001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the uh Selen area schools board of education meeting of October 28th. And uh standing as you are able, we'd like to begin with the pledge of allegiance. And tonight we will be led by our special guest Emily Tisidus. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you Emily. Good job. Perfect. I heard you and everything and didn't even have a microphone. Uh public comment. Do we have any public comment? Uh we have no public comment this evening. I have no response to the previous public comment because there was none. Uh revisions and approvals of the agenda, please. uh items can be added or deleted from the agenda or the
002order changed. We need to approve it though before we can have our meeting. Uh do I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda as printed. >> Berwick motion >> burwick. >> Oh wait, >> who is that? >> Sorry. I was I was >> Well, yeah. I thought we had talked about a policy. >> Oh, we can do that when we get to it. But >> okay, we get to >> Sorry. I was going to make a motion to Well, I guess >> No, we can do it like Let's do it right now. Okay, let's do it right now. >> Okay. I was going to make a motion to um take off action item 8A um regarding approval of the 7740 video surveillance and electronic monitoring. Uh the policy committee has uh received some
003stakeholder feedback regarding this policy and we'd like to have more time to investigate. >> Excellent. I am in concurrence with that change. Uh do we have a second for the motion uh for the agenda to be approved as revised? >> Sure. Berwick. >> Berwick. Do we have a second? >> Second titus. >> That you actually made the first motion. So didn't you? >> Jason Tisidus. All in favor please say I. I >> I >> opposed. I'll have to remember this. 5 Z. We have two absences tonight. Student showcase. Oh my gosh, it's that time. Uh, ordinarily Jillian Hayes would be introducing you, but Jillian could not make it this evening. So, allow me to introduce Sophia Okconor, and you're going to introduce your connecting club. How's that? Does that work? Thank you very much. Okay,
004there we go. Hi. Um, I'm Sophia O' Conor. Um, I am the connecting teacher. Um, and I have a great group of students that are going to tell us all about connecting and unified and all the great things that we're doing. >> Okay. So, we're slinking connecting. Um, we're all connecting to students. I'm Kennedy. I'm Abby. >> I'm Charlotte. >> I'm Martin Robinson. >> All right. What is connecting? Students are taught to help and connect with their peers that have disabilities, whether those may be physical or mental. Okay. So in connecting we have placements and like the different locations for placements are Pleasant Ridge, Woodland Meadows, Harvest, Heritage, the middle school, the high school, Liberty School, and then there's a young adult club. And at placements, you help each other learn or help students learn.
005You lead by example. You just are you're a friend to other kids. And you help peers with socialization and education aspects. And we go to placements Monday through Thursday. And on Fridays, we stay in class and like learn things that we can implement in our placements or things that we need to learn. >> Connecting Oh, sorry. Connecting one is a program where we start everyone out. Um, students often come in with like little to no experience and we get them out of their comfort zone. We put them in a placement. We put them in a classroom where they can learn hands-on in an actual environment. And we often stay in on Fridays and instead of connecting with peers and like learning other things, we learn about the disabilities and how to adapt and like help
006them with them. And then learning the fundamentals and the basics of like all the disabilities and how the program works and what we're expected to do along with like all the basics like the polar plunge and the spirit weeks and stuff. We learn about like how we can be implemented into that as a first year. >> Okay. Okay. And then connecting two is like the class that you can take if you really liked connecting one and like you want to continue like the goal and inclusion and everything like that. We're all connecting two students. Um connecting two is more like leader focused. You're focused on leading and like setting an example to your peers. Um you help organize the unified events inclusion week and you help design a t-shirt like the ones we're wearing. Um,
007it's student led, so it's a little less like students are kind of like helping like organize like the spirit week things and like what you want on your t-shirt and stuff like that. And then you still go to placements Monday through Thursday. It's like you're still like getting the contact with the kids. And then we do like fun trips like we go on a holiday shopping trip which is we each like have like a student that we're paired up with and we help like they have a Christmas list and we go shopping with them and get things off their Christmas list and we go bowling and do like a bunch of fun other trips. So then we have unified. So there's three different sections for unified. So there's unified PE which I'm in and it's
008super fun. So we have gened students participate with athletes. So that would be the students with disabilities and we just play like regular games in gym like so what did we do today? We had a free day and we just shot a basketball around just did whatever um but other days we have like specific sports we do. So then there's unified club which is gened and um special needs kids participate in a club and there's activities before before and after school. So, for example, that would be like painting or like painting pumpkins, paint cake, breakfast, and then or you just like go to football games or fun things like that. And then there's also lunch groups where GenEd students can leave like the regular ABC lunch and go to Miss Ghost's room, one of the
009teachers there, and we just have lunch in that classroom with all of those students. And then we have unified sports, which is a big thing. We um it's gen ed and special ed um students compete in a sport. So we have basketball right now and then we're getting more spu sports soon and then each team gets to like play at pep rallies which we had one a little bit ago but it's just really fun like gathering like each side and it's just super fun. So yeah, that'sified. All right, we practiced before we went. We practiced Monday through Thursday. It was hilarious. We had a lot of fun. And then we have inclusion, which is just a full week to celebrate diversity and to include all. So, why does this matter? It helps everyone feel safe,
010accepted, and respected. And it brings a lot of people together, and it just strengthens the whole community. It raises awareness about different experiences and challenges people might be experiencing. And then what happens? So, the week, this is the week of the Polar Plunge fundraiser. So, connecting two students create different themes for the whole school to participate in. So, like last year we did stuff at lunch where we would play like you like grab cups and you like see who gets the cup first. It was just super fun and a lot of people like really liked it and then whoever like wins at the end got like a prize I'm pretty sure I think. But the themes are always very fun and really entertaining and they're always like everyone is included so it's great. And then
011okay, so for the end goal, it's to send a lasting sense of belonging for all and just like not just during the week, but like trying to use that week to motivate everybody to like be excited about inclusion, be aware of it and like implement it in everyday life. Lastly, we have Polar Plunge, which is probably our biggest event. um students um in connecting and not can raise money and start their own like little site that they can send out. It's about like their why of like why they would want to raise money for Polar Plunge with students with special needs and um just send it to families and connect outside of the school. Um and we raised money and then the high school and the community raised well over $20,000 last year through this.
012Um and then >> um so basically like what it is to just kind of explain is it's like a giant like tank of water that you fill up and when it's really cold outside and um the students who raised money or just wanted to do it can like they jump in the water for like polar plunge and people dress up in like fun costumes and you can do it with a friend and have like a matching costume with them. It's a lot of fun. and um a bunch of the students from like the class that's going on at the time, they all gather around like this giant vat of water and watch people jump in and it's really cold but it's really fun and um yeah, they just express their love for inclusion. And then
013our overall message with the polar plunge is like those few moments of like being uncomfortable in that cold water is often what these students experience on a day-to-day basis. And so it brings that awareness and just overall connects our community. Everyone usually comes together for it and enjoys it a lot. So yeah, >> that's our program. >> Wow. Thank you. I Well, don't go anywhere yet. Charlotte, Kennedy, Marin, or I left somebody out. Abby, are there any questions from the board? Jason, >> what other uh what other sports are you guys considering bringing on besides basketball? Um, >> yeah. So, I run track and we do have like many students like participate in it just like because they want to do it. But I think we're going to have a full other just section specifically
014for Unifi, I'm pretty sure. And I think we were maybe trying to get volleyball or soccer, I don't know, soccer. Um, but yeah, we're just trying to Yeah, just because basketball like isn't the only one that people want to try. So, yeah. track and then soccer. >> Awesome. Anybody else? Darcy, >> I just wanted to say thank you for the work that you do with our kiddos and the inclusion. Thank you. >> Oh, Jennifer, >> I loved it. Of course. Um, I would love to hear one of if you could each give an example of one of your favorite things that you've done since being involved in connecting like what was what was really important and impactful for you and so others because I think we have a lot of AP go students maybe they
015could hear this and want to participate in connecting club 2 or tell others. Um, I think just like so I last year in connecting one I went to Pleasant Ridge where I used to go in elementary school and I got to be with my kindergarten teacher and I got to work with like so many different students like with all different kinds of disabilities. um I think ADHD, autism, there was just multiple other ones and it was just really interesting to see like how each of them like act and like how you can help them learn differently because everyone needs to learn in different ways and it was just I think that was really like it just helped me learn a lot and it was just like I don't know if that makes sense but like
016I just learned a lot by helping like each of the students and they're so young so like I really made an impact in their learning as well. So, I think that was the main thing for me probably. >> Um, my main thing was my freshman year. Um, I was new to the district and so this wasn't really a thing that we had in Ann Arbor and I was able to join the unified club. It was called connecting club at the time and we went with all these students to the football game. It was like the pink out football game and seeing like everyone enjoy it so much and like have such a great time and like be connected despite any differences that we had was like really impactful for me. and it kind of shifted
017my perspective coming into this new district and watching everyone feel welcomed was also just really inspiring overall. But yeah, >> um I don't think I have like a specific moment that I can think of right now, but like when I think of connecting last year, I had my placement at Harvest. So, I was working with like younger kids. I think they were in third grade and I was working with like a really small group of students. It was just two students specifically. And um I was there like helping them with math and like helping them with numbers and stuff like that. And there were kids that like in the very beginning when cuz I worked with them throughout like the entire year. So first trimester through third. And in the beginning they were very like
018shy. They didn't really like have a like a long like a big urge to like learn anymore. Like they just kind of like didn't really care. And then like being able to work with them throughout like all three trimesters and seeing where they like started and seeing where they ended and knowing that like you have a part in that and knowing that you like play a role in like these kids success while also growing yourself is like I think what such like a big beautiful thing about connecting >> Lauren Well, that's cool. Oh, there is something for Mary. >> My favorite part of connecting is like having fun playing basketball games, like watching people do funny stuff. It's kind of awesome. >> Thank you. Thank you to all four of you. And thank you for
019wearing pink this evening, too. Or that's your uniform for the whole year, though, right? >> Well, we were weked out last board meeting. So, I just want to say thank you for telling me the date of February 26 for the Polar Plunge. I've done it twice now. I'm ready to do it a third time. And I'm going to invite my board colleagues to go, but if they won't jump, they could at least sponsor my my jump. Is that something? Maybe that's easier to do than jumping. And you're right, coming out of getting in the water isn't so bad. Coming out, that's a bit challenging. Uh sloshing all the way back to the place where my dry clothes are in the biting cold, but I really appreciate it. Have you all done it before? >> Yeah.
020>> Awesome. And you raise money for uh Special Olympics. I've been involved with Special Olympics since 19 a long time ago back in the 70s. I started when I was still in high school. And it's it's a wonderful opportunity. Well, thank you very much and thank you to Mrs. Miz Okconor, wherever she is. She already blasted out of here, huh? Thank you. Are we posing for a quick image or not? >> Sure. I'm sure maybe take that picture. >> She's got her camera. If you could join us over there, um maybe put the title slide for your slideshow up or he's got something figured out. Ben has something figured out. We'd love to have a picture with you if you're okay with that. Thank you. >> Yeah, of course. Thank you. Just a quick comment
021to the rest of the board. We are getting this photo op thing really down to a science, aren't we? I think I'm I'm really happy about that. Uh administration and board committee updates. We'll begin with Dr. Kowalsski. >> I'm just wondering who I'm going to get a costume with and jump in the polar plunge. I'm still on that. So, >> or sponsor, but sounds more fun to put a costume on. So, it's been an incredible couple of weeks across Selen Area schools since I last updated the board um in a board meeting. I just want to take a few minutes to talk about some of those highlights. I want to start with the fir the amazing foundation for Urselane area schools and their lunchon. It was the first one I was able to attend. Lots
022of first of course this year but just so incredible the work that they do to put that together bringing awareness. Last I heard from Stacy they had raised over $43,000. Um truly impressive great event that showcased the power powerful presentations of our students but also our teachers who make the generosity of our community come alive. Um so thank you to the foundation to all those that attended and were curious. Of course those who donate and continue to donate um and helped organize such a great great lunchon. And I will note it's also also great to see these grants come to life. I know the salmon in the classroom was a highlight I um talked about and can't wait to see those little salmon swimming around. Just last night, yesterday evening, I attended uh a parade
023uh committee meeting for the Chamber of Commerce where we had two students um Cooper Bush who won first place and Marlo Samp um who won who was runner up for the parade logo design contest. They are both part of Mr. Rodriguez, one of Mr. Rodriguez's SWC SWWCT classes. It was nice to meet their parents. They were super proud of them and I'm hoping to bring them to a future board meetings to recognize them as well. Um, this year we partnered with the chamber on both the parade logo design contest and some art and essay contests. So, that's been really exciting and lots of great participation. Uh, just a reminder since it's our last board meeting before the Seline craft show um super excited to see this for the first time as well. As a reminder,
024that is um Saturday, November 8th. We hope everyone will spread the word about that. And just a note that we will have a free shuttle from Liberty School and the entrance this year is off Woodland Drive. Uh last week was a really busy week. This week is busy too, but every night we got to see students and I get to got to interact with students and that was really exciting. Uh we of course the my our team went to trunk or treat. So it was I I didn't even know there was those many families in Seline. It was wonderful to see. I think someone called it a gazillion uh uh youngsters out there. Uh thank you to the varsity football team for their appearance at Tailgate with the team. Another great opportunity for me to
025connect with some families. And uh I also wanted to again remind the community uh especially our special education community that CK has invited me for a special listening lab with them uh November 12th at Heritage and that will wrap up my fall events and then we are working on a January service project where um individuals from the community and students can join me for a day of service in January. More to come on that. Okay. I asked AD Mantha for a fall sports update. So bear with me as I talk through some amazing accomplishments of our athletes. They had an incredible fall season. And here's where we stand. The equestrian team, the team finished second overall at districts and went on to compete at regionals where they finished sixth. Girls golf finished fourth out of
02614 at regionals. Boys soccer were SEC champions. They fought hard in districts and they took Bedford to two overtimes and two rounds of shootouts. Congratulations to them. also boys tennis who finished fourth of 10 at regionals. Girls field hockey were also regional champions. They beat Rockford on October 20th to earn their first MHSAA regional championships in their inaugural season. Congratulations to boys water polo as well, finishing third at districts and qualifying for regionals this coming weekend. for boys cross country and girls cross country. Boys finished second at regionals qualifying for the state meet at the Michigan International Speedway which is this weekend. And girls finished second at regionals and will join the the boys this weekend as well. Of course, uh you might know that our varsity football team are SEC champions and headed to
027playoffs and that begins this Friday. And girls volleyball district play begins on November 5th. And I'm almost done. Got a few more. Isn't it incredible how much our students do? It's unbelievable. Girls swim and dive, uh, they have an SEC competition that's wrapping up with dive regionals on November 13th and a state meet on November 21st. Boys and girls rowing enjoyed their intercolastic fall season which included sever several riatas. I know what those are. uh their postseason be uh begins in the spring and sideline cheer were there to support our football team and all kinds of things this um so far this year and bringing incredible spirit to the game. So congratulations to where we stand in fall sports. Looking forward to another great se uh winter athletic season as well. And before I close,
028one important reminder that election day is coming up and I know I will likely hear uh comments echoed at the board table as well. Please, please, please make sure you get the absentee ballots in. Um, and make sure you have voted for our CTE millillage and make a plan to vote if you do not vote absentee. And as you can see, it's been an action-packed few weeks and months. >> It has been. Thank you so much for all the updates. Uh, student representative Hayes is out on a deadline this evening for the yearbook, which is pretty intense. Uh, CQC uh will meet next month. Chamber of Commerce Trustee Austin, Treasurer Austin is not here this evening for a report. uh foundation for Selenary schools. Did you want to add anything to what Dr. Kowalsski added
029said so far? >> I just wanted to say that I did have to miss the fabulous fall lunchon. I love seeing it. Um but I was out of the country for work last week, so I was sure to donate when I got back and thank you to all of the volunteers um the presenters and the kids that always come and talk about the impactful grants um because that's what they're for. >> Yes, it was excellent. Uh Trusty Hansen was there. I was there. And any other board members that I missed? No. Okay. Uh, board associations. I spent last Friday up in Traverse City for the Michigan Association of School Board's annual leadership conference. George Cororos, a Canadian uh, colleague of mine, uh, was the keynote speaker. He was very lively and entertaining, great workshops, but
030the the best part of it was interacting, networking with other board members from across uh, the state. One of the interesting things is that all the tables I sat at the board president's workshop and in other places uh I met a lot of rural uh board members, board presidents and board members and their issues uh stand in stark contrast to the issues that we have. Um funding is always precarious. Finding staff is difficult even right down to the sports and merging football teams together from other districts neighboring them. uh a whole different set of challenges and it was really interesting to hear how they approached some of their difficulties and they were open to ideas from larger districts like us and I also at the same time met up with folks from Detroit from Ann
031Arbor and other large cities as well. So it was a great the networking was about the best I I thought it had been in years. Uh [snorts] moving down the list sex ed advisory board anything >> nothing since the last DEI advisory committee I can say that we are meeting tomorrow and you superintendent Kowalsski is going to be there and meeting the new members uh wellness committee nothing uh city of we haven't met yet cares no voting soon though right November 19th they're voting >> yes they'll ask to be on a December board meeting to present. >> Super. Thank you. Um, so miscellaneous open to anyone who has anything that I've missed a committee? No. Or anything observations you've had? No. None of the above. Jennifer Stein. >> Well, Rachel alluded to it, but I
032would also like to reinforce um making a plan to vote. Um, and I will look happy to doing that to support our CTE programs uh districtwide and um countywide this Tuesday. >> Thank you. I voted already, but I didn't get a little sticker. They used to put them in the envelope when you get an absentee ballot. I didn't get one this year. Anyway, uh we're moving on to action items now. We dropped the first. We're getting to a recommended motion. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the reappoints of current trustees Stephanie Gray and Lori Byron to the Selen District Library Board for a two-year term beginning December 1st, 2025, as submitted by Dr. Kowalsski, superintendent. I would enthusiastically love to um make that motion. >> Motion made. >> Seconded by Lauren Gold. Is
033there any discussion? >> They're both wonderful ladies that contribute a lot to the community. Thank you very much. >> Well, thank you. >> I would just like to thank them for their service and uh thank the library in general. I love that place. >> I love the library, too. I love the electronic offerings they have as well. Um, anything else? Thank you. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Thank you very much. Um I'm somebody will send them a letter saying congratulations. Superintendent would now like to make a scheduled report to the board and you're going to do it from the front or from your seat. She's going to do it from her seat. So, let's make sure the microphone isn't blocking your face too much. And uh I'm looking forward to
034this. Well, thank you for the opportunity to provide you uh with an update to my transition plan on this uh slide. In the slide deck, you'll see a couple of old materials that I gave you. One one cold, I don't know, maybe tempered night uh back in May. And so, it didn't mean just nothing. It meant a lot to follow through on that transition plan. And so I want to walk you through um some of what's happened um since I had the great honor to join you all here in Seline and then also um provide uh some recommendations and next steps that we'll be working on. So you might remember that from May through October, this transition unfolded into what I identified in that plan I brought you all that night um into three phases.
035And the first identified as the transition and the work um that I did to establish some very early on initial relationships and work with Dr. Latch and you all um to get myself into the community. On July 1st, I joined the team officially to begin that listening learning process. Um and so deepening the relationships with staff and families and launching the school year um for the 2025 2026 school year. And through the last month, a couple months or so, um we've been strength strengthening some of the collaboration and getting some more insights um through community listing labs and other things I'll mention. But I like to coin tonight as kind of phase uh four which is aligning insight into action. So how we're going to trans how I'm going to work with our team to
036translate some of these things into action because I shouldn't have done that. So those are the phases right there. So the first priority that I had was to have some some opportunities to have authentic connections and meeting people where they were. Um so I engaged in those conversations across the community in the first few months. I just want to publicly thank the city of Seline for the many events that I joined that allowed us the opportunity to not have to build things from the ground up and just um work with some already great events happening in the community. um thanks to PTO and PTA uh folks who I joined in the early stages um at buildings. I've met with many former educators who've reached out students and I'll talk more about that um in a
037little bit. Built ISD uh connections with many of my colleagues at the ISD, of course, engaged you all in um one-on- ones in those first few weeks. And um ironically, the CT mill also provided many opportunities to collaborate and establish relationships around the community. So I'm very grateful for that and those were some highlights. So during this time um listening didn't end necessarily with just conversations. Here are some things um that happened during that time. So again uh intentional school visits started in August when we launched school. uh using again Selen area community partners like the Rotary. I've been there um establishing strong partnerships early on with our SEA and ESP and again continuing to have great collaborative conversations with you all as I navigated the last few months. Once school opened, it was a
038obvious time to begin those school visits and work with administrators in their buildings where the work is. And these moments allowed me to to begin to see instruction in the district. um the climate and operations firsthand and really connect the feedback that I had been given over the summer to actual to action and what was happening in the buildings and around the community. So I've synthesized from many of those things we've actually tracked this in a document some of the things that I need to lift up in terms of things what I've heard. So the first slide and this will be available publicly as well um are things that were reoccurring themes throughout my conversations. So for families and community members there they were remarkably consistent. People take great pride as they should as as
039I do um into our excellence and the people here that serve our students and our families. They were they are looking for more consistency across schools and a continued focus on whole child while elevating importance of arts arts academics athletics and other things that students participate in. That was a common theme as well. Families also emphasize in some of the small groupoup conversations the importance of continuing to support emotional and psychological safety of students. And there were there's been many key things from key themes from staff that ironically are somewhat similar. And again, we've tracked this through all of the um community events. This came this went all to a document and then lifted out major themes. So like check, check, check. We heard this over and over. And those were um consistency across schools
040was ironically something that matched what we heard from families and parents in listening labs especially around attendance, behavior, discipline, curriculum and daily operations. Time for continued time for collaboration and learning. Um flexible and unstructured time to plan together as colleagues and professionals. Uh, I've heard a lot about the balance and manageable workload from our staff and that ranges across the board from all of our almost 700 staff members um and looking at um protected planning time and balance between other task and instructional focus and uh calls for increased opportunities to have mentorship and um we we know that we are bringing lots of new staff on board. So while we're transitioning staff having some elevated onboarding processes as well. This is exciting. So this has again just started because we just went back to school
041in August. So I got a little late start getting um in with students. So I've been in many classrooms. Uh I would say probably to count probably about 55 or 60 at this point. I tried counting those up by date on my calendar. I like to quantify things uh this morning and I really wanted to have a number for you but didn't get it. And October and November, I've actually had the opportunity just in the last yesterday and today to be a part of two um great collaborations with students at Selain High School. I plan to visit Selain Middle School uh to work with students there and to have a like a mini listening lab in November. I'll move to Heritage uh by December [snorts] and then round out January by visiting um alternative ed
042in Liberty after their new uh interim administrator kind of gets an opportunity to get in here and um work with them. And then because our of course third graders right now are just experiencing the beginning of third grade, by early spring I'll circulate to um our our lower elementary buildings and talk to third graders more in the spring. And so those are some highlights of some of the just some of the many great students who have informed my listening and learning phase of my transition plan. There were some foundational moves of phases one through three that I do want to highlight that were supported by um you all and the great team that we have here working students, teachers, the core team and our administrative team. Uh we established stability and momentum and entered the
043school year with a settled sea contract. And I think that was very important and something I'd like to highlight is um something that team worked very hard on and our teachers work very hard on and we're appreciative of that. Some early on uh I've identified some possibilities to do some leadership pipeline collaboration. I'm working with a higher ed partner. I'm not naming them this evening. um to look at a pilot uh condensed program for some of our individuals who may want to lead in this district and have opportunities to do that as well as I will not name tonight but a potential ISD partner um within the ISD who has a program with some emerging leaders. So working on a pilot program where we can have some emerging leadership pipelines because of course you have
044to be credentialed and so those things we would need to partner with others on. Um through some of the feedback I've collected, there's been uh they've lifted up responsiveness and follow-through from the team and from some of the feedback that was given throughout the summer. We have also uh in through our theme this year increased our emphasis on physical and psychological safety connecting our director of safety and security with with not only schools but the many teams who work really hard to support students and staff. And so those cross um departmental collaborations have been very powerful and we've already seen some great things come out of those. I would also like to highlight two things that are on that slide. Um you know I what I presented to you I had 10 minutes to do
045it about some of the things I saw as opportunities here in Selenary schools. And one was uh leadership pipelines and I made that promise to you that um we would be able to see that very visibly in the next decade, five, six, seven, 10 years. Um, and I'm happy to say that that just started with identifying with administrators who are our emerging leaders and that will grow into some things I'll present to you in the next few months as we continue to plan together. We've also uh worked really hard to launch parent square through the lens of transparency and being crystal clear about how we communicate with families. And so we've launched that how we communicate series that I hope families are um enjoying and and having clarity and uh questions answered through that. So
046there were some foundational moves and early wins as I'd like to call them. But as I referenced, I would call the next several months what I would call phase four, which is aligning the insight into action. That doesn't mean that the listening and learning as a good reflective group of leaders and um staff members and students will continue to have that continuous um collection of feedback that we'll synthesize um and use to create to create great systems for students. But I would like to look at how we collect and review and respond to input in um perhaps survey data. And so that listening and learning is going to remain central to some of the things I'll present to you in terms of next steps. I also would uh really lift up that we need to
047set some focus priorities together. I think some of those themes emerged from our work together in a recent workshop. And so I'll talk about some specifics here in a few minutes. And I'll be doing those things by continuing to be in classrooms and continuing to do some of the um more focused listening opportunities like the one that I mentioned with seat coming up. [snorts] So I've identified um I'll tell a little story about what why I call them big rocks. Um you know everywhere we are as leaders and and as um staff members we we take many things away with us. And one um that came with me for my last post was the term big rocks and it became kind of a thing with my team there. Um and so these are what I
048would say are the things we need to be moving and getting focused on very quickly and we already have been. And then we have the little rocks language. And so I'll talk about some of the more little rocks here in a bit. But these are the three things that I do believe um we are going to be looking at in the next few months and we'll be bringing to you in different pieces. Um [snorts] the first includes a reorganization of the um leadership of the district and looking at how we support mentor um and create ways that our our leaders are supported and I'll talk about that in a little bit here. Um to rapidly uh increase our focus on early childhood expansion. So engaging families uh in a more uh quick in a quicker
049way and developing a unified vision around that. Uh, I'd also would recommend a planning principal that I will likely bring to you next school year to help with the exploration of what those partnerships and programs and on-site planning for the selected avenue uh, looks like. And of course, we'll have to identify facility and funding options for this. And the third big rock, which is which really touches many of of the other little rock pieces that I'll me that I'll talk about is strategic planning. We have a waiting in the wings updated compass that was the the product of I want to say hundreds of folks uh through survey focus groups and and a lot of great work that we did we did pause on. Um you hired a new superintendent in mid year and we
050felt it was really important to have that listening and learning phase um play out and of course continue to listen and learn um before we launch that compass. And so I'll talk a little bit about how that waiting in the wings compass could develop into a strategic plan of which the board will would um adopt and have me much input in. So uh I'll first talk about those three big rocks and then I'll end by some of the littleer things that we will con that we will bring to you to consider as part of the strategic plan. >> [clears throat] >> So the first includes a reorganization of our um staffing alignment and how we organize our leaders at the um central office level and how we do that with our building levels. I've spent
051a lot of time studying those systems and looking at research. Handover is a great um and I'll probably be sharing that in the board update as a follow-up to this is some of those structures and some of that research. um reorganizing our teaching and learning department will be part of the recommendation that I'll bring to you looking at clarity, coherence, and aligned supports. Um there's a lot of research out there that that talks about radical or reorganization of teaching and learning and high performing systems like we are we already are and how that really centers on like elevating students even further and closing um gaps of which I know that you know we have. Uh the other so the other piece about this is looking at a flat org chart versus the taller organizational chart
052um of which I'll be recommending. Uh and again that provides the opportunity to provide direct mentor mentorship and support and it also increases accountability and communication um amongst our stakeholders like our families and our parents. So in short uh my first recommendation is around uh reflection of our priorities focused on teaching and learning and we're um you know putting the supports there and making sure they're structured for clarity and designed so that we know it's serving students and their success. So for early childhood expansion um I want to talk a little bit about the great work that's already been done. If I could I don't know get to that slide. What's happening? Go back. There we go. Um so from 2021 to 2024 there was a program review. There was lots of collab collaborative planning
053and program curriculum alignment that's happened. We also opened um we doubled the capacity at Liberty School of GSRP and we have now an early childhood program director who really is laser focused on programming um and the professional learning part and wrapping around all of those pieces. So, we'll now be looking at ways that we can take that work. I think the battery is done or it's dying just as an FYI. Um so we now we'll be kind of ramping up this work to continue meeting with stakeholders. Um I there'll be an emphasis on meeting with some um private providers of wraparound services before and after care um to understand partnership potentials with them. We'll continue to involve our kindergarten teachers in conversations. So, what I'm seeing as part of my listening and learning phase is
054um in comparison to other um organizations I've been in, we don't know a lot of our kindergarteners when they come to us versus where I've been before where we knew about 75% of the kindergarteners through the early childhood programs we had. And I do believe that the the lift that's causing on our early elementary buildings is real um and something that um we we really need to take a look at systematically. So we'll be looking um to ensure that we have you know needs assessment and data in um to support this work and to support the staffing and the space that we'll need and again um to consider a planning principle should we open a new building that would be all part of that collaboration and next steps. So I mentioned some of the other
055uh I guess little rocks but when you think about the impact on students I don't consider them actually so little. Um, we know that we have to have staffing that's aligned to our needs and at each building. Um, particularly I'll be bringing to you some work around our lower elementaries and how drastically they have changed over the past five to six years. Uh we'll be looking to align athletic support and systems and how we're going to bring them under um the umbrella of you know aligning making sure that you know MHSAA sports are being um under the umbrella of someone who's who's going to support MHSAA sports and then other extracurricular and maybe intercolastic athletics having conversations around how to best support them. We also need to look at our uh what's currently alternative education
056and making sure that we're having intentionality around next steps in the Liberty building around personalized and innov uh and innovative learning and again like I've said the elevation of some of our current staff through new partnerships and programming to make sure that we're expanding our leadership across the district. Some of these things, as I mentioned, are already in draft format. And I know you've seen this before. Um, and this was the cardinal directions of the new proposed compass of which I'd hoped to launch with the team as part of a new strategic plan. And those are the north, the east, the south, and the west. North is to ignite purpose. So, I want us to be thinking and visually close your eyes, right? Think about how um stakeholders and you as students and parents wanting
057to understand learning experiences for students, helping us about reflection and understanding the purpose behind goals and the programs that we offer. East is really exciting. It's a lot of what I've already talked about exploring possibilities. So, what things are out there haven't we uncovered and and uh and risen to the point where we're ready to launch them for our students? From experiential learning, which is a focus countywide, um to electives and to some more rigorous experiences um at the middle school and potentially high school level. We [clears throat] want to be a place and continue to be a place where imagination and innovation thrives as Selen Area Schools has been. South is some of the challenges that we're going to face as we go through this work together. We know that we have a diverse
058group of learners, leaders, and families and making sure that all voices are heard to make sure we have supportive environments for everyone. And that's a a really a big piece of that touches a lot of this work. And what I think I've most been surprised myself with is the connections. Selenia schools is a community that just ripe for opportunities to to connect organizations together. I know some of that work has already been um lifted in many different respects over the last um couple decades, but continue to strengthen that collaboration and that sense of unity across not only schools but organizations within the sling community. That all works in with the values of which were identified as part of the comp the work on the new compass uh which were integrity, integrity, curiosity, community and growth.
059So uh are we as learners, leaders, teachers, staff acting with honesty, responsibility and purpose every day even when no one's watching? community. Again, making sure we have inclusive experiences um that are empathetic to all learners, all learners and care for others and their perspectives. Are we being curious about those perspectives? Um are we exploring ideas and showing excitement for learning of all kinds, whether it be algebra 1 or learning about other um populations and peers and then that growth. Are we stagnant? Are we waiting to do something with early childhood or are we building things around like making that momentum happen for our new families to Selen to the Selen area? And so those things provide already a foundation for what I would call where the the compass and the strategic plan could collide where
060the compass that's there's been so much work already done with the new draft compass that defines and identifies our aspirations as an organization of learners and do we then collide that with a strategic plan that then defines our priorities and measures our progress. Those two things together this coming spring if aligned can create and build a system where every initiative, every budget decision, every decision, which I know there's there's always curiosity around decisions that are made um and action can be traced back to our purpose and our why and our strategic plan. So our next step uh together as a governance uh team is to look at how we do that. We have to have goal oriented strategies and these need to have measurable outcomes. So here are some examples that are out there. So
061if we were to look at the compass and saying igniting purpose, what measurable steps how are we measuring um are we are we using to make sure that students and staff are connecting learning to the meaning in classroom. So how are our learning targets being measured beyond MSTEP, beyond college board for exploring possibilities? How are we expanding access and how are we measuring that? Do we have just more programs or do we have more programs that have sparked interest and have increased student success for embracing challenges? How have we had the conversation about closing gaps for students in this district? Because they are there. They're there. They were there when I interviewed and they're still there now. And I haven't moved them with a team with our team yet. And we need to have real
062conversations about how we do that and what those benchmarks are. And through that work, how do we continue to not sever connections but build trust, build belonging and partnership within it? So here are some ideas and I again this will be posted publicly. Um I'm not going to read through each one, but I want to actually call out the south, right? So when you have a strategic plan of which I've shared examples um with you all and I know we had some some light conversation in a recent workshop. Have we set out in a plan that we're going to close X gap by y% by year zzz? Those are the things that we need to be focused on and building in terms of like we want to do this but how are we going to
063measure this? Um, other ones for purpose would be again to uh strengthen those leadership pipelines, but how are we going to measure that? And how are we going to then connect some of the curriculum pieces and the in the work with teachers to the new compass? Um, how are we going to build connections? So through listening and learning sessions, what data exists to suggest that there has been followth through on things that that folks are lifting up through those listening and learning sessions or are we kind of putting them in a document and and walking away because I won't lead that work. We have to lift those things out of documents and get them to the reality of our schools. And what's really nice is you can hold me accountable for this work um as
064we do through the MASB superintendent evaluation model. So there's some examples here of how you would then take our district strategic plan and we would then mimic the superintendent goals um in our evaluation cycles and the work that we do together. So for instance um have I created this these are examples. Don't hold me to those these later on unless we've adopted them. Um but how have I created a pipeline framework by fall 2026? You know either I have or I haven't and and what pieces go into that um to plan for that. Some other opportunities I see that are connected with some of these possibilities would be, have we identified by fall 2027 what flexible learning pathways are and can we articulate them? Can board members articulate them? Can I articulate them? Can our
065administrative team articulate them? And can the people closest to the work articulate them? Can we um develop a childhood expansion plan and a concept for how we're going to I don't know where we're going to put it by fall of 2026 and having access for the community by 2030. Those are things that we can measure and you can hold me accountable for. And so here are some next steps of which I'll be pursuing. The core team and I will meet in mid- November for a retreat and some of these things will be lifted up there and we'll bring you some initial um feedback on next steps. As you know, I have my evaluation in December, of which some of this work could fit into as well. I'll be asking our admin team to join us
066for a second retreat in January to look at more of the school-based uh implications of this work. And I'll be bringing you an update, not a final strategic plan, but an update to you in February with next steps and how we'd like you to help see through some of this work. I'd eventually like to bring you an updated compass within a strategic plan that matches and there you see alignment by the uh May 2026 board meeting of which I'll ask you to um since you'll be part of this work adopt so that we can carry it through the summer and into next school year. Thank you for your trust in me and and my leadership and I hope this has given some opportunities for conversation and to the community that we're doing the right work.
067We need to hear more and I appreciate your trust as well. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, especially to our one audience member. >> That was Tiffany. Thank you. Um, do do you have time for we Let's take a few minutes just to just toss any general questions your way. I think we're okay with that. Jason, and I have a few as well. Um I [clears throat] uh I love the uh emerging leadership pipeline. I think that is uh uh for the future of the district. I think that's really key. Um what is what is one of the first steps that you've identified? Uh you did already say that you talked to building admin about kind of identifying what's the next step after that? I could share without super specifics some some of our
068work that we've done actually in the past week and then continuing tomorrow morning. Um we asked just as a jumping off point for our administrators to identify the the folks in the building who they saw as potential leaders that could grow within our system and we literally created a list. It's an internal list and from that list uh we have administrators who sometimes have things outside the building and we've asked a couple of those folks already to help us support buildings and one will return tomorrow to a post uh to support the building for the day in an elementary school. And these are folks who um you know previously typically it was done different ways which were all great as well but just really allowing um them to get into buildings. this particular individual has
069an adminert which is helpful and uh getting to experience the day-to-day of a principal which is really exciting work. So that was one of our first steps. >> Thank you >> Lauren. Jennifer Darcy Jennifer I'm thinking too. So thank you for sending this over this afternoon. I was working and flying today. So, I do want to stand still with what I heard here and also go back and read and have a little bit more of informed questions for you, but I did have a couple of clarifying things. Um, could you I wasn't able I was trying to read it really quickly. Can you go back to the slide where it says specific ideas? I just I didn't finish reading a certain part and I don't want to misconstrue something. Oh. Oh, keep going. Uh oh,
070that was it. That was it. No, it was in the columns. Yes, right there. I just I didn't finish reading and I want to make sure that I can read it. Um Okay. All right. Perfect. Um so, the first thing that I really like is that um when you gave us a proposal, when you were interviewing, you went back to it and you've been going back to it. And the word accountability means a lot. So, thank you. Um, I have to laugh at the rocks. We're playing the Salem Rocks on Friday. I don't know if you know that. That's what they're I went there [laughter] uh to in Canton and so they're the rocks. So, I just had to laugh because um they'll be here on Friday. Um, I did have a clarifying question on
071what you mean by the word partner earlier in the slides when you were talking about the leadership pipeline which I was interested in and I also had a clarifying question around the term emerging leaders because that means I think some to me it might mean something slightly different than how it's being portrayed here. So I just wanted to make sure. So if we could go back to an earlier slide, it was quite forward when you one of the first times when you were mentioning the leadership pipeline and you talked about partners in the ISD and partners. >> Yes. Yes. Exactly. So when you say partner there, can you just help me understand because higher education partner and IST partner could be very very different things. Are you thinking about thirdparty providers? Are you thinking consultants?
072Are you thinking universities? Like when when you say partner there, what does that mean? >> That's a great question. So the f the first conversations came out of we have uh individuals on our amazing team who um in order to do some of the administrative task that they would they would need to be able to do. Um they would need an to be credentialed through the state of Michigan. And so it can be challenging when you're in a current role and you'd like to do that, but then like you there's no program that fits kind of the time constraints. As a result of that conversation, there is another um within our county within the ISD organization who also has a number of retirements of principles and leaders in the next couple of years and they'd
073like to join kind of that pilot with us. >> All right. Super. Thank you so much. And so emerging leaders um at work means like u less experience. So is that not what you're meaning here or does this mean because I heard you giving the specific example which I love hearing about tomorrow. So that that's like a little bit more of an elevated position. So for emerging leaders in this reference, it means um people going into higher positions versus like high potential talent that you're identifying um a couple years in like with maybe a new teacher that came in like what does emerging leader mean to you in this instance? >> It's both. That list actually has both. We've had that conversation like you know what exactly should I be typing here? And it's both.
074It's it's who uh identified on their own in that personal professional pathway that I want to, you know, do an MASSP program. I want to go get a master's degree and ed leadership and then like we know that and we know that maybe they're looking to be their next step and it's uh the folks within our buildings who have uh consistently demonstrated leadership and that you know those people and I've had them in my career, we want to tap them on the shoulder and say, "Hey, have you ever thought about uh curriculum development or operations leadership?" Um and so it's both. Yeah. Okay, I like that answer because I was hoping that it was both. [laughter] Um because I think sometimes in corporations, education, you name it, people do look at that top layer and
075we need to give opportunity to people at all levels of the organization. So I like that. Um my other question wasn't on any of the slides. I was really interested because you do have experience from outside of Seline, which is nice and we are studentled and student forward. So, is there anything that you have seen in your time here with regards to our students where you're like, hm, we could try this or this would be something exciting I've seen in another district that I've been in or that I've read about. Like, is there anything popping off with you? I kind of went back to the innovation and opportunity lens. Is there anything that we could do for our students that maybe we're not doing that would be exciting and interesting? I think that the current
076um offerings for our students is just phenomenal. I see things every single day that I haven't seen in my career and it's you know I have 20 years it's not 36 but um I think we have a great offering for our students and we I see just just today amazing things amazing offerings and supports. Um but I also see pretty regularly ways that we can do better. Um, we say a lot in this building and other spaces, know better, do better. Um, and so I think that's just something that kind of carries if we're not reflective as leaders and we're not reflective even in the class. And when I was in the classroom, I you know, I tried to model reflectiveness for students. Um, I see some Yes, I do see some more little rocks
077of which I'd like to reserve for more uh strategic planning type conversations, but there's some Yeah, >> thanks. That was a lot of meat. I want to thoroughly give it time and um come back to you with more. Thanks, >> Lauren or Darcy. >> Um as the board and um policy committee, are there um pieces of this that you see the board being particularly able to support this work? [snorts] >> I do. Uh I I think that um the question about students was interesting. I think that my time here has been well spent getting to know all different type I want to know more people. Um but I do think that some some systems and structures and um processes need some some work which could be which could be supported by um the work the
078board policy committee is looking at um to do some work on new policy a new policy provider and we'll need um your support behind a strategic plan to to hold me and others accountable for this work is how I I would ask that we preliminarily think about how that support plays out. >> Thank you. Thank you for this. It's exciting. Like Jennifer, I didn't get a chance to look at it until this evening. Um I'm excited by all of it. Uh I did want to just say that I'm very excited about the piece with consistency across the schools because while we uh come up through different buildings, we all end up in the same community and setting those expectations and environments early on and making them consistent is helpful for everyone. So, thank you. >>
079Thanks, Die. Thanks, the rest of the board. Um, yeah, I was I had also written down accountability and I was very interested in your reorg and the early childhood push and strategic planning. I'm also curious about um metrics, the measurement. you'd refer to different kinds of metrics throughout and I guess there's still a lot to be determined. Yeah. Okay. Because some I saw were very very very very precise X percent by such and such a year and uh there's potentially a lot of wiggle room and then there are others that were either or and and some that are based on perception and some that are based on hard data. So, um I hope that the board will get a chance to uh to get those clarified what your metrics are throughout. So, >> Michael, that
080was intentional um to show kind of how this could be benchmarked um through the lens of like these big overarching goals and then how like you know by this time this year, this is where we would expect to be. And so I did intentionally kind of give some different examples of that, but you all um as the governance team will be a part of that work and helping set those uh smart goals with us along the way. >> Excellent. Thank you. Well, I'm looking forward to that. Uh nothing else from the rest of board. Well, thank you very much for the re >> No, no, this is a this is this is built right into your contract. I really enjoyed actually this was this was a very impressive piece when you brought this to us
081during your uh your interviews and really you did have me at uh succession plan which was which I thought was an excellent thing. All right. Oops. I should look at the agenda. Uh we have one discussion just one discussion item this evening and I'll leave pass the microphone over to Dr. Gold. Uh the policy committee met this evening. Um as was brought up last at our last uh general board meeting, we are uh considering seriously a move uh to the Truman policies. Uh so uh we elected to uh not do further NEOA updates as we may be looking at a switch. And so we instead spent our time together um talking about some of the specifics of what a possible move would look like, how to um best sort of the nuts and bolts about
082how to best learn more about Trune because um and hearing our superintendent's sort of vision as to how uh that policy uh handbook could better support our administrative team. um and her team um which was you know quite helpful to our work. Um and so I think next steps for that is that the policy committee will hopefully be hearing from uh someone directly from the trun uh policy team and we will bring that information back to the board and that does anyone from the committee have anything to add? >> I I would thank you for that opportunity. uh for those who weren't uh at the committee let me just mention uh we have had a chance to look at some of examples exemplars and at the last board meeting uh Jennifer Stebon brought vice president
083Stein brought up a few questions four points in fact and that we are working toward getting those including um in fact just this evening we received a file of all of our NEOLA policies in one spot which was item number three sadly we weren't able to open them so we're working on that yeah And um there are other issues that that you had brought up and that we are working on uh partly behind the scenes. And again, we have a lot of questions as we get closer to this, but I um I'd like to say that we're we're doing it carefully, step by step. We're getting there. And I I thank the the whole policy committee for for that. We've heard for Jennifer and for Jason's sake, I have heard anywhere from they recommend optimistically
084that it's three months to make the transition. uh friends of ours over in Chelsea said it's or Dexter it's longer. It's more like six months. So, this is a a long process. There's going to be a lot of heavy lifting, a lot of policies to review and a lot of eyes crossed as we look back and forth over the two sets and get them and get it right and maintain the policies that we as a board have worked on over the years uh long before your tenure and uh hopefully they will be with us long after all of us roll off the board and the next folks are here. Thank you. Was that it then? Thank you very much. Um, he consent agenda, please. I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize a consent agenda
085as printed. >> Michael, I apologize. I should have mentioned this at the top of the meeting. Uh, can we pull uh C out approval for the board of education retreat minutes? That's going to come in November. >> I'm sorry. It's going to come in November. >> In November. It It'll show up at our next meeting. >> Oh, okay. You'd like it to come at the next meeting. Oh, I It's not in the list yet though. I'm sorry very much. Of course. Yeah, we can easily change that. So, I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize a consent agenda as amended. >> So moved, Berwick. >> Thank you. >> Support. >> Thank you, J. All in favor, please say I. >> I. Opposed. Great. 5-0. Thank you so much. Uh items on the next agenda. Dr.
086Kowalsski. >> I am prepared. We have our audit presentation. The next for me. I know. I'm so excited. It is going to be thrilling. And we'll have a resolution on summer taxes. And I do hear that um I think you alluded to this last time that you may be discussing the calendar, but we'll take more guidance from you as we develop the agenda. In November, we usually do have our calendar discussion and we set dates and carve them into, you know, talcum or gypsum. Thank you. Uh just checking to see if there's anything else. Public comment. We have Oh, one public comment. Member of the public can address the board briefly for up to three minutes. Our secretary is getting the color cards and the uh the the person I have is uh Carmen Lu.
087Did I pronounce your last name correctly? >> Yes. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Hello. My name is Carmen Lauu. I'm a junior at the University of Michigan and I'm I'm an alum of Seline from the class of 2023. Um, I came as part of a class project to see how local government works and so far I had am definitely got a great new understanding especially as I had no idea that we have a new superintendent and I after um seeing your plan laid out at least from a public perspective, I wanted to ask what the policies for the superintendent and the board are on generative AI, how um students and staff will be educated and what um your policies are towards that especially as it's a huge concern right now on my college campus. >>
088Usually during the public comment section we don't answer questions directly but nuts. [snorts] No no but I would like to invite you to send your questions to me and to the superintendent via email and we might set up a time to actually talk with you in greater depth. >> Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. The next board meeting will be held on November 11th, 2025 at [clears throat] 6:30. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular board meeting at 7:41. >> So moved to it. >> Support gold. Thank you very much. All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> 50 it is. Thank you very much everybody in the audience.