations to everyone congratulations to and good luck to all the spring Sports I'm really happy the girls soccer team won the softball team did not in the very last two innings but that's okay it was a scrimmage it was a scrimmage um so congratulations to the soccer team that was quite a win um to the students that were involved in Mamma Mia I Mr gearbox took my words but I've been coming to plays for a really long time now and by far that was hands down the best production I have seen here between the sets and the lighting and the sound I mean it was just a whole everything and the voices of all of those students there was so much talent on this stage um that it I was blown away and we had

173friends that came from Dexter and my friends kids are involved in the theater program at Dexter and they told me that the theater kids in Dexter were talking about how incredible the Mamma Mia play was so people were coming from other communities because the word got out as to how great this play was so kudos to all of you and to the seniors I I was telling people in the audience earlier I didn't cry at Zachary's last swim meet but I cried in that performance and I think it was just a culmination of knowing so many of these kids some of them went to preschool in Milan with my kids and so just to see them all now grown up and just belting out these songs and dancing and it was just amazing and The

174Encore at the end was so much fun everyone was standing and clapping and dancing and singing and it was just a great way to and I went to the last Sunday production so I thought it was just amazing to see this big party at the end of all of it so and I also want to thank all of the because I think sometimes we forget but I want to thank um Yvette cashmere and all of the students that are here that run the sound and the lights for us they also run it for the plays it was just amazing because you didn't miss anything the mics were all working you could hear everything and it was clear because sometimes you know you go to these plays and you can hear but it gets jabbled and

175everything was just perfect so congratulations to all of you and congratulations to all of the community members there were so many people here who were taking tickets and selling water and concessions and directing traffic and moving you know the the scenes all around and it just really you could see it took an army of people to make that happen so congratulations to all of you it was a great showcase I do have one question about the play though because I the the Middle School play was at the same time as the high school play so if you were at a state swim meet the weekend of the Middle School play there was no opportunity you couldn't do both and I know that there were parents who were scrambling and community members were scrambling to get

176both in and so I would just ask that when we're scheduling those in the in the future if we can stagger them a little bit maybe that's not possible but I think that there just wasn't the same opportunity to go to the Middle School play as there would have been if it had been on a different weekend so just something to consider [Music] um and then I also want to wish everyone a safe and relaxing spring break so let's you know enjoy your time reset yourself and come back to be ready to finish off the year um you know just an incredible year so good luck everyone yeah so at the risk of sounding like a broken record um yeah I I went to both place I was able to go to the Jameson's Orion

177Peach Junior as well and both plays were utterly fantastic so uh everything that everybody else has said um it was it was very good um a couple things I wanted to draw attention to was Miss Miller she sent us an email in regards to the upstanders club at Simon's Elementary that she's leading and a kindness challenge with Milan area schools