001Again? We'll give the orchestra and the choir about 20 seconds to Is that how I'm supposed to do it? If only I'd known. Shush. Shush. Shush. Shush. Shush. Okay, thank you. I'd like to call to order the December 9th of 2025 Board of Education meeting for Selene Area Schools. Standing as you were able, we will begin with the Pledge of Allegiance led by my new favorite Selene Middle School student, Sophie Millward. Thank you very much, Sophie. I appreciate that. Uh the floor is open for public comment. Are there any public comments this evening? We have one extended public comment, and Freedhome is going to take the podium. You know how to make it work? You press the button till you see the green. When you you brought an entourage. >> There we go. Yes, I
002have Tammy Carr with me as well tonight. Um you should find a packet in front of you. Uh brought some information for you tonight. Um I think Tammy and I have been doing this for 10 years coming out of an a sense of appreciation, but I wanted to start more as a business leader with you tonight. Um We feel like this community doesn't quite understand what it's done. So, we want to continue to take opportunities to share that because we want the community to feel ownership in a huge impact that has been made. So, I've shared with you some information and and on the front of that impact report, you see a lot of kids' faces. This foundation has grown beyond Chad. We now embrace 45 family partners from across the United States, including Mexico.
003Um we are the largest funder of DIPG research in the world. And why is that important? Because DIPG is killing more kids than any other type of cancer. Tammy's going to talk about it. This wasn't the plan, but it is who we are, and this found this Saline Area Schools community, um and the way that you've supported the foundation, we would not be here if it weren't for that. So, just to talk about impact, we have now funded over $44 million in research. We literally are the biggest funder of DI private DIPG research funding in the world. Um we right now, it's more difficult than ever to get funding for this disease, and we are the most reliable funder for researchers. We've funded over 100 researchers around the world at 46 different institutions. In addition
004to that, we launched a MyDIPG Navigator program. We have five full-time nurses on staff and a full-time social worker. They work remotely from across the country, and they walk the journey with a family that's been diagnosed. They don't have to the the family doesn't have to be alone. They don't have to understand what's going on on their own. Our families educate them Our nurses educate them. They connect them with resources, and they support them all along the way. They're really a lifeline, and they're amazing people, and we're we are very blessed that we get to offer that for free, a free resource for these families. This year, the first FDA-approved drug for DIPG um came into existence. I believe it's the sixth drug approved for pediatric uh cancer, period. Um it it is game-changing and
005huge, and our foundation, again, because this community built us to what we are, we were a big part of making that happen. So, I just wanted to say thank you broadly from a business standpoint, but we are specifically here for RunTough, and I'm going to hand it over to Tammy because that's really um a special thing for their family. Yes, thank you. Um RunTough is really what launched this foundation. It started with our family and friends starting a run in our neighborhood when Chad was sick, and that ultimately became the driving force to starting the Chad Tough Foundation. Um once we realized that our family was going to be okay financially, we said, "Well, what can we do with this momentum?" And that's the foundation was born. Um you know, all of those wonderful things
006that have happened since, that was not our plan. You know, initially when this foundation started, it was, "I want to do something so Chad will be remembered." Um Sorry. It's gotten way beyond that, and this community is a huge part of that. And the RunTough weekend is always on his birthday. It's 10 years this year since we lost him, and this community has been a huge part of why we are who we are today. And I think that everyone in this community should be so proud that this foundation resides here because this foundation is going to be a part of finding a cure, and that has been told to us by researchers all over. They wouldn't have said it before Chad, and now they're going to find a cure in our lifetime, and it's going
007to be found because of this foundation in Saline. So, the RunTough event is our the launching of our foundation, and it is the way we celebrate his birthday every year, and the resources that the Saline Area Schools provide to make that possible is huge. So, I just want to thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts, from our family, from our staff, from our volunteers, from everyone. Um we are so proud to be part of the Saline community, and we're so grateful. So, thank you. Thank you. >> [snorts] [applause] >> Thank you so much for coming this evening and sharing that news. That's great. I've seen the balloons go up. I've run twice now with the Chad Tough It Run and uh I I figured if if uh 10-year-old kid or a
008younger can do it, hey, I can I can tough it out, too. So, thank you so much. And stick around for apparently there might be some music a bit later. Uh I want to stick to the agenda, though. Um uh we're at the point of revision uh or or approval of the agenda. Items can be removed or deleted from the agenda or the order can be changed. Are there any uh changes to the agenda at this point? I would actually like to uh re- pull out for separate discussion uh item G, approval of the 2026 Board of Education Regular Meeting Calendar, just for a quick discussion and vote separately on that, just so we're all on the same page. With that change in mind, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve um approve the
009agenda as revised. So moved, Ms. Zies. JT, thank you. Second. Is that Tim? Tim, thank you. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you very much, 6-0. Um student showcase. Uh would Jillian, are you going to start us off with this? Awesome, thank you. We good? We're good. Um we have the Chamber Choir and Chamber Orchestra from Saline High School here with us today. Um I have no relation to either of them as I did band, so I hope to hear something cool. And thank you so much for being here tonight. Hello, my name is Matthew Breyer. I'm the District Music Coordinator and the very proud director of orchestras at the high school. I'm so grateful to be here tonight with the Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Choir along with my colleague Ms.
010Diaz. I just want to take a moment to highlight some music department accomplishments in the fall of 2025. In addition to all our awesome music concerts, we've had a very successful marching band season. It was a long one um including top ratings at the District Marching Band Festival. And we've had a lot of individual success as well, including um two students named to the high school All-State Band and Orchestra and three honorable mentions. We had one student named to the high school All-State Jazz Honors Choir. Two students named to the high school Regency Honors Choir. Three students named to the high school middle school All-State Band and Orchestra and three honorable mentions. Two students named to the middle school All-State Honors Choir and three students named to the middle school regional honors choirs. In my
01115 years at Saline High School, I have been so fortunate to see so many of the brightest and the best of Saline come through the music department. These musicians would not be able to thrive like they do without the infra- structure and the spaces that the district has provided. And that's really the beautiful thing here. We give every student a chance at music, including our 330 brand new fifth grade band and orchestra students that started this fall at Heritage. I want to thank the Saline Area School Board Administration for continuing to support music education in Saline, giving every student that chance to thrive. It's true that studying music can increase our brain development and lead to higher test scores. Trust me, these people do well in school. And I'm sorry to say I can't promise
012higher IQs tonight for everybody as these students perform. But what what we really want to do is highlight um the power of community collaboration. The music department works really hard together to provide students the space to work hard in rehearsals, solve problems, learn new skills, grow as learners, and perform great works of art. And here to tell you about a bit about what we're going to be performing is my colleague Ms. Diaz. Thank you for welcoming us tonight. Um we have our annual Masterworks concert next Tuesday and we know you have a meeting, so we're bringing a little bit of the concert to you live right here. Um our annual Masterworks is a really special event, pretty unique to Saline. Most high school districts don't have an orchestra program in particular, especially one as as
013robust as us. And that combination of strings really with anybody, but strings with voices is just magical and our ability to perform that with our own kids um opens up a ton of incredible repertoire, um modern music as well as throughout history. Um so, our Masterwork has often been um a big extended work by composers like Mozart, Vivaldi, Haydn, um those really crucial composers we want to make sure our kids experience or musical eras before they head out. Um with a Masterwork usually you use the music and there's a big orchestra with you and it's usually maybe last like a 20 to 30 minutes, right? And these they're going to be doing the whole thing. So, it's it's kind of like performing an album live for you. Um this year we have a new composer,
014an actual living composer. We couldn't believe it cuz so many of the composers with this type of repertoire are deceased, like Mozart and those guys. Um and so we uh with the support of the Foundation for Salinas schools, we purchased this new one called Illuminare and it's by a young American composer named Elaine Hagenberg. She's so alive, in fact, she actually sent us a holiday Christmas card today. That's the first time that's ever happened I got a Christmas card from the composer. So, um anyway, so this uh Illuminare um it's about five movements. We're going to do the first movement for you today. There's about I had say in a hundred more people performing this. This is just a smidgen of the group. Um percussion, piano, it's just we're pulling out all the stops like
015we do each year. The piece itself is um all about light. Illuminare, light um breaking through through darkness, which is perfect for this time of year. We're coming up to the solstice and so many of our holidays are about this time of year, right? And that that light shining through. So, we're excited to perform for you. I think Mr. Byers is going to tune us up and we're going to have at it. Splendor >> [music] >> Gloria Gloria >> [music] >> Gloria Gloria >> [singing] [applause] >> Wow, thank you Stan behalf of the board. Thank you all so so so much. And we're out. >> [laughter] >> There's going to be a little rearranging um and then we'll head into uh board administration and board committee updates. Yep. Well, I don't think they're checking their
016emails. I just want to say this is probably one of the most difficult evenings for Dr. Kowalski because snow is expected tonight. And there's pressure going back generations that the superintendent could call a snow day. Now, I know you know the rules, what do you a spoon under your pillow and wear your pajamas inside out and turn around three times and check the weather report. I don't know. We'll see. We'll just let it go. Um administration board reports Dr. Kowalski. Thank you so much for that nice transition. I would um like to note thank you to Brady Baldwin and the basketball team for hopefully winning 15 plus points tonight as they just emailed me. Um Unfortunately, it would take snow to get a snow day, but I am looking forward to this to seeing the
017score up 15 plus, so. Uh I do have a little bit of a different kind of update. I have two main uh more extensive updates for you and one is um an update on the athletic department review uh and the second is really exciting cuz we have a couple of student guests with us to celebrate and recognize for their work on the parade for their artwork, logo contest um for the parade committee. So, I first want to start with an update for um for the board on the athletic review report that we received. The board requested an independent review of the athletic department prior to my transition as the superintendent. As the new superintendent, I inherited the report, read it, analyzed it and started with our team this summer while also at the same time
018having the opportunity to meet many members of our of my new team, um the great administrators who work on behalf of our students, staff, and student athletes and coaches all day, every day. I found the report to be thorough, candid, and helpful to giving us a clear set of priorities and to strengthen systems in athletics. Overall, the report affirmed many things about the strong athletic department that we have and high levels of satisfaction among responding student athletes and coaches. We have strong compliance structures and a culture that has deep community investment. At the same time, the report identified areas we needed to tighten and to clarify so we could rebuild some trust and have consistent practices. Since receiving the report just a few short months ago, I wanted to go through some updates um as
019it pertains to some of the recommendations. And I want to highlight a few of the action items we've completed and some that are underway. The first one I want to discuss was uh the report emphasizing and maintaining fidelity to MHSAA's 24-hour rule for and for concerns that is the cornerstone stone of partnerships with parents not only in Saline, but um throughout MHSAA sports. We have reinforced that rule and some chain of command expectations also mentioned in the report with coaches and families at many levels. The first um that was done is a deeper dive into these topics during the start of season coach training that occurs at the beginning of each uh coach coaching or season. The second has been through school communications, both building level and athletic depart through the daily work administration does
020to work with students, parents, and coaches. And then we have also worked on a district series called how to communicate that will continue to support this area of communication and others so we can be sure that we're providing accessible and clear information that is has clarity for our parents and families. The second item I wanted to discuss was the grit surveys. So the report recommended stepping away from a reliance on these surveys and we did not renew the subscription. Our athletic administrators instead have shifted the time into more frequent and direct engagement with coaches and parents through a variety of different methods and avenues. This is part of our continuous improvement process and is still something that's underway. One example of as it pertains to athletics but also other areas is I've asked our central
021office team to pursue more of a pulse check approach to surveys throughout the district more more so than an end of year approach. Also, we've engaged students and one such engagement with students recently led us to consider some reviewing the athletic handbook with a group of stakeholders. So those are some updates to that area. The The review also noted trends nationwide and turnover rates nationwide with coaches. The report noted the strength though of our coaching toolbox and training but did recommend a more formal mentoring structure for new coaches similar to that of maybe teacher induction on a different scale. We do have informal mentoring and onboarding supports in place. The team is currently working on a system a more intentional system of pairing new coaches with veteran coaches to create a regular check-in. This is
022a work in progress. I want to note that I want only to retain the very best coaches but also the administrators that work hard for student athletes, families, and coaches every day. Research demonstrates as was noted in the report about coaches also turnover in administrators has profound impacts on student success as well. One item lastly on this topic some work that has been done to improve our schedule B stipend contract language and this allows teachers who coach to have more clarity in the amounts and what they would receive as part of coaching. We have wonderful coaches on our staff but we hope that teachers will also look at this as continued opportunities to support students. Given the seriousness of eligibility and importance of trust the report also called for improvement processes with residency verification of
023student athletes. We've implemented both mandatory rosters before the first practice and athletic administration present at the first practice and tryouts to verify new athletes. We've worked very hard with the core team and also to align practices with athletics on residency. So beyond even athletics we've worked very hard on residency and processes in place to tighten that coordination. Couple last mentions for the recommendations. Few other noted having a full-time athletic administrative assistant and addressing the future of self-funded varsity sport models. I myself think these are significant structural issues that that I identified with our team early on in my tenure here. I have been personally leading conversations to address thorough changes that we will bring to you in 2026. We do have limited resources so bringing a full-time individual on must be part of a bigger
024structural shift and we would bring those to you as part of normal budgetary and planning cycles to the board. Lastly, as a new leader to the district I've already engaged with conversations with all of our leaders about how our entire team can always benefit from additional training, support, and mentoring. I myself have a mentor. We have continued to engage mentors in our administrative work and will continue to examine the effectiveness of this approach. We have made meaningful and early progress on the recommendations. I appreciate the board's support as we move forward from recommendations on paper to practices embedded to make an even stronger athletic program. So that was my first update of two. And I believe I have a visual for the second part. No visual for that. Could have put some like I guess
025sports balls or something in the background but Okay, I want to acknowledge some students. I want to acknowledge the Chamber of Commerce and some other areas on a recent partnership that I joined with the chamber to work on the parade committee for our 50th holiday parade. And so this summer I was approached did some planning with the chamber was really excited to bring some new student contest to our students. So if you could go to the next slide. The first person I'd like to acknowledge who is with us is Cooper Bush. So Cooper if you'd like to come to the podium. We had first very early on so that the chamber could utilize the logos on all of the advertising. We approached Mr. Rodriguez's class and so Cooper if you tell us a little bit
026about your winning logo. Hi, I'm Cooper Bush. I'm a senior at Saline High School and I'm part of visual imaging technology which is the SWWC's advanced graphics program and we had the great opportunity of creating a logo for the Saline Area Chamber of Commerce's holiday parade and also their 50th anniversary which is a big occasion. I had the fortune of winning the logo competition and I'm really proud of my design and I think it really shows the community that Saline has and it's something to be proud of. Yeah, thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming tonight. Thank you Cooper. So then the next slide after the logo contest we quickly engaged the chamber and the committee into launching some art and writing contest. I want to thank the many educators from both
027Washington Christian school and Saline Area schools for entering their students in these contest. And so I want to acknowledge that the chamber and I are proud to congratulate these four students and I believe we have one or two here tonight. Sophie Roth is an 11th grade writing contest winner. Do not believe I got an email from Sophie but I don't looks like no one named Sophie's jumping up out of their seats so she maybe didn't get a chance. Kennedy 12th grade writing contest she did send me a nice email she couldn't make it tonight. And so congratulations Kennedy for your writing contest winner. We also had a sixth grade art contest winner Sophie Millward and so Sophie is here tonight. She graciously did the pledge of allegiance for us. Sophie do you want to come
028join? Don't forget the step thing I told you. And tell us a little bit about your winning your winning art. So Sorry. I drew um Sorry. I really like the holiday season and especially decorating my Christmas tree which is what I do in my picture and thank you so much for recognizing me tonight. Thank you Sophie. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. Both for joining us tonight. Thank you so much. And then also photograph Samantha also couldn't make it tonight. She won the seventh grade art contest winner and that's on the left there with some members of the chamber parade. Committee so thank you very much to those winners and thank you for joining us tonight to those of you that could. And then Well then the parade last week right? And so while
029a member of the committee getting to meet so many students through this we also thank you board members who joined us were able to take advantage of having our first sounds like entry in a few years and that was really exciting and fun. No one's echoing in this comment so I'm really hoping I wasn't the only one who had fun. Oh totally had a lot of fun. Totally a lot of fun I'm here and so thank you so much for those of you who even who joined us who didn't join us and I'm sure you were cheering us on behind your fireplaces when it was really nice and warm this weekend. Last but not least I also wanted to close with some gratitude for Betty Yankee. Since it's the holidays and just something that I
030I really wanted to do. She not only supports me our entire administrative team and the many staff and students who are part of our organization. She also does so many things behind the scenes. Hank sometimes helps but this is more of a thank you for Betty. She played a key role in helping this come alive for me as a first year superintendent with our board and all of the fun exciting things and so I am incredibly thankful for her and all she does for our district our board and our community. So thank you. And that is the conclusion of my update. Thank you. >> thank you very much for the update and thank you to Betty. Yeah you and you and Hank were were great that evening as were all the other therapy dogs who
031came with us. Moving down the list student representative Hayes. Yes. I just wanted to say another thank you to choir and orchestra for being here tonight. I personally like feeling the music through vibrations so I appreciate sitting right here where I could feel everything. It was awesome. Um I will unfortunately be out for a while due to skiing uh most of January and early February I will be out on the slopes racing. So, if you want to come watch me, come watch me. Um this is a reminder to our Hornets to please stay healthy. It's that time of year where colds, fevers, and what other other yucky sicknesses are out there are starting to kick around, so please wash your hands, stay warm, and eat healthy. Um Happy holidays to all of the Hornets that
032celebrate any of these seasonal holidays that are coming up. And then just some I have one interesting school thing that I learned about today. Um Heritage had a six six I don't even know. 67th day of school party, apparently. Um I was notified of this, so do with that what you will. [clears throat] Um 67, yeah. I don't understand and it's my generation, so I don't know. Um That was really cool. Um and then this is just a I wrote a little bit to seniors as college applications are coming back, so results are coming in. Um if you applied for a college either early decision, early action, or whatever, please remember that even if you don't get accepted, it doesn't mean you're not smart and capable or whatever else you may think negative about yourself.
033You could be the most qualified and still get denied. You are still an incredible human being and I wish you all the best of luck that you get into where you would like to go. Thank you, Jillian. That was very kind and supportive. Well done. Um going down the list, uh Citizens for Quality Community, we uh we did meet, uh but it was almost all parade related and safety and that is behind us now. Chamber of Commerce, is there anything from Mr. Austin? I wasn't at the parade, I was out of town, but I think Rachel did a really good job highlighting the parade and that was their highlight. Thank you. Uh Foundation for the Saline Area Schools, uh Jennifer Stebens is not with us this evening, but will would like probably to remind us
034about the uh fundraisers that we have coming up in February, very helpful for that. Um Board Associations, I've had no meetings with MASB or the WASB. Sex Education Advisory Board, is there anything, Dr. Gold? Uh we did meet. Uh we reviewed curriculum. We reviewed some changes to the Michigan state proposed uh guidelines. Um It's just basically um they don't make any big changes in you know, the necessity of sex ed, the availability of opt out. They just give uh further guidelines to schools on making sex ed more comprehensive. Um and so I think the new I'm excited about the new proposed curriculum, which should be coming soon. I think it's excellent. Um so Great, thank you. Um the DEI Advisory Committee, I can report that we're meeting soon. >> sorry. >> Oh, I'm sorry, there's
035more. Okay. >> No, no, no. I just I wanted to highlight one other thing. Um we had the body safety program um and I'm uh pleased uh to report to the board that uh the body safety program through the efforts of our core team and Superintendent Kolsky and I'm sure many other people, so I'm but all of our amazing Saline Area Schools staff are going to get our uh body safety program up and running this spring for our youngest learners. Thank you. Sorry, I didn't mean That's great. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Um the DEI Advisory Committee, uh we are going to be meeting, I believe, next week at the uh media center. Um City of Saline, we have not yet set up a charter for our meetings with the City of
036Saline, but that's uh on uh that should be on the the board's agenda in the near future. CARES, uh Ms. Berwick? Uh happy to say that the hardworking Brian Puffer is here tonight to go over the CARES grants that were awarded last week. Excellent. Excellent. Say again? Oh, did I miss wellness? Uh Darcy Berwick, wellness committee? >> Nothing from Nothing from the wellness. And miscellaneous, this is open the floor, is there anything that somebody's urgently needing to share with the community? If there's nothing, I'll just wait a whole 5 seconds. Well, thank you very much for your board reports. I greatly appreciate that. We have some action items. Let me just move to my paper copy, it's easier for me to see. Uh recommend I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the following new
037courses to be added to the uh 2026-2027 Saline High School Course Catalog as submitted by Kara Davis, Executive Director of Teaching and Learning. Sports Video Production 1, Business Law and Ethics, Introduction to Accounting, History Through Film, A World on Fire: Chronicles of Courage Throughout History, Sports Economics the money behind the game, Mechatronics and Robotics, AP Cyber Security 1 and 2, Underwater Robotics and ROV Engineering, Introduction to Fitness, Unified and Unified Art. Do we have a motion? So moved. Is that Tim Tim. Thank you. Support Tizzy's. And Tizzy's, thank you so much. Are there any um discussion about these? We've had a chance to review them and a couple of issues were raised via email and were addressed by the superintendent. Um I was just going to say like sports economics, you know, we've got some
038resources and some people here in our community that I know a friend of mine he actually teaches this at University of Michigan. So he might be a asset to bring in and talk to as well. Very good. Um Dr. Kowalski's already getting that into her her notes. Thank you. Any other comments from others? Can we Can we audit any of these classes? Well, I suspect uh cyber security is the one that might have a piqued your interest but uh I I don't believe there's pupil accounting guidance on that. So I could follow up if we can talk separately and I can follow up on the pupil accounting end of that. Are you still missing some credits from high school because uh I'm missing a lot of credits from a lot of places. Okay. Great. Thank
039you very much. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? Well, hearing none, 6-0. Thank you so much. Looking forward to this Teresa Steger. Uh I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the 2026 20 25-26 round one distribution of CARES discretionary funds in the amount of $73,239.60 as recommended by the CARES Advisory Council and submitted by Brian Puffer, Director of Community Education. So the breakdown is as follows. Saline Unified Basketball $4,000, new outboard engine for the Saline High School Rowing Team 26 uh $2,666.64, sorry. Memory kits for our friends at Dementia Friendly Saline $5,050, Saline Middle School Wrestling Room Mats $15,000, new drum line equipment Saline High School Marching Band $15,000, Saline Lacrosse Unity Project $10,150, Saline Recreation Center Lobby Enhancement $11,950, Saline High School Girls Soccer Uniforms $5,000, Saline Fiddlers Performance Uniforms $4,425.60.
040Do I have a motion to approve >> Berwick makes the motion. Darcy Berwick, thank you so much. Support Tizzy's. Thank you so much. Uh are there any discussion Darcy any insights you can share Mr. Puffer? >> [clears throat] >> All right. Excuse me. Uh yes, the CARES board met in October and December reviewed the grants uh that were submitted along with Trustee Berwick. Um as uh just read off we had 10 grants that were requested for round one totaling $98,589.60. Nine of those grants were either fully or partially approved at $73,239.60. We do have to keep back 25% in round one of funding so we can ensure that we do have a second round. Um so there will be a total of about Well, there will be a total of $28,604.40 available for round two
041which our deadline for that will be January 23rd. Um and I'd also like to thank our board members for our CARES which would be Gwen Frederickson, uh Greg Homberger, uh Jim Heft, Megan Hughes, Chris Miselak and then uh Trustee Berwick who's been great and has been very helpful um with this process as well. Super, thank you very much. Any questions for uh for Mr. Puffer? I did notice that some uh some were funded a little lower. Are they going to be coming back in next uh at the next round? They may. I mean the board was definitely looking at see They know how much money they had to fund out so they wanted to you know, fund as many grants as they thought worthwhile for this round. So I think there may be a couple
042that may come back for round two. Um but a lot of them some of them were partially funded um and so the board was very um cognizant of that so they want to make sure they could fund as many grant requests as possible. Well, thank you very much. They had some um some really insightful discussions on um basing their decisions on community resources that already exist and um so I think that it it reflects the needs of the community in conjunction with um other services provided. So like there's this uh senior CARES millage in the Washtenaw County and so some of the services were going to overlap and so that they're looking into that a little bit further. So I think they made some judicious decisions um on their financing. Thank you. I'm delighted to
043see Dementia Friendly Saline there as well. They're a pretty good outside group and a kind of a treasure for Saline. So, with all that said, all in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? I hear none, but thank you very much and for all your work on this. Mr. Puffer, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the technology purchases as submitted by Jay Grossman, Director of Technology, in the amount of $1,398,766.23. And the cost breakdown is as follows: 531 MacBooks from Apple totaling 498,769, 160 HP laptops from Inacom TSG totaling $115,980, 640 Meraki, I'm not sure about the pronunciation, wireless access points totaling $784,017.23. Do I have a motion to approve? Berwick. Thank you, Darcy Berwick. Support, Tizidies. >> Thank you, Jason Tizidies. Is there any uh I know jeez, you just shimmered up to
044the podium as usual. >> just appear. You're so silent. That's right. Um do you have anything to add to all this? I I noticed that Apple was a no-bid contractor, but that's been the case forever though. Yeah, they are single Apple's a single source provider, so there's there's no bid for them. It's Meraki. What did I say? Meraki. Meraki. Yeah, it's all the same. It's all good. Um not much to add to it. Um it's as part of our bond we were planning for device replacement cycle about every 5 years for staff computers. Our last ones were purchased um in 2021. So, these new ones will be purchased the end of '25 and handed out in '26, so 5 years. Um our access points are between 7 and 8 years old. Um Ooh. >> [laughter]
045>> Thought about it as I wrote it. And um yeah, the to stay with current technology, Wi-Fi, make it better. This will be planning for the next 7, 8, 9, 10 years even for our our Wi-Fi to redo the whole district. So, we're going to try and take care of that all at once. Um I did want to add that that bid was awarded to Inacom TSG as well. So, I noticed it wasn't on the uh the action item, so I just wanted to make sure that we knew who the vendor was for that piece, but that was competitively bid. For the for the HP laptops? No, for the access points. >> I see. >> They're both going to Inacom. >> Okay. >> Um Inacom won the bid on the Meraki access points, and then
046they have the um state consortium contract for the uh HP laptops. Okay. Inacom is a well-known name at this board table. Is there anything any questions to ask our our friend, Mr. Grossman? Go ahead. Uh I just wanted to know if we were recycling the old equipment or what's happening with that. Great question. Um this time around uh so, for the laptops, we're actually going to offer them as an employee buyback and give them first crack at it. So, if they want to purchase their old device we're going to allow them to do that basically at the same price I would get for recycling them. And then anything that's not purchased, um I have our our resellers for Apple and HP that will recycle them, too. Would you ever make them available to those in
047the community, students? >> [clears throat] >> The recycling value is so low. It would be great >> is. >> It would be a great opportunity. >> And one of the things we're actually looking at for this year is using some of these devices to go to um our other staff that haven't originally been given devices, so those um we're looking at extending our contract like parapros and making these more of use to them. Um I'd be happy to look at once we have our pool left as to what groups we could give those to. As as you said, the recycling value at this point they're 5 years old. So, they would be more useful to go into the hands of people than to a recycler. But just having been in the library at the high
048school for checkout, they're they start with a card of 30 at the beginning of the year, and by October it's down to like 16. So, having Right now. Yeah, having something available for the students would be fantastic. >> absolutely. In the past, have there been many takers for the the 5-year-old machines? >> is our first time This is our first time Oh, okay. I kind of got that sense. All right. Great. Yeah, I've just part of a technology refresh myself. I will say I've I have um sent out a poll to our staff to gauge their interest, and a large majority of the people who responded to it have been very interested in purchasing back their device. Very good. So, they keep their same machine cuz it would have everything on it. Very nice. That
049would be helpful. Yes. Thank you. Well, thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed? Well, great. 6-0. Thank you very much. Thank you. Go out and buy us some good computers. I will. Thank you so much. I'd like to entertain a motion to accept the [clears throat] or sorry, approve the recommendation to accept the quote from Interkal for the north and north and south bleacher replacement at the Saline High School main gymnasium in the amount of $322,897 as submitted by Rex Clary, Executive Director of Operations. So moved. Tim Austin. Support. Is that Gold? Yes, excellent. Thank you. No, no, I got it. >> [clears throat] >> So, this is to replace the I'm going to call the end zones at the high school. Um we did the home side and the way side
050last year. Excellent feedback from uh Assistant Director, Athletic Director Jeff Pike. Um the stability of the handrails, the rise over the run, it's a much easier to traverse. Um the other ones were were fairly steep, so we added additional row. Uh these will be the same way. Um same design or same engineer the in the same way. Um we are limiting the use of these bleachers right now to make it to the end of basketball season. That's our goal. Um last year we pushed into volleyball season. I think roughly about 8 days. Uh we knew it was going to be really tight to get those other ones done, so that's why we broke it over two seasons. Then we'll also do the aux gym hopefully next summer. So, the people who usually sit in those
051older, more rickety bleachers, they're the uh visitors, correct? Uh home and visitors are new. It's the end zones which are the usually the student section, I believe, is one end zone and the other student section is the other end zone. Good. Thank you. Appreciate that. Any comments or anything? >> They are safe. They just we don't know once they come out if they'll ever go back in. That's the concern. So, but the the bleachers are safe. I think I was reading about it. Is are these the ones that are um mechanized? Yes, yeah. Existing, same. You just press a button and in they come. Sometimes. Yep. Okay. Both all of our bleachers are mechani- are are All right. motor activated. Well, thank you. Are there any questions from the board? Board. Board. Nope. Well, thank
052you very much. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. >> Aye. Great. 6-0. Thank you. Opposed? No one. Thank you. 6-0. Thank you very much, Rex. And like this is a lot of action I am action I am this evening. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the trade contractor award recommendation from Clark Construction to enter into contract with Train for mechanical equipment totaling $892,679 for Salina High School's Heritage Steam Addition as submitted by Rex Clary, Director Executive Director of Operations. So moved. Support, Hanson. Thank you. Oh, that was Thank you. Um so, we received the bids last week. Um the Train equipment and controls were a cooperative bid. We are moving forward with the equipment uh proposal tonight. Um Clark Construction, we did four post-bid interviews today. Um we'll be wrapping all those
053interviews up over the next week, week and a half, and we'll bring the allotment of the rest of the contractors to the board meeting on the 13th of January. Um what we're doing is this was a purchasing cooperative through Train Controls who Train Controls and Equipment, I'm sorry. Equipment is pretty much everything we've done across the district. Um keeping everything consistent. Um With with the approval tonight, we plan to replace all the classroom uh unit vents um and and also include all the new equipment for the new classrooms that we'll be adding next during the next summer over that next 18 months starting in uh April, May period, so. Thank you. Any other questions from the board? Uh what's the what's the master contract that it's cooperative off of? Omnia, I believe. >> Oh, okay.
054Yep. I can double check that. If not it's Omnia, it's Sourcewell. You don't have that contract in front of me though. Any others? No, thank you. Can you repeat that who made the motion? It was uh I think Tim Austin followed by supported by uh Nate Hanson. Thank you. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. >> Aye. Opposed? Thank you so much. 6-0. Uh I'd like to entertain a motion to uh for the recommendation for furniture and installation at the Salina Senior Center totaling $205,207.18 as submitted by Rex Clary. The cost breakdown is as follows. Interior environment, $64,757.42. Uh ISCG, $121,373.36. That's furniture, I believe. Freight, $9,306.54. And a contingency of 5% at $9,770. Berwick, motions. Thank you. Gold, support. Thank you so much. Anything you want to add about that? Um if if you'd
055like to stop by and take a look at take a tour of the new um senior center and or uh cosmetology center, you'll see that the drywall starting to go on once you see and when the drywall starts to go up, that's when paint starts to happen and you're starting to see finishes be put in place. Um, we turned over the bathrooms to the senior center. Uh, they have one two of their other small rooms we turned over to the senior center. Um, this furniture hopefully will deliver in early March and we hope to give access to the seniors April 1st. Um, so we are on schedule um for that space. Um and so this is the furniture uh King Scott has been working with Nancy and her board on putting this furniture package together,
056which includes furniture for all the new spaces and some office furniture as well. Thank you. I toured the men's room this morning at the senior center, the new one. It's very nice. Well done. Well done. Um, any comments from the board? Oh, President. So I think you answered it, Rex, that Nancy Cowan was involved in the decision-making for the furniture and things like it. Okay. That's what I wanted to know. She led the discussions and King Scott, we've worked with numerous years, Dana, uh plain resident, students in the district, also was excellent resource for Nancy to work with and she put all this together for her. She's taken care of it. We're good. Other comments? Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. Opposed? Great. Rex, thank you so much, Rex. And
057if I could just say one more thing, I want to thank Nancy for her patience during this process cuz she's had to put up with a lot. So, thank you. >> All right, thank you. Oh, discussion items. Um I uh I want to take a few moments just to talk about the Trune policies and our timeline. Um I've I've had some emails from board members, but I really want to make sure that if any of you you've all had the opportunities to look at look over Trune and what other districts have done with with Trune um and how they've presented the the policies. You've heard a discussion about the process uh of the the implementation process of a new set of policies policy service. We had one set of questions raised by uh Trustee sorry,
058Vice President Stevan asking to make sure we had the money set aside like how much is this going to cost and also do we have a set of the old policies just in case so we can do some cross-checking. We have those policies. We've gone over the numbers and um at at this point we we Dr. Kowalski I believe can share those with you if you need it, but I just want to make sure from this board at this evening that there are no other questions or concerns you have if Dr. Kowalski were to move to make the transition from Neola to the Trune policy service. And if you want to add anything at any point along the way >> would be just the purchase so we can begin the work. So you'll ultimately vote
059of course on policies but the purchase needs to happen soon so we can get started on this work. >> [clears throat and snorts] >> So the floor is open for any comments, queries, questions, quibbles. I will just say that it's all of our work is grounded in policy and it is essential that it be clear and concise. Uh too much or too little leads for confusion and uncertainty and that makes our jobs harder. And Dr. Kowalski has a has given shared I don't know if you shared with everyone or just with me a kind of a rough timeline of how this might go and if you would want to just elaborate on that a bit. Well, we've been transparent in the policy committee about what that could look like. So I think that would be
060something I can share at the table now beyond the committee. Um, that you know, Trune's right in front of me this timeline um that I believe you've shared but with the full board before um takes about six months and working with the core team the way it's organized you've got five you know, 1,000, 2,000, three like much less um Neola has like up to nine kind of books and so it's very well rooted in um how our core team's organized and as most districts are organized around law and the policies that we implement every single day. So really excited to kind of get some initial feedback from our assistant superintendents and our executive directors kind of bring back to you the ones that we believe you really need to take a look at really quick
061you know, so that you can get started on with also kind of a group of policies that this is the daily this is the day-to-day practice and so if there's something you know you know, completely different that you had in mind we probably need to talk about that as well. Um, we're hoping to kind of help Betty, myself, and the court team to move along um your process. Of course, you'll put your eyes on every single policy, but informed through um our lens, which is the day-to-day operations of the district. Um, I would just add again, I'm shared with many of you either one-on-one with the policy committee. I believe this is an very important step um to support our administrators um and both district and building level with clarity. I just had another situation
062today, which could have been alleviated by a bit more clear and consistent policies that are aligned with handbooks. Um, since we have student handbooks that are in uh interim policy and of course, our one of our providers is true um to provide support and legal services. So, um I would really appreciate movement on this for the district and um can answer any questions that may come from my comments. I I think from a cost standpoint, I mean, when we're looking at the upfront cost, I think ultimately, it's an investment into our future because um we use them for council and now they'll be aligned. So, I think it it it may be a cost benefit. The Yeah, alignment is one thing. Also, having making sure the language They're all aligned with with the laws, with
063the legislation, but to have the language of the policies clearly aligned would it would be really helpful. That's for sure. There was something else I was going to say about that, but I'll just see if anyone else has anything to That is true. We've done an analysis of the financial piece and continuing month by month to see the impact that long-term will have if we move forward with purchasing this in the short-term um to make up for some of those expenses that are occurring every single month. There is going to be a heavy lift for the board uh coming forward after probably starting around February, March. Uh where we will have many meetings regarding the policies to make sure that they are smoothly integrated and uh um if we do this, uh oh, I remember
064what it was I was going to say. Uh we have done some investigation in the past when we moved from the MASB to Neola. There was no need for a board vote. We didn't take a board vote. We just discussed it. It was something that was under the purview of the superintendent uh as advised by the policy committee and by hearing the comments and questions from the rest of the board. So, um if you're waiting for a vote on that, I think we're probably not going to have a vote, but if you feel more comfortable actually having a vote, I think that we did have a vote on the whole packet, not not individual policies. >> Yeah, that was in May 2018. We rescinded the old policies and and went with it that, but for
065sure, we're going to be taking that vote once the board once they've all the policies have gone through all the sets of eyes necessary and uh review to in scrupulous detail. Great. So. To clarify about [clears throat] the heavy lifting, is that something you see an ad hoc committee, the entire board, or the policy committee? Like, is that going to be you said many meetings in February and March in what capacity? Like, you know, are we going to have a board representative to an ad hoc? Are we Well, as far as I understand, first of all, I I doubt very much that it will be a full board effort. That's a quite time-consuming and so forth. It would probably it's will depend on who the next uh board president is to determine an ad hoc
066committee and or and I suspect there'll be several ad hoc committees based on some of our areas of expertise. There are five separate volumes. We may want to have one group focus on just finances uh to see that the policies, you know, because I don't work as much with the with the financial uh policies as some members of the finance committee have. Probably those would be the right people to be on that ad hoc. Uh and there are so many others. The biggest work is going to be the transition of our our primarily our what what I've been calling our bespoke policies, but they're the ones that we created ourselves over the past years. And there is many as 75 policies that we've actually talked about here that we that are want to make sure
067we clearly make sure that those have transitioned over. But as to answer your question directly, it's probably going to be ad hoc committees. I don't know if the policy committee may want to take it on as a as a committee. Uh it all depends. I think in 2018, it was an ad hoc committee, wasn't it? It was actually the policy committee. Policy committee. >> like 2017, that was my first committee here and we sat through and looked at volumes and volumes for an entire well, I don't know how many months it was and went through all the choose this option, choose that option. Go ahead. And that and that's similar to what we're going to have to do. I think it's less onerous though. It's going to be a lot smoother process. So I would
068just suggest that some of this might be informed by >> [clears throat] >> the individuals who do the day-to-day operations of the district and can give you some suggestions. Of course, your eyes will be on every single policy as they should be, but I would um like to think that because we've been working in policy for so many years, we'll be able to look at some of these through the lens of these would be a quick review very much aligned to what daily practice and what we've done with NEOLA would be to help maybe formulate what the next steps come maybe late February, March would be. I think it would be kind of determined based on based on some of that input. Partially. Just very big picture. We have our set of policies now, correct?
069And then they're going to Trone. So just can you just kind of take like one policy as an example and how does it go from where we are now to what processes it have to go through until it's in Trone? Does it somebody just sits down? Is it kind of a template that just how does it get from hit there to there? Does is it just us looking at it or is there a template? Well, first of all, there are two things. Thanks. Great question. Trone has their policy manual and the minute we we plunk down the money for it, we will get a chance to see in exact detail. I mean, I've sat with them in a room and looked through it over some of the policies, but that's kind of a difficult way
070to do it. Once we get the policy manual, we'll just one by one each policy start with titles and and do a crosswalk ourselves. In addition, Trone has a checklist that they've they've they've been doing this now with a lot of districts. They have a a checklist and guidance and they will do a lot of hand-holding as we work through it. But what Dr. Kowalski has also said is she's going to have some of the the leadership team do an eyeball on the policies. We in the past, we've actually gone to the leadership and said like for example, Miranda, hey, is this accurate? Hey, they've got this clearinghouse language. Does this make sense to you? And we've had verifications that it's okay and moved on from there. So two things will happen. One is we'll
071just crosswalk it ourselves and make sure that nothing's missing from our policies. And I'll alert us all to the 75 that we touched on and made minor tweaks in the past. So So the specific ones are going to get a more hand-holding from side to side, correct? >> Yes. I can tell you there there are Yeah. Right. Well, and it's been brought up a few times the opt-out language for for parents. One that I didn't see see in the Trone manual the times I've looked was a dealing with complaints toward the superintendent. For example, that's not really clear in the Trone language and we've got pages and pages of it in NEOLA. So I want to make sure we're missing something from NEOLA or is is the Trone's approach the best one to take? And
072um I don't know. We're going to hit some bumps along the way, I'm sure, but for the most part I think it's going to be a pretty smooth transition with NEOLA with Trone's help. Well, great. Well, let's call that discussion wrapped up for now. Tim, you look like you To give a like a a vote or anything to to authorize this or just go ahead and I think we've just basically raised every single question at the board table for the superintendent to take note of. For her to make the wisest decision moving forward. And we all know that we're going to be doing the transition work. We know that she knows how much it's going to cost. We know what the process is going to look like. There's not much more for us to do
073until this final vote to rescind the NEOLA policies and move to the Trone policies. And yeah, okay. Because it's under the bid threshold, I'm viewing it as very much as a resource for us to do the day-to-day of the district and operations. And then of course, we know that just once they're purchased in the next few days doesn't mean that they're our current policies, right? You do all of that voting and all of that work. So I'm at this point taking the lack of you know, follow-up questions as my next step with Ms. Yankey is to go ahead and purchase them and begin the process that you'll be heavily involved in. But um in their timeline, we don't need a vote for me to continue with that. Okay, I just didn't want to wait till
074the 13th to vote on it. Just make a motion now. You know, you know, 10, 15 years from now, the board members who replace all of us are going to be looking back at the minutes from this meeting and saying, did they take a vote? You'll still be here anyway, yeah. So that's great. All right. Thank you very much. I'd like to entertain a motion to Well, we have two two ways of doing this to um uh to approve I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended and we can do the approval of the board calendar separately. In fact, let's do that. Let's just approve everything now if if that's your wish and then we'll talk about the board calendar separately. Do we have a motion to approve the consent
075agenda as written? With the as amended, sorry. So moved, Gold. Thank you very much, Dr. Gold. Support, Tyszkiewicz. >> Thank you very much, Jay Tyszkiewicz. Thank you. Um all favor, please say I. I. >> I. 6-0. Uh hearing no opposed. So, regarding the uh Board of Education regular meeting calendar, for those of you who were here last time we decided By the way, it's on if you're following along in your playbook, it's on page 70 in the uh the calendar is actually listed on the very last page of our packet. The one in question is uh August. We had made a decision to move the August uh second second meeting in August the second Sorry, the first meeting in August, which is the second Tuesday, to move it back a week and uh there was
076there were concerns raised about and I'm sad that I don't have the email, I can look for it, as to uh whether it's it's tricky for parents who have athletes who are not in sports at that time. There was a discussion about whether this was a dead week or a quiet week or a week where there are there are no sports going on. And I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page. There's a very powerful reason for keeping it at August 4th, moving it back to the first Tuesday. And I'll let Dr. Kowalski, if you have a moment to to talk about that, while I look for that email about dead days. >> Yeah, we had talked about that um last meeting. Just I rose uh I talked a little
077bit about the HR piece of that and some of the summer hiring it might be um give some folks that you know, you you've been board approved and moving forward with your position. Um additionally, that that week in August where you typically would meet is is it pretty intense week for the team um as we prepare to welcome back teachers and students. There's also a a pretty big gap between the July meeting and the August meeting, which would allow us to bring any items to you um prior to really getting the school year started. On the athletic thing, I did follow up on that and share the information with you so you you could um bring it up tonight. It's not a dead week, it's just um a week where there could be like not
078as many practice that practices, but it's not a complete dead week. But it surely um could mean that student athletes have time off from athletics. So, so there's a not a dead week but a down week. Not a dead week necessarily but a down week. So, uh so according to Mr. Pike uh from August 1st until the start of practice tryouts is the down time. So, it people can take their vacations or not, but for the most part it's a relatively quiet time. But uh I I would like to stick with the So, as I was saying, the reason I brought this up is that a board member raised it as a let's think about this just a little deeper and I wanted to make sure we had a chance to just talk about it.
079Um if you are ready to accept the calendar as it is, we can put that to a vote right now. If there are any questions, discussions? Well, I'll tell you what, let's entertain a motion to approve the 2026 Board of Education regular meeting calendar, knowing that of course we can always make edits and tweaks along the way, but this is as locked in as it gets. Do we have a motion to do that? So moved. Is that Tim Austin? Do we have support? Support, Tyszkiewicz. Thank you very much. Is there any further discussion or any discussion? If not, um I'd like to put it to a vote. All in favor, please say I. I. >> I. Thank you so much. 6-0. Oh, opposed? Okay, great. Items on the next agenda, Dr. Kowalski. I have a
080great team. A um appointment to the cable commission. Of course, we will celebrate uh board recogni- we will recognize you during uh school board recognition month. You will also have all of the fun things that January brings for you all like your committee assignments, election of officers. I hope I didn't steal your thunder, but you did ask what's on the next agenda. Um of course, approval of I think one additional potentially for you. Um we'll have our CM hearing, first hearing. And as Mr. Cleary mentioned, we will bring some additional recommendations for the heritage project that is kicking off. And that and probably likely some other things as well that we don't know about yet. That's sort of a segue. I really should clarify. I'm going to send an email especially to the folks who
081are relatively new to the board as to what exactly happens during that organizational meeting. Um it's it's kick I can tell you very briefly, it's kicked off by the former presiding officer, which is me. And uh I will start it off. We will start off with an election for president, at which time uh at that very moment the however the election goes will we will transition over to that person taking this chair and then we will vote for vice president secretary and then treasurer. But the meeting from that moment on is led by the new board president, whoever that is. Okay. And but I'll go I'll send you nauseatingly complex and clear or details about that in the next few weeks. Public comment, are there any public comments Dr. Ms. Yankey? Thank you. The next
082meeting of the Board of Education will be held on January 13th at 6:30. Uh I'd like to entertain a motion to enter closed session of the board at what time is it now? 7:00, we're going to sort of get together at let's say 7:48. How's that? 7:48 p.m. with intent to reopen at approximately An hour sounds great. An hour is optimistic, but let's say let's just say in an hour. So with I'll just say 9:00 p.m. Okay? For the purpose of superintendent evaluation under Section 8 A of the Open Meetings Act. Under 8 A a simple majority vote is is sufficient to enter into a closed session. So do we have a motion first of all? So moved. Is that >> Support Anson. Nate oh Tim and Tim and Nate. All in favor, please say
083I. I. Thank you very much. We are in now entering closed session, so I we're going to clear the room. Thank you so much for attending, especially if you're in AP Gov. We hope you got plenty out of this. >> Mhm. >> Yeah. >> Mhm. >> Why? >> Without objection, we return from closed session. Sorry, we're about a an hour late and I know that people are still anxiously watching the snowfall outside, but we cannot comment on it at this moment in time. Uh we evaluated our superintendent uh following the MASB protocol that was provided to us and uh uh I can tell you first of all, let me be very clear in the past, we used to have four levels of evaluation on a rubric, needing support, developing, effective, and highly effective. We no
084longer the highly category in the rubric anymore and uh we only have now needing support, developing, and effective. And I'm delighted to announce that after a great deal of discussion amongst the board members and even reading the notes of board members, the one board member is not able to attend tonight, we have rated our superintendent as effective on in the government and board relations category, under communications relation community relations, also effective, under staff uh relations, effective, under business and finance, effective, and under instructional leadership, effective. There are other aspects to this final report that we need to develop and over the next uh few days, we will be compiling all of the notes from board members present and absent into a statement uh at which point Dr. Kowalski has the option of responding or not.
085Uh in some cases, a no response is absolutely acceptable, I should say. Um with that in mind, I'd like to entertain a motion to Oh, and so a final report will be released uh through our communications director. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn. Oh. I we don't have the actual final rating. Oh, sorry. Do we have to vote on the final rating? The final rating for the the professional practice. The final Thank you. Thanks for that clarification. I'd like to entertain a motion to uh let me just draft the motion. To accept the evaluation of effective in all of the categories as noted earlier. So moved. And Nate Hanson? No. Oh, sorry. Tim Oh, sorry. Tim Austin. Moving. Support. From Lauren Gold. All in favor, please say I. I. Thank you. Opposed? No
086opposition. Thank you very much. Um I'd like to entertain a Thanks for the reminder that we actually had to vote. No, no. Thanks for the reminder that we had to vote on that. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular Board of Education meeting of December 9th at 9:56. So moved. Thank you. So it is. Do we have a second? I'll second that. So who was that? Nate? Tim? All in favor, please say I. I. I thank you very much. We will see you in January. Thank you very much. That was my fault.