001Welcome everybody. Oops. Sorry. Let's do the little tippy tap. Do that already. You're real anxious to do the pledge of allegiance. I'd like to welcome everybody. Uh call to order the board of education meeting of July 8th, 2025. Uh standing as you are able, we'll begin with the pledge of allegiance. The uh disembodied voice leading us will be Zack Caster. Thank you very much, Zach. Maybe we should have you do that every night. Yeah. All right. Uh I uh I do have a a brief comment to make. So at the end of the last meeting, we uh we bid a very hasty farewell to one of our board members who served with us for four years, six months, two days, and a couple of hours. But I wanted to uh come on up here, Brad.
002I just wanted to say I I on behalf of the board, I wanted to say a couple of things on your uh just to say and I got we've got a little farewell parting parting plaque for you. you can come around behind or up front if you want. If you I don't care. I did want to say uh uh in addition to all the many many things uh you know and if anyone want the on the board wants to say anything I did want to say um Brad did have a catchphrase. What can we do for you? Yeah, I know. I know. I know. And he meant it. He meant it from his heart. The next thing is um we had no treasurer when Brad began here and uh we started up mutual discussions. We
003started up the idea of finally getting a treasurer on the board and Dennis Valente was it for a couple of months and then when he resigned Brad took over and he turned it into a real thing. Uh God is we are all now well familiar with bulletin 1041 and uh and other important minuti of finance and so uh Brad I just want to say thank you on behalf of the board and uh thank you very much. Good job sir. enjoy that fabulous retirement from the board. And then and and of course Brad is coming to uh this district as a teacher and and we are looking for you want to give me it's hard to find great teachers. It's hard to find excellent science teachers and we've got two of them wrapped up here. Brad,
004it was a good choice to have you come to this district as a teacher. So I'm sure we will see you will not be a stranger. Thank you very much. I'd also like to ask uh our somebody who's there was a a farewell and now we're going to transition to a hello. I'd like to pass the mic over to Rachel Kowalsski. Thank you so much. Good evening. I first want to just uh express my gratitude to the entire Sling community for welcoming me. I've had um the pleasure of just meeting so many incredible folks um over the course of the last two months. A special thanks to Steve um and his legacy and great onboarding support that he gave me. Um I really am grateful to the entire leadership team as well here tonight. Um
005I also have had the opportunity to meet countless residents so far in some of these travels. We've gotten to share some meals together and some Seline stories and some history. And so I appreciate that. And in every um opportunity I've had, it is very um evident the care and concern for students and that comes through in all of those things. Um my my first community adventure was the Selen Food Truck Festival, which was very yummy. Um I also got to meet some amazing teachers there who were um very excited to I was very excited to meet them. Um they're enjoying their summer and they welld deserve summer. I also was able to meet a Selen High School student who asked about snow days from the get. Um, and I will never top snow day Steve.
006So, we'll um continue to um you know really key in on the weather as the weather turns cold. Um I promised her that as such. Uh we've also got some other community engagement opportunities planned for the summer at some community events and then um Miss Martin and I will be um you know releasing some additional dates and and some uh plan to meet additional folks in the community, parents, students and stakeholders. Um and I also just would want to say thank you um to the board for I'm just absolutely humbled to be here, humbled to serve alongside you. Um, I've met some uh parents as well, surprisingly in my Facebook marketplace. I'm trying to get a home together. So, I've met a couple parents accidentally and that's been wonderful as well. So, everyone's been wonderful.
007So, um, encouraging and welcoming and with that, um, that would be my my first comments to the community. Thank you. Um, thank you very much, Rachel. We're we're really excited to have you here. Uh, so let's dive back into the agenda. Uh, there is no public comment. is correct. Okay. Uh and I do we do have one extended public comment from Stacy Ramsa. And you know the drill, Stacy. Oh, now it's really green. Um well, well, sorry. Um, so I'm Stacy Rumsa, the executive director for the Foundation for Slain Area Schools, and I appreciate appreciate you all letting me um give you a update on what the foundation has been up to for this past school year. So, we'll move on to the next slide. Oh, sorry, forgot I had this. Okay. So, for um
008actually and this is going to be a year in review, but I'm going to start off with the 2025 2026 um executive committee and the board of trustees. So, you can see here, I won't read off all the names, but you can see who our trustees are along with our executive committee, our district reps, and our student reps, which I'll get to in just a few minutes. So, and actually the picture's kind of small, but um Dr. Kowalsski was actually able to be in the picture with us, so that was kind of fun at our last trustee meeting. Um, I'd like to give a special thanks to Sarah Carowana and Tom Costigan. They have been on the uh board of trustees for many years and uh we appreciate all they've done. So, they have rolled
009off and we are bringing on two more. Sarah Kleinowl on the left and then Amy Good on the right. So, we're excited to welcome them to the team. So, we'll be doing some onboarding with them. Um, and we bid farewell to our senior representative, Grace Obererski. So proud of her. She was an amazing ambassador ambassador for the foundation. She is heading off to Grand Valley where my daughter goes. Go Lakers. Um, and uh, will be running track there as well. So, we were very honored to have her for a couple of years. And moving into her role as senior rep is Bryce Nadig. He was previously our junior representative, so he will continue on as senior. And then this year we did something a little different where we're going to have two junior reps. Um
010both somewhat new to the community and both are so talented and bring different um things to the foundation. So it's going to be fun working with them. Brooke Jean Marie and then Dante Castenzo. So they will be starting in August. Um this past year for our 24-25 uh sponsors, we um had 39 sponsors total. Um eight being new this past school year and 73,500 is what uh was donated uh cash and in kind. So you can see our uh list of sponsors there. Very um fortunate to have these and are so supportive and so crucial in being able to provide the grants that we can do. sponsorship renewals. That's what I'm working on right now. Um so for the 2526 school year, um we are bringing on two new uh sponsors, Lee Bear and H&R
011Block, and they are um looking to both be gold sponsors. Um, and so so far I have brought in or have renewed I should say $60,000 um, which I'm continuing to work on this summer uh, to get all of our sponsors renewed and get a new lineup for the the upcoming school year. Um, on to events. Uh, in 2024 in the fall, we had our uh, free fall lunchon and we brought in $40,000 in donations and had 165 attendees. And it was really nice to see everybody um when we had uh several grants represented represented by the teachers and their students. So it's always nice to kind of see and have our community see um what their donations are going towards. Uh our really big event uh was so much fun. It was our beads
012and beats uh event. We brought in $90,000 in total revenue and um 65,000 net revenue and we were sold out. We had 220 attendees and we could not go past that. So, uh, got lots of good feedback. It was a lot of fun. Um, we're going to do it again, um, in February of next year. So, more information to come on that. Uh, our fourth annual superintendent circle dinner happened back in April. We had um for total of 20 private donors that donate $1,000 or more towards the the school year. So, that was nice. and Maxicadian Seafood. Wally McNeel, who owns it, is one of our top sponsors and always provides a five course meal to um all of those that are in that category. Our uh kindergarten and young five open houses took place
013as well as heritage, which was a new one that the foundation's been a part of. We were able to um provide 150 bags and we had you could see there that's our list of sponsors who donated little chachkis for the bags where there's coupons, pencils. It's part of all of the sponsorship packages and it is optional but we had quite a few that provided good stuffed uh cinch sacks. So that was a lot of fun. And Dr. Kowalsski, you could see there got to meet Andy the acorn. She was at the harvest open house. So that was a lot of fun. And the kids have a good time. We do too. This past school year, we our board of trustees approved $100,000 in grant funding. Um, we didn't spend all of that like we normally
014do. So, we're going to pushing for more grants, but we did over $90,000 in grant funding for a total of 35 grants. And you can see here, pictures are kind of small, but these are some of our grants in action. Down near the bottom, you can see the solar car that was done uh with U. um Mr. Stoookie and Jackson Phillips, one of our students, and his class is going to continue to learn from that. You could see we had salmon in the classroom, the Rub Goldberg project extension again. Um uh the shark and the the dissection of the shark in the classroom, the 3D uh printer. So, these are just some examples. Oh, and then the unified basketball up there in the corner. So, those are some of the things that we've done. Our
015Hall of Fame um has been slow to be announced. Uh we're working on getting everybody's information, but this is the official list. Um Natha Kella is being nominated for um uh Oh my gosh, I just drew a complete blank. Um community what? Community volunteer. Distinguished community volunteer. The distinguished is what I was trying to think of. Distinguished community volunteer. Thank you. Um Chris Baker as uh distinguished alum. Peggy Ernst as distinguished um educator, Mackenzie Gilmore as distinguished alum. Zack Caster, our very own as distinguished alum. Rick Radloff, distinguished alum, and then Betty Washburn as distinguished educator. This is going to take place on October the 10th at 5:00 at the um Selen High School auditorium. We will uh have a a one-hour ceremony to honor these individuals and give them a chance to speak. It's
016so much fun to listen to the stories. It makes you really appreciate Seline and where it has been and where it's going. It's a it's a really nice event. And then we'll take everybody and move them over to the patio at Hornet Stadium for a light lunch and they'll be honored at halftime. Future dates that are coming up um we'll be a part of the Seline Summerfest August the 9th. The alumni committee um as part of the foundation is going to be having their annual golf outing on September 21st at 9:30 at Brookside. Hall of Fame, as I just mentioned, October 10th. Our freef fall lunchon is going to be on October 22nd. It's either going to be here at Liberty or possibly at the high school to show off the new Steam Center. And
017then our dueling pianos um on February 20th or 21st. We're working on those details. So, that's what's coming down the pike. And then I moved. So if you need to find me, you can now find me in room number four. I am just diagonal from the uh boardroom right next to community ad. So you can find me there if you need me. And that's it. So I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Well, thank you very much, Stacey. We don't usually offer questions, but if we have any, I'm sure we'll shoot them your way. That sounds good. Thank you so much. Appreciate great work. Great work. Of course, as usual, um revisions and approval of the agenda. Uh I do have was recommended by at least one board member that we add a discussion
018item 10A under section 10 item A. Uh just an update on the status of the uh vacancy uh replacement for the vacancy on the board and I just have a few few words about that and we will open it as a discussion item. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda as revised. So move Steen. Is that Tim Austin seconding it? All in favor please say I. I. I. Great. Uh 5 kind of thin this evening. Uh we have one scheduled report and Jman is going to uh entertain us. Good evening everybody. So, um, I'm here to report on my technology team, give you an annual update of all the things that we've done throughout the year, some of the stuff we're working on, some of the things we've got going on, so
019you can see all the wonderful things that we've been doing. Um, I always love to start this report by touting my team. First off, keep in mind, we are a team of nine, um, managing the entire district. Um, in the past year, we have uh received over 3,368 tickets. That's an increase of from 2,898 last year. Um, I did some quick math. That's about 470 more tickets that we addressed um over the course of this past year. Of those, we closed 3,339 tickets. Um there are 22 currently open and seven that are pending some sort of resolution like waiting for parts or response from somebody else before we can close those out. Um in addition to addressing all the tickets um and our daily tasks of working with staff and students, we also provide support
020for uh over 2100 daily use student devices and over 750 staff devices. Um in addition to that we also maintain uh about 700 shared managed devices that we use per testing time. We call them our testing fleets. Uh we have a grade level's worth per building um Heritage Middle School High School. And um on top of that, a small taste of what the rest of my team does throughout the year. We are maintaining Power School. We are preparing trainings for our staff. We are prepping devices. We're doing audio video installations throughout the year. Uh as well as um especially now more than ever we are taking cyber security measures as a very serious thing and trying to do our best in increasing that. Most of you may remember our fishing campaign from a few months
021ago and we are working on training for that so that we have better results on that for the next one I put out. I will not divulge when that's going to be. Um and then another project that we are actually working on, um AI has become a big thing and so we have actually started working on developing our own in-house AI. Um we're actually working with Dexter who has implemented a model throughout their building. It's cost-effective as in we don't have to pay a yearly price for it. We just um one time buy a computer and um so we have been working on developing that with a couple people on my team who are very into that project. and our goal is to get that out to staff and students this coming fall. Um, so
022that's what we've done as a whole this year. Some of the projects that we've been working on, um, first off, uh, over last summer, uh, we completed the replacement of our copy machine fleet with our more energy efficient Epson copers. We have completed the standardization of AV for all K3 classrooms which includes new projectors, document cameras, sound systems, and we added wireless mirroring with screen beams. Um, we also consolidated, replaced, and configured network switches in all 42 of our network closets. I'll add that we also added four more network closets to the district as a result of some of our ongoing construction projects. And we do have a couple more still coming with some of the upcoming projects too. Um we're also working this past year on we are transitioning from our uh communication platforms.
023We are consolidating from using Remind school messenger s'more into parent square. Getting all of our training getting that pushed out so that staff and families know how to use it. Making sure it works. putting it through all the tests that we can to make sure we are aware of how to use it and support everybody as that will be our new primary uh communication platform to our families. Um we are also switching our data warehousing from illuminate to school litics and getting all of that information copied over access um everything that we need so that when teachers come in this fall that they're able to hit the ground running and access their data. Um, and additionally, we are switching off of our internet filtering. We are moving away from securely and we are going to
024be joining the rest of county in um, a new filter that we found called Linewise. Um, I'm actually very excited about this and I think a lot of our staff will be too. Heard a lot of feedback about securely and I'm hoping that that feedback about Linewise is a lot better. Um, another thing that we also completed this year was bringing the Hornet operation building online. So we were integral in installing fiber from the middle school to the operations building so that we can get internet um essential for communication for our buses, HVAC services, phones, internet, everything that we use there on a daily basis that requires internet. Um, also configured all the phones, the Wi-Fi, cameras, brought informiccast to that building as well as access controls for the doors. Been a pretty busy year.
025Um, currently right now this summer, we have been working on continuing our AV standardization project. Thanks, Ben. Um, so in continuation from what we did with our K3 buildings, we are now carrying that to uh all classrooms at Heritage Middle School, Liberty, and the high school. That's including replacing projectors, document cameras, and sound systems in those rooms. And in this bu these buildings, we are also adding a secondary uh monitor into every classroom and then wireless mirroring um not only to the projector, but we're also going to be able to go to to mirror to the secondary screen as well. So um with the intent that students will be able to have uh better sight of what's going on in the classroom. also preparing our trainings and documentation for our new communications platform. And um
026in addition to the new filtering, we are also bringing on a new classroom monitoring software we used to use what's called Go Guardian for teachers uh to be able to use to watch what's going on on the students computer screens while they're in class. Helps with classroom management. This new product classwise goes along with our filter linewise uh to offer the same flexibility but also give teachers a little bit more control as they are in their classroom. And um the hopes for this was is it will actually cut down on some of the tickets because they'll have a little bit more granular control over some of the sites that are blocked such as if they're trying to access nike.com for a report and it's blocked because it's shopping. teachers will now have the ability to
027temporarily allow that through for just their classroom, which will reduce tickets coming in for us to have to open up that site for the whole district. Um, again, hoping that they're going to appreciate that a lot more than having to put in a ticket and wait for us to get around to it. Um, as I mentioned, we're going to continue developing our AI both in-house as well as uh bringing some platforms into the district. We currently use Brisk as an AI platform. Most recently, uh, Google has announced that both Gemini and Notebook LM are going to be reduced from 18 plus to 13 plus. So, we have plans to start working with our high school students during Hornet time, teaching them proper AI literacy, and then once they've completed some sessions in that, we want
028to invite them to be able to start using these platforms. We do realize it's a disservice for these students now. not have exposure to AI, it is almost a requirement if it's not already a requirement in college to be able to use that and we want to bridge that gap and allow them to be on par or ahead of their fellow classmates. Um, some other things that we're working on, uh, summer preparation for district devices, classroom equipment for the upcoming school year. My team likes to move as an amoeba as we go from building to building. We clean and prep all of the devices, touch every single Chromebook and iPad, clean every single projector, document cameras, check the batteries, make sure everything is ready to go. So when teachers come back in August, it's all
029there and when students come back that first uh that last week of August that it's all running and functional and they can get started without having to wait on us. Um some other things we're doing, uh we are replacing older fiber in Heritage Middle School and Liberty. This will allow us to reach faster speeds in the district. Uh and then also getting ready and we've been working on the technology installation part for the wait room and the steam center at the high school. Some of our last things that we have upcoming projects we have been working on technology for uh the Liberty Athletics Field. That has been a large project involving rerouting all the fiber as we found they were going to be building right on top of it. So, we had to reroute all
030of our internet that connects the middle school to all the buildings around it. Um, that has been done successfully. We are also prepping Wi-Fi and cameras as well as informiccast for that. Um, once the field is built, we'll be continuing that project. um as well as technology installation for the middle school renovations, the classroom wing, the senior center, robotics and cosmetology which we'll be bringing online for next the 2026 27 school year. Um lastly, we are working on the technology designs for the upcoming heritage construction project as well as uh we are getting ready to replace all staff devices this coming April with new device well new new computers. So, look forward to seeing me in a few months to ask for support on that one. Um, that's about it. So, I do thank you
031all for your continued support. I am happy to answer any questions you might have about any of the things we've done, doing, plan to do, want to do. Thank you, Jay. Short and to the point. Any questions from the the crew so far? I have so many questions, but uh you have one as well. Do you want to start? Sure. Um, thanks for all that hard work. Clearly, it's it's been a lot and to the whole team of nine, thank you. Um, so I love that you were talking about AI and um working on that for this fall. I just wanted to remind you that we have four policies on artificial intelligence now in our in our um on our website um that affect both staff and students. So was just asking if you had
032any um ideas to kind of communicate both to staff and students and maybe work with Jackie or or or how you would communicate any intentions with the AI project that you have going on in alignment with our board policy. Sure. Um I happy to talk about that and I I actually appreciate working on you with that board policy. I had a chance to review it, make some suggestions on it myself. have also been integrating that into our revised AUP for both staff and students uh with the intent to have staff resign their AUPS this year largely in part so that they're aware of some of our guidelines and also to give some direction towards that. Um one of the members of my team Jordan is working with Jackie and she she is our tech integration
033specialist. She will be working with the classrooms um in in doing the AI literacy, promoting the AI that we have so we can make make staff and students aware of what we have and so they can use it and and be effective in using it. Thank you. Um by the way, just a side note regarding policies, I not sure if I brought this up at the last meeting, but Jay and I did have an a very good meeting. uh uh to get some deep background on policy language changes for um video taping and uh yes so we we've removed references to Betamax and VHS and that sort of thing. So it's that ship has long since sailed. Uh so I wanted to say thank you very much for for embracing the idea of having our
034own in-house AI. Appreciate that. Um I I attended a presentation back in December by the folks from Dexter and was so impressed. Now, they call theirs DD after Dexter Dreadnots. Do we have That was That was actually the hardest thing for them to come up with the name. Do we have a cool name for ours? We're going to use Sting. Sting. That'll work. sting.selineschools.org. Okay, that works very well. Uh, next question is, uh, what to tech installations are we putting in the wait room? Are we talking about just like fiber for Wi-Fi or is there some special cool devices that are going to be on walls? The weight room will be um we've got televisions going in that will be able to display the workouts they have. Um as well as some extra TVs and
035classroom uh in the more classroom sections of it. We've got Wi-Fi cameras. Um we have an audio system that we're installing in there because they like to listen to music when they're working out. that's all going to be integrated in together. We've got screen beam so they can wirelessly project. Um take that a step further during in the steam section that we're doing. Um we're also going to I'm kind of excited for this. We're making a video wall. So we'll have like a nine panel LED that we'll be able to be projecting our projects any information on to it. So that's also getting installed now as well. That was a lot more than I was expecting. Thank you so much. Um, so Remind is being phased out. Securely is being phased out. Go Guardian is
036being phased out. And are we I just want to verify we are phasing out Brisk as well. Brisk teaching. Brisk. We're brisk we're keeping. Brisk we're keeping. But we're also adding the Gemini LM. There's there's a notebook LM and there's Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Notebook LM is 13 plus. Yeah. Yes. Notebook LM Gemini brisk and then our in-house. So, we won't be able to say goodbye to that strange little icon we see in the bottom corners up there. Okay. Which some people don't know how to remove, and that's okay. Well, thank you, Jay. I I have no more questions. Anything else from the board? No. Appreciate it. Looking forward to the big reveal in the fall. Thank you very much. Thank you. We have uh a few recommended I motions for I'd like to entertain
037a motion to approve the close session minutes of June 10th, 2025 for the purpose of collective bargaining 8C of the Open Meetings Act. I'm going to assume Darcy's going to move on that. Well, Darcy, don't give it to us yet. We don't have a motion. Thanks, Tim. Second is extra pressure tonight because there only five of us. Jason, yeah. Thank you, Tim and Jason. Darcy, I just had one added. Um, I wasn't present at the meeting. It just felt like you were there. Thank you. All in favor, please say I. Opposed? Hearing none. Thank you. We have minutes. I'd like to entertain a Michael one abstension. Oh, you're abstaining. Yeah. I know we could do that, but Okay. Thank you. I'd like to entertain a motion to appoint in in the absence of uh of
038our treasurer. I'd like to entertain a motion to appoint Tim Austin as a board treasurer per policy 0152 officers. You're making that motion. Uh Darcy without the mic on. Thank you. No. Oh, right. That's right. Second test. Okay. Who is also serves on the finance committee which is a sterling endorsement then. Thank you very much. Do we have any discussion on this? Darcy be me to to the motions. Okay. Tim, this is your opportunity to say no. All right. Thank you. That's great. Then all in favor, please say I. I. Thank you. Uh opposed. And hearing none, we have a new treasurer. Thank you very much, Tim. Our third treasurer. Yeah. Well, who's keeping track except for me. Uh 50. Thank you very much. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve per board policy
0392510 the following textbook and associated ebook digital license impact second edition by National Geographic Learning at an annual cost of 1145 1,145 as submitted by Cara Davis, executive director of teaching and learning. And the framing note is that this will provide a comprehensive and cohesive curriculum for 612 grades 6 to 12 English language learners. Do we have a motion? So move stubbin support support Darcy Berwick. Uh any comments, questions, queries, quibbles. Uh Cara is ready to uh address any concerns. Well, thank you very much. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Thank you. Opposed? Hearing none. Thank you very much Cara Davis for finding that text. I'd like to entertain a motion to name the following banks or depositories for the various funds of Selen area schools in fiscal year 2526. Bank of Ann
040Arbor Michigan Liquid Asset Fund uh and the Old National Bank. So move. Tim Austin moves second. It is seconds. Any discussion? No. Thank you. This is pretty pro-forma. Uh all in favor please say I. I I oppose. No. 5-0. Thank you very much. Uh I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize Rachel Kowalsski, superintendent, as the primary signer on all checks written by the district with Miranda, assistant superintendent of finance as alternated on all accounts listed. And those accounts are the following. This is quite a list. The 2021 bond checking account, 2023 bond checking account. Don't want to miss any. Excuse me. uh the 2025 bond checking account, Michigan liquid asset fund which includes the 2021 bond investment account, 2023 bond investment account, 2025 bond investment account, general fund investment account, and from Old National
041Bank, the general fund, general fund payroll, community education, recreation cares, food service, student activity, student activity, the edge, flex benefits, maestro 2016, BNS debt service, 2018 BNS 2 debt service, 2021 BNS3 debt debt service 2018 refunding debt service 2023 B and S uh1 debt service 2025 BNS2 debt service the sinking fund Paul Handy Scholarship fund the Tim Corali memorial fund the horiculture award Randy Hoffman fund the Rachel Townsend fund the Dorme Meer memorial scholarship and the Katherine Steiner Burr scholarship do I have a motion motion Burwick Burwick Second. Tim Austin seconds. Any discussion on that? Probably not. So, all in favor? Don't make me repeat that list. All in favor, please say I. I. Thank you very much. 5-0. Appreciate that, everyone. To entertain a motion to authorize Rachel Kowalsski. I've heard that name before.
042Superintendent and Miranda Ashley, assistant superintendent of finance as signatories on transfers of investment monies. Motion. Berwick. Berwick. Support. JT. Thank you very much. Uh any comments? No. All in favor, please say I. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. 5. Uh 5. Uh recommend a motion. I'd like to entertain a motion to adopt the resolution for continued participation in the state Michigan loan revolving fund as submitted by assistant superintendent Miranda. Motion to. Thank you, Jason. Second. Thank you, Tim. Any discussion on this? No. All in favor, please say I. I. Opposed. No. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Miranda. I'd like to u entertain a motion to appoint the Trune Law Firm PC of Lancing, Michigan, and Collins and Blaha PC as legal counsel for the school district or board uh for the 2025 2026
043school year. In addition, the district is authorized to utilize other law firms pending areas of expertise. So move Deon. Thank you, Jer. Second, Berwick. Thank you, Darcy. Uh, any discussion? Nothing to say. All in favor, please say I. I. This is a lot faster than it was the last time we did this one. And, uh, discussion items, right? Oh, that was it. Thank you. Wow, that we just whipped through those. That was remarkably fast. Happy summer, everybody. This we've we've we've shot past the record. uh setting time of 18 minutes though, so that's all right. We'll settle in. It'll be a comfortable time. Uh we do have a vacancy open. We have put out we cast our net out to the community and seven stout citizens or strong citizens is probably a more appropriate word
044have stepped forward and provided their materials. Um and I'm going to read those names tonight. This morning I emailed everybody and all of them and let them know this was happening. and gave them an opportunity to say second thoughts and so forth. They're all still in the running apparently and the names are as follows and we will provide information next week. I'm in the process of redacting some of the uh information uh phone number and email but we'll keep the address on so because the qu major question is do they live in the district so the address should stay um and those names are Ryan Davidson Nathan Nate Hansen Luke Schmurburgg Christy Lily Kelly Van Single Julie Kelly and Marco Celsius Magabetang on Monday, July 14th. We look forward to interviewing those who are able
045to attend the interviews and uh we'll begin at 6:30 that evening and we'll do deliberation that night. Uh in the past we had done our interviews and then deliberated and at a later meeting but we are very crunched for time and uh scheduling made it difficult to have any other nights. Um that was my report. Are there any notes or discussions about this before you move on? So, we did receive a email from one of the candidates um wanting to interview tonight um after the board meeting. So, I guess I I'm bringing this up as an option if we want to do that tonight. I mean, I'm open to it. It does board policy 0142.5 does say something about um let me interviewing all candidates um uh section C says uh shall shall interview all
046interested candidates to ascertain their qualifications. Hey Tim, can you uh give me that policy number again? I just wanted to read it along. Z P policy 0142.5. I have heard from two other board members regarding that. And one of the issues that came up, Tim, is that it it it appears that having interviews this evening would be an accommodation, which is ordinarily fine, except the original call we put out to the community never mentioned the possibility of accommodations. And the problem with that is that suddenly then it becomes unbalanced. There might have been two or three or more or any number of candidates who might have been interested in participating but knew that they wouldn't be available on July 14th so didn't put their names forward. Knowing that we have made accommodations for one suddenly
047changes the rules which is what I have heard strongly iterated uh to me by two board members. So that's why I'm a little hesitant to to go into that or or have an interview tonight. And I got to tell you, for the last two weeks, I have been wrestling with this and and talking c getting counsel from all of you uh over the phone and by email and by text as to what to do. And there's no clear resolution. But let's keep the discussion going. Uh if we're gonna continue, we are. If you keep talking, then we I'll keep talking. You know me. Uh uh regarding that, uh I I I agree that we didn't uh we didn't explicitly say, "Hey, by the way, we're going to accommodate anybody." Uh the way I look at
048it, um and I was having this conversation with a colleague today, you you have to want it to deserve it. And by that I mean if if somebody is interested and wants to come and interview and they're not going to be available, they're going to be completely out of pocket when we're going to perform uh the other interviews and they're willing to go first. They're willing to allow the other candidates to hear the questions in advance and have that advantage. Uh, I think uh I think those people that are willing to do that are stepping up and showing that that they want it that much that they're willing to take to take that disadvantage and give other candidates an advantage of of hearing those questions in advance. Um, so if there are candidates here tonight,
049I I would certainly entertain giving them the interview tonight. My concern with that is um it it's not an exam where there are correct right or wrong answers and having the other six candidates prepare scripted speeches in advance is an intended advantage. That doesn't tell us how they think, what their answers are at the moment. Um, and at that point, why are we even having interviews? I mean, you and I had talked about that with the superintendent interviews that providing at that first round scripted questions, we got scripted answers. Um, I don't think altering our process and our commitment to the community um, speaks well for us and how we present ourselves and how we hold ourselves accountable. And so if we wanted to change the process, I think that we should have done that
050for everyone. And if I can add that that was the uh the argu I I really hesitant to speak on behalf of a board member is not here but that was the basically the argument that came to me from uh from Lauren who's not here tonight is that she was strong she stood in strong opposition to changing the rules what appears to be us changing the rules by by making an accommodation. But in all the discussions back and forth uh one comment did come up that made it very clear to me that there is there is a way forward and that's we we should consider all the candidates. So if candidate uh X let's say couldn't make it uh on the 14th that we would consider that person's candidacy based on the materials that we
051have available to us. And uh to me that seems fair and kind and it doesn't mess around and human and it doesn't mess around with the idea of getting the questions out there. And to your point Darcy about having people prepare um those of us who ran for the board a few years back I don't know if you were here for that one Tim they gave us the questions and basically we we basically read a each five minute book report or you know each of us and that was it was not much of a a live forum. Not saying that these interviews are going to be a forum by any means, but I get I I wanted to say to everyone, I get your point, but I'm not sure. Yeah. So, I guess I I
052look at it like we are changing the rules because we're not interviewing all candidates. We are making that opportunity available. We can make accommodations for for Zoom, for a phone call, for an email on the day of. This to me is an exception and changing the process that we publicized multiple times in multiple locations. And if anybody else I mean anybody could have asked if they were interested to to to see this I to see if we could do something and I think we need to do better next time. Like I think we need to make this so I think we're but in the idea of doing the um of allowing us to still utilize their information that they have provided on the 14th. Yeah, that's great. But but we're already putting them at a
053disadvantage now because they didn't answer the questions from an interview standpoint. Right. And so we're putting them at a disadvantage. I think we can make those questions available in advance within a certain time frame, but publicizing them a week in advance is not going to help us make a better decision in the end. line of the policy. And I know Jennifer has a comment. All the board or an ad hoc committee, it doesn't even have to be the whole board appointed by the board shall interview all interested candidates to ascertain their qualifications. Yep, Jennifer. Yep. Thanks. Um, so yeah, I've been wrestling with this one, too. Um, my first recommendation since this is the third time um we've done an appointment in my tenure um and probably Michael's, it's probably your third as well. Um,
054I think we should look to add something in the future to the board operating procedure so it's not so gray because gray in policy and procedure isn't so great. So, if we can put a pin in that, that would be great. Um, I I don't know if we've said who the candidate is. Um, who Okay, then I don't I don't want to go ahead and do that if I don't have permission to do that. um it's not lost on me this candidates's um connection to the district um which I highly value um particularly at a time right now um that said when I make decisions I try to think about the policy about the data um so I have to think about the whole versus the one individual um but I do want to stand
055still by by recognizing the the the tie to the district um which is strong. Um the line that uh Tim referenced I think is important. Um it says all interested candidates. I do read it a little bit differently than Tim I think though because I do think that we should interview all candidates. I think it should be on the day that we said we would interview all candidates. Um, so I don't recall if this particular applicant could call in, could zoom in, but I I kind of do feel that we put it out there that this is the opportunity. Um, it followed the exact precedent that and way we did it the two times prior. We said, here's the date um that the interviews will be. I think we should interview everyone who applied. Absolutely.
056I think we probably should do it on that date though. Um because it does seem like an exception to me a little bit. I appreciate that. I want to also note since we're talking about that one line C, it also does say that the board shall interview interested candidates. Um and at this point we don't have the board. We have arranged one of our board members can't be here tonight and had made special arrangements to be here on the 14th. So, uh, that's another argument I in my opinion for not doing a proper full interview with those sets of questions tonight, but it's no, it should be no hindrance to considering all the candidates. Can I just follow up on my question because I know you probably had individual conversations with the applicant. Is there
057any way? There is no way. Okay. We, as I noted in the email, within seconds I reached out to the candidate and found out that Zoom was not even considered accommodation accommodation that we could use because of the nature of her absence, their absence, traveling, phone call. Zoom implies video seven hour time difference which is another issue. Yeah. So, so I'm not sure if we want to formalize this or we just want to land this plane and say, "Let's just continue on and and uh make sure that we consider that candidate. Perhaps we could ask the candidate if they're willing to provide other additional information." And in fact, the candid the applicant has sent his letters of reference and um possibly may be able to speak to us tonight during a public comment section potentially.
058It's not a full interview, Jason, but it does also maintain the the integrity of the the handful of questions that we had. And I I I wanted to say I appreciated everybody's thoughtful comments on this and it was not clear. It was not clear except that the statement that we put out didn't offer any options for accommodations. And that to me was like the the one of the bottom lines and the other bottom line is that one of our board members isn't here. So anyway, any comments before we move on or make take a vote or No, I mean I think with Jennifer we really need to look at updating the policy and procedures. In fact, as I looked at my revisions of the board operating procedure, there wasn't anything down for the vacancy. Although
059I knew the last time we did this that oh we better have a real clear policy in case this ever happens again. We never know when this will happen again. So yeah, it's true. I and I just wanted like Yeah, it it's it's really unfortunate, but I I think we kind of have to stick with what we said we were going to do. And um these recommendation letters, I have them in front of them. I think I know most of the people that wrote these. I truly truly value their opinion and I truly value um all applicants um who who applied including this particular applicant. Okay. Yeah. And I I mean I can tell from the board that it doesn't look like we even have to have a vote for this but um yeah I
060I guess I just looked at it differently. It wasn't like we were accommodating them. They were actually accommodating us by being available to have an interview today. So, it wasn't like we were going to have to come together some other time just to make that work. I appreciate that. And I want to say Tim and Jason and everyone else who offered ideas for accommodations. My first inst my initial reaction was oh yeah, we can make this work. We can figure out a way. We can do it. And then then we then I started hearing from other boards members as why we necessarily we shouldn't do it. So, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and concern you had for making sure everyone came into the discussion. And uh but we will certainly consider all applicants on the 14th.
061All of those seven names that I read, unless anyone pulls their name between now and then. Do I have have I got the sense of the board without taking a vote? Uh yeah, you can make the face. It's okay. It's I I'm just looking at it. Um I kind of I kind of agree with Tim. It's we do not have to make this appointment there. We we do not have to make this appointment. We can allow 30 days to lapse and we make that decision to remove that power from our hands and have it appointed by the ISD. So we we have a perceived time crunch and we keep calling it accommodations. Um, and if we want to use that word, I think that's okay. But I'm I'm beginning to struggle with why will we
062not make accommodations for an interested party for the board, but we will make accommodations for other things in our school district. And I don't want to use any specific examples, but we're we're taking a voice away from a potential candidate simply because of scheduling, not not for anything else. And a candidate is willing to do whatever in order to interview with us. That's a solid argument, but it goes back to what we said near the beginning um that I heard from Darcy and others is that we never specified to the larger community that we would be a we would try to make accommodations. Absolutely understand that we should should try but we never noted that we will try. So that we may have lost a couple of candidates who um I know one is up
063at a cottage and might have been a fantastic candidate and actually had expressed an interest in the past but uh didn't realize there was an accommodation possible. So didn't put her name forward. So I again I get it. I get it. If you don't ask is you're not going to get an accommodation. But if we had said in the notes that we put out to the community, hey, we're going to have an interview on the 14th, but if you can't make it, we'll try to accommodate. If we had said that, and that's the live and learn part. If we had said that, we might have had two additional candidates that we would have had to zoom in that might one of whom may have been our next board member. So, I get it, Tim. Also,
064again, everyone's everyone's argument has has strong validity. Go ahead, please. Um, so I think adjusting the board operating procedures um and maybe including language of accommodation or scheduling or or whatever we want to call it could be a good idea. Totally totally open to that. Um Jason mentioned the 30-day trigger. So I just wanted to reflect on that because it was the first time that it came up at the table. Um that is the law. That is the most important thing I think in this entire process that we get somebody in here and we follow the law. um and don't don't let it lap. So, I am in definite favor of moving forward um to fill it from the Seline Board of Education. I think we know our community the best. Um and and I
065would prefer this board to to appoint. In my eight years on the board, I've never seen it happen where a superintendent of WISD has had to make that decision. So, I don't know how it would even go. She might have just said, "Hey, what do you think, McVey?" and then it would have been one person making a recommendation to to her. So I I don't know. I'd much rather have it more in our hands to to your point. So I'm giving that 10 teacher 10 second teacher pause. I uh I I think we should uh I think we should still just have a uh a voice vote on it just just for the record. All right. Do you want to frame that or in uh I would I would make a motion uh I would
066I would make a motion that uh the I mean I'm going to be in opposition of it, but I I would make a motion that the board um the board uh uh board entertain not interviewing any candidates prior to the July 14th date as already previously stated in the public release. Does that make sense? Nope. Try try to frame it in the affirmative. Yeah. Negative. Uh okay. That the board that uh that the board only interview candidates on July 14th as was previously stated in the public release. I'm going to do a sidebar now with Betty Yankee. Did you get that, Betty? motion entertaining a motion that the board only interviews candidates on July 14th. I'll second that. Uh we could also add but considers all candidates. Is that but I like yes friendly amendment.
067Yes. But considers all candidates. Uh but and Okay. It's your conjunction and may you consider all candidates shall may or should. Well, I now your modifiers got the conjunction because well be the only reason or only reason I bring up may is because I know what my vote's going to be and my vote would be contradictory to to taking into consideration all candidates if that is included in the in the motion. Motion is that the board only interview candidates on July 14th, then may consider all candidates. Did I get that correct? Yes. Uh and Jason has made that motion. Do we have a second? I guess my only problem with that motion is that we already have that language in the policy and that we don't have any language. Technically, it says interview all candidates.
068So if and so we're changing it to consider. Well, no. I don't want to change it to consider. I'm added I That wasn't in my motion. I added an addendum that we may consider all candidates. May and not shall. Okay. So, you have to decide if you want that amendment to your motion. Which is why I wanted may and not shall because Okay. Like I said, I know what my vote's going to be and I don't want it to be contradictory to considering other candidates. Do we have a second? second. All right, we've had a dis fair discussion. Now, if anyone wants to make a last minute I I did want to make one point that um we are governing prek through high school students and we absolutely should be making accommodations for our children's
069education. If we are setting forth a process as an elected board for governmental posting, we should be following the process that we put out to the community. Again, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Our process and our policies are what give us legitimacy in the actions that we take. and we do a disservice to our community when we um are not faithful to those commitments. Um I know that we are a small community. we are all friends and family and know each other very well and that this might not feel like uh an official or formal process but it is uh and I take that job seriously. I agree with you. Uh and I I was I was just going to uh let us go down the but just to just to
070point out and again I'm reading it verbatim. It does not say that we can or cannot provide accommodations. So my argument to counter that would simply be in our public release, we did not say that we absolutely will not make accommodations. So you can argue it from both sides. And I I knew Michael was going to react that way, which is why he didn't bring up that argument. But if we put out in the public release that we would be willing to do accommodations, it'd be out there. If we put in the release that we would not be willing to do accommodations, it would be out there. Neither was out there. In absence of that, I would look at what is written, which is the board or an ad hoc committee shall interview, since I
071know you and I like the shells in the maze, shall interview all interested candidates to ascertain their qualifications. So that that's what but I I just wanted to stop the argument. I I wasn't going to go on both sides. And considering that the board isn't here tonight, the full board, um, it's almost moot, but perhaps I shouldn't say anymore and just put it to a vote at this point. Jennifer, did you just I will re I will reread it. Uh, the motion we've entertaining is that the board only interview candidates on July 14th and may consider all candidates. All in favor, please say Oh, should we do a voice voice? It's gonna be right down the middle, I think. Um, Jason, nay. Okay. Sorry, I just want to make sure I got that. Uh, Jennifer,
072uh, yay. Yay. Uh, Michael me, yay. Bedarsy I I Darcy contrarian. Tim, nay. All right, great. Thank you. So, 32. Uh, just a simple majority vote tonight. So, uh, on July 14th, we will consider all the candidates, uh, that evening. That's great. Thank you. Uh, I'd like to entertain a motion to Oh, sorry. Administrative board administration or board updates. This is where you get you get to run start us off with any of your administrative updates. Yes. I Yeah. Yes. We have lots of great work happening um in the district. I've been here for a week, so I will give you a kind of a rundown. Um we have some great planning um planned three days next week with our um central office and district leadership team. So we have about three days full of
073planning then um all kinds of great work with our principles ahead in early August. Um engaging on bond projects when um Rex comes back from his well-deserved vacation. And um as I as I said earlier, just very um grateful to be here and can't wait to continue to get dig in. So you can get my lengthy lengthy board updates that I'll try to keep under a certain amount of minutes um moving forward. But I I will keep it short and sweet as I'm just diving in with the team um this week. Thank you. Thank you. We started Tim's in. Tim, anything to add? Yeah. So um I noticed on 624 the WISD adopted a resolution to place the CTE millage on the ballot. So um that'll be on the ballot on November 4th. So that'll
074be great for Selene and uh Bosch County. Also, I will be talking to Jeff Higgins with Plant Moran uh regarding this year's upcoming audit on 7:15, July 15th. I hope everyone's having a great summer. Um the only thing I wanted to mention was that Summerfest is coming up um August 8th and 9th and we've uh had guests before but Miss Seline will be the new Miss Selene will be crowned on Saturday the 9th. Thank you. Super. Um yeah I spent four days uh in hot stinking San Antonio. Uh but it was a beautiful conference. uh the IST, the International Society for Technology and Education, plus ASCD, which is the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Um as some of you know, I was on that board of directors and rolled off. So this time I
075got to enjoy the conference and attend many many sessions and meet many many friends and I only wish there had been some sessions on AI and that's the joke because there was every single session was about artificial intelligence as it was AI all the way down as Dr. Seuss would say. Uh so anyway, I'm looking forward to sharing some of the insights I got and some of the cool tools a little later. Uh thank you. Um I know we're missing our friend uh Dr. Lauren Gold tonight, but my first uh request would be I'd like to formally request that in our next policy meeting, we put um the appointment process on the agenda for our board operating procedures. Um so it's fair to the process and fair to the people. So thank you in advance.
076I know Lauren will watch this. Um, number two, I just wanted to say, um, what a wonderful opportunity I had. My daughter is on the Seline varsity cheer team and I was asked to help chaperone some of the student athletes out to Honolulu. Um, Coach Kathy was already there as she is an a coach Kathy Mutter. Uh, it was already there because she is an instructor in the program along with other wonderful high school and college coaches from the University of South Florida and Penn State. Um both girls and coach Kathy represented our um district very very well. I'm very proud of them all. Um Coach Kathy also doubled as the camp nurse and if you've ever done anything like that, you know how how much work that is to do with 100 um student
077athletes. So, thank you to all of them for representing Seline very well. Um, I also have been at the high school a lot the past couple of days because many programs are back um back up there at Selen High School. Just a friendly reminder, we have a lot of new drivers going up there for activities as we welcome incoming freshmen and and have our other students back. Um, I did see a few things going on last couple of days, so just remember to drive safely, please. There are kids walking all over the place. Um, and a lot of new drivers, so thank you in advance for that. And then number four, I just wanted to again welcome Rachel. We're really glad to have you, or I should say I'm really glad to have you. I'm
078sure the board can speak for themselves, but I've I've talked with so many teachers and so many um staff members and so many community members who are eager to meet you and to see your positive influence on our district. So, welcome again. That That was a tough assignment you got, Honolulu. Um, I'm just going to be short. Um, I saw a couple posts on social media, uh, from Rex about all the activities that the operations team is doing. They're doing a fantastic job. Uh, Jay gave us the update. Uh, just want to remind everybody that the school keeps functioning year round. Uh, even though it's summer break for the kids and most of the teaching staff, the district still functions year round. Uh, except a us sitting here in July. But, uh, everybody's doing a
079fantastic job getting ready for next year. Uh, nothing stops and every, uh, everyone is just doing a fantastic job. So, I just want everybody to remember to recognize our operations staff, administrative staff, everybody that's working around. Thank you, Jason. Thank you, board. Um, items scheduled. Oh, consent agenda, please. The, uh, the consent agenda is listed in this agenda and will not be read aloud. A motion noted will allow for the authorization of all listed items without discussion unless a member of the board requests that anything be treated considered individually. Like to entertain a motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed. I would like to point out just one thing that it's enumerated incorrectly. A B C B. Are you sure B doesn't come after C? I'm pretty sure AB C B CDE E G
080is incorrect. Wait, wait, wait. Einstein, slow down. Okay. Sorry, I got it right. Thank you very much. ABCD EF and that's a we'll call that a scrivener's error for the record. All in favor? Oh, sorry. Do we have a motion yet? That's Jason. Are you moving? Yes. A motion to with a as amended? Yes. As amended and support from sorry from J Jennifer. All in favor please say I. I. I. Thank you very much. Uh so has AB C D. Is that how it goes? Okay. I think D comes after C. Yes. Oh, thank you. Are there any items scheduled on the next agenda, Superintendent Kowalsski, that you're aware of at this point? Not that not that we're aware of at this point. Thank you. Uh member of the public can uh now speak for
081up to three minutes or request to be scheduled. Uh there are no students speaking, but we do have one member of the public who wishes to speak. Uh and Julie Kelly, the microphone is yours. And the just take one in in the absence of a red card and a yellow card. We have a mauve card and a canary yellow golden rod card. Yeah. Perhaps we should get an art teacher to work on this. I've practiced in time myself. I'll be fine. Thank you. So, good evening. I am Julie Kelly. I am the teacher. you have been or I guess I should say the board interested board candidate that you have been discussing without being able to discuss my name, I would have been fine. So I am a newly retired teacher. I'm still very passionate
082about our district and I would really like to make a difference and continue to make a difference. So I am a person who wants to serve our district by being appointed to the board. I sadly haven't been able to secure an interview for the vacant board seat yet. I unfortunately have a long planned trip that prevents me from being here on this July 14th date. And I think I have about two and a half minutes left right now to plead my case. I passionately want to serve our students, staff, and community. And I brought with me to that end a packet that I'll be giving you after I speak. I heard that's an okay thing. And in this is not only my resume and several other letters of recommendations, some I have given you already
083and I have some others that are in this packet from my former boss, Principal Megan Degrand, from colleagues, from parents of students, former students, and from students themselves. in there. Also though, I put in some my answers to some commonly asked questions of board candidates. So, while you won't hear me saying whatever your questions are, I'm guessing these will be similar enough and I hope you will read them. I hope by giving you this packet tonight that you don't only get my dedication, my interest, my passion, but I hope also when you're considering my potential appointment to the board next week that it will serve as a way for you to get to know a little bit more about me. I'm a person of integrity. I listen thoughtfully. I seek diversity of thought. I think
084critically. And ultimately, I'm compelled to make decisions in the best interest of others. And I hope it will help you to see what I could bring to this board with my knowledge and expertise gained from decades of being a very involved, highly respected Selen Area Schools teacher. With trustees Miller and now Gerby, the K12 teaching contingent on this board having left. I think maybe now more than ever, my firsthand understanding of how classrooms run, how our staff functions and how our students thrive would be an invaluable addition to this already amazing board. So clearly, I'm passionate about our district and I truly believe I would make a difference. So, I humbly ask for your true consideration and that you'll support my candidacy. If you have questions, I am willing to answer them. Thank you. See,
085I'm under my three. 10 seconds remaining. Thank you very much, Julie. I appreciate that. Thank you. Oh. Oh, yeah. Can I hand you the packets? Uh, sure. Well, we're going to be wrapping up the meeting in the next 20 seconds. How about right after that? Sounds good. Thank you. The next board of education meeting will be held on July 14th, 2025. That's right. That that's our interview evening. There'll be one other piece of business that night. So, um I'd like to entertain a motion to uh adjourn the board meeting at what is the magic time? 7:44. Motion to JT. Second. Tim Austin. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Thank you. Opposed. No one ever is opposed. Thank you very much and congratulations on your first board meeting. First of many, many, many, many.
086very much.