001You were having issues. >> Okay. Second graders, are you ready? >> What did you I'm sorry. I'd like to call uh to order the uh Selenary School's Board of Education meeting of November 11th. Uh and standing as you are able, we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. And we have three guests in the audience today who are going to lead us off. Arthur, Caleb, and Daniel, my new favorite second graders. All right. To the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty andice for all. >> Well, well done. Well done everyone. Thank you very much Caleb Arthur and Daniel. Good job. I appreciate that. Uh public comment time. Do we have any public comment? We have no public comment, so I I will
002pass on reading that thing. I have no response to the previous public comment. I'd like to uh entertain a motion to approve tonight's agenda. The order can be changed at any moment if you wish. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda >> Burwick motion >> Burwick >> Gold support >> and gold supports. All in favor, please say I. >> I opposed. Thank you. We have 5-0 tonight. Only two board members are not with us. I would like to um now Jillian, will you be introducing the student showcase? Fantastic. I'd like to pass this over to our student representative, Jillian Hayes. >> Thank you so much. Um we have our Woodland second graders who performed earlier today in Lynen Square. Um very excited for Veterans Day. Thank you so much for coming out. If
003you guys would like to come on up or if you would like to stay there, that's also perfectly fine. >> Press the button. Yes. Hi everybody. I'm Laura Washington, very proud principal of Woodland Meadows. And today our second graders performed for about 40 veterans that came to Woodland Meadows. Um and then afterward they took a trip to Lynen Square as Jillian um said stated and performed for the residents of Lynen Square. So they have had a very very busy day and they are very excited to perform for you this evening as well. And as you can see we did a little bit of um history factf finding and notice that in 2014 is when the Veterans um day performances started. So it's been a it's been a while since Woodland Meadows has has done this.
004So, we found some oldies but goodies there. Some of you in the audience that are at the high school and who went to Woodland Meadows may may just find yourselves in some of those pictures as well. So, I know we have one more. I believe one more slide. There you go. I do believe there are some representatives of the class of 2027 in there as well. One more. There we go. Enjoy. to fight for the [music] right and to build the nation's right. And the army goes rolling [music and singing] along. Proud of all we have done. Fighting till the [music] battle's won. And the army [singing] goes rolling along. Then it's high. [music] Hey, the army's on it way. Shout out your numbers and strong for wherever you [music] go. You will always know
005that the army goes rolling. From the walls [music] of Zoom to the shores of we fight our country's [music] battle in the air on land and sea. First to fight for height and freom and to keep our [music] earth peace. We are proud to claim the title. [music and singing] United States for anor [music and singing] away. Farwell to college [music] joys. We sail at break of day to our last night [music] on shore. Hail to the moon until we meet once again. wishing you a happy [music] voyage. So here's [music and singing] our maring song. We sing on land and sea through sering [music] hill. I shall [singing] I speak to our guide our glory too [music] or fight to God we are for you [music] finding high [singing] in the sun here They
006go to our father. Give us [music] a gun. Give us a gun. We are walk [music] down. Hey, nothing will stop [music] for you. We live and nothing will stop for you. Navy guard airport green. Oh, come on. One call. [applause] Oh, [music] give me freedom. Give [music] me fire. Give me reason. Take me higher. See [music] the champion. Take the field down. Unify us. Make us feel proud. In the streets, our heads are lifting. [music and singing] As we lose our inhibition, celebration it surrounds us. Every nation [music] all around us. Sing forever young. Singing [music] songs underneath the sun. Let's rejoice in the beautiful game. And together [music] at the end of the day, we all say, "When I get older, I will be stronger. [music] They'll call me freedom. Just like a
007waving flag." I get older, I will be stronger. They'll call me freedom. Just like a waving [music] flag. So wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Oh. Oh. [music] Oh, [music] give you freedom. Give you fire. Give you reason. [music] Take you higher. See [singing] the champion. Take the field down. Unify us. Make us feel [music] proud. In the streets. Our heads are lifting. As we lose our inhibition, [music] celebration. It surrounds us. Every nation [music] all around us sing forever young singing [music and singing] songs underneath the sun. Let's rejoice in the beautiful game. And together at the end of the day [music] we all sing. When I get older I will be stronger. [music] They'll call me freedom just like a waving flag. I get older I will be
008stronger. They'll call me freedom [music] just like a waving flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now [music] wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now [music] wave your flag. Your flag. [music] Oh, [music] we all when I get older [music] I will be stronger. They'll call me freedom just like a [music] waving flag. I get older, I will be stronger. They'll call me [music] freedom just like a waving flag. So wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. Now wave your flag. [music] Now wave your flag. Wave your flag. [music] And everybody will be singing. Yeah. Oh, [music] and we are [applause] one more round of applause. [applause] [applause] >> Thank you for letting me this evening. >> You were all
009awesome. Thank you so much. and we took some great pictures of you beforehand, so we're not going to do one now, I assume. But thank you. Um, we're going to move on to administrative and board committee updates. We'll begin uh or going down our list with Superintendent Kowalsski. >> Oh, wow. I mean, how how would I follow that? I'm not sure. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Principal Washington, for allowing us to see them this evening. As we all approach the end of the first trimester, it's a busy and exciting time. Uh, our teams are focused on wrapping up the first trimester with lots of care and attention, but also preparing for a strong start to the next and beyond. And so, as it is Veterans Day, I do want to take a moment
010to recognize all of the veterans of our community and beyond. Uh we're deeply grateful for the men and women who have served our country with courage, dedication, and sacrifice. And again, this is a powerful reminder of service and leadership to us all as we uh celebrate them today. Another piece of gratitude like to uh thank the Selen community and beyond uh the county. A quick note that our CT mill did pass a lasting investment into the future of our students and region. And as we discussed throughout that process, this will allow us to continue sustain funding and grow programs that are um very much needed. Uh we had waiting lists. We were very excited in a meeting last week to start talking about adding that additional program to relieve that waiting list and to uh
011expand that to prek through 12 for experiential learning so we can begin to have those conversations about career pathways before. And so you'll be hearing much more about that in the months ahead and in years ahead as we are uh committed to being thoughtful stewards of those taxpayer dollars. Uh it's also exciting time for uh our community because you get to see Seline High School's drama performance potentially of Little Women, a timeless coming of age story coming up. Um this production follows the lives of four of the March sisters. I have got to admit my mother would be so embarrassed if she's watching that. I've never seen that put put on as a play. Was it a movie? I'm not sure. Never seen it. So, I definitely am committed to going out and uh to
012one of the three performances this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And all the details of course you can find on our various um platforms. And uh also have the privilege this year of serving on the Selen Area Chamber of Commerce holiday parade committee. We met again last night. This has been a really wonderful connection point between the broader community chamber of com commerce and our schools as we partnered with them on several contests. Last night I was able to vote. I didn't think I'd be able to vote as a superintendent on some of our students projects, but I was able to. Uh we we saw some amazing poems um come to us and pieces of art that will make its way to the parade and all of the festivities on Saturday, December 6th. Um, as part
013of the leadup to the parade, community members can purchase raffle tickets and um, the holiday candy bars. I will be ashamed to admit that I'll probably be pushing some off on some of people sitting around me at some point. Um, and so those efforts, I'll appreciate the chamber and inviting me to participate in that as a new resident. The season of giving is definitely in high gear in Seleneria schools as we move into the season. Uh we have seen how strong our community and our students are at caring and connecting with others. So a few things uh some of our community partners including Miss Selene, Selen Area Fire Department and others um have placed toy and coat collection boxes throughout various buildings in our district. So check that out. Um we know these are cherished
014traditions. At the same time, students are actually leading the way with many of their own service projects. Uh recently Sle Middle School donated over 870 pounds of uh items of canned food. When the Meadows is hard at work, I think they've already exceeded their uh goal I their goals in the very first week of their canned food drive. Uh young adult, I was actually got to visit a staff meeting. They identified Pop-Tarts are a favorite of our local senior citizens. So they're uh throwing all their resources together to get those to visit them. And uh I also this morning the foundation meeting found out the key club did a participate a huge event in Ann Arbor to put together um I believe food baskets as well for for local community uh families. So through all
015these efforts I would just like to extend my appreciation to all those organizations and students for their work there. We're currently transitioning between fall and winter sports season. So several several of those have already begun. Uh we are anticipating a large crowd for Friday night's football game with some uh other some additional security measures in place. So just arrive early and uh we can't wait to see you there. Uh a couple more things. Selen Area High School Advanced Chamber Choir was one of only eight choirs from Michigan selected to perform at the annual Coral Invitational at Michigan State University. Congratulations to them under the direction of their talented staff. Um, we appreciate all of their hard work and wanted to highlight some of that exciting music that's happening. And as I referenced, we're starting to
016talk about the end of the trimester and preparing for the next. But if you know anything about what happens in these buildings, we're already thinking about next school year and beyond. So, I was able and fortunate to um update the board on my transition plan during our time together last. that uh planning has already begun with our team and I'm very grateful for the administrators staffs uh who are working to get some of that in place. And tomorrow, last reminder, um your feedback as a special education family is very much welcome uh at our special education listening lab at Heritage tomorrow at 6 PM. So, I'd love to see some of our families there. Those are some updates that I have. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Kowalsski. Student Representative Hayes, what do you have
017for us? So, most of my topics were actually already said, which is totally okay, and I actually fully support it. Makes my job a little bit easier. Um, I do know the number um that will me donated. They donated 3,000 pounds of food, which was incredible. Um, and on the topic of that, 248 pounds were donated from the girls and boys cross country team. Um, with exams coming up, just a reminder to students to reach out to your teachers if your grades aren't where you want them to be. Email them, talk to them in person. They might seem a little bit scary, but if you talk to them and explain what's going on and that you would like to get your grade back up, there is a good chance that they will either offer you
018some sort of way to get your grade back up or some reconciliation for the inability to. Um, Little Women is coming up and it's really exciting and I fullheartedly go tell you all to go support and go watch. I'm very excited to go see some of my friends that will be out there. And as the winter does come up, just reminder to dress warm for all those who are riding the bus or are doing winter sports. Some of them are um indoors, but I know with skiing, I'm currently on dryland and I'm outside, so I'm freezing cold. So, just a reminder to stay warm as the temperatures continue to drop. >> Thank you very much. I was also going to talk about Little Women, but I've heard it twice so far. I've got my tickets,
019two tickets ready to go. Thank you. Uh CQC, we did not meet this week. Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Rosson's not here. Uh Foundation for Senary Schools, uh we heard a little bit from them. Board associations, I have nothing to report. Sex Advisory Board, Lauren Gold, anything from them? Uh we are meeting uh in early December and hopeful to bring um some more information to the next board meeting or the December board meeting. >> All right. Excellent. Uh DEI advisory committee. That's just me this time. Um we met they met on October 29th and welcomed several members for the first time. Superintendent Kowalsski opened the meeting with brief remarks and then headed off to another engagement. Each of the 18 attendees introduced themselves and we now have a comm committee of 20 and under the guidance
020of Dr. Kerr the group participated in onboarding session and reviewed the committee's guiding documents and survey instruments that sort of thing. Dr. Curl also provided an overview of the various subcommittees and members will decide over the next three weeks which ones they would like to join and uh wellness committee uh Darcy Berwick uh care oh city of Selene hasn't met yet cares >> I think Brian Puffer will have emailed you to be on the agenda for December they are we are meeting next week and they're going to determine their uh what grants they are funding and then they'll um to present to us on the 9th. >> Very good. Looking forward to that. Thank you very much, Darcy Burwick. And miscellaneous. So, catch all for anything anyone has to say. This is where the rest
021of you kick in and say, "Little women, I didn't know about that. I'm gonna go." Okay. >> Just wanted to say um thank you to our veterans. >> Yes. Thank you to our veterans and thank you to the second graders tonight. They were awesome. Uh I'd like to move on to our one and only scheduled report. Your honor, sir, Mr. Jeff Higgins, a partner at Plant Moran, who has conducted our audit. And from what I understand, he Mr. Higgins can put the fund in fund balance. >> It's always an exciting time when you're talking about audits. There's no doubt about that. >> Oh, I did. Thank you. But again, thank you for few minutes of your time this evening as we talk about the results of the audit for the district's financial statements for its
022year ended June 30th, 2025. There's several documents that come out of the audit process. There's a financial report with supplemental information which contains the district's audit financial statements and there's also you would have received the uh report to the board of education which just provides some information on the audit process and results. So we put together this brief slide presentation just to go through again those results for its year ended June 30th 2025. So this first slide really just goes through and discusses our opinion on the financial. So again, it's our job as the district's independent auditors to provide an opinion on the financial statements which are prepared by management through the oversight of the board that report the results of the financial uh statements for the year and all the required disclosures and other
023type of uh reporting that's that's uh required. And I'm pleased to report here tonight that as a result of our processes and procedures, we've rendered what's called an unqualified or what's also known as a clean opinion on the district's financial statements. That would be the highest level of assurance that we can provide on a set of financial statements. So overall clean audit report and with that then we will get into some of the financial highlights for the year. So the activities of the district are reported in various different funds just to uh display the the function of those dollars and to dis uh demonstrate the accountability for the dollars spent in those different funds. So we can go to the next slide here. So our presentation tonight is going to focus on the general fund
024as that's the main operating fund for the district. And again it's a snapshot in time as of June 30th 2025. So here we can see as of June 30th 2025 this should be the assets of the district were about 25 million. There's receivables about 10 million that would be primarily due uh state aid receivables due from the state for July and August state aid payments. There are some other federal grant monies that are also due in uh from from various federal programs that would be received in July and August. So again, total assets about 36 million. On the liability side of the ledger, you can see there's a crude payroll of about $ 8.4 million that be primarily due uh for July and August teacher payment. So teachers have fulfilled their obligations as of June
02530th. Most of them are still paid over the summer. So because they've earned that right to be paid, that's recorded as a liability as of June 30th. That's about 8.4 million. They can see other liabilities of just under six million, which would include things like accounts payable, other unearned revenue, and other uh payables to other funds. The difference between your assets and liabilities is then the fund balance about 22 million, which we'll talk about in further detail in a few minutes. So again, you have total liabilities and fund balance about $36 million. Going on to the next slide. This is just a summary of the general fund revenue for the year. You can see for 2025 there was total revenue of about 78.6 million. The majority of that of course as you can see is
026from state a or from state sources about 54 million or about 70% of the revenue. And those state sources are primarily driven by the foundation allowance. So Selen Area schools like all districts in Michigan is primarily funded through the state by what's known as a foundation allowance. That's an annual appropriation at the state on a state level or student per student level. So the per student foundation was $9,68 per student for June 30th, 2025. And so that divided by the total enrollment of the district of just over 4600 students really drives the vast majority of the funding received by the by the district. You can see then there's also state revenue or excuse me federal revenue on there of roughly $1.6 million. That's mostly idea special education uh funding. Then local source revenue of about
0279 million. That's primarily property taxes that are collected by the district. On the next slide, we present the general fund expenditures and this would be by object code. Effectively just saying how were those dollars spent um the 73.9 million. You can see about 64 million would have gone to salaries and benefits about 87% of the total expenditures. So again as you would expect is the primary operations of the district involve the education of students. it's primarily um employee costs that are involved with that. And so about 80 some% of the the total expenditures were to go to salaries and benefits which would be consistent with with other year's expenditures. And then you can see about supplies and others about 13% about 9.5 million and then other various expenses were essentially less than 1% for this
028last fiscal year. The next slide then we take a look at the history of the general fund revenue over or under expenditure. So consider the net income for the general fund on an annual fund an annual basis. So again if we think of the general fund revenue and transfers in of about little under $79 million plus the expenditures about 74 million that was a positive addition of about $4.9 million. That 4.9 million adds to the fund balance and adds to those financial reserves of the district. You can see really since 2019 the district has been on the positive side of that revenue versus expenditures equation and you can see there's some pretty significant variations. Really a lot of that's just caused by of course the pandemic began in 2020. There's was a lot of additional
029resources put into that educational programs through various federal funds, state dollars and obviously there was some also cost impacts of the the COVID pandemic. So, there are some some relative uh variations there on a year-to-year basis, but overall still positive additions to to fund balance for the district. So, in the last slide here, this is the again that talking about that fund balance number. We talked about how the fund balance is the difference between your assets and liabilities. The annual revenue versus expenditures either adds or subtracts that fund balance. The fund balance really represents the financial reserves of the district. It's just a good measure of the financial strength of an organization in terms of how much financial resources do they have. And so based on that idea that it represents the financial reserves of
030the district, the question becomes like how much does that fund balance truly represent or how what's a good way to measure that fund balance. So fund balance is often measured as a percentage of your expenditures just to give you an idea of how that relates to the overall budget maintained by the district. So if you take your fund balance at the end of the year about 22.4 4 million. Divide that by our expenditures about 74 million. That gives you about 30.3%. So you can see that darker blue bar there represents Seline's state or excuse me fund balance percentage for the last several years. And that teal bar represents how Seline compares to the state average. So the state average at June 30th, 2024, which is the last year which data is currently available for was
031about 24.7%. So if you see historically there was a time period there where the Selen's fund balance is a little bit under that state average for the last couple of years then you've gotten to that state average level and now you've increased it a little bit more again. So you know we don't have state average numbers for this year. Um but again it's good to see that upward trend. So again from a financial strength perspective the district has done a nice job of really building and then maintaining and continuing to grow that fund balance level. So a lot of this is really reflective. Like I said a little bit ago, there was a lot of monies injected into the educational systems through co relief funds. Those have all expired now. So if you go back
032historically the last several years, these percentages are probably higher than you would have seen 101 15 years ago. Um another point of reference, so the Michigan school business officials typically represents about a 15% fund balance level. The governmental finance officers association represents kind of that 15 to 16% fund balance level. So statewide schools have been over that level, but again as the co area funding has now exhausted itself um we would expect to see these percentages start to come down. So Seline finds itself in a pretty good p spot from my perspective from a financial strength overall level but it's still good to be mindful of your fund balance as you go forward as the budgeting process as again really the the COVID funds have really exhausted. And now we're back in more of a
033traditional funding environment. So that's a quick summary of the results for June 30th, 2025. Are there any questions from the board for Jeff Higgins? Darcy Berwick first. >> Um there there was one um section that talked about tax abatement that there currently weren't any uh within our capture area. Um do you see that changing any time in the future or are you aware of any requests from corporations to build? >> I am not aware of any. So really the how the tax payments work in the school environment. So if you really think of the property taxes, most of those really factor into how the district receives its foundation allowance. So again we talked about that $968 per pupil. So some of that is funded through property taxes and some of that is funded through then
034the state's aid payments. And so what often happens when you have those abatements, the state will reimburse those monies for a general ed perspective just to make sure you're receiving your full foundation. It can sometimes have some impacts on debt villages because those are not necessarily reimbursed, but as far as I'm aware, I'm not aware of any significant uh >> nothing >> recaptures or abatements that are that are currently going to create any significant issues for the district. Uh and then on your expenditures slide you noted that about 80% of our to 87% of our total expenditures were essentially um HR going into the classroom. Do you know how we compare to other school districts in the area? >> So I don't have that information directly in front of me but I know we've looked
035at it in years past and from so the state does also categorize expenditures by function. So instruction sports services etc. And historically, I know Seline's certainly been on par with fellow districts in Washington County and other districts in southeast Michigan. >> Okay. And uh a similar question and my final one is regarding the fund balance. Do you know how we compare to our other school districts in the area? >> So I don't have a comparison for county. I will say like I said, you can see compared to state average you were sort of at there the last couple years. My expectation would be you'll probably be a little bit over the state average um at the end of this year once full data is available. But um I don't have a comparison directly between Washington
036County districts. >> Okay. I know Ann Arbor's not there. I just wasn't sure about Dexter and Chelsea. Okay. Thank you. >> Rest of the board comments questions. Um actually I'm glad you asked that question because that's one of the ones I had as well. And uh from what I understand you were asking about specifics on where we spend our money. One of the things that we take great pride in is looking at bulletin 1014 that which comes out in early March and I usually send the board a reminder when it comes out when it's ready where you can actually see have a better snapshot of where the monies are going which is great. Um I so I had some clarification just before you walked in about OPE and on page 51 of our um packet
037is the other postemployment benefits which is interesting. So from what I understood we filled the bucket and Miranda sorted me out on this. the statewide we we filled the bucket so we're no longer pulling money off the employees backs in the district. Got that right. So on page um I was delighted to see that oh I've got to find the right document here. I was delighted to see that for the first time in 2025 it's it's at 2.98 and traditionally it's been around 8% on the employees and next year will that will that reduce even more or will we continue to carry it at about 3%. >> So the the source funding is an interesting concept because there's really two pieces to that. So there's the retirement piece which um goes to pay the retirees
038employ and employees retired employees retirement and there's also the oped piece which is other po post-employment benefits that's effectively retiree health care. So there's kind of those two pieces that mysters covers and there's two different pools. So if you go back a few years they were both significantly underfunded and so the retirey plan is still underfunded statewide to the tune of roughly $2 billion. But you are right, the retirey health care portion of that, the OPED plan historically have been underfunded over the last couple years is now actually overfunded and so there are assets accumulating in that pot of money. Now the interesting thing about that is districts are required to report that in their financials, but you really have no control over that program. It's a program administered by the state. The state sets
039the rates, the state collects the money, all those that money is going in to cover those various benefits. Um, so it's an interesting concept that it it shows up in your financials, but as a local district, you really have no control over that program. Um, that's a long way of saying that there's a lot that goes into it, but in terms of what the rates are going to be for next year, honestly, I top my head, I I don't know. >> I appreciate that. Thank you very much. Good to know that. Um, I have no further questions except to say thank you and nothing else from the rest of the board. Well, then thank you very much for uh the clean audit. I almost stopped reading when I saw the word clean. And I thought,
040well, no, no issues. However, had there been issues, you would have drawn them to our attention long before this evening. Correct. >> Absolutely. Yes. I mean, it is a a very long process. And I should just have a quick thank you to Miss Miranda and the entire business office. The audit is a very rigorous and thorough process and it's over several weeks, really several months as part of the audit procedures. And um if there are problems, we would certainly alert the board and make them aware of it. But we do appreciate uh Missley is just their preparedness and their thoroughess and their cooperation in making sure we're able to complete the audit and get things done within the state state required deadline of of November 1st to get things submitted. >> Well, thank you very
041much. I appreciate that and thank you Miranda as well on behalf of the whole board. Thank you. So, we'll see you same place, same time next year >> we will be here. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you very much. >> I have we have three I think it's just three three action items. Uh the first is I'd like to entertain a motion to accept the audit report as presented uh as presented and submitted by assistant superintendent Miranda. >> So moved to >> JT. Thank you. >> Second. Berwick. >> Thank you Darcy Berwick. Um any discussion on this? I think we've just had that. All in favor please say I. >> I opposed. Thank you very much. We appreciate the uh audit report. Uh secondly, uh we this may require you to come up I think
042Miss Mor Miranda uh to adopt the annual summer tax resolution as submitted by assistant superintendent Miranda. Do I have a motion to ex to adopt? >> Sure. Bwick. >> Okay. >> Support gold. >> Thank you so much. Are there any discussions or anything that you need to tell us? Uh Miranda. Okay. [laughter] There's nothing. Your your report spoke for itself. Correct. >> This is just an annual thing that we have to do to continue to collect summer taxes. We've done summer taxes since I've been here and want to continue that, but it requires us to do this board action annually. [snorts] >> Thank you. Any questions for Miranda? Uh Darcy Berwick made the motion. Lauren Gold seconded. Thank you. Well, seeing no questions, all in favor, please say I. I. >> And no opposition. Thank
043you so much, Miranda. I'd like to also entertain a motion to award Monroe Heating and Cooling Company a contract in the amount of 381,500 381,500 plus a 10% contingency for the districtwide filter first fixture replacement as recommended by LL Planners and submitted by Rex Clary, executive director of operations. Do I have a motion? >> Motion to >> Thank you. Second. Berwick. >> Thank you, Darcy Berwick. Let's uh hear from Mr. Clary. Anything you can tell Oh, or Cody, anything you can tell us about this, sir? >> Yeah, so Rex asked me to come up and kind of speak about this because I've been the one uh kind of running the filter first program trying to make sure that we get in compliance and everything. Um we did apply for a grant and we were awarded
044um monies for you know the filter first program. Um we are trying to this is in response to the clean drinking water access act of uh 2023. Um, so we're just trying to finish up some of our uh program and a good share of this will be covered by the grant. There might be some of it that we have decided to go over and above what the law says and what the grant will allow us to pay for, but um we have uh syncing funds and bond funds that are planned to utilize uh to pay for the shortcoming, but as I said, most of it should be covered by the the grant. >> Thank you, Cody. Are there any questions for Cody regarding this? Well, hearing none. All in favor, please say I. >> I.
045>> Opposed. >> Thank you very much, Cody. I appreciate that. And uh update. We have two discussion items. And the first is our board calendar discussion. If you could turn in your packet to page 76. And maybe also look at your um your own personal calendars. Uh usually what we do is we have our board meetings on the second Tuesday and fourth Tuesday of each month with a few exceptions. Um there is a note that spring break starts on March 30th. In in the past we have only had one March board meeting uh because of spring break, but since it starts the week after uh we looks like we can put the two in. I'm going to leave it up to the board to discuss whether they want to uh maintain a single meeting in
046March or not. And secondly, we Dr. Kowalsski has a recommendation for a July August meeting. >> Um just something to think about, we um you know have sometimes some folks to on board and so one consideration they put out there was since we only have one July board meeting potentially just for the month of August moving that August date back one week to capture maybe some folks so that we can ensure that they're um onboarded while then able to capture some late hires later on. I think just seeing um how districts work and that would be a recommendation but not not something that would really mess us up um also provides some you know kind of timing in between those board meetings. >> I need to be absolutely clear um when you say moving a
047meeting back some people think that means going back a week some people thinks it means going forward a week. So what is the actual date you're looking at? The recommendation would be to change the August 11th date to August 4th to potentially capture as many folks as possible to get them started with their colleagues. >> We'll call that [snorts] one of the options. So, we have two options really under Thank you. We have two options then under discussion keep maintaining a second meeting in March and moving to uh August 4th uh that meeting and I'll leave let the floor open and uh yes Darcy Burwick >> uh just what about a thought of moving both August meetings to earlier just because there's a lot of college moveins that happen at the very end of August.
048>> I've got a response. Is it about because we have a lot of new hires. >> Oh, go ahead. >> It's just a thought. >> The We should double check with the first day of school, too. Having a board meeting the first day of school is >> Oh, I was saying going back to the 18th. So, do the fourth and the 18th. So typically that that week um is the most intense for the team that would give recommendations for those types of things because we are conducting a variety of trainings and meetings that week. But that would just be a consideration. It wouldn't be but just something to to be mindful of. >> That's fine. >> It was just a thought. >> Yeah. >> All right. Good thought. Uh Lauren, >> I could make I
049could make the fourth but not the 11th personally. Um for for what it's worth. >> Then that's great. That works better. >> And then uh I I don't know that I have a huge opinion about March, whether or not we have one or two meetings in March. >> I I missed that. Did you said you had no opinion? >> Yeah, I don't I mean it's just whether or not >> Well, another thing is uh as they to use a football term, we could call an audible on the play and decide in early March whether we want to uh whether we need a second meeting. Does that work? I have it on the calendar at this point. Okay. All right. I'm not trying to lead the group. I'm just curious for your >> I think you
050know Dr. suggestion about August works well. >> Okay. So, I'm hearing if I just to get the sense here and this is also for Betty's notes to maintain the second meeting but potentially cancel it if it seems like we don't need it. Maybe we'll load a few extra things at the early meeting. And secondly, to move our August 11th meeting to August 4th works for I should actually see if it works for me. Any other comments from folks while I'm digging around in my own calendar? >> I think keeping the I think keeping the second March meeting would be advantageous because otherwise we go five weeks without a meeting. I think that's a little bit too much of a stretch. So unless we don't have business, >> I think we should keep that on the
051calendar. >> Let me look back at that calendar again. Um what was the meeting prior to that one? >> Uh March 14th. >> July 14th. Oh. >> Oh no. I'm sorry. I'm talking about the two in March. Uh, >> okay. >> But March, we'd be going from March 10th to April 14th with no meeting in between. So, I think at least for now, we should keep that on the calendar. >> All right. I can I can uh I concur with that. All right. So, what I'm hearing is we're making one change to the calendar and that is the August 11th is now August 4th. Got that correct? Good. And this is just a discussion item. We're going to vote on this uh next week once we get the calendar nailed down and our other board
052members who aren't here get a chance to take a peek at it as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anything else that I've left off? No. I'd like to pass the mic over to uh Dr. Lauren Gold uh who is our policy chair to give us a quick update about this evening's policy meeting. Uh yes, this evening we um had a meeting where we heard from uh representatives from Trun, both uh an attorney and um Luke Seavoy, who's sort of the board policy expert there, I guess. I don't know what his title is. >> Yeah. Um and so they were on via Zoom or whatever platform and explained the process um of what it would be like to go with the TR policies of note for this board. Um I wanted to share with
053you all that they shared with us that Forest I wrote it down so that I would have it. Forest Hill Schools and Grand Rapids um has adopted pretty much the entirety of the Trune policy uh manual and so that's sort of our best way to review um those policies. It it wouldn't be exact much like we do now. we could pick um some pieces there would be and so we just discussed the process of potentially uh switching over the costs um and there was vigorous discussion of uh how to make it student centered for Seline uh and holds much of our own uh values in versus in you know whether that's via policy manual or administrative guidelines lines and just our own uh vision. Um and uh we've now had two superintendent recommend this. It
054is the uh policy. It's recommended by MASB uh which is I think speak strongly to it. Um it is based on Michigan law and um you know has our own attorneys. Um so it would hopefully streamline things for our administrators in terms of aligning law with uh law with policy. So uh it was an encouraging presentation. I think that we will bring uh an action item to the December meeting for the whole board to consider. >> Thank you. Thank you, Lauren. I appreciate that. Um good. Any other comments to make about or feedback for Lauren regarding that? Um, we actually also discussed a strategy for next steps as well and and Dr. Kwolsky offered a very solid plan and uh we're going to bring that to discussion to the table too in future discussions. I'd
055like to move to the consent agenda. Uh, all the items listed here in this agenda will not be read aloud. The the motion will allow for the authorization of all listed items without discussion unless one of our board members requests that any one of them be considered individually. So at this point I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed. >> So moved to ities >> support gold >> and Dr. Gold. Uh any discussion? No discussion at this point. So uh all in favor please say I. >> I opposed. >> Hearing no opposition >> items scheduled. I can't believe we're here at 7:15. The AP gov folks we could stretch this out so you're here till 8. Oh okay. No >> I think tonight was their last night to get this
056in. Is that correct? >> If you have any difficult questions to ask because we're happy to hang around after the board meeting, >> just chat, right? Just stay around chat. >> Chat. Yeah, we chat. All right. Uh, any items on the next agenda, Dr. Kowalsski? >> We do have a few items. Um, we I know we've been deepened the work of some some additional bond work and so we've got um likely some things to bring you on that. We have some special musical presentations scheduled uh as part of our December uh student showcase. uh you heard earlier there's a we'll have a presentation I believe by CB uh my evaluation will be in uh request in close session and I'm sure a number of other things I think I'm missing something I wrote down but
057that's a those are some highlights and some previews >> that's plenty uh public comment is there any public comment Dr. Uh, Betty Yonke. Thank you. The next board meeting will be held on December 9th, 2025 at Let me make sure of the time. 6:30. I'd like to entertain a motion to enter close session of the board at 7:18 7 Let's just call it 7:30 just to round things out. With the intent to reopen at approximately >> 7:45 uh for the purpose of school board to review attorney client privilege communication. And it's pursuant to schedule section 8HH of the miss uh Michigan open meetings act. Under 8H, I will need a two-thirds roll call vote of members uh elected or appointed and serving. So I will start at the the Jason end and it'll be a
058yes or a no. >> Yes. >> Jason Tisit is yes. Lauren, >> yes. >> Uh me. Yes. >> Yes. >> Darcy, >> yes. Are there going to be any additional people joining us? Miranda will be joining me for this. >> Thank you. >> Well, I was gonna cover that with the end, but that's fine. No, no, no, that's a no. Absolutely. Cool. And Nate Henson says yes also. Thank you very much. At this point, this is this is for the AP gov folks. We usher you out of the room so we can go into closed session. And uh thank I thank everybody in the audience for attending this evening and good luck on your exams. We have returned to the open session without objection. Uh, and we have a motion to uh to adjourn the
059regular board of education meeting of November 11th at 7:46 made by Jason Tis and seconded by Nate Hansen. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Thank you. We'll see you on the uh December 9th.