001And I forgot the mic. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is a fun one. We have a new uh board member and I would like him to come around to the front for a a ceremonial swearing in which we've all had to go through. How's that? How's that? Okay, if you stand there. I'll stand here. So, you could raise your right hand, please, sir, and repeat after me. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this state and I will faithfully discharge the duties and I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the board of education a member of the board of education of Selen Area schools according to
002the best of my ability. Fantastic. Thanks very much. Welcome to the board. Uh Dr. Kolski and I have a couple of very brief statements to read. Thank you, Ben. Uh, I just wanted to say a few things. I would like just to take a moment to acknowledge uh the support of the school community through our partnerships with local agencies as well as our ISD to provide grief and trauma support over the past week uh the past challenging week. Uh it will soon be available to our students. Trained mental health professionals will be on site to offer support in processing trauma and grief. Selen Area Schools also partnered with Care Solus to support our community's mental health needs. Care Solus will be used to anonymously find community therapists or treatment programs matched to your needs regardless
003of circumstances. The support is complimentary and confidential and provided to students, staff, and their families by Seline Area Schools. I'd like to hand it over to Dr. Kowalsski. Thank you. Those supports and we want to thank our partners once again were provided as we experienced the the most unthinkable things. Uh the loss of two beloved staff members. Dr. Amina Allen, principal of Selene Alternative High School and Liberty School, was a passionate leader, energetic. She brought energy, vision, and deep care to her role, her students, and her staff. In her time here, she made a lasting impact. Also, Ms. Shannon Sonin, a first grade teacher at Pleasant Ridge, was a gifted educator whose dedication to her students spanned decades. Um, she had many, many students throughout her time here. She was a steady presence, had a
004quiet strength, and someone who celebrated others with genuine joy. Um, this these passings left a hole in our hearts. We know that grief touches many of us in different ways. So, again, we appreciate the supports we've been given by partners. Um, and I hope we can honor Dr. Allen and Miss Sonin by caring for their kindness and what they did for students here in Selen Area schools for years to come. Thank you very much, Superintendent Kowolski. Uh, public comment. Is there are there any lined up for the second? Thank you. Uh, seeing as there's no public comment, we'll move through the agenda. I have no response to previous public comment. Uh, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda as printed. So, who is that? Tim. So, that's Tim Austin. Thank you. Burwick.
005She beat you. Uh, all in favor, please say I. I. Great. All opposed. Thank you very much. 70. Um, I we have a one scheduled report. You didn't know it would be that fast, right? Look at us zipping along. Uh, we have one scheduled report. I'd like to welcome to the podium uh Laura Washington, the principal at Woodland Meadows. Kim Jasper, the principal at Selen Middle School, and Teresa Stagger, the principal at Seline High School. Not necessarily in that order, apparently. Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone. We are here to present on the annual handbook review. So, if we could turn the slide. Here are the topics we're going to be talking about. Why make a change which we did make changes to our handbook this year and the process what has changed within
006it and what is next. So as you know trun law is one of our partners um in education and in our board policies and they have a handbook which gave us um an opportunity to add sections that we may not have had before or to streamline sections that we already had. Um, it also was a great way for us to be able to connect board policy, to connect law that maybe we hadn't updated in a little while. Um, we were able to condense the handbook to make it a little bit more user friendly. And then also in the idea of being a school district and not a district of schools all having a similar handbook so that young fives through 12th grade um parents would easily be able to find the information that they're looking
007for because the format is the same in every building. All right. So it was quite a process that we went through and I want to start by just saying that Laura Washington who's being very humble really kept us all on track. Um the school year is very busy and this spanned two school years and she kept us moving and focused. Um so she led us in reviewing the Trune handbook and determining whether or not this is something that we'd like to adopt um to lay the foundation for for our next handbook. Um collaboratively we discussed this and we agreed and so it was purchased in the 2324 school year. In the 24-25 school year, um Laura implemented a timeline for all of us and kept us on task. We had four checkpoints throughout the year
008that were strategic in making sure specific parts of the handbook were revised and ready to go. Um and we collaborated at the end of the year in May to make sure that we were all on the same page. The checkbooks and the conversation that we had in May really allowed us to have really fruitful conversations and discussions around nuances between elementary and secondary to identify the things that could be the same and should have the same language in the handbook while also allowing for developmental differences throughout um the years. Jackie Martin was also part of the conversation in May and so adhering to the structure and the spirit and the legality of the handbook was really important and she was very um supportive and helpful in that as well. And then in June of 2025,
009just a couple months ago, it was officially published. So all of the school handbooks are now out and we now have the trun version of the handbook at all schools. I also forgot to say and I think it's important to note that in the process of adopting and discussing the handbooks, multiple departments were involved. So, food service, transportation, health, all of the departments that have something in the handbook that relates to our students had a voice and had say in what needed to be in there. So, highly collaborative, smooth process. So, what has changed in the handbooks? The formatting is now um a a handbook where all books have the same five sections. There are district-wide policies and procedures, academics, student clubs, activities, and athletics, discipline in the code of conduct, and building specific rules
010and procedures. As I mentioned earlier, there are also links to board policy when cons when uh possible. the language and topics are all consistent for each handbook. And that is helpful for all of us and for all of the adults in our building to know that there's a of what is in each other's handbooks and hopefully for the students too as they're getting older and moving from building to building. The expectations have always been the same. They were were not just written just weren't written the same. They're being very kind. They work really hard on this handbook as well. I just implemented timelines, but they really had to do a lot of the work behind it. So, thank you. But it really was a very, very collaborative effort. So, what's next? We continue to do
011a yearly review. This is something that we've done obviously throughout the years, as long as I have been here as an administrator. So, this is something that we still hold true. This year was again just a little bit different because we did undergo such a big transformation of the handbook. So, that will continue to happen. policy updates. Um, you all are very great when there is a policy update, Betty lets us know. We go back, we take a look at the handbook. One of the things that we do say about the handbook is it is a living document and we have it right in the front like things can change. So, if there is policy that changes, we can add that in there and then we let our families know that that there have been
012changes in the handbook. We're going to continue the discussion of TRU board policy as a handbook. So while this was a trun handbook, right, they gave us some verbiage, etc. Because we're not a trun policy holder, they don't put their stamp on it. If we were to ever go that way, they would put their stamp on a handbook as well. And so that is something that we continue to discuss as well. And then we continue to align policies and and procedures and and the handbooks themselves. So, it's a really important reason why we continue to get together yearly and make these alignments to the handbook. So, thank you very much. Are there any questions from the uh board? I I guess I was just going to say it's kind of mentioned there the throne policy
013um you know that's kind of been one of the things with the um handbooks in the past is making sure handbook verbiage is consistent with policy verbiage and going forward I do think we have are looking at the through policy but nothing's been done yet that would make it easier going forward right it would make it more consistent more consistent yeah I think you were kind asking a question of me as well. We are we are I am in the process of doing some crosswalks between where we are with Niola and what the Truman policies look like. So to go from nine volumes to five volumes is substantial and uh we've been asking some difficult questions like if we were to go with trun would we lose any of our special policies that we spent
014years crafting and the answer the first answer is no. So, uh, but we'll we'll go from there. Teresa, I can't quote you exactly, but what you said about being a school community, but not a community of schools. Oh, being a I love that. A district of schools versus being a school district. That's really excellent. Very good job. Um so inevitably questions come up both from our students and from our families with regards to the handbook especially for um new families entering a different building right because it's a slightly different handbook that's aligned more in an age appropriate fashion probably specifically for the high school and maybe the middle school. Um so can we just uh for our community kind of go through like what's that typical escalation path when you have a question about something
015in your building handbook reaching out to the principal etc. Can you just speak to that because sometimes the questions initially come to the board and Yeah. Can you just kind of who you should reach? Exactly. Yes. Yes. So if there's a question about the handbook specifically or really any sort of expectation or policy at the school, reach out to the principal. We're here to help. We're here to answer questions. We're here to partner with the parents and our community. So that would definitely be step one. Um, and then if that's not settled, there's other ways you can go, but start with us and we're happy to talk talk to you about whatever it might be. When you say the the books are ready, they're ready to roll out to the students in electronic or actual
016physical form. And are they available yet on the website? They are. They're on the websites and they're they're not printed. Even at the high school in the planners that we give out, there's a QR code because it is a living document. as Laura alluded to earlier. Um, but they are online and we do try to have them done each year in time for them to go out with the student return forms because a part of that form is acknowledging and agreeing to the student handbook. Well, great. Hearing no more questions, let's uh say thank you very much and ask you to come back next year, would you, to talk about this? Thanks so much. I'd like to entertain, we have one action item. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the Liberty Club van
017purchased from Gene Butman Ford in the amount of $59,94 as submitted by Brian Puffer, director of community ed. I'll make that motion. And I and I do want to note that some of that funding is coming from the CARES grant. Okay. Thank you. Because you serve on that committee. Thank you. I appreciate that. Support tit um quick side note. Did I pronounce that correctly? I don't think I've ever actually read the name aloud. Jean, is it Bman? But okay, thank you. Appreciate that. I'll keep that locked away. Is there any discussion? Uh, since Darcy brought out, do you know what the percentage uh of funding that came from CARES? I don't know the percentage. I want to they were doing I apologize. 15,000. Is it 15 or 20? It was somewhere. It was not significant
018amount of money. I don't think that they could have done it without the the funding. That's good. It's also indicative of how we're being good stewards with the money that we do have. So, thank you. We can check then I seem to think it's 15,000 though. Just just since Darcy brought it up, I thought that was important to since it was not an insignificant amount. Absolutely. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. I. I. opposed. All in favor, please. Thank you. Um, we'd like a quick update from the board finance uh committee and then the board policy committee. And finally, we have one more discussion item on evaluations and setting a schedule. So, I'll ask our our board members to get their calendars ready, too. All right. Thank you, Tim. So, the finance committee
019meeting went uh met today at four o'clock and um just kind of talked about a few different things we had. It was kind of new. It was my first uh as the treasurer and our new superintendent as well as our new board member. So, we we did a quick overview of the budget process and how how we get to where we are. So, um Nate could get a little bit of an idea on that. And um one thing I will share on that because one of the things we were talking about is funding and how that comes about. And um there was an interesting article in the Sun Times and thank you Jennifer for sharing it with us that talked about a data center coming into Selen Township. And in that article it talks about
020$8 million to the schools. And so you know you're instantly you go oh wow $8 million to Selen schools. Well it doesn't really work that way and so that $8 million goes to the state or maybe it comes directly to us but the state regulates what we get. So if we don't collect it we just get $8 million less. But if we do collect it, then the state just gives us less. So they still only take us that whole piece of the pie. We don't get any extra. Where it would help is like on the scing fund. That would help us. Um and uh CARES, I think all those bond debt payoff and stuff like that. But it's not just a direct $8 million to our general fund. Um, we we talked about the uh
021audit and they did do a pre- audit a couple weeks ago. That went very well. They'll be back in September for about two weeks and um uh we don't expect any surprises this year, but um uh and that should finish up sometime in October. Uh they might come to the board and let us know how the u went. We also discussed staffing kind of where we're at. Do we have do we have to hire any additional staff due to uh increased uh classrooms or anything like that and or what we might do if some of the staffing positions aren't filled before school starts because we do still have quite a few out there. Um so um looks like they've got a handle on that too on what the process would be. negotiations. That was on
022the agenda, but then uh since then we've kind of got a close session. So, we'll be discussing that uh later today in close session kind of where where the things are on negotiation. And then we also talked a little bit about Department of Education funding because the MASB sent an email out a while back that talked about the $6.1 billion that might not be coming from the Department of Education. Then shortly after that, um I guess now that is being funded that is being funded. So, we're keeping an eye on what all of our grants, title one, all those, and where we're at with the Department of Education funding. And so far, we seem to be as a school district pretty much on par. So, that was not anything else to add. I'm sorry, can
023you clarify that last part? What do you mean we as a school district in terms of federal funding? How would we be different? So, so some school districts get different grants for different things and some of those grants may not be funded completely or might be paired back or something like that. So, we're we're monitoring ours. Um, and as a whole, we're not seeing a lot of change right now. Thanks very much, Tim. I appreciate that. Especially the township money. That was interesting clarification. Appreciate that. I'd like to pass the mic over to Lauren Gold from the policy committee. Uh so we also met this evening. Um we went through some NEOA updates uh regarding conflict of interest. Um that just talks about the ethics of um accepting or not accepting money or gifts um
024from when it comes to federal grants. And so you'll see that language come up soon. Um we talked about just some very uh small changes in the small unmanned aircraft systems, the drone policy. Um then we talked about policy 8330 student records and uh how we can make our policy more in line with uh what goes out to families regarding FURPA. Um, we talked about uh updating uh the video taping policy into the 21st century to reflect that we don't really tape things in the that way anymore. Uh we talked about um having some continuity built into the DEI policy committee on the administrative level. Um and we decided on our next couple of meetings in September Fantastic. This is that's a good summary and more details to follow for sure on all of that.
025The next thing is um is a discussion I wanted to initiate. Uh we're I was looking ahead. I was prompted actually by a board member who said uh that they were not able to attend December when we usually have our meeting and so I for evaluating the superintendent so I worked out a schedule. When I shared it with the superintendent during our weekly meeting, uh her suggestion was that we could probably do the formal final evaluation as early as December. I was surprised by that, but I thought well and she has some insights and ideas and I don't have a printed copy of the worksheet for you, but I think it's in your B in your supplemental uh document that you received. But I would hope to sort of set some scheduling today. I want
026to kind of burn this into a calendar so we know and Dr. Kowalsski knows when we're going to uh be doing that. Did you want to talk about that whole expedited or sped up process, Dr. Kowalsski, or do you want to just wait for it to come up organically? Um, I sent a follow-up email to the documentation that was shared and just shared some reflections on um my past district and some of the work we had done with MASB when we all were required to do that training last year. um and how the evaluation cycles and timelines um can be served at different times of the year and how you can adjust those and that it happens more often than you think. So um I'm happy to answer questions about that as they come up,
027but um this will be your discussion about the timeline. Thank you. Good. Thank you. So what I'm recommending is um the date for our first uh quarterly review is somewhere in October 2025 and uh uh uh we have two meetings then the 14th and we have one on the 30th. I'm just asking if any one of you has a preference or if you have a preference. In the for the last eight years uh that I've been on the board, superintendents have just gone down the list of all of the uh categories and let us know what they were working on and it's just a great opportunity to clarify some of those elements. Uh Jennifer Ste, I I just wanted to back up for a minute. I'm the person who asked about the the um meeting
028in December. I have a required work trip that will um disallow me from being here. And so I had asked Michael because I knew that that was about the timing. Um we have done the annual review in November and in December before. Um we wanted to include Candace before she left the board one year and we pulled it up um because it kind of wasn't fair to have a new trustee evaluate a superintendent that hadn't worked with them. So that's kind of where this is coming from. And I wanted to give a little bit of history also uh on on the superintendent evaluation. So when Steve became our superintendent full-time, um Scott had a different schedule. Um so he had an annual review kind of like what we do towards the end of the year.
029The timing was a little bit different. You probably Michael and Tim probably remember this. Um and and Steve brought up the idea of continuous improvement and conversation which I also liked very much. And so we had proposed that we would have a quarterly review with the one being what the department of education and the state needs. So kind of keeping that same timing but having a closed session um on a quarterly basis and a little bit more informally just because if we were keeping things that long we should be talking about them um both positive and areas for improvement. Right? So that's just a little bit of the history behind um behind this. And I like the idea of of kind of looking at dates and going out. Um my first question was um this
030is going through December 2026. Um I can't commit to a calendar through December 2026 for work. Um is there uh the possibility of maybe just looking at this calendar academic year um that's a little bit easier to manage. I mean, I don't think all of us have our schedules through June either of 2026, but that would be a little easier to manage. At a certain point, I think it's November, we try to knock out or clarify the schedule for the upcoming year. I'm not sure when we usually do that, but what I did want to make sure we did I'm less concerned about the actual dates, but I did want to draw to attention to a couple things. When the actual cycle is, when the midyear progress report is, and when the final is. And
031it sounds like we can do that without being too committed to the date. Also, just a reminder, I'm not saying this directly to you uh Jennifer Stein, but uh uh the work can be done uh with a quorum. It's it's preferable that we're all at the table obviously because we we do conversations. So, I'm sure we'll modify and adjust the schedule as need be, but we can talk about October at this point. So, if we could just sort of pick one of the two dates in October at this point, uh, that would be great. The 14th or the 26th? Does the board have a preference? I prefer the 14th and we'll be here on the 28th because what on the 28th? Oh, Colorado. Okay, good. So, we have one board member not here anyway. So,
032the 14th. Does the 14th work for the rest of y'all? I'm getting nods across the table. Look at that. I have the sad news is that the student representative isn't usually a part of the superintendent's evaluation. Often we go into close session for that and uh although I I appreciate your pluck. So we'll aim for the 14th of October then. Thank you. Uh for the next one uh the formal final evaluation, that's probably the better word. Uh where the superintendent will provide a portfolio of evidence to the board. Uh we're looking at December 2025 and I just want to call it up on my own calendar. Uh we had two meeting dates. The ninth only and one meeting date the 9th and I understand that that's the the month that you are not a able
033to attend. Correct Jennifer? So the question then is uh if we have it on the 2nd uh December 2nd or we don't want to have a meeting well we could possibly do it on the 16th but that's pretty guess close to the holidays uh but it's not unheard of. So let me hear from the rest of the board about dates then. Would that be an additional meeting or we would be moving? It would be the in close session at the end of a regularly scheduled meeting at this point. That's what I'm looking at. So, we would move from the 9th to the 16th. Oh, if if Oh, sorry. The 16th is not a regularly scheduled meeting. That's correct. Sorry, my bad. Uh, the second though is so we'd call a special meeting just I what
034I the 9th is the only nth is the only meeting we have. The ninth I I can pull the schedule. We can wait. Yeah, but that that's that's what I've got on my calendar is the 9th. That's correct. Sorry, my I I I didn't quite hear you. So, what we're saying is we cannot do it on the 9th. Jennifer cannot be with us. I'm asking if the rest of the board can be with us on the 2nd or the 16th. Second is a regularly scheduled meeting. The 16th would have to be a special meeting. The second is not a regularly scheduled. Oh, it's not. I'm sorry. There's just one. The only meeting I've got it now. Sorry. That's correct. That is 100% correct. I wasn't I didn't think I'd be actually able to attend any
035of those meetings, but uh we'll have to see. We we could. Um so I I'm just The idea on the table is moving the meeting on the 9th to either the 2nd or the 16th potentially, not having two meetings. Is is that what you're saying, Michael? Yes. So just having a special meeting for the purpose of going into close session for a superintendent evaluation on the 2nd or the 16th. So So we're we're going to have two meetings in December. We're going to have our regularly scheduled meeting on the 9th and then we will have an additional special meeting just for the eval session. Are there any of the 9th or the 16th that anyone is not able to participate in? I have quick question. generally uh do you remember what the workload is at
036a regular board meeting in December? I think I recall we will have a student presentation or two. So I'm just wondering if we've we've wrapped up around 10 or so. The workload is on my shoulders as or the board president's shoulders to write up summaries and reviews and get feedback from everyone off offline so to speak. I'm sorry. I was just thinking about timing for the meeting on the 9th because my if we could just simply move into a closed session uh realizing Jennifer can't be here um sort of makes it like our lives easier. Um but if it's going to be a long general meeting then I'm not opposed to a special The first time we did this took about two two or so hours and we sort of got into the swing of
037things. So it's it's about one and a half to two hours. If I if I could, I think what Darcy's asking is what's the agenda look like for the regular meeting on the 9th. Well, I'm I can prognosticate and we can limit the number of reports we have then to make it shorter, but we move to a special meeting on December 2nd or 16th, it will be considerably shorter meeting. Michael, if I may, um, ask us to consider just having the one meeting in December still, but moving it potentially to the second or the 16th. It's a little late, but, um, the whole purpose of moving it away from the 16th and only having Yeah. Um, is to try to avoid putting too much pressure on folks. That would be the last possible day anyway.
038So, I'm hearing a general lean toward maybe having an entirely uh moving everything up in the calendar to December 2nd, which would fit Jennifer's schedule. And now, let me ask the rest of the board, does that work for you? Because that is a change from what we've had in the past. I mean, I could do the second, December second. I'd prefer the second over the 16th. I would prefer the 16th if if we're gonna I mean I would prefer the 9th, but if we're going to change it the 16th, Tuesday is coming right after Thanksgiving. The second is coming right after Thanksgiving. It is right after Thanksgiving. We didn't actually I didn't also discuss whether we could do it in in January either, which is another option. I just wanted to add that um I
039think we are supposed to be reviewing board operating procedures in December. I know that was something that which we didn't do in the past but some usually it's a pro fora thing but we can also do that in November. We have a lot of work ahead if we're going to tackle that board operating procedures that's going to be a heavy lift in the fall. So I might be the minority here but I would personally rather have a special meeting and not make the December meeting super long. But I realize that I am potentially in the minority. No, I'm I'm wide open to a special meeting. I could I could do either whatever dates and come twice. I don't I'm fine in December. I I could do that as well. I could come on the second.
040You could come on the second or the I could I could do both. Well, right now the 9th scheduled and one person won't be here and that's fine. But we'll So, can we What am I hearing from you? December 2nd for the rest of the board except for Darcy who would rather have it on the 16th. I might not even be able to make it on the second either, but uh and that's fine then. In that case, you would run the show that evening. Can can I just can I just offer one thing because you talked a little bit about quorum, so I just wanted to come back to that. Um I I wouldn't normally ask a meeting to be moved because of a travel schedule for work. Um I would like us to consider
041moving it. Um because the number one job of the entire board of education is the hiring, evaluation, and firing the superintendent. like that's I think the most important thing and um having a new superintendent I would love no matter what date it was to have the full team. That would be a preference. If if I could chime in I think um because Darcy had brought up that the second would be immediately following Thanksgiving. However, if we push anything to the 16th, we're we're going a large span of time without a meeting. I would I would go with what Lauren said and have a special meeting on the second and keep our regularly scheduled board meeting. So, there's no deviation to the already posted schedule and then we can just do a special meeting for the
042evaluation on the second if Darcy is agreeable to that. then you pointed out I might not be able to make it either. So my intent would be to uh uh submit the documents to the team to review and just as we've done in the past we read everybody's comments and we look in assess everybody's scores. Uh that job of coordinating all that would be up to uh whoever's running. Oh, but that defeats the purpose then if of not having all of us here. So then why don't we just in which case I'm not I'm not wanting to change it um from what's published. Um why don't we just do the regular meeting on the 9th and then the special meeting on the 16th. Does that work for me? Well a special meeting for the superintendent
043evaluation on the 16th and that's actually not so bad because we wouldn't need this staff in attendance uh as they they've done in the past. How does the 16th work for everybody for a special meeting? Nods, nods, nods, and shrug and nods. Okay, thank you. All right, it sounds like we're moving that one to the 16th. Special meeting for the 16th. Appreciate that. And it's not too fast after December. The next uh is when the new cycle would begin formally uh with two with a quarterlies. The first is a informal one set up for April and there's two dates for that. Um I either of which I think we can be pretty flexible about. Um I just want to double check that I've got the right calendar up. So we have the 7th or the
04428th in April. Do you have preference, Dr. Kowalsski board? What? Oh, I'm No, because the I think April 1 Oh, you're right. Uh I I thought April 1st was a Tuesday, so it's the 14th or the 28th. Thank you. Just just one thing. I I don't have all of like I don't have the academic calendar in front of me and I don't have our list of all religious holidays to include all celebrations that might be occurring and I know we did need to move one this year, which was great in in September that we we could move that. Um I'd like to just double check to make sure we don't pick another date because we don't have a published and approved calendar for the board of education for 2026. this. Sorry for interrupting. Go ahead.
045I just I want to make sure we're not saying it's going to be on a particular day when we don't have a published calendar. We haven't had the opportunity to kind of make sure there's not right. Well, a celebration on that when we start working on our calendar for the next year. So I just want to draw the attention then to the board that we will have a quarterly probably around April a midyear required required uh review by the new law in June or July and um another informal one this time in October and finally the last one in December. And I think our are hearing from the rest of the board about how flexible we could be about the December meeting. This is fine. I'd rather not do it in January because then there'll
046be um there might there'll be probably new board members who will be new board members. No, I'm talking about 2026. There'll be there'll be new board members starting in 2027. So, I'd rather get those people who are rolling off to get their final comments in their final digs and support at the same time. Okay. So, we can leave it at that unscheduled until we have the entire calendar. But when we review the calendar for the next year of meetings, I want us all to be cognizant of the fact that we have to to do these evaluations. So, thank you very much. So, we have dates for this year at least and uh we'll look the rest of them up. So, thank you very much. I appreciate that uh scheduling work and thanks for the audience
047for participating so well. Um administration board updates. Uh we'll usually start with superintendent and then we can work our way along the table. Did I miss something? No. Good. Thank you so much. That also aligns with much of the work um that's been taking place uh with my transition entry and transition transition plan. Um promising to give you an update on some of that in September. So I'll hold that until the October meeting and those will go nicely together. Um, so speaking of that, one of the most rewarding uh parts of this summer and the transition has been my uh connecting with the community. Uh attended Salty Summer Sounds on July 31st. Um we had previously set that up um with our partners over at City of Seline and then of course they um had
048the girls softball team uh join also and be honored that night which was just really special. Um Jackie Martin and I have been educating folks about Parent Square at each of these opportunities and so really a joy to celebrate them and um it was a salty night as I remember it was very salty and and sweaty like like Saturday was at Summerfest which was another great opportunity to engage with the community um meet lots of families and students. I think Paul Heinekick asked me how many had come by our booth. I said 200. I think a couple people thought I was overestimating that, but um it was nice to meet a lot of folks. And um just special shout out to Brooke and Dante from the foundation. They were also had a booth down there
049helping out. So those are the student reps this year. And then there was Miss Selene. Um I'm new to the community. I didn't know quite what to expect and I was so impressed with um that and the event and all the work that went into it. Um, congratulations to Maline Marshall who won. Sophie Zeinski's, I probably butchered that. I'll I'll get it right. Uh, first runner up. And of course, our own uh board student representative Jillian Hayes who's with us tonight who earned second runner up. Um today, just earlier today, I was over at Zoler um and we did work uh as is uh with the ISD and all the local superintendents preparing and doing some deep deep work and thinking on our upcoming CTE millillage. This is such an incredible opportunity for our region,
050for our communities, for our students, a truly transformative in investment because um we need a skilled workforce. And this is not the vocad that you might conjure up in your in your brains that even I do um from from years and decades past. Um truly this is career technical education experiential learning and I can't wait to um further get out in the community and talk about that. Um as you may have heard we uh reached a tenative agreement with SEA and more information will follow on that. I just wanted to share that my own hope um is that this will help set the tone for the school year and we'll move forward um positively for our students and serve them together. Uh lastly, lot a lot of preparations to bring our students back uh in
051a couple weeks. We're so excited to do that. Um Monday we had just an amazing new staff welcome that Carol Diglio put on. Um really um interactive, kind of inspirational. Every time I saw them, they were working together and many of them new to uh teaching, many of them new to our district. We've had administrator uh seag training, safety training, making sure that we're all ready to go to keep our students safe um psychologically and physically. Um we've had some great special education training provided by our wonderful Julie and Monica. And so they've done some great work. And then of course Rex's annual um bringing his staff back on Friday. I'm looking forward to that as well. So, lots of work that have gone in with our principles. We've done a leadership summit last week.
052Was all hands on deck to collaborate and vision and just get ready for the students. Um, which is really, you know, the heartbeat of what we're doing. So, we're anxious to welcome them back. And lastly, um, we'll be sending out another community message with with some of those details this week. Um, those will be bi-weekly starting this week. So, thank you so much for the opportunity. We always like to have our students go first when we talk. If you have anything to say, Jillian, no pressure, but uh we'd love to hear from you if you have anything to add for quick updates from what you've been doing around the community. Yeah. So, I've been at Miss Selene for a little bit, so things have been a little bit on hold and cross country camp. I
053was like, okay. Uh currently work in progress on I'm going to send out an email hopefully by next week um to the principles and just If there's any clubs that have done anything um pretty impressive over the summer, let me know because I'm only at the high school, so let me know about them. So, I'm going to send out that and then I'm just going to ask them to keep me updated on anything that happens. And yeah, we're ready to get started. I'm going to be after Meline and seeing when she's available. Nate, are you really going to turn this microphone over to me? I'll keep it short, Jen. But remember to cut them after 30 seconds. Okay, Ben. Okay, thank you. Just teasing. So, I have to just acknowledge and say thank you to
054all the board members for all the time you spent with me the very first week that I got selected to be on the board. I got to meet with everybody. I found out there's two places to meet in this town. And so then I get a sense of who who likes to go where. But I wanted to just throw a couple comments out of everybody that I've met. Tim, a lot of people don't know this, but one of the takeaways from our meeting was that his company donates the [Music] landscaping of the medians on the freeway down right through town. And it's just it's really cool. And I actually got a Facebook post probably heard us talking about it with a picture of it and they had just done that. And I thought that was
055really cool that you should people should know about that. Uh Darcy, we had a great meeting as well with some uh unanticipated additions to our meeting which were entertaining. Uh my daughter was at Michigan State the very next day. So she did go to the dairy store and they didn't make the surplus store yet. But anyway, and um Dr. Kowalsski, I had some other comments, but I see that diet Mountain Dew sitting in front of your computer. I gave that up about three and a half months ago, and I'm just kind of consumed with looking at that can right now, so I'm going to try to just not look at that much more. I was an addict. Michael, we had a really good meeting before the selection process started, so I'm going to just uh
056move on. Keep this quick. Jen, we've talked on the phone several times. We're yet to get together, but we have some connective tissue already, so we have a little familiarity. Uh, Dr. Gold, our my takeaway there was your horse background. Found that really interesting. And my daughter wants to be a pediatrician only because the doctors aren't the ones that have to give the shots. And I've got a great nickname for Jason. My takeaway from your meeting was, "How do you say your last name?" And I'm not kidding you. We refer to you as my country in our house now. My country tis of thee is how you say his last name. Tis at ease. Maybe maybe Dr. McVey can take that lesson for for my last name. I also had a great meeting with Brad
057who was has taken his place and I feel it was important for me to kind of honor his legacy. He's the one that got elected for this position. So I had some really good input from him. He actually reached out to me today, wished uh congratulated me again for being at the meeting tonight. I also reached out to uh Kelly Van Single. She was gracious enough to meet with me, a couple of her uh friends that we had really good meeting and found some common ground with what what they're looking for from the board. So, I appreciate their time with that. And then uh obviously I met a lot of the administration this past week and looking forward to visiting the schools with the principles and I'll be reaching out to all of you. I'd
058love to see the school and have you showcase what's really exciting about this year. I've seen the high school and the middle school, but I'm looking forward to seeing the other other schools as well. So super excited um to be part of the board. So thanks for welcoming me. So, just briefly, I um want to thank all of our staff. Um so much work goes on here in the summertime. I mean, you just drive down the road and you see all the construction going on. Um very anxious to see the traffic flow at the middle school this year. And then uh all the hiring, new hiring, tons of work from the Carol and her team with that, all the negotiations and the days spent doing that. So just um at the building level, all the
059stuff going on with our principles and everything else at the building levels, so much work goes on in the summer when you think everything is kind of quiet. It's really not. Thanks. Thank you. Uh I will third the Miss Seline uh scholarship pageant that happened on Saturday. I've been a part of it for a few years now and uh it continues to be a lovely community event. We did have 12 uh young women from Seline who participated and uh every participant was amazing. Uh, I would also like to note that the Seline STEM boosters are having an event next Friday. It's going to be here in Liberty School. It's just kind of a a social meet and greet. The different teams will be there. Some like I think the robotics teams might bring their robot
060and I think there might be some events uh or hands-on activities from Science Olympiad, but there'll be snacks, some games. Uh, I think we're doing a movie. So, if you just want to come and bring your kiddos to learn more about the different teams in the district, that's a great opportunity. So, next Friday here at six o'clock. Uh, and then I think at the near the end of September, the STEM boosters are going to be partnering with the district and looking at the opening or official grand opening of the STEM center at the high school, Steam Center at the high school. Darcy, what was the what was the date? It's Friday, August 22nd. Thank you. 6 PM. I just want to say u that it was great to see so many people u chatting with
061Dr. Kowalsski at the uh the Summerfest tent. I popped by for a short time and it was it was pretty there was a lot of traffic. Uh speaking of traffic, I'm 100% in favor of you, Tim. I'm really looking forward to seeing the traffic flow. I've been watching I drive past there almost every day and I've been watching and uh wondering how it was going to go. And um also I it's been great to watch Dr. Kowalsski meet so many members of the community informally and formally. I don't know how many lunches you've had to have. We had we shared one with the mayor at one point. We we couldn't get the acting city manager at that time, but we'll we'll have a sit down with with Dan Swallow when he arrive Swallows or Swallow,
062I can't remember, when he arrives uh in early September. So, it's been great watching you meet and greet, Jennifer. Nate, I think that was really cool that you met with other um trustees and candidates. Um so, thank you for doing that. Um speaking of Brad Girby, I wish him the best of luck um in his new role. I saw on our social media site, Jackie had posted some pictures of new employee orientation, and I always look forward to the I don't want to call it a hazing because that's against policy, but the fun video. Um, and I saw him sitting at one of the tables and that was a little surreal seeing him be onboarded into our school district. Um, I know he's going to be great. Um, I wanted to wholeheartedly um, thank you
063and acknowledge the tremendous effort of both collective bargaining teams. Um, and I share Rachel's um, hope for a very positive um, start to the school year. So, thank you to everybody. Um, I also really appreciated the both of you, Michael and Rachel, starting off this meeting acknowledging, um, the grief that's in our school district. Um, thinking of Amina's families, uh, family members and Shannon's and I look forward to seeing the Pleasant Ridge family tomorrow. I was going to echo that. Um I uh hope that both Dr. Anna uh Dr. Allen and um Miss Sonin's memory is a blessing. I uh was I'm sad to say that I have met Dr. Alen but hadn't had the privilege to meet Miss Sonin, but I did think of her when I bought this water bottle because I read
064that she um I I enjoyed reading about her life and the impact she had and uh they said she loved pink and uh spread kindness. So when I saw it, I thought I would uh buy it and honor her in this little way from the table today. Um and uh my condolences to the families and community. Um I would like to welcome the incoming young Fivers and kindergarteners especially and send uh virtual hugs out to their families. Um, it's always such a big uh moment sending your little 5-year-old out into big kids school from preschool or wherever from home. So, I like to think of them at the beginning of the school year. Um, and welcome back all the students and thank all of the teachers, staff, administrators who are doing so much great work
065to u make their school year start out successfully. Um, my only month mention this month is that August is National uh immunization awareness month. Uh, so a a reminder starting in September to uh get your vaccines. Uh, and a reminder to come back uh fully immunized and you know for our middle schoolers, don't forget those 11-year-old immunizations. Um, so that will hopefully keep our schools as healthy as possible this year. I will also echo uh what Jen and Lauren said about our losses. Um it uh it definitely hits different when you're on the board. Uh I experienced that. Um I didn't get a chance to really know uh either of those staff members very well, but uh we are a giant community and family here. So um keep those families in your thoughts and prayers.
066Um, on a lighter note, um, I want to give a shout out to a couple high school students that started their own business, uh, and have been hustling and hustled to my front door, um, and got me to buy their buy their service. But, um, that's just a demonstration of, uh, the high school kids that we have uh, just kind of going above and beyond, hustling, being entrepreneurs. I love to see that in kids. Uh especially at the high school level, middle school level, uh a couple of our programs that the teachers really push, uh I think really inspire the kids to do that. Um also the STEM meet and greet, thank you Darcy, for bringing that up. I I love to try to get get there with my kids because I think it's fun
067to expose them to that. Um so if it's a meet and greet, definitely try to get out there with your kids if you can. I think that's uh I think that's terrific. Uh the last thing I would like to do, uh the board at the last meeting when we were electing our new board member, Nate. So, welcome aboard Nate. Um we had some spirited discussion and I want to outwardly apologize to one of our candidates, uh Kelly Van Single, um regarding uh some of the light in which I was describing, uh my preference of Nate over her. And I don't think that I characterized or chose my words very appropriately. And that certainly was my not not my intent. And uh a strong lesson that I want to teach my kids is that when you
068make a mistake, you apologize. Uh so uh to Kelly, hopefully she's watching. Uh I do apologize. Uh I also apologize to the district and the community because the comments that I made were uh not best chosen. So I do apologize for that. Thank you, Jason. Thank you, everybody. Uh, I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed. Uh, so move stubben support tides. You sure pronouncing that correctly? All in favor, please say I. I. I. Opposed. 70. Thank you. Uh, items on the next agenda. Dr. Kowalsski, what do you got for us for next time we're meeting? We we have a special meeting next week to approve the contact with contract with SCA and um that was posted I believe yesterday and that is the only item on that agenda. Oh
069that's right. Okay. Thank you. Uh and member of the public comment public may uh speak for up to three minutes. We have one understand and it's Daisy Sherman. Sherman. Thank you. Off so I can read. Thank you pardon. I had to take my glasses off so I can read. old. Hello, my name is Daisy Charman. I'm a member and co-chair of the special education advisory committee. I have presented to the board on numerous occasions representing SEAK and special education parents. Today, I'm here speaking on behalf of myself and my son who is in the special education program at the high school. As of last numbers that I was given, Seline has 869 students with IEPs. Total enrollment for the district is 46 4,669 students. That means that nearly 20% of the students enrolled in Seline
070are part of the special education program. A fairly significant number. Seline has often been considered the gold standard for special education in the county. It's also been referred to as a destination destination district for families who have children that qualify for special education because of everything Seline has to offer. Seline has special education programming from early childhood to young adult. In fact, Seline was the first district in Washington County with its own young adult program. So, with all of the impressive things that I've just stated about the special education program here in Seline, I was stunned to be watching the board of education meeting last month and hear some of the most dismissive and belittling comments about special education come from the table. As a special education parent watching as one of our own was
071demeaned and frankly insulted was extremely disheartening. To have special education parents and students be made to feel insignificant and unimportant by members of the board of ed is unacceptable and heartbreaking. We as parents of kids with disabilities want what every parent wants. For our kids to feel wanted and supported and included. I can tell you that listening to what was said at the board of ed table that night, I felt several things, but that my son has value isn't one of them. Thank you. There are several parents I've spoken with that feel our kids are considered less than by the district, that we as part of the community don't have a voice, and when we try to speak up, we're dismissed. That is not only unacceptable, it's truly an awful feeling. My hope is that
072you all have actually heard what I've said tonight and will take the time to reflect and consider ways to improve your understanding of the significance of special education in the district. Realize that we add value to the community and we're not just a burden to be shoved in the corner. Thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Sharon. The next board of education meeting will be a special meeting held on August 19th at 6:30 p.m. As Dr. said there's only one item on the agenda. There may be an HR report as well. Um, I'd like to entertain a motion to enter into a close session of the board at 7:32 with the intent to reopen at Dr. uh 8 8:00 p.m. Thank you. For the purpose of collective bargaining 8C under the open meetings simple majority
073is enough to enter into a close session. And I should also add there will be no action taken after the meeting. So moved. That was Darcy. Second. That Tim. Was that Tim? Oh, thank you. All in favor, please say I. Thank you. Uh 70. And we will usher everybody out of the room and uh get right to it. No need for a bio break, I believe. Okay. Well, we'll slight bio break then. Is it Tim? Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular board of education meeting of August 12th at 8 21. So move. Was that Tim Austin? Do we have a second? I'll second. Nate Hansen second. Thank you very much. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ben.