001Thank you. Call to order the regular Board of Education meeting on March 24th at 6:30 and Caroline will lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. This is our opportunity for our first public comment. Uh member of the public may address the board briefly for up to 3 minutes or request to be scheduled on the agenda for a future meeting. Please note that students will be given priority to speak on any topic. The first public participation portion of the meeting will normally be limited to 30 minutes or 1/2 hour and will be limited to agenda items. A second public participation portion will be offered at the end of the agenda for to allow for any other comments. We don't have any public comments. Okay. Uh response to public comments. I don't have any uh revisions and
002approval of agenda. Items may be added or deleted from the meeting agenda and or the order of the items may be changed at the request of any individual board member or the superintendent. The agenda must be approved before proceeding. May have a recommended motion to approve the agenda as printed. So moved, McVay. Second, Warwick. Warwick. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries 5-0. I guess I will mention uh Jason is out of town and Nate was unable to get back in town, so he's out of town as well. So, uh it will just be the five of us. And now I will introduce the student showcase. It's the Saline Middle School Web Leaders. Uh present student presenters will be Caroline, Austin, Hattie, Malea, and Kenzie. Kenzie and McKenna. Um hello everyone.
003My name is Austin Marion. I'm Caroline D'Agostino. And I'm Kenzie Stanifer. We're here to tell you about what WEB does and how we make a difference in our school. Um what WEB stands for is Where Everybody Belongs and we strive to make the middle school a better place and for the sixth graders to be able to feel welcome from when they first step in the building at sixth grade orientation to when they last leave the building on the last day of school. Sixth grade orientation is a day where the WEB leaders introduce incoming sixth graders to the school and their classmates. We all play games together in the gym when they first arrive and then we get into our groups and introduce each other and play more games. This creates a very welcoming atmosphere for
004the new students and makes them feel more comfortable with their future classmates. Um some sixth grade games that we do, some sixth grade games and lessons that we do are drawing games, board games, rock, paper, scissors tournaments, and uh many others. Um we also talk to them about the elective options that they have going into seventh grade and more options. So um on the la- on the day before winter break, uh we brought a bunch of cookies and hot chocolate into the sixth grade pod and we handed them out to them um before the bell rang and we decorated their hallway and put a bunch of snowflakes on their lockers. And so this is a way that we connected with the sixth graders this year and one way we made them feel welcome and like
005they had a place in the middle school. Um in a few weeks we will have fifth grade transitions and we will be able to let the fifth graders come in and we will show them around the school and just tell them about what the middle school's all about and just help them get acclimated to the new building. Another way that we introduce future students is the resource fair. The resource fair is an opportunity for future parents and kids of Selinsgrove to get a peek at what our school has. Groups like WEB and student council help to set up a stand with photos, quotes, and statistics about our school. This helps show parents what our school is like and all the good things about it. These are all ways that our club motivates students and lets
006them know they always have a home at SMS. Thank you for listening to our presentation. I just want to say they are an amazing group. They do so much and anytime we need anything from them in terms of help for any of the transitions, the number of kids that come out and say, "Yes, I will do after school stuff." is amazing. And just this wonderful group sat, put this presentation together, and made an effort to be here tonight. So, we're very lucky Do you Do you want to gather over here for a picture real quick? And thank you for the presentation. Do we want to get the slide that says WEB behind them? Absolutely. Join them. Can we squeeze together? Yeah, a little bit more maybe a bit. 1 2 3 smile. Okay. Well, I'm
007done. >> Okay, so we'll move to administrative administration and board committee updates. So, Superintendent Kowalski. >> Thank you. It's hard to believe that we're already nearing spring break. I find this time of year always brings that kind of energy. There's a certain kind of energy actually, momentum, pushing toward the finish but feeling like we're not just quite there yet. So, we're also been doing a lot of celebrating. It's been a wonderful March as reading month. So far, there's still things going on in our schools. We've had excellent programs, family nights, literacy nights across the district. Just really appreciated all of the hands on deck to make sure that we had school wide and district wide literacy celebrations. Lots of activities, experiences, and culturally connected activities as well to to make us all feel connected. So,
008we are also in a season right now as I was reminded several times last couple weeks filled with lots of academic competitions, performances, opportunities for our students to shine like just like the one we just saw. So, across the district some things I want to point out. Yesterday we had the bandarama and then tonight the string fling. So, if you have time if we get out maybe like a little earlier we can maybe could swing by there at the end. That's at the Sweeny High School gym. But just if not still great stuff going on. Really nice to see. Both events featured performances from students across all all grade levels and ensembles showcasing their musical talent. It was really wonderful to see our music uh community come together along with Saline Music Boosters who just
009do great stuff. So, lots of fun over there. If you're hearing it right now, run over there to finish up. All three of our Saline High School choirs earned Division 1 ratings excellent at the MSVMA District Choral Festival with two groups receiving nearly perfect scores. And so, lots of talent there, continued talent and great things, but also the discipline and teamwork it takes to get there. We also had our fiddlers Philharmonic who took stage recently joined by some younger musicians. Another great way to see our pipelines of music and arts in the district. Even our elementary level, I've been I've had an opportunity to go to a couple of those. Harvest Heritage, Woodland Meadows, and Pleasant Ridge all had beautiful performances in the last two to three weeks. Such talent early on continues to amaze
010and I did learn that Woodland Meadows the three piggy opera is a tradition. So, that was pretty cool. Saline Middle School hosted SEMLA Quiz Bowl this past weekend. Great experience for everyone involved. I saw lots of cars and I didn't happen to go in. I was doing something else, but did see lots of cars there. Of course, Quiz Bowl is a spirited academic competition and those kids are demonstrating their deep knowledge across a wide range of subjects. The South and West Washtenaw Consortium just want to highlight a couple things there. Competed recently at Delta College in fields like CAD, manufacturing, welding, automotive technology, and we had multiple students place across those events. DECA Business Professionals of America students have also been quite busy competing at the state level. And we had several standout performances and
011some students heading to nationals. FFA students recently earned remark remarkable, I think was what what the term was under proficiency awards. And so lots of technical skills as well. Just tons of great things going on in the district. I think I'll end with um on that. We also continue to lead the way for our unified sports programs who continue to bring students and adults um of diverse abilities on the same team. So last week Heritage celebrated their inclusion week and had um a unified basketball game and then Friday afternoon the high school had their students show up fully present and cheering on in the staff versus students game. So that continues to be just a great program for our students. Speaking of transitions, I know I got a little nod and head heading off into
012that topic. Um we recently held our Heritage Transition Night Transition Night, and so uh we had several families attend and then of course those are recorded and available to families afterwards. And we want to make sure that we're continuing to support families during these transitions. They're not just procedural, but continue to be welcoming opportunities to meet staff and administrators and all of the great folks who will um welcome your students. And as we move further into spring, just wanted to make sure everyone had these events on their radar. Um the elementary nights, so Woodland Meadows is Wednesday, May 6th. Pleasant Ridge, Wednesday, May 13th. Harvest, Wednesday, May 20th. And Heritage, Thursday, May 21st is the date I had. Um so we're excited to continue to welcome families into our buildings in May for those spring
013open houses. We did have that great event in February, but that did not replace our elementary events. These are a little bit different feel, really getting to see the building and um get to meet some staff and be welcome in. I think there's a red carpet, if I remember correctly. Um which was really cool. I didn't walk the red carpet though. The students walked the red carpet. Um so these evenings are always a highlight as well as the many other things I talked about. I'd like to use the last piece of my update tonight to talk um to for for purposes and making sure that our public is aware of my superintendent goals for the year ahead for the evaluation period ahead. And so, I wanted to share a high level of those per the
014MASB superintendent superintendent evaluation model. So, the model separates two goals separates goals into two areas. You have progress towards district and leadership goals and that makes up 15% of the evaluation and the student data goal, which is 20% of the evaluation. And so, I'll briefly reference those two goals shared with the board um and one student outcome goal. So, first I'm continuing to lead the development and launch of a district strategic plan. I'm really excited that there have been so many stakeholders involved in that thus far and more work is to be done. Looking forward to again working with our board committee on that as well after spring break. And um the important stakeholders that will be a part of that such as our SEA, SASA, and ESP leadership at times in the spring with
015that committee. Uh the second qualitative goal um on leadership goals is developing a long-term vision for early childhood ecosystem, strengthening how we support students and families from the earliest years and I've talked many times at this table about that. And then for the 20% student data goal, this is um really inspired by a lot of the work I've been doing with our administrators and our and through our leadership pipelines with some up-and-coming administrators. Um and that's to reduce chronic absenteeism. I um hear and engage a lot on this topic with our staff who continues to share concerns with me about um the continued chronic absenteeism rate of which we have seen exacerbated by the pandemic and beyond. Um and so, that goal is quan- quantitative um and I stated that I'd like to decrease it
016as measured by MI school data from 13.2% to 10%. I think that goal also aligns really well with work that's already being done to support students and families. And so, I look forward to continuing to provide updates through this work and welcome any input and community feedback as well, of course, for our board members. Thank you. Um thank you, student representative Jillian. Thanks. Some of these are on my phone cuz I was booking it home from a dentist appointment. So, I tried to write them down on my paper as fast as possible. Um okay, starting off with Heritage. Um they're finishing up their March is Reading Month. Um Dr. Kowalski already touched on all the Band-o-rama and String Fling. Um however, this coming Thursday, fourth graders will be picking band, orchestra, or choir for fifth
017grade, which is super exciting. Um shameless plug, do band, do trumpet, it's really fun, and you get to be really loud. So, there you go. Um yeah, it's my favorite, that's what I played. Um Pleasant Ridge, they're spring concerts, and March is Reading Month is also wrapping up. Um Woodland Meadows is actually on my phone. Um the Woodland Meadows music teacher, sorry if I butcher your name, Mrs. Benke has led two performances, one for kindergarten and first grade, and second and third grade will be after spring break. However, for the first time, first through third graders will be performing at Saline High School, which is extremely exciting. Um their March is Reading Month is also wrapping up, and they had a author visit by, sorry if I butcher this as well, Maria Dismondy, um the
018author of Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun. The students were also given spaghetti in a hot dog bun. Um their book bracket is now down to the final two, which is Pop Goes the Nursery Rhyme and Those Darn Squirrels. And the winner will be determined later this week. Um Harvest is finishing up their March is Reading Month. Shocker, March is almost done. Um spring Woah, spring concerts are being wrapped up. Kindergarten and second grade had them the last few weeks. And first and third grade will be in April, which is directed by Mrs. Trisha Dena and who is retiring after 34 years at the end of the year. So, very sad and I hope you have a fantastic journey after this. Um thank you to the Saline Middle School web leaders that were just here.
019I was never a part of them, but I hope you grow up for Link Crew, which is very similar and also very fun. Um and congratulations to all of the performers that got all of their wonderful wonderful medals and have a very safe and fun spring break. Board updates, do we have any? Yeah. Okay. Um just starting in order. So, first of all, Rachel, thank you for all of the things you said because it's a huge list and this is certainly the time of year when we have a lot going on. Um just starting from since the last board meeting on the 10th, um on March 12th through the 15th, I was fortunate enough to chaperone our students our high school students going to Business Professionals of America States in Grand Rapids. Um we took
020Excuse me, we took six individuals. Two of them placed first and second in the state in management, marketing, and HR concepts. So, Carol, if you're hiring, I know a couple of boys at the high school for you. Um and then we also placed fourth in the state in financial team analyst, um which was very cool. Now, the now the the rough thing is the top three go to nationals. So, we were very excited about the two individuals that got states in the one category. Um we were very proud of everybody, of course, in fourth, but the boys were very excited to hear that one of the teams couldn't go. So, now we're going to nationals for that, too. So, I'll go to Nashville with them the first week of May. Um so, that's Nick Rios,
021um Ryan Steuben, uh Carson Wood, uh uh Jack Klein, William Van Hafton, and Samir Sankaran. So, congratulations. Uh on the 16th, um oh, Jason obviously is not here as as Tim said, so he asked me to cover the policy committee updates. On the 16th, we had one of our 2-hour sessions. We went over a whole lot of uh different policies including um and so what this is for, I I know you all know, but for the public, it's the transition from Neola to Trone. So, we're cross-mapping the both repositories of uh policies and going through all of the Trone policies to see if there's anything we potentially want to change before it comes to the table for a larger conversation. So, we did the 5000 series, so that's going to be um student enrollment, attendance,
022and records, student conduct and discipline, student rights, facilities, real and personal property, finance and borrowing, oh, 3000 series, finance and borrowing, general operations, so a lot of Rex and Miranda in there. Um and then we have already reviewed um the 1000 series and the 2000 series. 1000 talks a little bit about policy overview. 2000 series talks a lot about board um responsibilities. Uh and then 3500, which is FOIA. Um Jason wanted to make sure that I mentioned his email that he sent on the 18th. We'd very much like feedback before our next session. Our next session is on April uh we have a 3-hour session that night. Um so, if you can take a look at that email, we would be appreciative. Um I think the the feeling was especially looking at 5200 student conduct
023and discipline because that's something that gets a lot of feedback from our um community care holders and our our staff and students. So, if you can take a look at that one maybe first and then all of the others that he mentioned in there, that would be great. Um thank you to our staff also. The staff uh were assembled reviewing each of these policies before they came to the policy committee since many of them are close to that work. I mentioned Rex and Miranda, but there's a whole team of others behind some of the policies that we're looking at that have kind of first line visibility into how those policies are operationalized. So that's very beneficial for us to understand. Tomorrow I have the DEI AC committee meeting and um I did notice that the
024summer guide for community education went out. You can start registering for that on the 8th. Everybody knows who's registered kids in this district knows that a lot of stuff goes quickly. So I just wanted to register that with everybody and thank community ed for all of the excellent and expanding opportunities for the students. I'll just go quick and then we'll just continue down the line. Yes, thank you like Jennifer mentioned to Rachel and Jillian. You basically gave a quick two minute state of the district and then also Rachel for your continued work on your goals and uh being clear with the public on those two. That was great. As far as the chamber goes um late lunch Tuesday, March 31st at 1:00 at the station 300. So if you're interested in going to that and
025being a part of that, you can go to that. Uh Chamber of Commerce website and sign up for that. March 31st at 1:00. Yep. I have just two quick updates. The cares committee met and have allocated their grants and Brian Puffle will be here in April to bring that to the board. And then we are meeting for the first time with the strategic planning committee first week of April. I guess second week. Uh right. So, I have a few things as well. And first of all, I always appreciate this opportunity to share what we're doing in the district as board members. So, the Washtenaw Association of School Boards, I've officially rolled off the executive committee. Yay, after 4 years uh as past president. So, I Mary Jane Tramontin is now from WISD. She's going to
026be the president now of that. And Janice Townson rolled off, so now she's officially past president. So, I get to sleep in an extra 30 minutes and miss the executive meeting. Well, you know how that goes. Uh and for those of you who are unfamiliar, WASB brings all nine districts in the WISD together to handle issues that are going on in the countywide. WASB on the 12th had a learning session all about generative AI. We had two experts, regional, uh uh one from Michigan Virtual University and another from Oakland Schools. And we spent the evening doing a deep deep dive into AI and its relevance to our work as board members. The next day, the 13th, I was involved with the Michigan Association of School Boards Governmental uh Relations Committee, and we talked about several
027bills, uh House and Senate that are working their way through. We give them thumbs up or thumbs down do we support the bills. One of them was a Senate bill that would codify free breakfast and lunch in schools. Another House Bill 5338 would encourage one class period to talk to dedicated to organ and tran tissue donation education, which is pretty helpful. And another House Bill 5427 would add such things as emergency closures uh as in the list of what counts as acceptable for uh virtual instruction. You know, what do they call um emergencies, disasters, storms, that sort of thing that closed down the schools. On March 14th, I was delighted to attend to see I was one of those many many cars in the parking lot for the uh on Pi Day to be a
028quiz ball reader and I always enjoy doing this. Thanks for the invitation every year. And one of the kids said, you know, either all nervous, but eventually they settle down and got to exercise their brain muscles. I love it. Um um I I In my day job, we new new topic here. In our day my day job, I was I've been planning a summit on AI at Eastern Michigan University. And as I was checking in teachers for their sketches for the clock hours, about six I think it was five or six is Saline Area Schools teachers came. I was so happy to see them there and they they they had a plan. They spread out throughout all the sessions and and then they they debriefed afterwards. They probably know more about what was happening there
029than than I did because I couldn't go to many of the sessions at all. And finally, this is a personal note. I want to thank the core team and Superintendent Kowalski, my board colleagues for the beautiful flowers Kristen and I received today. I'd also like to thank the members of the Saline Area Schools community for their messages of condolence and care this week following my mother's passing at the tender age of 98. Uh she certainly led a full and joyful life and my family will miss her very very much, of course. So, thank you very much again for that tribute. I appreciate that. And that wraps up my comments. Okay, we'll move on to action items. Uh recommend a motion to approve the pre-AP pilot courses at Saline Middle School. So moved, Devon. Support, Gold.
030And we do you have Cara Davis and Kim Jasper who are going to just do a brief overview, I believe. >> Good evening everybody. Thank you so much. So, as you saw in the board packet through the memo, it really is our hope that these pre-AP pilots will help us expand access to high-quality rigorous learning experiences will also strengthen your alignment PK through 12. We're excited to support intentional pathways into advanced coursework, build foundational skills at the secondary level for advanced coursework, and of course also increase equity and access to this opportunities for our students. So, we're hoping you'll consider this this evening. Any questions for them? I just have a comment. I was really excited to read these. It seems like a great opportunity for the students and I will vote for it soon
031enough, but just um really impressive work and I thought the AP Art was really interesting and Yeah. I'm excited too. Thank you. Could you just quickly review sort of how that's going to translate into a schedule Sure. at the middle school? Yes. So, um pre-AP Art is going to be offered as an eighth grade elective. We are looking at running a section this coming school year to get students rolling and to pilot it. Um pre-AP World History is actually going to become the seventh grade World History curriculum. The standards align very nicely and so the teachers dug into it and our goal was originally to do a pilot section and they said, "Can we can we dive in?" And so that's where we're going with that. And then pre-AP Bio has um kind of a
032hybrid journey happening. We are going to run an elective for eighth graders, two sections of pre-AP bio um as an elective, but then at the same time we're going to weave in um pre-AP bio units that complement the current um eighth grade curriculum. And so there's a little bit of it kind of being embedded across across our eighth grade schedules and seventh grade in world history. Um uh as a follow-up, how does that affect coursework at the high school level or impact it? So we have been examining the alignment across middle school and high school through our science um and world history uh courses, and so we are currently um utilizing some of the experts in this particular area that we have. Uh Leanne Reem is taking a good look at the different our curriculum
033for 6 through 12. We actually were really on this precipice of needing to make an update to how our units are aligned. So she is articulating that through a matrix actually this week. She's been given some release time to do that work. I'll be partnering with her on Thursday. We've also been partnering with Meg Phillips, our science coordinator um in the district to take a good look at this. Uh we did also collect a lot of feedback from our staff who are um impacted by this change to gather some of their questions and be ready to respond to those. It's very similar with world history and then art there isn't as much, but as part of our regular curriculum review, we'll look at this um the horizontal and vertical alignment to ensure that we've set
034everybody up for success and that this is a cohesive stairstep um into that high school um experience that our students have. So we're looking at it to be a a bonus and a benefit um for all to have access to it. And then one last question, which is um I know that when the original email went out to families you were gauging interest. Can you speak to how that the what the response was? Yeah, so um we sent out the information on pre-AP as part of our general communication um for eighth grade electives. And to be honest with new courses, we tend to expect to see lower numbers. Um we we received enough interest in that pre-AP bio class to run two sections, which was more than we anticipated. So, we had a very positive
035response. Um pre-AP world history has been removed. We did not even offer that in the in when we decided to put it into the seventh grade curriculum, we removed it as an elective. Um so, we don't have data on that. And then pre-AP art, we have enough for one section. And so, those we're happy with those numbers as a pilot year to see, you know, where we go next year. Jillian. This is just from a student perspective, and I apologize if you've answered this already. Um but if a student does take the like pre-AP bio, um would they be able to take the actual AP class their freshman year, or would they still have to wait for later years after they've taken gen bio? No, the expectation is that this is better preparing our students
036and hopefully really wetting the appetite for students to recognize their potential and see those opportunities that await them in high school. Um where they there's unlike our AP classes with pre- pre-requisites, um at the middle school level, it's open enrollment for those students who are interested. So, this would be strengthening their skills and hopefully helping them be even more successful at the high school level. Thank you for asking. Um so, because the sample size sounds pretty good for um the AP pre-bio, do you think that you'll track this those two cohorts in the classes as they go up and take ninth grade bio and potentially AP bio and upper class to kind of see how they're faring as compared to the students who didn't have the opportunity in the middle school? Yes, that is our
037intent. So, in order to get to this point, we did study quite a few data points. We studied course enrollment at both the middle school and the high school level in our advanced and fundamental classes. We studied the AP potential data that college board provides. Uh we studied course enrollment patterns in terms of the demographics of who which students are enrolled in which classes. Um and then our instructional alignment, which um Trustee Berwick was asking about. And so, we would Our plan is to continue to monitor those data points as these students progress um to see how we are successful. This is a pilot year. We want to ensure that we can sustain it and that it's having the impact that we want in the year um and then taking a look at uh we'll
038check in probably November and the first trimester and the second trimester and of course at the end of the year um to determine next steps. That sounds amazing. And I also think that this just coming out of the policy committee updates, um we did look at a policy on experimentation and pilot, and we at that time felt like we liked your suggestion that this is being managed very well within the district versus um a little bit more board oversight. So, I think this is a really good example. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Kim um for your leadership on this. And I I again want to lift that with lots of data was used look at this and the equity and access piece became very clear to us um pretty quickly. So, thank
039you for your work on this and thank you to our amazing teachers and their work um to help get this started as a pilot. Absolutely. Yes, thank you. And any other questions? We vote. All in favor, say I. I. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries 5-0. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Okay, can I have a recommended motion to adopt the high school um the high school reproductive health curriculum as proposed by the sex education advisory board and in alignment with the updated Michigan health education standard guidelines. So moved Gold. Support McVay. Any questions on that? No. I don't have questions, although I'm happy to answer any, but um I just would like they're not here tonight, but I'd like to thank the members of the committee and um Kristoff and Peppler and Cameron Cochran
040for their tireless work um on this curriculum. And I'll also add the um information that they shared with the board was very helpful and detailed, so that was nice, so. Um all in favor? Seconded by saying I. I. I. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries 5-0. Moving Moving on to the consent agenda. Uh the consent agenda is listed in the agenda and will be read aloud. A motion noted will allow the authorization of all listed items without discussion unless a member of the board requests that anyone or all be considered individually. Can I have a recommended motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed? Support. Motion Farwick. I'll support it, too. Second. Support Gold. Okay, all in favor? I. >> I. I. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries 5-0. We're just moving right along, aren't we? Uh
041items scheduled for the next agenda. Yes, I have um the cares presentation um of those grants from Brian Puffer, and then um also 4:00 p.m. it sounds like we're going to be doing a tour, so that will be open to board members. Um and um just another preview for our second meeting in April, we do plan to bring you um path um changes to the alternative add-in pathways we offer here at Liberty and so we'll be doing that presentation on the evening of April 28th. This is an opportunity for second public comment and we don't have any. Okay, next meeting will be held um next Board of Education meeting will be held on April 14th, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. Can I have a recommended motion to adjourn the regular Board of Education meeting March 24th
042or no, this would be March Yeah, March 24th, 2026 at So the other one was April 14th, sorry. Yes. Okay. at 7:06. Uh so moved Stubbs. Support Warwick. All in favor? I oppose, hearing none, motion carries 5-0. Thank you.