001other questions or concerns all right again this is a first reading so we will vote on this at the the next meeting next up is a section 98b Benchmark achievement goals a February update Mr McMahon yep thank you Mrs just though um what is being passed down now I apologize I had it out before but I found an error so we fixed it so you're getting a new version coming down this is the section 98b requirement tied to the covet learning plan we had to submit the col plan back at the beginning of the Pandemic part of the requirements that we updated and so in the fall if you remember we came to you with the Benchmark goals are required the math and reading K8 we use NWA it's an approved assessment we include High
002School in here as well so you had the goals in this document here the goals are still included and I just added in our fall and our winter assessments we just completed the NWA assessments last week so those were just recently updated especially the girl from the Falls of the winter we'll do the same again in the summer this is the same thing we've done the last two years it's just part of the requirements to keep the assessments and the goals updated this will also be posted on our website tonight or tomorrow as soon as possible and just in compliance so you have that information the public will have it as soon as it's posted great any questions from Mr McMahon all right if you do have any questions as you look over it throughout
003the week don't hesitate to reach out to Mr McMahon next up uh in the area of personnel and Leadership I need a motion to appoint the following person to the administrative position listed in the base salary listed effective January 20th 2023 Jessica kishiyama for the director of early childhood foreign support by Macchio it's been moved and supported to appoint the following person to the administrative position listed in the base salary listed effective February 20th 2023 it's Jessica kishiyama we're the director of Early Childhood questions or comments regarding this is so slow yes Mr Farrell is this an immediate immediate appointment effective immediately um actually there's going to be a short transition of her into the position she will start on the position full time under that salary on February 20th thank you and this is
004a replacement of correct this is not a new position correct right it's been moved and supported to a point the following person to the administrative position listed in the base salary listed effective February 20th 2023 Jessica kishiyama for the director of Early Childhood Miss haika Sarah yes Freight yes hika yes Murray yes Macchio yes Rose and leecher yes Cislo yes motion carries 7-0 all right next up in the area of learning environment and culture um this is their book study of why Meadow died um I asked for everyone to read the forward and the preface of the book for us to discuss this evening and then we'll also have some discussion as far as how we'll proceed as far as how much you know if we do by chapters or by sections of the book
005there's four sections of the book and each section has four chapters so um well kind of as we talk about it this evening uh the forward and the preface we'll also talk about how we'll we'll move forward so who would like to start in regards to the the forward and the preface this evening I can start if you don't mind so my takeaway from the book is that there were significant failings of the Broward County School District and their promise program for those that don't know Nicholas Cruz shot an 18 year old high school senior nine times on the third floor of the school at the time of the shooting the school had multiple bathrooms that were locked the student's father describes the media being obsessed over what type of rifle the killer used he
006also talked about how kids with behavior problems were forced into classrooms where he didn't believe they belonged the parent blames the district for his daughter's death on incompetence because of political correctness uh a quote from the book was that everyone looked the other way or swept Disturbing Behavior under the rug making our schools more dangerous Nationwide there is pressure to reduce discipline when it comes to students with disabilities again one of the quotes from the book was I bet that this I bet that he was a special that he was special ed and should never have been in the school but we take crazy kids and put them in normal classrooms and then the other takeaway that I've gotten so far is that Mr Pollock asserts that charter schools first public schools actually enforce a
007code of conduct but it's been a an interesting read so far thank you others um so I originally read the book when this issue came up and so I thought I would because I listened to it so I thought I would go back and reread it in print because sometimes when you read something in print you pick up on things that you may not have picked up on before um and first let me say I appreciate that Mr Pollock wrote this book because he wanted to understand what happened and why his daughter was murdered so I I appreciate that and I feel sorry um and send him my deepest um regrets and to everyone who was involved in all the victims and their families and friends um as you read it he he does mention
008um that you could write several books about the failures that enabled his daughter's murder you could write a book about the police and how their politically correct policy reduced juvenile arrests and how that allowed in in the book except for in a short section of the book Mr Pollock refers to the shooter as 18-1958 that's his inmate number if I remember correctly yes um so he says you could write a book about the police and how their politically correct policy to reduce juvenile arrests allowed 18-1958 to keep a clean record despite 45 police visits to his home you could write a book about the mental health authorities and how they refuse to institutionalize him three different times when he was suicidal threatening to kill and obsessed with buying a gun so I think that you
009know I think we have said many times when dealing with some of our um situations is that it really does take an entire Village it takes all of us to be very Vigilant to prevent this from happening so while this book in particular focuses on Broward County he does acknowledge that there were many failures along the lines and as you guys continue to read you will see some of those failures um he is very focused on what he calls the pressure to educate students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment possible and he says it sounds nice in theory but it means pushing troubled kids into normal classrooms rather than giving them the specialized Services they need to actually address their issues kids with severe behavior problems are forced into classrooms where they don't belong
010and principals have a strong reason to ignore their misbehavior um and he goes on to say this is bad for teachers who have little say it's worse for regular students and they have even less say um sometimes his language I find a little Troublesome I don't like the idea of a normal classroom versus some other classroom but that will change as time goes on in the book too but I think that it's important to have this discussion because at least in Michigan I can't speak for the law in Florida at least in Michigan there's just not not only quote-unquote pressure to educate students with disabilities and least restrictive environment but it's actually the state law and so I think that we're going to have some in opportunities to have a discussion as we continue to
011read this book about some of our obligations as a district some of the limitations that we face and I think too that as you continue to read in our past just in the last probably two months we'll be able to demonstrate some of the ways that we're very different from what happened in Broward County so I look forward to continue to read the book others um I I would like to Echo what Mr pharaoh and Mrs haika has has shared about the text in addition um looking at some very recent information because I still belong to my state organizations through education that we are receiving and continue to receive and changes legislatively that are going on with students with disabilities and I apologize I actually have an article for everyone that I failed to bring
012with me this evening um that just talks about changes that they're making in terms of specifically students with disabilities and discipline so looking at that alongside the text as we read on I think will be very helpful to all of us thank you Mr Sizzler yeah that's right um I guess I was taking a little bit of a different look that I get emotional when I read all this I think all of us do because of the subject matter um and the very beginning the sister talks about you know she got a call and the author reads this book is in your hands because I don't want you or anyone else to feel that way um I still remember being not in Milan I'm on like two miles away um when we had a bomb
013threat and both my children here and was just a thread Mr gearbox did and we did everything perfect but I have two very different children and one was fine it was all good I got you know Comfort I have saved people I know what I'm doing my other child was mortified and I just remember that feeling of what do you do how do you do I cannot imagine when it's a real um going through that um I just hope that you know hindsight's 2020 so I hope their hindsight can be our foresight as we read thank you others yeah go ahead no go ahead no go ahead Miss Murray okay um well I wanted to um I had actually flagged some of the same sections but Michelle had already kind of lifted out um the
014this is just the preface and I'm actually two-thirds of the way into the book so I know that the the language does change but as a career educator I really had a visceral sort of skin crawling reaction to his uses of the term normal classrooms and crazy children or Psychopaths and that's just never going to sit um and I had to remind myself to uh refocus on who the author of the book was so thank you Michelle for pointing that out because we cannot as we read this lose sight of the fact that this is written by a person who has suffered an unimaginable loss and a unimaginable trauma within a community so that's been helpful for me to just kind of refocus on as as I read despite my uh heavy disagreement with some
015of his terminology or characterizations one of the other things that was popping out of the preface for me was the the term politically correct policies it comes up a number of times and so I I was trying to understand the author's use of that terminology and I looked up the Merriam-Webster and the Cambridge dictionary definitions and political correctness has shifted in its meaning especially of late but dictionary says it's the belief that language or practices which could be offensive to others especially regarding race sex gender Etc should be avoided And yet when I read this use of the term political correctness it comes across to me as much more of a a pejorative or an insult or a detraction of policies that in my regard are much more focused on not simply avoiding offending marginalized
016groups of people but protecting them and I really think the more proper term for these policies would be anti-racist policies or anti-discrimination policies so I look forward to seeing the book develop more and I'm hoping that the author will clarify his meaning in terms of yeah of those political correct policies that he's referring to but it's I've got a whole flag system a lot to digest thank you Mr system sure yeah obviously the the preface the forward and the preface Were Meant to set the book up um the forward is very powerful it was written by a rather um because he got the call he heard it over the news that uh that there was a shooting and he tried to call his sister and she didn't answer uh so he drove to find her
017and it's very powerful it's uh it's good that it's it's the forward I think it's pop it's helpful for us to refer back to it um as we read through the book um because like you all said this is a real issue that uh the Pollock family has has undergone and wants to make better um and obviously there are um uh there's various ideas within this book that we're going to to discuss that we've that have been set up so far for us to read so that's I'm looking forward to reading it as well I've also skipped ahead to uh to to see where where it leads so others is Michael um there were several things that Mrs psycha said that I had also written down about the book and the one that's kind of
018screamed out to me was the um unbelievable amount of police visits to a home right and when things like this happen you know everybody stands back and says what you know it's it's really hard to Fathom and I do um agree with perspective is everything and we can never assume that we could put ourselves in somebody's shoes you know who's lived through something like this it's just it's just unbelievable but um yeah I thought it was a very strong opening um hearing from family and and the magnitude of that loss which is um just really hard to conceive so um it's you know it there's there's so many factors that go into a situation like this I can't even imagine how much you know how much depth and research it would take to figure out
019the root of everything is there really you know there's never one cause you know it's multiple factors and when Mississauga said it really shows right out of the gate in this book that um that community and people being aware of things going on and working together especially when it comes to mental health issues is so important and I think we you know we see that today not you know not much has changed I think about you know the things that are brought up in this book and I think wow have we have we made stride since then I'm not as a nation I'm not really sure that we have but anyway yeah very powerful so far can I also say Mr Cislo if as we're reading this especially over the next two weeks I want
020everyone to remember that um on the 14th so next week a week from yesterday it'll be the five year anniversary of this tragedy too so um keep that in mind as you're reading the next few chapters that this is still very Broad in 18- 1958 I get the number right um his sentencing just occurred earlier this late last year so this is still very raw for a lot of people all right so with that I mean do you do you guys have a preference on how we proceed as far as like two chapters at a time that's kind of what we did with the last book study um what do you guys have a preference I'm good with two okay see how that goes so for the next meeting we'll discuss chapters one and chapters
021two see how that goes um from there and we'll go from there all right that brings us back to public comment and just a reminder that this meeting is a meeting of the Board of Education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business it's 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 board 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 for 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
022to 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 address the board are there any public members who would like to address the board Andrea benick for those of you who are reading along with this book study and maybe don't have an understanding of all of the acronyms that come along with special education idea is the individualized or I'm sorry the individuals with disabilities in Education Act and that's a federal law and that indicates that students with disabilities have the right to an education as much as non-disabled students do in Michigan we like Michelle said are obligated to have the least restrictive environment and every student who has a disability is eligible for an individualized education plan and
023that means that the least restrictive environment is individual for every student so some students may have classrooms that look different than a non-disabled peer some students have um an inclusion act where they are fully included myelin is a fully inclusive District meaning that students with disabilities are with their general education population the majority of the time um so there are limitations as to what kinds of things can happen with students with disabilities what kind of placements they have what kind of education they receive and so I think it's important to note that Florida is very different from Michigan and I know that because I have people who live in Florida that I know who have kids with disabilities who actually bemoan Florida's education system for their students with disabilities it is very different Michigan is
024kind of sought out in the disabled population because of their highly inclusive policies and laws that are in place but to keep in mind that an individualized education plan is meant to be just that individualized so what my student who has a disability receives looks very different even though he has a classmate with the exact same diagnoses their services that they receive are very very different because they have very different needs in the high school what students have for their services received it looks very different than somebody who may have the exact same diagnosis so that individualized piece is a highly important component to keep in mind as Educators and as the general population so that you have an understanding of what that looks like here in Michigan thank you for the comment are there
025others hello I'm Dan Kiger I would like to welcome Ms Murray and Ms Rosen leacher to their elected terms I encourage you to reach out to your fellow board members for guidance and some direction there's a wealth of knowledge there for you to take advantage of one of the great things about living in this in Milan is that this community as a whole recognizes that the people they elect need to have the ability to look beyond their own self-interest and their own self-promotion to tackle the complex and to do what's best for our students and our district thank you thank you for the comment good evening again Rachel Hobbs as I was walking in I was handed the statement by somebody that's Anonymous Annette I was asked to read it for them I just hope
026that my reading skills are well enough tonight to do this statements on Justice I have written a statement and Rewritten this too many times to track it I thought for sure my first time addressing the board would be for our bullying problem or lack of protection for our special ed kids but no I stand here as an elementary sexual assault Survivor first time I've ever said that out loud the door was closed for me when I watched him walk off in handcamp and handcuffs I was groomed by my gem teacher as well as for other girls and what happened to us was not okay we were young we did not know better we were victims of somebody who was supposed to protect us well out of our parents care but for months I've listened to
027these books being read and I've listened to the board trying to advocate for these books you don't speak for me as a Survivor I am mortified listening to these Pages being read off if if we would have had access to those books then I we would have never said anything because we would have thought it was normal but as a predator and and a predator would still be on the loose but these books are absolutely grooming this made me reach out to other girls sending them your our YouTube links and getting their takes on us they even agree that these books are absolutely horrifying unless you've been in the situation please don't pretend to sympathize these books aren't okay my abuser was able to do this because he convinced me to trust him and and
028to keep secrets from my parents you have teachers in this District that might think that they're doing the right thing by offering to keep student keeps secrets for students their nicknames and pronouns but the truth is the teachers are unintentionally grooming these children to make it easier for child Predators like my abuser to Target them we are Paving the way for one person like my abuser to come in and convince your child that it is normal to have intimate secretive relationships and adults with school with adults at school we must do better as a district to protect our children we should not under any circumstances be introducing the idea to children that there are secrets that they should be keeping from their parents they shouldn't trust their parents they that they shouldn't trust their parents
029with things that are going on in their lives and that there there are adults in the school who are better suited to confide in it is inevitable that this will lead to destroying innocence of someone's childhood by hearing my story you should consider yourself warned if you do not take drastic steps to ensure your staff to ensure that your staff is not encouraging this behavior and another child's innocent is being destroyed like mine we will be sure every one of you are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and everyone in the community is made aware of your stubborn stubbornness and dismissive attitude that contributed to a myelin student being victimized by a sexual predator as is an indirect result of your failure to change these parane heinous and irresponsible Reckless policies thank you
030for the comment Mr sister yes I would just like to clarify that the abusive situation mentioned in that statement did not occur in milanary schools thank you hello Kirk Demars appreciate Community member sharing this book with you guys to read I've got it I look forward to starting to read it myself unfortunately it's not something that any of us want to read about really we don't want it to exist in our you know our world but unfortunately it's becoming too common um my urge and maybe to to all the board members as you read this because personally just sitting in the crowd and maybe I'm trying to read between lines too much but from your comments so far many of you seem like you're walking into the book with skepticism or with your defenses up
031because a Community member member brought it to you and said hey we have a lot of similarities to what happened in this book regardless of whether that was delivered in just or you felt it was I urge you to read this book trying to walk in with a blank slate not with your defenses up um for instance um tonight we have a basketball game going on people are able to access this building and enter that gym without being checked without actually paying for a ticket I know that for a fact that happens okay there are loopholes and how things are done not just here I'm not pointing the finger just at our butt it happens here so don't think that I'm mentioning it to you because I think oh milanary schools is the only School
032District on the planet that this stuff goes on all I'm telling you is that we have loopholes and how things are going on and if an innocent kid can figure it out and figure out how to get into a game without paying you better believe me that and it has happened because you're reading a book about it somebody that is not mentally well or somebody that is just mad at up here or a group of peers can figure out a way to get in this building whether it's during school or after school to hurt other kids or adults if they don't like one of you or one of their teachers so I'm urging you to please read this without your defenses up thank you thank you for the comment foreign ly I'm just gonna keep
033going after Kirk and he's gonna do a much better job of saying the things that I'm going to say um but yeah a lot of what he just said is strongly what I was thinking um it's really disappointing I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but it almost sounded like you guys are some of you have decided to go into this book study as more of a critique of the author versus actually reading the content and trying to see if there's anything we can actually learn from that situation it's really unfortunate um that your personal political views are so strong and your your desire to be stubborn and and divisive with us is so strong that that takes precedence over you trying to grasp any value out of this book um just to clarify he
034didn't just kill this the author's daughter he killed 17 people and he injured 17 more I just wanted to make sure that that was clarif that clarified um also that comic the crazy kids and put them in classrooms was not a statement by the author it was actually a quote from one of the teachers that he that worked with him throughout this whole process um man if you didn't know better I think you guys were interviewing for a job at Stoneman Douglas like what the crap um there was so much going on in this book that uh teachers and staff members of Milan are telling us is happening every day in these buildings the fact that you guys are sitting there so arrogantly stating that there's nothing for you to take away from this is
035mind-blowing to me I don't know if maybe they just aren't sharing that with you because of who you are which is something you should consider maybe in your Echo chamber you're not hearing this but I am I know several of the people in this audience are they're hearing it from the people that work in your buildings and some of them that don't because they refuse to work in that environment it's happening if this isn't just about special needs kids that is one aspect of the situation in Parkland but that's not all it was it's also about the teachers being handcuffed and the administration feeling like their leaders did not want them to implement certain certain disciplinary strategies there's a lot more to this than just special needs I strongly suggest that you stop getting hooked
036up on terminology and you start thinking about the bigger picture of this because terminology did not kill those kids thank you for the comment are there others thank you for those comments this evening uh since our student board reps are not here we've gone to superintendent comments Mr gearbox thank you oh I'm sorry I apologize hello my name is soche blavo and no need to apologize I was nervous to stand up my name is soche blavau I'm a sowards that's my maiden name and I'm actually a myelin alumni and a mother I have two kids who are currently attending at Milan and I have been trying to educate myself and hear both sides and understand the situation that's really going on in our educational program right now and what's being allowed and given access to
037our students and as a mom I find it deeply shocking not just as a mom but as a woman who has been a victim of sexual assault and in and out of a school situation I know that these books that have been brought forward a couple times are graphic borderline pornographic and as someone who has been a victim when you are going through one like healing in that stage you are totally like repulsed by some of the actions that are not only written but displayed and like pictured for students to see and I saw that there was a comment made previously that people who are opposed to these books make people who have had sexual assault feel shamed for speaking out in reality I would never want my kids to have these books because I
038view them as sexual assault my dad told me one of the best things when I was learning how to drive he said don't get over confident because when you're overconfident you're more likely to make mistakes and sometimes it won't just be you in the vehicle and I would really urge you to take a look at what direction we're going in as a community with our education with students with their minds who have their entire lives before them and realize that every single one of those students is currently in your vehicle thank you for your time thank you for your comment [Applause] what are the others hello my name is Anna sowards and I'm actually such A's mother um I just wanted to to just give a couple of tidbits of wisdom a wise man named
039Solomon said do not awaken passion before it's time little boys who find pornographic books and magazines in trash cans or in in their father's drawers or other places lose innocence well to put these on display in libraries that's causing them to lose innocence and some people might suggest that you know it's going to happen this is the world we're living in so we might as well have them be um be on display in in a safe environment but my question is um are we causing them to lose their innocence prematurely we are all held responsible for what we teach our children and our grandchildren and what we teach our students I'll tell you I'm an instructor and I take it very seriously when I teach my students about about life and not only this subject
040matter but about life and I I encourage them because I happen to teach International students and I tell them that they need to live with conviction conviction and I and even though they many of them are from a different background than I am um that I'm from and and even a different religion I still I I show them respect I show them respect I think that there's a way that we can teach the subject matter and show the students demonstrating as well as teaching them to show respect for one another and I think that we we don't have to put it on display we cannot awaken passion before it's time second thing I wanted to just mention that I appreciate um Miss Freights Christian Freight's take away from the book she took that content matter
041and applied it to her own experience and that's that's a great takeaway you know I mean I have children in this school and I think about it I've heard about I've heard about how the campus has been closed and I just I immediately start praying and and it's not even at a school where I have anybody any of my family but I start praying because I want all the kids to be protected and I imagine what I would feel if it were my kids thank you thank you for your comment are there others hi I'm Brittany Shepherd um this is my first meeting so I kind of just wanted to get a feel for you know the week you guys act and the way you guys act and I commend the parents for coming here
042and speaking their truth and what they're passionate about and I respect you guys because you are the people who are helping us teach our children um so it we we have to find a way to work together I'm an ER nurse and I see a lot of you know different walks of life and you know how you know education changes people um and it makes them you know if if nobody taught you something then how do you know how to do it um they're called you know Health inequities or disparities and you know it's it really starts at home and it starts at school because they are with you guys you know they're with our teachers in our schools for so many hours out of the week that we need to make sure that we're
043all cohesively working together and that's just what I hope for my daughter's in first grade you know and it kind of it worries me that you know every school is going to have their differences you know in their things that they got to work on but we we got to work together about it um so my question was coming from like a research base you know like are the kids who have access to these books fundamentally able to understand the concepts that they are reading um you know I get that our culture is over sexualized and you know everywhere their look that they look it's it's sexual something and and I feel like having it in our library isn't really a place that it needs to be education needs to be learning you know if
044it's fantasy you know smut is a big thing right now reading it at 35 is something different reading it at 18. I was not you know what I I don't know it's different when you're younger and you have all these hormones coming at you and I don't want kids to get lost in that because it's already overdone so much so if we can just kind of you know keep an eye on it and you know or if somebody does have questions you know it's the librarian saying like hey what's going on do you need to talk to a social worker are they having conversations um because it's it's more than just like here's this book and all this information and there's no there's no one to guide you of how to use it so that's
045where my thought kind of comes in because so there's obviously a disconnect from what I've been seeing you know just from Posts and stuff like that so I would just um I want there to be like a middle ground or a gray area that like we can have conversations and and both feel heard and be seen and you know actually have something done um so yeah I respect you guys and I respect you guys and I think that we need to find a way to work together so thank you for coming foreign so these uh these kids all kinds of gifts different races ethnicities different backgrounds they come to you and the first line is at home everything and they're home upbringing be good bad and otherwise being that I work in a prison and
046I haven't seen numerous files on these individuals that there's so many ways that is mandatory reporters of teachers or different things that um looking example is there was a one child that he exposed himself to another girl on the playground why would he do something like this this kid was seven maybe I think okay his mother was abusing them it's what he knew you would take these kids and then as they're growing up they're not learning what's right at home please let the school be out with them because that's the next place we are most likely don't have things that's going to teach them wrong okay I'll use myself I was blessed at 11. I didn't say anything to anybody then when I was 14 I started in or eating disorder or the therapy and
047everything and when as I got older but if I didn't have that either and decided to talk then I'm reading these books and I'm thinking it's normal that it's no it's not normal and then you have when the saying the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree you really see it when you're in the visiting room of a prison that you think your poor thing that you actually understand why they are the way they are you we had no chance it's at your home life let the school be something good and bad to avoid them that's fine thank you thank you for your comment uh Lake Foster again I just want to say kids in high school were not dumb stop thinking we're idiots we understand that this stuff is not normal we're not just
048we have a brain we're in high school we understand what's in these books we know what's happening isn't right we know that it's bad we know that it shouldn't happen but it does and if we don't know about what happens then we're just not going to be prepared for the world we're just not going to be ready for anything and that's what you're supposed to do in high school just get ready for the world if you're not ready this will happen even more we know what's going on we know that all these books we don't we don't think oh that kid got raped that's normal everybody does that no we understand it but these parents don't understand that we understand it they keep on underestimating us but we know what's going on and these books
049should not be removed because there's nothing wrong with them everything you read in there you probably know every kid in high school We're Not Innocent we're in high school we know all this stuff we know what happens we know it I can assure you that 99 of kids in high school have heard everything in those books before they're not learning new things from those books they know what happens all the books are is a book you're not changing any kids opinions thank you for the camera are there others right now we'll move on to superintendent candidates Mr gearbox yes thank you over the past couple of weeks we've had numerous student musicians perform at the msbo middle school festival and the msbo high school Festival honors included Henry lubke on percussion and Charlie megason on
050trumpet being selected for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Middle School honors band Milan High School petition with all instrumentalists earning medals and most events qualifying for state level competition congratulations to all of our band students who attended Festival last Saturday form Island choir performances including a sixth seventh and 8th grade Ensemble a high school soloist a high school chamber acquired tenor base Ensemble and a high school chamber choir soprano Alto Ensemble earned the highest rating of excellent the rubric is demanding and focuses on age-appropriate skill demonstration and again we want to offer our congratulations to the students who performed in the choir Festival the Milan High School bowling team held a very successful bowl with Nana on January 21st and we want to thank all of the folks in the district who participated in that event
051and helped with the fundraising February is Career Technical Education Month at the February 22nd board meeting the board will be recognizing our CTE students the high school will be providing more information to the students but we want all of our CTE students to come to the first few minutes of the February 22nd board meeting to be recognized the staff enjoyed a very successful professional development day on February 3rd each building provided professional development specific to their staff I would like to clarify some statements that were made about certain books during public comments at the January 25th board meeting first the book The Bluest Eye is at the middle school as a professional development book for the teachers and has never been on the shelf for student circulation the book The Lovely Bones is at the
052middle school as a professional development book for the teachers and has never been on the shelf for student circulation discover the universe has never been at Paddock Elementary School when it was entered into the system and placed at the high school the default is to have Paddock Elementary School checked and we in air did not uncheck Paddock elementary school again the book discover the universe has never been on a shelf or available to students at Paddock Elementary School at the January 25th board meeting a question was asked about foyer requests the district has designated me as the primary foia coordinator however emails sent to foia at milanareaschools.org actually get delivered to multiple individuals in the district this allows us to make sure that Freedom of Information Act requests are processed in a timely manner if
053a foia request was made regarding me personally then one of the other District employees trained in foia requests would handle that specific request the district communication committee met on January 30th the committee reviewed the progress being made on their previous recommendations a committee also discussed the plan for the future of the committee and another meeting has been scheduled to be in the next phase of work there are plans for staff shortages myilinary schools currently works with several universities to accept student teachers not all districts do we do that because we know that that's a good way to bring young teachers into our fold and for them to see the positive benefits of working at myilinary schools we also accept social workers and other departments accept internships with students through universities for the same purpose myilinary
054schools each building has a everyday building substitute we do that not only to help cover classes that we don't have substitutes for but we also do that to bring staff and young teachers into the district for the possibility of future hiring the Washington Intermediate School District at the request of the nine superintendents in the county is also developing a grow your own program where we will be working with universities to help develop a process for Teacher certification that is part University work and part paid internship in one of our nine districts and then will lead to employment within the county thank you Mr gearbaugh Mr McMahon yep I just have a couple Grand updates for you I have resubmitted our Robotics and our section 41 grants um we submit them in the fall and they
055come back to us in both cases here they came back with more funds for a number of reasons that can happen but they've been resubmitted not approved yet but sent in the robotics Grant is just a little over sixteen thousand dollars to support our programs on all four buildings and the section 41 Grant got kicked up to just over fourteen thousand dollars and section 41 is technically bilingual but that also goes to our El population so that's an addition to title three funds so we're really happy to have that money it's not approved yet but we can start spending on it um and also mde just like recently within the last week opened up four new grants focused on Mental Health academic support school safety that we have to dig into it's just sort of
056brand new pot of money just came out and they just sort of threw it at us so we got a little bit of time to start digesting that Krista and I and Brian will be working to get through those applications soon that's it for me thank you Mr McMahon um now into board member comments Mr sislo yes Mr Farrell first I want to I want to make sure that the audience understands that I do feel the grief and anger with respect to the book that we are reading as the board I'm invested in the reading and I'm certainly going to read it with an open mind so if I gave the impression that I'm not invested um uh that's just not accurate um couple other comments that I have regarding our budget it appears Governor
057Whitmer plans to propose another increase in per pupil spending for K-12 students and increases in public universities and community colleges her proposal is likely to include 160 million dollars for free breakfast and lunch for 1.4 million kids ages in grades K through 12. that would mean an additional 18 million meals served in 45.3 million dollars in additional funds for school districts you may recall that the federal government had expanded the free meal program in schools during the covet emergency to include all kids not just those families with lower incomes however that expansion expired this past summer if all that transpires another review of our budget and future budgets will be needed I missed the last board meeting so welcome to Sarah Murray I look forward to working with you at the last meeting there were
058some comments online that were specific to one of our students I am confident that none of the online comments were from members of the Milan community that's that the online comments included the student needing to be knocked down attacks on this person's hygiene and attacks on this person's future parenting so I implore all of us to if you read or see these types of comments online about any of our students to please call it out as appalling and unacceptable also just a quick note about the Consortium applications for the Consortium are due February 17th for those students that are interested in the Consortium for the next year please be sure to fill out the 2023-24 Milan student application thank you Mr Sparrow others Mr sislow yes Mr rosenleisure I just want to take a moment
059to thank our sex education Advisory Board what a great group of people I was here earlier to hear the second public meeting and The Paddock body safety curriculum I think they did an outstanding job finding a curriculum that meets the needs in hopes to begin Early Education on keeping our youngest students safe so thank you to all of them that put that time in I agree others yes Miss Murray um I'll just take a moment to kind of echo what Mr Farrow was saying earlier this is just the preface and the forward of the book so we haven't gotten into the meat of what this author is going to continue into describing so absolutely if you know the critique that I gave tonight landed somehow insensitively I recognize that and I will endeavor to bring
060some comments about the upcoming chapters that are you know additionally targeted to our specific situations here in Milan but I also want to say that in addition to being committed to reading this book openly that also does mean that I'm not going to shy away from noting problematic language calling out bias conjecture unsupported opinions because that's what it means to me to read a piece of literature critically and so I thought I would just quickly share what my Flags are noting so I have different colors of blue for potential bias green for agreement which there's quite a bit of green in Here Pink for um uh problematic language as I addressed this evening purple for things that make me question under the things that aren't unsure I've actually been in the index footnotes quite a
061bit and have read many of the referenced material in addition to the book itself so in future discussion I'll make sure that I bring some of that with me as well and then moving on to uh Community things I had the honor of this past weekend of volunteering at the semila quiz Bowl competition at Celine Middle School this past Saturday so I just wanted to take a moment to lift up our sixth and seventh grade competitors Coach Murray and the numerous parents who were up early on that Saturday morning to get out there and compete with our fellow semi member districts the teams for quizzle if you're not familiar are mixed so they take students from all the districts and they intermix them on teams together so when the students from Milan show up they
062get placed at a table on a team with students from all other districts so it adds a real layer of complexity for the students because they're used to practicing with their own myelin people and then they get out and they have to work with other students from other districts and it was really amazing to watch them rise to that occasion so the students then compete in three rounds and there's a final bracket at each grade level and Milan students were a part of both the sixth and seventh grade first place teams we didn't have 8th graders this year but I just want to say congrats again to the MMS quiz Bowl team that's all thank you thank you Miss Murray others Mr Cislo that's right um we won a two point the exec board met
063and kind of have some more dates now normally we have a legislative coffee in in January and due to the change in legislators and such we weren't able to get that going together however we will be having one on February 27th they're typically at 7 30 um they last to about nine uh and that's hopefully going to actually have food this time and but they also have a zoom link so if you're going in person you actually get to have food um and then it'll be the zoom um I unfortunately will not be able to be there because my daytime job is subbing so I'm down um so kind of prevents me this time um we're also I apologize I'm trying to pull up the accurate we're also looking forward to having I needed to
064get to with you Mr um gearba with having a student Forum I guess they've done it in years past and the thought would be to have a board representative and superintendent and we'll just discuss some things and have some students get together to voice some opinions on things that are going on and move forward with that that is not hopefully until next fall because there's going to be some in-depth planning going so I'll be touching base with you uh we're also hoping to have some advocacy training we don't have the date yet and that's more for all of us as board members um to be able to I think I discussed previously that the board is hoping to have a very um loud and helpful voice moving forward now that we have the new legislators
065and everything um so we're hoping to get some training from some professionals as to how we go about doing that the best way so that we can ensure that our voice is being heard and working in accordance with the legislators so that's my um wasb get together and I have that date out more than happy to share it with all of you they're still trying to coordinate some speakers and training on that we also will be I think you guys will be receiving my fellow board members an email from Melissa she's the secretary I don't know if you guys have already received that um the masb exec board has a they renominate in January we have to put together a nomination committee and they generally ask if anybody would like to be on that they
066try to get someone from every district and then they put together the group that they want due to covid I've now been this is like the second time that I've been on because it kind of fell at a weird time and we did that I think we're still kind of hoping of maybe moving things up because they have a past president a president and everybody kind of slides up one um but you'll be informed of that so if you're getting an email from Melissa she's the secretary of the masb exec and she's asking if you have time it's one meeting just so you know one meeting to say hey we would recommend this person um no obligation they only need three but you know just so you're aware why that email is coming and then
067there will be elections at the March meeting and I'll be bringing that slate of people too as well um I'm excited about our Sports people doing well I got to participate in part of the bowling stuff which is really great missed out on the quiz bullet it's one of my things I still want to do um and I'm excited because our choir and band did do rather exceptional and so that's really great and I do officially I missed my meeting want to welcome Miss Murray and um Betty rosen-leacher it's nice to have you both here and I'm very excited so I thank um Mrs little Mr gearbot working forward with our CTE recognition it's always great when we have our students here and I think it's great to put a light on the different options
068we give to our students to go different paths and make sure that they have a career plan so I'm very excited for that at the next meeting I appreciate the time and effort in doing that thank you thank you Miss Freight psycho um it's been so long that I think we forgot that we had a big red board chat so I want to thank everyone who attended the big red board chat I thought we had a great conversation about what's happening in our schools the steps that we're taking as a board and as a district and you know discussed I think expectations of parents and had a conversation about how the board and how communication I shouldn't say thought how to communicate had a discussion about Communications that go out when we're in the midst
069of lockdowns and had a discussion about various types of lockdown so I thought it was very productive we did get a very good question about what parents can do to help and I said this at the board or the big red board chat and I want to say it here to all of you and I think that this is very timely given the communication that went out yesterday about the swatting incidents I think that the one of the biggest things that parents can do right now is talk to your your students about and across the board I shouldn't say just parents what we as adults can do to to help the schools and to help our students is to have a conversation with them about how serious yes these situations are and that while you
070know you may mean a threat as a joke or you may hear people joking about it it's not funny and the school district will take it very seriously and we will act swiftly and sometimes what some people may believe harshly because we take it very seriously and we have to and so I think that's one of the biggest things that we can all do right now is if you have you know if you're you have a student that looks up to you or comes to you for guidance that's one of the things we really need to be telling our students is that this isn't funny and we'll we'll take it as serious as it is um the other thing I want to say is uh there is some movement in the state legislature to repeal
071the third grade reading bill or reading Law some of you might not know what that is we've talked about it at some board meetings but there is a statute that requires third graders who are not reading at grade level at third grade to be held back and there are some other ways that parents and the school administration can deal with those situations and there is a lot of research out there on the harm that holding students back can cause and I think there was even some state senator the other day said that maybe sometimes kids just need a kick in the pants and if they think they're going to be held back this will encourage them to work harder I had a third grader who didn't read at grade level and it certainly wasn't because
072he didn't work hard it was because there were other things going on that needed to be addressed it I don't want to share too much of his personal information but there are lots of reasons that children at grade in third grade may not be reading at grade level and it certainly isn't because they are not working hard or their parents are working hard or the teachers aren't working hard um and holding kids back can cause a lot of harm I say all that because I encourage all of you that if you feel the same way I feel about this law that you should reach out to your legislatures legislators tell them how important it is to you to repeal this statute because I think the house is going to start moving on it soon too
073um I want to apologize to all the community members who also received death threats and threats of other violence it's not acceptable it doesn't matter what side it comes from or what side it's directed to it's absolutely unacceptable and I'm sorry that that happened to you um in response to the suggestions we were given on how to handle death threats I did put my big girl pants on I showed up at the next meeting I continued to discuss and I let the community know what was happening behind the scenes um I will not stop fighting for marginalized students in this community I just won't do it I was very open with the community about where I stand on many of these issues when I ran for the board the second time and quite frankly the
074first time and I'm not going to stop fighting for those same values I did file police reports and resigning is not an option I am not going to resign over this I ran for the school board I was elected by this community and I'm going to continue to write to represent this community in the way that I've been very open to everyone about my personal views that's all I have thank you msika Miss Michael um I did first want to share um that the school board is going to be supporting the downtown um read Around organized by Mrs Tousley and Mila Main Street for the month of February um the book for this year is The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and she is a diverse very highly decorated and and honored author and
075very versatile because she has she writes kids books all the way up to adult books um so on the 25th of February looks like it'll be Mrs Murray and I and her daughter um trying to get families caught reading downtown so if you don't aren't familiar with the downtown read around their storyboards along Main Street so kids and their families can follow the story from the first page to the last and um we're excited to try to find some people out there enjoying that well our plan right now is to be there on February 25th on a Saturday from 11 to 12 and if we catch you reading then you get a copy of the book which is beautiful and I will say is Tuesday or during the jury winter days those storyboards are so
076fresh and colorful and springy it's been great so anyway so we hope to see lots of kids out during that time I also have a statement that I would like to read and I do not like reading things off of a paper but if you're like me and you start talking and you get off on tangents then you'll appreciate that I have to do that but it's it's not my my nature um so thank you for listening um I just started my 11th year on this board and like I said during my candidate Forum I might be elected by adults but the work that I do is for kids and after 30 years in education I can't think of a time when this sentiment has been more important for school boards to live by and
077honestly not just school boards it's true for all of us our entire Community has the ability to enact positive change for our students and for public education as a whole and we cannot be afraid to speak up and this is what I see here in Milan in regards to that sentiment and after decades in the field of Education I can pretty confidently say I think I know what I'm talking about our staff is extremely hard working and goes above and beyond for kids they double down all the time on their efforts of continuous Improvement the board has talked about that many times over the years and are in the trenches implementing what's best for our district during some of the most challenging years that education and this world have ever seen our administrators our superintendent
078and our assistant superintendent are a top-notch team they've worked for a lot of Administrators and I see a lot come and go over my years and in Milan we have some of the best leaders in the business they lead by example and they want what is best for kids and they work a gazillion hours trying to make that happen and this board this is a group of honest and dedicated individuals who aren't here for Glory or recognition they're here to lift this District up to make difficult decisions under sometimes brutal circumstances and to support all students in realizing their individual potential I know that they're inspired and energized by what they see going on in our classrooms every day and I am a better person for having served with them the dedication and all the
079good work being done and it doesn't mean there's no more work to do especially lately the truth is is that there's a lot of negativity being hurled around here and in our nation um and it has damaging Ripple effects I can tell you as a teacher it that's where it goes it has damaging Ripple effects on our children and our staff and we are fooling ourselves if it does we think it does not the toxicity that I am referencing is not sustainable I've seen it in my own District to disastrous ends a mess and so at some point we all have to ask ourselves what are we here to accomplish and for whom are we doing it I feel like the answers to that have been drowned out and watered down by many extraneous forces
080working against public education and not with it or for it there's no low that is apparently too low nowadays when it comes to attacks on public schools on teachers on board members and really just on people in general as we heard here tonight sometimes even students as we sadly witness with one of ours for someone like me who can be pretty thin-skinned and some of you may relate sometimes overly sensitive and emotional the heaps and heaps of negativity and to be frank the blatant lives have taken their toll maybe more so since I am both a school board member and a career public school elementary educator and the truth is we all have a Line in the Sand a hard stop when it comes to what we're willing to accept when it comes to ourselves
081and our families and in my case to a job that I love once those lines are crossed decisions have to be made about how much someone like me is willing and able to take my Line in the Sand has been crossed and I've made that gun-wrenching decision I will be resigning from this board effective at the end of this month I am sad and I am sick over it but I look forward to serving our community Through the other organizations that I volunteer with here in Milan and by continuing to promote literacy accessibility to books and a love of reading which anyone who knows me has been my passion in life for a long time now thank you to the voters who put me in the seat twice along with the other six people sitting
082here that you put your confidence in our most recent Board election was this community's chance to use their vote as their voice and they delivered a strong message about what people and values they want representing Mylon area schools I know Mrs Rosen liacher and Mrs Murray and the rest of the board will carry that message forward in their hearts and their minds in all the hard work they will do I'm proud to have had a front row seat to witness how hard this District works for the students families staff and community that we all care deeply about no districts no people are perfect and yes there is always more work to be done but I hope Brian and this board can continue to keep their time and energy and focus on kids and on the
083job they were elected to do you always have and I'm confident you always will it's been an absolute honor to serve this community that I love with selfless well-intentioned compassionate people like yourselves and those who sat here before you I'd like to thank the board I'd like to thank Brian and Ryan and most of all I would like to thank Milan thank you Mr Cislo thank you Miss machio thank you for your service we appreciate it so in regards to the announcement this Macchio just made communication will come out from Mr gearbot next week in regards to the time frame for a replacement um in general we'll be looking for applications to be submitted through Friday March 3rd then at the March 8th board meeting we'll have a time to organize interviews for those interested
084in the hopes of conducting those interviews at the March 22nd board meeting so look for that communication to come from Mr gearbaugh next week in regards to filling an open board position as Miss Macio stated her resignation will be February 28th and the law requires us to fill that within 30 days so again the hope would be to fill that at our March 22nd board meeting the Committees um I've but the communities have been formed uh for the board at this time Miss Macchio will serve on these committees until the 28th so academics and programs is going to be chaired by Miss Freight it'll include myself and Miss Macchio The Learning environment and culture committee will be chaired by miss haika and miss Murray and Mr rosen-leacher will be on that committee the communications and
085Community engagement committee will be chaired by Ms Rosen leacher and we'll have Miss Murray and Miss Freight the personnel and Leadership committee will be shared by Miss Macchio and Mr pharaoh and Rosen leacher are on that committee and then the finance and operations committee will be chaired by Mr Farrow and I will be on that committee along with Miss haika um also have the the board Reps for the schools at this time Paddock the board reps will be Mr Rosen leacher Ms haika for Simons it'll be Miss Freight and Miss Macchio for middle school will be Miss Murray and Miss Freight for the high school will be Mr pharaoh and Mr Cislo um I do want to let the community know that we will be considering three appeals of the book Review Committee recommendation team
086at our next meeting as well within the 30 days that we received that appeal the books will be identical tricks and push the recommendation is to maintain the book in the library shelf as part of the self-selection collection in the library and to add a parent or Guardian permission requirement to the existing checkout procedure by flagging the book as such in the existing Library System um some of the peels quoted Michigan law so we will be um speaking with the attorney in regards to that as well as to answer the question and public comment in regards to the ACLU they will also be providing um a an opinion regarding the ACLU letter so we'll be receiving guidance from them in regards to the laws that were recorded in this part of this appeal as well
087as the ACLU letter um with that I don't have any other comments any other comments at this time right um the next order of business I need a motion to enter into closed session pursuant to section 81a of the Michigan open meetings act and upon the request of the employee for the purpose of conducting a periodic Personnel evaluation moved by pharaoh support by Macio it's been moved and supported to enter to the closed session pursuant to A1A of the Michigan open meetings act and upon the request of the employee for the purpose of conducting a periodic Personnel evaluation just a reminder everyone here we will go into closed session you are welcome to stay the only order of business Upon Our return will be to vote on the rating for that review and then we
088will adjourn any other comments regarding this motion all right it's been moved and supported to enter into closed session pursuant to section 81a of the Michigan open meetings act and upon the request of the employee for the purpose of conducting a periodic Personnel evaluation Miss heike as well yes Sarah yes motion carries 7-0 go into closed session to 840. foreign there you go um foreign you know foreign thank you okay thank you you're right here there's a car park out there you later thank you uh idea foreign [Music] thank you yeah pretty much they should at least foreign yeah thank you good job to you foreign okay