Saline Area Schools: Board of Education Meeting (10.22.2024)

001[Applause] con okay moving forward to item four on our agenda is public comment a member of the public May address the board briefly for up to 3 minutes or request to be scheduled on the agenda of a future meeting please note that students will be given priority to speak on any topic the first public participation portion of the meeting will be limited to 1 half hour 30 minutes normally and limited to agenda items a second half uh second public participation portion will be offered at the end of the agenda to allow for any other comment individuals addressing the board should take into consideration the rules of common courtesy the public participation portion of the meeting cannot be used to make personal attacks against a board member district employee or student we have one student and

002um Mauna eloir may I ask if I pronounce that correctly I'm so sorry can can you approach and go first okay and could you yeah could you pronounce your name for us Muna Muna apologies thank you so much worries um uh secretary Miller has the cards and so if you're unfamiliar with our procedure at 30 seconds out you'll see the yellow um so you can start to complete your thoughts and at the red um you'll see when your three minutes is up all right whenever you're ready hello I'm Muna and I'm honored to stand before you today as a representative of the sleen high school social justice Club in GSA known as uproar in my role as up president I am here to make a heartfelt statement in Resolute support of all lgbtq Plus students

003Educators and staff within our district over the past years sine has made significant strides in enhancing diversity equity and inclusion programs positioning our school district as a leader in some of these crucial initiatives through a variety of innovative Dei policies and initiatives Seline has Amplified student voices and needs within its policies as a club upro has witnessed and celebrated the successes of the actions undertaken by both the school board and the de or diversity equity and inclusion advisory committee we are particularly enthusiastic about the ongoing development of the 3-year Dei action plan which is observing the educational Justice uh justice assignment and transformation tool written by Justice leader collaborative we want to express our gratitude to the members of the board along with many dedicated administrators and support staff who have demonstrated persistent care and

004commitment to uproar and to the Dei programs as a whole your eff efforts do not go unnoticed and are deeply appreciated Additionally the advancements of our curriculum to incorporate diverse perspectives and rules have been transformative these changes resonate strongly not only with our club members but with all the queer students insuline and community members who see themselves reflected in the curriculum the strides made in promoting in promoting inclusive inclusivity extended beyond lgbtq plus issues Encompass all aspects of diversity and work to ensure that every student feels valued and represented in our educational system as we move forward we remain hopeful that our collaborative efforts will continue to create an environment where all individuals regardless of their background Identity or beliefs can Thrive though right now not every day is a breeze and there are still

005issues within our school district we recognize the board tries really hard to support us and together we can build a community that celebrates diversity and Fosters culture of respect and understanding and that's it thank you for your comments um next we have Marissa Johnson parent Marissa yeah hi there and the same cards go for you and the green lights on yep okay whenever you're ready yes thank you again for giving us the opportunity to speak to you guys as you can see we're all parents of members of the football team that have obviously been plagued with issues over the last couple of months um we opted not to have the boys participate and attend the meeting tonight because they're preparing for a big game this Friday with playoff implications mostly due to the three games

006they were forced to Forfeit we again want to express our appreciation to the board for mandating ing that superintendent latch appeal the report that both he and athletic director mantha filed with the mhsaa the outcome of the appeal was was disappointing but um not totally unexpected we wanted to appear tonight to request that a full and complete third-party investigation be conducted into the handling of this matter from start to finish the request is supported by the facts that are outlined in the complaint that almost 50 family signed and sent to the Board of Education tonight the email should be in each of your inbox as we speak we won't address the facts that are contained in that complaint tonight but we believe that they they contain grounds um sufficient grounds to grant our requests and

007as we've previously stated at um the board meetings in which we've attended um we still continue to see this matter through even though the appeal was unsuccessful um we want the appropriate parties to be held accountable for errors that were made thank you all right thank you Marissa and parents all right moving forward um response to public uh previous public comment there is no response um I know that each of us probably will have uh some responses or updates in our individual comments um moving on to revisions or approval of agenda items may be added or deleted from the meeting agenda and or the order of items may be changed at the request of an individual board member or the superintendent the agendas must be approved before proceeding further i' like to please call for

008a motion to approve the agenda as revised deleting number seven um due to miss Lizzy white not being able to attend today uh motion made U Miller thank you Jenny support gold thank you Lauren all those in favor please say I I I opposed hearing none motion carries 60 um moving forward to action items for this evening um item a um I'd like to please entertain a motion to approve the minutes from both the October 3rd and October 8th 2024 Clos sessions under 8A and 8h of the open meetings act for both the purpose of discussion of personnel matters and student discipline yep we need somebody to motion and somebody motion kby thank you Brad support gold thank you Lauren and I see secretary Miller is passing out the um the minutes for those of

009you who are not familiar with this process due to the open meetings act when we're in closed session secretary Miller takes notes thank you um and types them up disperses them here at at the board table we read them silently and then we move to approve um or amend and then they are filed for one year because it is a closed session sealed yes so we'll take just a minute to read than with motion made um gerby support gold all those in favor please say I I opposed hearing none motion carries 60 I'd next like to recommend a motion to approve the purchase of three model year 2025 Phase 2 I CSK salty electric 77 passenger extended battery school buses at a cost of 1 M 239,240 from Midwest Transit as recommended by Rex Clary

010executive director of operations this purchase is through the msbo Cooperative bus purchase program I'll make it gby Brad thank you support eastep Susan thank you that's quite a mouthful how are you Rex and it's and it's a lot of money yes yes any um any comments or discussion yeah I'll just uh tell a little bit about the Journey of how we ended up here tonight um so uh myself along with Tracy mare Tracy mare was mainly the uh encouragement force behind the first round of EPA grants uh we teamed up with Highland electric um with their Fleet system and um it was a we could opt in and be a part of their team and we were as a Cooperative uh or Collective um and we were successful in obtaining roughly $600,000 and then in

011July with uh uh assistant superintendent oley's encouragement because it takes a lot of encouragement to fill out grant paperwork in July um she was able uh to to submit and with Tracy along with myself um uh get receive over $1 million to make up the difference um so that 1.6 million roughly will we won't get any of the extra money but we'll have the purchase of these buses covered um with the grant funds and then right now we're currently working with uh Borg Warner and DTE on a pilot program it's going to be a three-year vehicle to Grid at our new Operation Center um the Chargers have already have already arrived um DTE will be paying for all the wiring to connect those Chargers and of course Borg Warner has already delivered them free of

012charge at this point um and it'll be a three-year program we'll be working with experts in the field of EV vehicles uh in vehicle to grid possibly um the buses that we're specting here with the extended battery have a 200 mile range our average is about 74 miles uh across our Fleet our longest run is about 94 miles and these Chargers will have a three-hour quick charg in them so they will if they sit during the day for those three hours from morning to afternoon they will be able to be recharged and anytime they're on the grid anytime they're on the plug they do have the ability the battery will stay at that same temperature so cold weather will be a factor when they're off and how we're heating the bus but they're still even

013if we're at 20% if we lose 20% of that coverage we're still only down to 160 miles so we feel good about these buses from IC um and uh that's where I'm at thank you any questions for yeah Jenny just curious um I know that often we have um like field trips and Athletics and things like that that we use our buses for I know when it's a really long distance then they sometimes Charter but um just curious about like other districts and if we've thought about like sharing Chargers when you're in another District like how that might work so Tracy mare is on the M Michigan Association of Pupil Transportation and she started to ask those questions is you know are there all Universal Chargers she is um and you know how does that

014look going to another District to plug in um in like we visited o schools which is up in way up in the thumb um they went all in the six electric buses and one gas um and maybe one diesel they may have eight buses but they ask that same very that same question but and anything like towards Franken or something like that they always take the gas bus or the diesel bus um but I think that question is being asked now um which because Dex and Arbor will have is a part of that same pilot program and more and more school districts are going all in on electric so what are our costs for fuel do you have a number as to what this this might save us a year in fuel cost I don't

015have that but I can have that available um it's significant because we buy 10,000 gallons at a time for our tanks so it will be significant savings for the district though with the three buses I just want to note the the diligence that the team went through to to go visit a and to talk about things and to to visit with the school that was implementing it and you talk to them about some of these things so I appreciated your inclusion of that information and you're doing that because it makes me feel better about things like the cold weather capabilities and snow and some of those other things so thank you and I think the superintendent for obly to spend he almost spent almost an hour and a half with us that day so I

016really want to thank them for providing their input and expertise uh with their experience with these electric buses okay seeing no other discussion items um uh all in favor please say i i i opposed hearing none motion Carri 60 and don't go too far because it looks like you're the next item on our agenda uh yep for a bond update security um so yes um here we go um so yeah I'm going to give a bond update for you know what what we what have we accomplished in the last two and a half years and what we look forward to in the next three years in the next phase two um you know in November 8th of 2022 voters approved $188 million renewal it was three phases 60 million over the next 8 to 10

017years um thank you voters um as we get ready to vote again this fall we know there's a special uh special education millage don't forget about to vote Yes on I can't say um sorry uh phase one projects so uh these were just the projects that we completed uh or are in the process of completing under phase one we've got the Hornet Hornet the Harvest roof Hornet application Operation Center the weight room at the high school the new steam center at the high school our solar integrated roof uh playgrounds at uh Pleasant Ridge Woodland Metals Harvest and Heritage and then our high school solar integrated roof as well and Technology um Harvest roof uh we completed that this summer it took two summers uh but we did get it complete um one interesting fact about

018this with not having ashphalt shingles now we may be be able to do some energy improvements um as many you know the fire suppression system is located in this addict uh which has broken a few a couple times in the early on and when this building was built um so we may be able to seal some of that off and control that temperature in that space um a lot more more easily and with more efficiency our solar integrator roof this is at the middle school we're doing a very poor job of advertising this because you cannot see it from the ground um you don't know what's there and that's causing me problems too as well as you'll find out later um but this is ready to start producing energy this week I do not have

019a diagram to shows what the output is yet but I will have that probably by your board update at the end of the month I hope to um we are currently working with amesco um and we're asking for a tax consultant as we submit for the inflation reduction act uh our rebate to get the max value of that rebate for the roof and the solar panels Hornet Operation Center um you know it's been a journey um we started this with the president Gary Chapelle in December of 2022 um and started talking with him after the bound was successful and passed and we're looking at a mve in date of roughly middle November we're still gonna have our we we should have our certificate of a occupancy um right around Halloween plus or minus but I

020just want to thank AR Brower um they've got a really good superintendent Larry Hine who's done an excellent job keeping holding contractors accountable uh mark paulus from loli planners um has held AR Brower accountable and of course my team um Tracy Anita uh Co Cody and Chuck have done a great job of making sure they attend design meetings meeting with contractors following up on different aspects of the building from exhaust to lifts to where the grounds lifts going to be I mean they've just done a great job on that and the bond process itself I want to thank I want to thank Caris uh Davis Dr lotch Miranda Oley and Jackie and Carol and Julie as a part of that team they're present at these design meetings they allow input they know who to put

021in the room whose voices need to be heard and Cara J Cara Davis does a great job at that and making sure the right voices are in the room during this entire process so thank you to that team the core team uh back to the Operation Center so we should tentatively um we have an open house we'll schedule the week of 11:18 for the public uh day and time to be determined yet um and hopefully we'll be moving in that weekend that file those we'll take advantage of those two half days and that Saturday and then whatever time we have left during that week of Thanksgiving to kind of finalize and move ground move the transportation grounds and HVAC and uh it kind of somewhat depends on the weather too so our playgrounds we completed

022four upgrades this summer um you can see the soft surfacing the synthe the synthetic field Turf uh easy accessibility for all students we have the new Odie swing the We Go Round The we saw uh upgrades across the district as far as playgrounds and accessibilities Pathways backboards um ashphalt uh fencing drainage um I think they did an excellent job we're still finishing up a few things but for the most part we're about 99% done still working a little bit at Harvest to grow some grass clean up the fossil dig um if you guys haven't seen that hopefully it'll be ready by the end of this week it's going to be a great piece as well this is the current status of the weight room um another 7500 Square ft um that will be completed in

023August of 20125 our steam center which will have robotics science oiad and a performance space um will complet again completed in 2025 and then of course the high school air conditioning will also be done at that time for the gymnasiums locker rooms um room and what month was that 2025 August the high school will pretty much be uh under construction next next summer uh we'll do the roof project as well with the new solar integrated roof uh en codings at our root on the at the high school and then Technology and Safety and Security improvements Jay couldn't be here tonight but we uh standardization of classrooms projections and audio um camera visitor imagin access replacement systems copy machines um so roughly is about $4 million right there of work um and improvements that he did

024throughout the course of the two and a half years phase one budget we want to take a moment and kind of pause on we've improved a lot of things and they kind of go over a long period of time um but we we talk about this this Bond as $180 million that pass but it is broken out into phases so when it gets into the actual dollars um that that we draw those into sell those bonds we we gained on a cash basis you see on the top of there just under $60 million and then we have on the next column we do gain interest on those funds that are in the bank however the IRS says with our tax exempt bonds there's only so much interest you can really earn you we have to

025actually give that back and so it's a detailed long complicated thing but I run a liability that we have to give um some of those earnings back if we earn too much um so I kind of subtracted that out out of there where we are at in today this kind of snapshot in time with the next line the spent I also put in the parenthesis kind of paid less the rebates all of those things and opportunities that we get throughout our whole time if we can use Grant dollars to buy some of the things we were already intending to buy in bond it just extends the life of the bond a little bit further so sometimes those are directly tied but kind of pull those in bond to refund the bond purchase that we had

026made um a lot of times we're moving forward with the project regardless because time frames I mean the buses that you guys just proved now are going to not be here for at least what 12 months to 18 months we kind of have to make plans and then hopefully we you know put as many pots out there that we can grab um but we kind of move forward with the projects on the timelines we have um so in that that we see that there's about $28 million left to spend this is ongoing at any point in time you'll see in tonight there's things we're approving to spend and there's things that you guys are approving um to spend in the future so the encumbered number as you can see we about $30 million encumbered and

027so at first you would see that and you're like wait a minute we don't have enough money to cover those so this is a cash flow basis that I'm looking at and so you'll see we're kind of getting ready at this point to sell Series 2 so in general it was slated in there in 2025 but um if you recall almost two years ago we kind of came to you you get approval it's a 3 month process we get a bond rating there's a lot of things that go into selling those bonds and so we're kind of at that point in time now where I'm watching this cash flow and we're going to need to start doing that so you'll see I'll kind of come around about February timing to start have starting up that

028process again um I do project it out in the summertime summer times gets really busy and I'm kind of hard for things so I almost shooting for a May time but may adjust that depending on you know the people that advise me in the bond market uh with with that said too when we encumber the funds there's a lot of times we're bringing to you and we're asking for approval to start planning but a lot of those funds don't actually see a cash flow where we're paying for them for at least a year year plus so it's it's not worrisome that we're in a place where we're planning out projects for that it's just kind of that time flow of when things are crossing over so we're in a comfortable space but we can see

029we're starting to need to get get to that point um next slide please um this was just kind of to to talk about these are InDesign so these are not things you guys have seen yet and will be coming to you in the near future but these are the things that like I said it's an year and a half out that we start planning designing bringing to you to then spend cash in like a year and a half um so we listed out those big ones that we're kind of having those design meetings and talk right now the Liberty Recreation um space between here and the Middle School um as well is kind of doing some traffic flow in the Middle School exterior and kind of leads right into the middle school interior so we

030kind of have those are two um big projects that have already kind of somewhat been in the works as you um like he said we moving out to a lot of focus groups and then coming back to the group as well and um pricing out different things and going through a lot of flexible you know we get things priced then we have to hold people to budgets and then we have to redesign things and make choices for what we can afford within the budget um so those are ongoing as we speak about and then as well as high school furniture part of that you guys did prove a very small amount in series one we wanted to take advantage of buying some things doing Pilots before we actually make the full purchase so that's another

031example of where things span multiple series because we're kind of trying to do in the best way that we know how um and then technology the same thing those a lot of those projects you saw on the first slide some of them cross over multiple Summers they can't get into classrooms until the Summers and so sometimes those spill out the same thing and kind of cross over um into series if you see it's obviously not 6 Million worth of things but those are the big ticket kind of things we wanted to kind of draw your attention to I think go to the next slide so this is the just the list of the projects that we've got going right now um the high school Furniture the Liberty Recreation a Middle School Athletic Facility our senior

032center improvements um our Innovation alley Middle School Innovation alley and uh Middle School robotics Science Olympiad um Middle School special education and the sww C Cosmetology center southwest washingon um Consortium so in this kind of Liberty Recreation we're at CD which means we're at construction documents this project will be on the streets for bidding in November um we've gotten feedback we've collected data um we're moving you know we've got a design that's in our budget um and we're ready to move forward with construction documents with clar construction our Middle School steam center cosmetology and Senior Center is in schematic design so we still have we're still Gathering input we're still meeting with groups robotics um special ed um Science Olympia uh uh Explorations in Steam which you're going to hear a little bit about as

033well as um cosmetology and the senior center uh so some of our furniture right now we have eight pilot classrooms at the high school um there was three put into place or four put into place last year with your approval uh we had four already in process um and these are just some of the pieces that we've looked at from steel case from vs um from Smith Systems um with I've been working with Kira stemmer and of course Kelly Woodman on that um both are out of the district tonight one's cheering onor son at soccer and one's at a conference in uh Colorado so um the time frame for that is we'll be collecting data and we'll be providing a survey to the high school teachers they'll be using those spaces and signing them out

034for the next few months uh in December um we'll start to collect that data um and then we'll work with Cara and Kelly to develop Furniture packages um and we hope to have it to the board for your approval sometime in February um recommend what teachers should be purging teacher footprint as we went through this with the middle school and the K5 when we did this before covid and then hopefully we'll be replacing that furniture this summer um at the high school our Middle School athletic and Liberty Recreation Complex so um this is that 20.4 million I believe is what it was um this is kind of the first uh this is our design um you can see on the front we'll have a new uh front connector with a new stoplight on Maple Road

035um that'll be installed this summer um on the uh West on the east side of the building um so there'll be actually a loop that will come down on the front connector there with a with a stop light at the exit before the District Library um you can see the connection uh at the back of the building it'll connect TBO to Woodland Drive um we will have a raised tabletop very similar to the high school to slow down traffic um you can see the new parking a lot of this is made possible because the Operation Center now is out of the way we will not have 40 buses parking um in that blue uh lot to the north at the top of the page um that'll be opened up for Senior Center parking and the

036new Senior Center entrance at the back of the building um the pathway between Liberty and the middle school will be walkable um it will not be meant for cars uh ambulances will be able to get down it it'll be open we'll have ballards in place um but it will be open to the public um facilities may be not open to the public we still yet to be determined but the the actual walkway and throughout the whole that complex will be open uh we include a pickle ball tennis uh two Synthetic Turf Fields very similar to the high school very late out very similar to the high school with the track around one and of course just the regular uh layout for the other one the four baseball fields will be natural grass um this shows

037a little bit in color in relations to what it looks like today and how we'll be able to access those places um if we go back here you can see there's a little bit of a Retention Ponds so water retention and handling storm water man management was a major obstacle for us in our design we really wanted to enhance parking closer to the venues and it's something we can look at if there's money left over at the end of this Bond or the possible next Bond but we could not do it in this project and stay in budget uh and we didn't want to give up any of the athletic facilities and the improvements in other areas we felt parking was the one area that we could live with and um and be a negotiable

038but we didn't want to give up an Athletic Facility during this process um The Phases so phase one will start in may it's the center Green area um we are working uh to to work on memorials so memorials are one thing that we're working on with the alumni archives group to honor everything that we've done here from Crabtree field to lamberson to um the the old varsity baseball field it's something we're working on and we'll have in place before we start construction on phase one which will happen May and that'll be finished up in November of 2025 in June of 2025 we'll start with the parking lots so we can get the parking lots and drives done there'll be a new water supply line installed before we open school in the August of 2025 and

039then we'll finish the job we'll start Crabtree field will be um demoed in the spring of 2026 and be finished in November of 2026 so this will be almost a full two-year project and we're kind of bidding it that way so we can get one contractor it'll roll right from one phase to the next get good pricing um St stability as far as keeping the contractor busy and all throughout the fall and winter not just cramming it all in during that summer when you almost pay a premium sometimes for school work Middle School interior renovation so this is a terrible picture I apologize um but you can kind of see that at the at the under the under the word sling middle you can see that's the old operations that's where our bus garage our

040bus wash and the senior C and where the ground shop is um we'll be repurposing that for the senior center cosmetology um cosmetology is a $6,000 lease we pay through the Southwest washingon Consortium uh we're going to put that on campus now um our operation C Center will now become Robotics and this is that term of innovation alley for those of you that graduated from this high school like myself that was the CTE Ewing that was our auto shop that was electronics that was welding um and it's kind of the vision is going to kind of come back to that but it's going to be here on Valley Beauty Academy as well so um it's it's going to be something that takes you back to when it was originally our high school and you can

041also see by the gymnasium that will be the location of the new special ed room um there'll be two rooms put together um on the same in um Middle School principal Kim Jasper we'll talk a little bit about that um this is the floor plan of of kind of innovation alley you can see the green is where um Jeff gillows classroom used to be that'll turn down in multi media the orange area or yellow will now become uh Explorations in Steam and the blue space will be a shared space along with science aipad and the pink or red will be uh robotics at the top and that's that would be the operations Department old office or current office these are the two spaces that will be the special ed um instead of being separated um

042they'll be together now uh in a shared space and this is the cosmetology and Senior Center so the yellow is where the bus garage mechanics the 3 Bay mechanics you are right now um and then the senior center is the bus wash along with our ground shop um and we'll be changing the bathroom to enhance security we'll also add some security doors so this will keep our this will be a full security set at the at the entrance there from our Explorations in Steam to the senior center and then cosmetology and the senior center will have new entrances as well uh these are some of the renderings from robotics this is looking up into the operations that's my that's my old office or Tracy maare and Anita uh Fel Camp's office right now looking up

043from the senior center office um and some of the shared spaces looking down back into that space um they'll have their own space uh for their projects for the robotics this would be uh Science Olympia this will be a shared space um the other teachers throughout the Middle School can use this during the day but science lipad will use this uh mostly in the evenings and and uh weekends um this is the current special ed education room and uh they'll have lockable uh they'll have storage that is lockable for their projects for their materials which is very important to keep that stuff out of other if we are going to use this for Gen Ed they'll be able to lock up their materials and keep it off other people's way Explorations right so we're excited

044about all of the changes that are going to um Inspire Innovation alley and bring in room and space for Science Olympiad and the robot Robotics and one of the areas that we are still working through the design of is our exploration and steam space we are really looking to make sure that we have a space that is um properly equipped for Project based learning steam includes science technology engineering art and math and that elective is underway this year utilizing each of those areas considering challenges put out by the teacher in which students have to engage in each area um of steam in individual Choice projects as well where students get to choose what they want but they have to incorporate all of those elements and then prove that they've done it so we've seen some

045exciting projects come through already so we're looking at how we can create spaces and zones within that steam area to um utilize some of the currently existing heavyduty tools um as well as build an opportunities for those other elements of steam thank you combined or connected I guess I should say to our steam center is um the multimedia space so we're looking at the steam space as that active dirty space kind of and then the multimedia space is a cleaner space but those are actually connected um to provide opportunities for collaboration and to provide um various zones depending on what students are working on in the multimedia space certainly we have a lot of iMacs available for students to engage in journalism in um rendering drawings and um layouts for the yearbook we also have

046a space that will be dedicated to videography and a sound booth so that students when they are recording the SMS buzz and engaging in other sorts of videography have a protected and appropriate space to do so and our special education space So currently these um room that has the kitchen and the laundry is what is going to become Innovation alley and what is going to be dedicated to our elective courses we also want to make sure that our students who need access to laundry to the kitchen to those essential um functions of daily life have the ability to access them equitably and at the moment we have a classroom over where we're going to be putting the special education space and we have a classroom over in what is going to be the elective Wing

047so we want to bring those closer together so that both classrooms have equal access to the materials and to the equipment in in those rooms so they are currently partially equipped and we're looking forward to really building that and providing our students with more access um and a ability to engage in those daily activities right back to you cosmetology um so this would be the entrance into the cosmetology um currently this is where the three bus bays are for their mechanics to pull the buses in uh a little bit different look um inside they'll have all their uh material from the existing uh they're adding about I'm going to say about a thousand more square feet than what they have now for classroom space for training space um and whoops um their tables their mannequins

048um and it'll be close to the senior center the senior center you know the thought is that they will participate uh as as not patients as customers patrons um for the students um and this is a year round program um so this runs pretty much year round they take two weeks off where we actually clean the space in the winter and once in the summer um and the level of cleaning is immense for this space and having it on campus will also allow us to do a better job of maintaining that space as well uh the senior center this would be where the ground shop is right now um they would have their own entrance off a Woodland Drive they would have their own parking lot of course the school buses are no longer here

049um so it allow easy access for our seniors in and out of this space um with the taller ceilings it'll feel less institutionalized uh which is one of the one of the complaints of the existing Senior Center um and so it's going to be a lot more comfortable with uh with a possibly a little fake fireplace a little coffee bar um more of a lounge and they'll have a workout Fitness area as well so they'll have a space for fitness and a space for equipment um where she can do more programming that means she being Nancy Cowen are Senior Center Director um and she's looking forward to this space immensely um no it is not going to have an indoor pickle ball court um we did Supply we did put pickle ball on the exterior

050we just could not get up enough space to make it worthwhile to put pickle ball inside questions thank you for that comprehensive report appreciate all the detail I love it any questions comments students oh Brad oh Tommy did okay yeah go ahead okay uh I just want to go back to the um electri school buses want to say thank you for all the research that you did uh with that it was uh very impressive when I first heard electric school bus I was kind of worried with all the back roads and all the cold weather that we get down here but it seems like you're you guys have uh figured out a lot of the details around that and it's very exciting to see how much money we can save uh through charging um I

051was going to ask has some of that research been done for the uh solar panels on uh the roofs of the middle school and the high school um I I thought I heard you mention that we don't have that data yet for the middle school and we're planning to add that to the high school uh is there like a estimate or any research like that that's been done for like the the cost to like the energy to cost ratio with those cost of um return on investment um there has been I don't have that number but we had to do the roofs and when we do the roofs and then we added the solar we made it a solar integrated roof and so we took advantage of that inflation reduction act um that was passed

052and so the cost of the roof and the solar we get up to 36 Cents back on every dollar spent and this is a the high school middle school together is a $15 million project so that could be up to almost four and a half to five million of coming back and so at the end of the day it's going to be cost neutral for the solar and we're going to get the benefit from that solar I do have an Roi from amesco when this was presented um I do not have that readily available um but we do have an Roi on that if and as long as we get that rebate and so we're dotting our eye crossing our te's working with a tax consultant because we don't file taxes um so we are

053looking to an expert to hire an expert to assist us with that process um yes does that answer your question yes thank you I I I know there' be some statistic like that I just I wanted to make uh hear it with my own ear so thank you for that the return on investment without that rebate would be it'd be it be extended significantly all right thank you all right um I have a couple things number one I have more of a of a comment coming from the treasure and finance lens and that is you talked about Bond rating and then when we go out and we get a bond rating that allows us to borrow money and so like our current cash position right meaning our fund balance being as healthy as it is

054and what have you really empowers us when we go to do that so that is a reason why having those cash reserves on hand helps us through this bond process and then we can maximize the the ratings and that kind of thing and now we can stretch that $18 million even further so from a finance standpoint like I appreciate that I appreciate our diligence as a team to making sure that we maximize those dollars and all of that so thank you for for noting the importance of that Bond rating um I do have a couple of questions with regards to one have we started to think about disruptions you talked about um time spans with the Middle School complex right so we're going to have Sports Seasons that will be running concurrently to those things

055right football seasons and tracks and have we even started to like think about alternative plans for what we would do for those so the stadium uh crab will not be removed until the new stadium with the track is in place and ready for fall of 2020 20 6 spring of 26 cuz then we'll tear down crab tree in the spring of 26 so track will be run at the new St at the new play at the new stadium in Spring of 2026 okay it'll be on the old one till then correct got it correct what about football football will not be impacted except for practice so we will have to find a new place for to practice Middle School football and club and uh sa not sa speak um Junior te Junior Tackle through Community

056Education so those will need to find a new space for those programs and it may be the uh field across from Uber Bliss okay and then my last question is just something I was at the soccer game this past weekend and looking over and on the weight room it's like got all this yellow on it what is that I think that's insulation and sealer on the brick itself thank you I just looked at I was like well what the burnish brick you see is going to be that's going to be exposed on the interior and the exterior and then there'll be more going on those walls I think there'll be metal panels to kind of match the high school I think where that insulation is that's insulation yes so thank you yeah so you had

057mentioned um accessibility um in the Liberty field um Athletics um did you say the Seline Middle School like accessibility to the um the the area area correct yep so that would come from both of those places and I have a question about the other schools so Woodland and Heritage um I just want to make sure nothing impacts because I know a lot of I see a lot see children walking um you know to their their homes um from school and so I know I don't know if you factored in like the traffic piece and maybe there's an more accessible um way through so Woodland will be connected to that pathway um and and so with Heritage just in a different way I guess um Woodland will have a connection um you can see the kind

058of it'll go uh Woodland will come up from the concession building the new building the new concession restroom building actually it's a restroom building because we're going to do food trucks we're not going to have a concession building it's the yellow building it'll come due north and connect to that sidewalk and there'll be a there'll be a raised tabletop like the high school again to slow down traffic that allow them to access that next walk up and then they can walk through Woodland and get the heritage that way the secondary entrance to Wood The Meadows because of the grade we were having problems with it it's something we can do in the future it's just something we cut right now for um budget all the pathways are lit uh we kept that and we are

059are and we post likely we'll do we'll probably light both athletic fields as well um for rental Revenue um access ility for that in regards to that too as well okay cool thank you that's it yeah that black line just west of the tennis courts is a connection to Woodland Meadows um and the sidewalk will go all the way around um fencing and so that's that's very exciting the Heritage piece we working on but we just couldn't make it happen uh I have um I've heard from some community members about um the uh commemorative fields and um how important the naming of those pieces um was so I'm I'm glad to see that there's a committee Who's involved in that if there are people in the community who have um strong feelings or ideas about

060that should they contact one of you or how how would they how would they let you know they can contact any of uh core group or the alumni archives um okay and um but other the core group or Dr L um superintendent L um we can get back to them I've gotten a fair amount of phone calls okay we know we need to honor yes what has happened in the past and we're it's something in that I'm working weekly and I I talk about it weekly with people and great people the community and you know how we're going to do that yeah that's been that's been a big thing that I've uh heard a lot about um just that how important that was to commemorate and memorialize those people um and then you mentioned um

061drainage so we're on the slide now so the um just if I'm I'm seeing it right so between the track and the light teal parking lot is that where the retention Pond is going to be will be one yes yes um and then I'm assuming I'm I'm just um you mentioned that the baseball fields aren going to be grass and I know that that had been an issue at the high school with um having to reschedule because of rain and so with the retention Pond there and with thoughts to drainage um is there a plan to kind of mitigate um the issues that we've seen at the high school with those fields um yes uh with the high school we'll be turning those to Turf um in the future that is phase three these are

062Recreation Fields uh we do have drainage set up for these um but they will be Recreation Fields so it won't be necessarily competition although we will have a competition softball and a competition baseball as part of this and then two recreational Fields through sa YB um so there's not they will drain but yet they will not be turfed unless we make them Turf and if that'd be like a fundraiser probably for Sab in the future um but even even without Turf like we've had grass fields for a long long time so so you've done things to kind of you know scale and Elevate and we've designed this because of that water retention pro issue we're having uh this is the fourth I think and we're finally in budget okay um and like I said that

063detention pond in the middle between the football field and parking we can fill that in and just put underwater storage but just know that it's a very high dollar cost yeah and maybe that is something we do in the future um but not at this time and it will be fenced in it will be safe um there won't be any issues there so and with the sacrifice departing do you have any idea um because of having the number of fields and Facilities there do you have an idea of like logistically how much parking is on the campus for like week begins when there are tournaments or events uh we're gaining we we we'll gain the bus slot so we're gaining a significant amount of the bus lot I want to say there's 144 in there

064additional parking and that that will be your main entrance as well to the Athletic Facility down that walkway and you'll feed that'll feed into the baseball or the football field and the track as well as the auxiliary field uh baseball will most likely park it here at Liberty and and Heritage so great thank you y you you had mentioned the um stop light out on Maple and we've heard a lot over the years about the congestion on Maple when school is getting out and all that stuff so is the what what are you doing with the Bus drop is that stain saying the Bus drop off and pickup yeah the bus the bus drop off and pickoff will be behind the building uh it's going to move behind the building fit the same way we're

065doing it now so we have ever started last year we've been doing it since last year at the behind the building we drop off in the mornings uh we stage 10 buses in the lot outside the gymnasium the middle schoolers come out they load those 10 buses nobody moves and and then there 10 um transfer buses comeing from the high school uh we do the transfer and sort and then we leave the high school we leave the middle school all together at one time and so that drive is was added and we wanted to do a keyhole similar to the high school schol it just we didn't include it in the bound application we didn't really budget for that Keyhole what I call a keyhole yeah um in the back of this building but I

066think that's something we could do in the future but with that light that's going to help with all the parents and that should help that yes because we'll have we'll be able to stack a lot more cars on at the front of the Middle School um special ed uh pickup and drop off will happen outside the gym where the where we're doing pickups right now for busing cuz they'll come down goes all the way around okay perfect and they can go straight or they can go towards towards Liberty and then they there's going to be a left turn lane and a right turn lane it'll be one way out and so hopefully that'll disperse the cars nobody will be passing in the center lane on the left and the right because there's somebody yeah that's

067what yeah yeah okay perfect it's a little bit more labor intensive um as Kim will tell you uh we're out there every day so when we move off campus there the middle school will be impacted a little bit by helping with that as to what that looks like but there's good visibility you know we call an all clear when we see no Feats on the ground we can we have visibility of every school bus and unders school buses so it's it is safe all right thank you seeing no other comment thank you very much for the comprehensive report everyone uh I have one more thing so I talk about those solar panels This is my public school announce public PA yeah so um we're finding that we're already having broken broken solar panels and skylights

068on our gymnasium roof so somebody is throwing shooting or hitting golf balls on the Middle School roof so if anybody has any information please feel free I'm working with Don lupai along with myself to kind of and we're improving our surveillance into that drive and the fields around the middle school um just that it's a real problem we filed the police report in August and we're trying to catch the person or persons that are doing this so let me know thank you for that PSA and a reminder to all there are cameras everywhere on school grounds so please please report anything that's seen as well thank you thank you so much um than you thank you Kim Miranda moving on to item 10 discussion item sex ed Advisory Board proposed fourth through e8th grade curriculum

069um I can facilitate that since president McBay is not here yet if we can have Cameron and Kristen come up would you like to make a um a statement first good evening everybody it's good to see you all again um so in the course of our curriculum research and subsequent presentations to the board and community at large uh we're mindful of the sensitive and person nature of sex education um the co-chairs Kristen and I along with the director of teaching and learning Cara Davis um have assessed the feedback given by SAS stakeholders from both the 2023 K12 Insight survey um of students teachers and caregivers as well as the more recent feedback from the community and teachers um including the extended feedback at the request of the board at the last public hearing um from

070that feedback we have identified a few areas um of upd um proposed curriculum so on October 1st Dr lch sent the board um that memo that included an alternative or optional uh scope and sequence that was revised based on that feedback and so the um two changes to that that the really the only two changes were a removal of masturbation as a topic covered in that fourth through eth grade curriculum so masturbation is no longer again this is one of two uh options to consider so the the initial um scope and sequence that we presented to you all in the public hearings and then this um other option that does not include masturbation as a topic it also removed uh two of the images from the slides in the fifth grade uh lessons of erections

071so there's no no images of erections in the fourth or fifth grade um Kristen and I are happy to answer any questions that the board may have regarding those um that scope in sequence do you have anything else so that was sent by Dr lotch on the first I can reshare the yeah it's under alternative scope and sequence you talking about the images I didn't see the images okay so we'll we'll look for the email so we can pull that up and um and acknowledge thank you for listing the two changes um I can well every yeah Susan go ahead so um this is a recommendation correct for an option for us to keep in or remove is that what you're go um the best practice would be to include these items but seeing that

072um our community doesn't feel um totally comfortable with having those things that we wanted to provide option A and option b one with and one without and um that would be under your discretion which way you wanted to go okay thank you and this is like you said coming from the team um from from the chairs and um the curriculum director so a couple questions um in the feedback that I read from the um teachers I saw a lot of them were hoping to have a chance to collaborate and talk through this were you going to give them this opportunity did they have this opportunity so during the so we had the initial presentation during the first public hearing um at the end of the school year beginning of the summer um and at that

073time you community staff had the access to that those materials to provide feedback to also have conversations amongst themselves um I know that there were some grade levels that met informally to discuss those things um because the curriculum hasn't been approved yet the building administration at least At Heritage felt like we wanted to you know go through this process first and then you know have those operational logistical conversations with grade level teams about the implementation of the curriculum once it was approved but we do have the raw data from the survey that was included I'm looking at it right now from fourth and fifth grade teachers and was there a survey sent to the um Middle School teachers as well y so that was after the second public hearing we sent out that survey again

074extended that timeline for feedback and received some additional feedback from teachers in the fourth through 8th grades and so that was shared in that document as a link right so the middle school was included in that correct okay I would I would point out that there were certainly concerns as noted about um some of the curriculum and about masturbation and um the photos of erections that said there were a good number of teachers who were really supportive and excited about the curriculum as well I'm not saying that there were not concerns by other teachers but there was definitely a mix of opinions as you might expect in our community and so I just want to highlight that so it it doesn't come out that all the feedback was that of concerns there were several teachers

075in favor of keeping the curriculum as is um some really interesting feedback I thought about and I know this gets into implementation but I thought the feedback given about having science teachers teach this curriculum um was kind of fascinating and um I thought it was really valuable feedback as to who is going to teach it I know that's not part of our scope here but it was interesting and I was appreciative for the teachers to um yeah I think they said that they wanted to move it away from the science teachers and toward PE teachers is that correct from that feedback I believe so and I think that was from those that are currently teaching um the curriculum and like Dr gold said that's beyond our scope you know more of a conversation to be

076had at the building level um but it I think the concerns really stemmed around the amount of curriculum that they are expected to teach you know in their science classes in addition to adolescent Health um and so you know that is something to be mindful of when if and when we get to that implementation Point Lauren did you have a followup or can I add on one um so in thinking about that possible switch from science to physical education one follow-up question I had is how do you operationalize um and how are you now looking at um either mixing genders or keeping separate specifically this question is for Heritage and and would a PE teacher affect any recommended plans um the PE versus science teacher would only be at the middle school level and um

077Heritage would be the same operationally whether or not they were mixed or single gender classrooms it would still be within the classroom teachers um purview of teach teaching okay and and the recommendation um from The Advisory board right now is is single gender or mixed gender best practice is mixed gender classrooms um there are multiple reasons for that um one of the biggest ones is um making sure that all students have the same information it builds empathy it provides equity and education and um it creates a level of awareness for now and into the future as they move along in their sexed um curriculum and just as hum in general I I'd follow up on that and ask you this then so if we're going to have PE teachers do this then what is the

078familiarity with the kids with that teacher because I find right I I feel like the more Comfort they have with the person who is giving them this instruction the more likely they are to be vulnerable and ask real questions and those kinds of things so I wonder like how does that work yeah I think a great question I think the other thing to consider with PE teachers that would again be a conversation at the administrative level is around certifications and you know the ability to teach legally um those topics but um yeah I I think you know our our gym teachers just like our classroom teachers have really strong relationships with our students and and work closely with them on a weekly basis the same at the middle school um and so I think that

079would be something to consider and we recognize the you know invaluable role that classroom teachers play especially at the fourth and fifth grade level where you're in your gened classroom for a large majority of your time and how often do our fourth and fifth grade students engage in PE that's not a con that's not a conversation for 4 five it's just 678 PE teachers is got it yeah and so do all sixth seventh and eighth grade students who are doing this would they have that familiarity with the indiv I I just want to make sure we're putting kids in the best situation to be successful with a time in their life that is just really awkward and weird and everything in between definitely um so it's a good question for our Middle School administrators I

080don't know the details around yep um I I know that there is a a PE requirement I don't think it's all three years where students don't have to take PE for all three years so great any uh Susan and any of our students if they have comments of course that they're welcome um so I want to recognize that you all went above and beyond what you're supposed to do um or you know required by state law or expectations coming from the board um so thank you for doing that um you know I realized that with the process as it is that you all surveyed um you know the community um student students um not specifically on this curriculum um and teachers and and all of that um maybe a couple years ago last year um

081and so you've been able to get that feedback and it's set up to where there are teachers on um The sexed Advisory Board um there are staff um ones who you know who've specifically um you know taught the taught materials and stuff so um we do have that voice and that's kind of like your advisory component that you're you know collecting all of that data and I really appreciate it um I was surprised by some of the raw data um and appalled in in some cases um you know there was great support um and then there were you know some some comments um I would say regarding lgbtq um and not support for that and I that I found that surprising in that this is a district who does curriculum um or culturally U responsive

082curriculum um you know it's supposed to be um having books that are inclusive and um I I just that kind of um yeah that was interesting to me um so but yeah I saw great great support um I think it's it's you know the fact that they've been teaching the curriculum from is this one the 2000s early 19 like in the um sorry late 1990s there's early 2000s yep okay so um that's very different then and and if we have kept have kept up with this um updating the curriculum over the years I'm sure maybe there would be a different Comfort level um and so you know I want to recognize that you all also um looked at the national standards I know some of the other curriculum um that was on the table um

083that was explored also had you know the inclusive language um masturbation like all of that um so I just you know I just I know it's a huge jump because we are looking at you know curriculum from when I was in high school um um so um you know I think that's something you know when you're talking about like the mixed gender and stuff like how how that's changed um like in that that setting and stuff and thank you for like all of those um uh articles that you sent um that explains that and I hope everybody was able to um see that it reduces bullying um brings more of a you know an understanding um and reduces prod es um a lot of stigma um when you talk about um you know gender and

084and sex and stuff so um thank you for for all that you brought brought us appreciate it okay I don't know if um if they're prepared to speak but I did have um a question for our middle school and Heritage principles that I see are here in the audience so if they want to they can if not then the two of you can feel this but as we think about um topics that generated some concern in um the survey the teacher survey in particular um I as a person who works with Elementary children every day and unfortunately have um have experienced um situations uh with students who have been um harmed um in ways that are just unfathomable and I'm not going to I'm not going to get into more of that um but I

085know that one of the things that has been important in those situations and also um in the curriculum that we recently adopted around consent um and safety for our youngest students we talked about the importance of language and how when students can talk and use terms that are definitive and descriptive it can can help to protect them in the long run and so my my first uh I guess question is um is I I don't know you can kind of Tuck that into to my next question next I understand that as um you know as we watch the news nationally and even see things locally um even this week um we can see that uh kids are impacted in ways that are are potentially different than than maybe the way that we experienced when we

086were growing up maybe not but but potentially um and so there are things happening um at younger ages for example um sexting viewing pornography um things happening in corners and stairwells in public buildings maybe even our schools as um much as we try to set up cameras and other things for that so I'm just curious um if we're going to avoid topics or if we're going to avoid language I just want to know are we not experiencing those things have we not had discipline issues have we not had to have parents have we not had to have authorities come in to discuss those items with um real incidents that are happening in our community if the answer is no that we have not had experience with that then I would be more content to remove

087some of that language if the answer is yes this is very real in our community then I do not feel safe removing that language if you don't mind I'm I'm sorry may I ask you to come to the podium and speak it's just because we have we're live streaming and and then everyone can hear your voice as well thank you yeah like um just a point of clarification is your question about whether or not we are aware of students experiencing trauma as a result of those types of things so I kind of put them both together so first are we experiencing situations where kids are experiencing trauma and it is helpful for them to have appropriate language to express what has happened to them and secondly are you experiencing um disciplinary or legal matters where

088kids have inappropriately used technology or other um physical physical situations that could put them in harm as young as fourth because the the issue here is that people have have stated in the survey that they feel like this is too young are kids experiencing this in those grades I'll speak on the Middle School side I think um it's important to recognize that schools are microcosm of society so anything that occurs in society is not some schools are not immune to those things do we get handle with cares where students might have experienced something absolutely we do um can I speak specifically to whether or not there have been disciplinary issues not necessarily um but schools anything that happens in society impacts the students that we have in our building I guess that's the way I

089would answer that question and yeah I guess I would agree we're not operating in a vacuum so um we definitely feel the pressures and the things that are going on out there um and I'm not going to speak specifically to the discipline so I'm not I'm not saying that we shouldn't um you know act in age appropriate ways but I think um when I'm when I'm expressing my concern I want to make sure that we are equipping our kids with the safest information possible I want them to know what is okay and what is not okay I want them to be able to say what is happening to them that is not okay so that we can get them the support and help and protection that they need um sooner rather than later so that's

090the first first thing so thank you for that um I yep go ahead wait I think I think uh Tristy gerby had one one thing and then and then I'll I'll I'm to put spot since you're here and you can say like you'd rather write me an email if you would like or whatever but um your expertise will matter to me so when I think about curriculum I I and our role in curriculum I think of it more as like we provide tool tools and you guys are the artists who who utilize those tools so I guess what I would want as a recommendation from you guys as a leader of of your buildings do you want the tools in box a right the full encompassed all of it or do you think you want

091box B because I'm inclined like I guess I would say like just to back that up is when we go through an seav process right we adopt and then if we wanted to in if I've heard if I've interpreted this correctly to add on then would require like a whole another cab process so I'm a little bit inclined to give you the tools and say now you use them how you need them but if you're telling me it's not appropriate for a fourth grade fifth grade all of that I anyway yeah so first of all don't feel like you need to answer that question no I know I'm sorry if that you too much on the spot I I think we're being presented with a choice a and a choice B from what I understand

092um and I Brad I don't mean to cut you off but I also don't want to fine I just I would really respect your opinions on with with with the topic it's always good to reflect discuss reexamine Etc um Brad brings up a a touches on the issue or topic I should say not an issue but that I had about giving all the tools and kind of selecting those puzzle pieces that you would but I I really want wanted to listen to the the teacher voice that we had in the previous um meeting and there was a question for us and I think for Steve around do we have the ability to modify curriculum and so it's a little different than what Brad's asking but has that question been been discussed because from my understanding

093per policy what is adopted by the school district and the board of education is what's taught in the classroom um so if there is modification then that would not be something that would be passed by the Board of Education correct so right and and to I think Brad's question and and your point Jennifer that um what we pass in terms of these topics would have to be uh discussed in classrooms with students and so while that may um that may be modified to the extent of when and where but for example the topic of math masturbation if that was approved by the board um in that scope in sequence it would be the expectation that that topic would be covered you know at some point in the the grade levels that were proposing them so

094in the one option it would be in fifth grade and I think in sixth grade um and so there are however examples where removing certain content from the proposed curriculum would be okay because it's either covered elsewhere or in the case case of I think we brought up the idea of the hi HIV video that's that was being shown at the middle school that was grossly outdated and and was you know very inaccurate we just determined to remove that um right yeah and the information was covered elsewhere thank you okay all right Brad does that kind without without putting two staff members on the spot spot but at the same time I they're the experts in what they do so like I respect it I if you want to just share that or whatever I

095I want to reflect you and your people I okay anyway and I will say you know kind of adding on to the point that I just made that when we begin talking about implementation um of the curriculum we would be using that scope and sequence as a guide and we would be working with you know building representation with teachers grade level leads um to prepare for that if that makes sense Tim then Jenny so real quick I I think policy 2418 it it States before adopting any revisions of material or methods used in instruction the board shall have at least two public hearings so I think if if what I'm hearing that we can maybe pull things out then then maybe we might need to look at policy 2418 and and amend that or change

096change that because I don't um I don't think that there should be anything pulled out or put in based on that policy it was it was my understanding before I get to my question it was my understanding Cameron did you contact someone at the state level about that so our regional health coordinator at the was at the WID um who has been in touch with state representation um around that that specific point so it's so it's a it's a legality thing that we potentially need to update to be um more in alignment is that that's kind of what we're thinking okay all right um the other um thing um when in in regards to um mixed genders versus um separating the genders that sort of thing um over the last I don't know at least

097five to 10 years maybe um we've had a lot of um a lot of research and a lot of development around the idea of um uhal social emotional learning um a lot of that has um focused on the relationships that that um students have with people at school in fact one of the data points that has been an ongoing goal in in some of our schools has been who is The Trusted adult that do have a trusted adult in the school um and so when I'm thinking about about um my kids their school experiences the kids that I teach each day um the people that they are most comfortable with um in fact sometimes they call them mom and dad accidentally um and uh so the people that they are most comfortable with are the

098people that they are experiencing um daily Community with and so when we're talking about a topic that that could be um you know different new um I am just thinking about just in my own experience and in my own logic that it makes sense for the most trusted adult at school to be the person teaching that um content area and beyond that talking about mixed gender um classrooms talking about um topics of masturbation or revisions to the law um using um inclusive language those sorts of things um I keep coming back to um keep coming back to research and because I'm A literacy person over the last decade there's been a lot of new research around um around literacy and how we teach kids to read and a lot of that has involved some shifting

099on my own thinking and um and this is really nerdy but just getting into how like when change happens initially a lot of times um learning um we learn through um resistance and then we move to compliance like fine I'm going to do it and then we move to internalization and what I believe about this and so when when change is happening and when we're when we are going through um new ideas and new learning um I think that it's important for us to rely on the research and for example in my own experience with literacy and many of my colleagues when we were hearing about some of the changes that had to happen I did believe it I I've been teaching reading for a long time I've been teaching reading intervention and I know

100how it goes and I don't believe what you're saying and but the research was very very clear and what you have shared with us is that there have been countless studies meta analysis on the best ways in 2024 to teach sex education and that includes package a the first thing that you gave to us um and so I I know that this can be difficult and I want to have care and empathy for people who are experiencing um that that LIF that learning shift and I have confidence that our teaching and learning team can provide that and um if in the end that that is not something that is comfortable that hopefully there is um you know some ways that um you know alternate assignments alternate ideas ways that we can approach that so that

101our kids have the best that we can give them I don't know if you want to say anything about that I have one more thing what do you mean by alternate ways I just don't know um typically teachers have multiple certifications so if ultimately a person were to decide that they just don't feel comfortable teaching um fifth grade reproductive Health then perhaps there's a conversation about um you know where they might feel most comfortable teaching I guess my only response to that or or comment to that is that um you know again thinking about the implementation of if and when the curriculum is approved the building Administration The District administration would work with teachers and and families to make sure that all students who are opting for that curriculum and families that are opting for

102that curriculum would receive it thank you um lastly um um I want to just recognize that there has been a lot of conversation around some topics that um have included some harmful language in our community um when people in our community are exercising their opinions around topics that they feel comfortable around I think we need to remember that we are talking about real human lives there are people in our community who deserve to be valued and loved and appreciated for who they are and language that is dehumanizing is hate speech and should not be allowed and we need to stand up and we need to speak back to that when we hear it um we need to recognize that there are people who have lived experiences that are different than our own and that that's

103okay we need to avoid reductive language or language that marginalizes and even if you're in a room with someone and you think you know who they know and who they love you might not know and even if they don't have someone that they know and love who might identify in a way that's different than your own it's just not okay we need to prioritize dignity we need to prioritize safety and we need to prioritize the well-being of our entire Community thanks Jenny any other final comments and hello Dr mcy welcome so are we picking like how are we moving do we need to decide tonight package a versus B to be read next time I'm a little confused as so this was a discussion not a decision point so I I believe that it would

104be up to um president McVey and Dr L to discuss the next agenda and um probably don't want to speak for you but probably include an action item with blanks that would be filled in live at the table after the next discussion versus selecting now I know personally for me I would like to stand still and and and absorb what I heard um and continue to think on this um I'm not ready to to to say I think we should go one way or the other so just for people can I just say just a couple things so for people listening who might not have had a chance to look at the curriculum and hear the words pictures of erections and imagine photography or something these are really like stick drawings that are pretty in

105my opinion Bland but I guess I look at people's bodies for a living and check people out and make sure they're healthy so you know I think there is one person's opinion but since I'm you know we're discussing I think there's value as I think maybe trusty Miller was getting at at kids understanding before it happens to them what happens I'm just going to be blunt we're adults or near adults here you know what happens with these physiologic processes and I think it was drawn in a way that is appropriate and not pornographic um people can certainly come choose to check it out and look for themselves but just because not everybody has time to do that it's one person's opinion I just want people to know these are not like liveaction photos um because

106I think some of what I've seen on social media makes it seem that way and makes it seem like this is somewhere well out of the bounds of what most parents would feel comfortable with similarly um the uh you know the conversation around masturbation is maybe a little trickier I think um people have different religious beliefs or thoughts regarding uh self-stimulation masturbation however you want to talk about it but you know I start talking about it with parents when kids are two or three because they don't have any shame at that point and shame is something that comes up much later so if we want kids to feel most comfortable Beyond even just who the teacher is teaching it which any adult is going to feel some degree of uncomfortable normalizing what's happening to them

107seems to me to be uh really important for making kids feel comfortable I agree that fourth and fifth grade for many of the kids may be early but not for all so I think I'll be interested to hear more feedback on that particular part of the provisions um I'm just sharing my opinions on the couple of things that have come up so that people can have them when they're thinking about it um I feel pretty oh when one more time on that topic can you just say what is included in masturbation it's not a tutorial can you just explain what is said around that topic pull it up um it within the the scope of um I believe it's in the the hygiene and body safety section is they they talk about masturbation as a

108thing that happens with people short definition as in it feels good to touch do you have it on there no okay it feels good to touch yourself it is a private Behavior moving on that's all that it is well so and so there's a couple of times that it's mentioned in the curriculum it's not mentioned in fourth grade at all if we're talking about the original scope and sequence um it's discusses that it's rubbing oneself and that it's a private behavior um there's also mention of it later on when it's discussing um the female body anatomy um And discussing what that looks like for a female body um and there's also a mention of it in the lesson on hygiene when it's talking about you know properly cleaning up after oneself um going back to

109what we had talked about if that topic were to be approved um we could work with the building Administration and teachers to say for example only focus on that initial definition um of what that is in terms of it being a private behavior and leave it at that that single mention of what it is not going into any more detail of for a female body or of cleaning up after oneself um I know that was some concerns that some teachers had that you know they felt like we were going in in too much depth with that particular topic again if it were to be approved by simply discussing that one definition and one slide we would be covering that topic and and it would be you know in line with with state law do you

110um sorry um the like editing um of this is that something you work with um the PPP that's what it's called right yeah PPP does not edit their slides um because they have put in lots and lots of research and um testing of this to make sure that it is um robust and fulfills the national sex head standards um but that doesn't mean that we can't remove things so we can't change the slide themselves but if we were to decide to remove things um then that is within the your scope with our license and everything that's good as long as we're not editing the slides we can take them out we can't change the words that are on there okay um no I just so I I'm just trying to kind of share for those

111people like me who don't necessar necessarily always have time to go look at every bit of the and you hear a little bit of the hubub up out there one pediatrician SL trustees opinions regarding some of the feedback the um um I I am in complete agreement with trusty Miller about uh the evidence though some of us might feel a little strange about it really leading us to having uh multiple genders in the classroom there's going to be Giggles either way and embarrassment there's prob giggles and embarrassment you know being stifled in this room right now um and I think if you've ever uh been around kids and siblings in large multi-gender families um you see that there's a level of empathy sometimes deep down under the teasing uh in uh brother sister Duos uh

112as they go through things uh that I sometimes wish we had in my uh single gendered family um and I think being around kids of the other gender when we have um you know so much kind of such an issue with kindness and bullying and understanding is very likely to build empathy and also when you look at adult surveys on what people know about female bodies specifically and how they understand how female bodies work it's kind of appalling so I'd like to be part of raising the next generation of more educated humans of all genders so um I am in favor of that so I think my overall impression and I know we're not deciding now but and and and if people have feedback to convince me otherwise is that I hear the feedback regarding

113discomfort and I still think that package a is the better package and there is always still the opportunity for families to talk with their own children at home about their mores around these things there will be plenty of opportunities given and um there is also the opportunity not to participate which I think would be sad but um but not but is entirely within people's rights okay how about we take final final discussion to okay so I just want to make a few statements and I won't be here for the next two out of three board meetings U some trips planned but anyway so I know you guys are tasked with a very difficult job uh you know sex education is there's differing opinions and how they want it taught it's very personal families and it

114some of the University on this uh board as well because I'm not a fan of the mixed gender classrooms I I've talked to numerous people and heard their feedback as well and and I know from my personal standpoint from my family itself you know privacy is important there you know it's an awkward time so I I think we're going to be putting some some students in a very awkward place and so that so I'm not a fan of the mixed gender and also age appropriateness I think uh you know masturbation at fifth grade and talking about that I'm not a not a fan of that you know I would air more on the side of less detail in just more broader general knowledge yeah um I totally hear that um I have a couple of

115resources available that I can send you if you're interested to um learn more specifically about talking about masturbation and kids and how we adults sort of screw up the conversation because of the baggage that we carry as adults we think of masturbation as a very sexual thing kids don't um kids think of masturbation as a soothing thing as I'm stressed it feels good I am excited it feels good they're not thinking they don't have the toolbox of sexuality that adults have um but yeah oh yeah it totally is yeah but that I'm saying the teaching is not um related to sexuality at all it's just bodies and knowing that this is a normal and very private behavior that it's something that you do like you don't pee in the middle of the classroom you go

116to the bathroom and do that that's a private Behavior you don't drop your pants in school you go to the bathroom and change your pants things like that um so if you would like me to send you a couple of things around masturbation to just help you um sort of wrap your heads around that and make some um more informed decisions I'm happy to send those things to you um the other thing is that [Music] um in any curricular decision whether it's this body or other bodies um Seline area schools has always prided itself I'm looking at it right now the pursuit of excellence and um that we hold best practice and what kids need in order to go out into the world um as um prepared humans into their um next steps in life

117life uh we hold that very dear and um the this Committee in particular having done this for a little bit um has been extraordinarily amazing at keeping best practice policy and mission of sleen area schools at the center of all of these conversations and um this group in particular has been remarkable in separating their personal feelings with the um the goal for the student and the children that are in our care and ultimately everybody in this room wants what is best for kids and wants the um care and compassion and kindness to lead all of the conversations that happen around this building and I appreciate all of you for the attention and the care that you have given not only this but all of the other things that you attend to throughout a school year

118and Beyond so thank you very much thank you I um I just glanced ahead at our public comment forms and and I will say for for my piece um and I appreciate you saying a separation of personal beliefs because I think we all all bring our personal biases to the table and consider what has happened with us in the past and our our personal feelings but for me it's a true partnership in other stakeholders within the community and no other voice is going to be louder for me than the teachers that are teaching fourth through 8th grade education right now and I see a couple here and I will continue to talk with them and I will continue to listen to them and read their emails and that's how my vote's going to go I'll

119just say it yeah and I willot I will add to that to say that um it has been a solid 25 years since we have had new curriculum um for sexed and so we want to make sure that the decisions that we're making that we are making for not just just today and next year and the year after but for possibly the next 25 years to come and that we hope not we want to do more baby steps but I mean we have to be thinking that longevity for these decision- making and not the today we need a much broader um scope to look at you know maybe some of the students that are here now are going to be teachers here someday and we'll be having this discussion again you know so we want

120the broad lens excellent okay I'm going to land the plane sounds like a good good dis good discussion um thank you very much for for your continued hard work and for your collaboration with the um the teams um both on the board and um the cab and staff members thank you thank you um do you want to switch okay introducing Dr Michael McVey oops administr thank you very much for uh accommodating my absence um board Administration and board updates please thank you starting with Dr lutch I don't have any comments tonight yay I mean all right no I mean respectfully um we can start at either end if anyone is let's start with our students uh who G to Enlighten us with life in the high school these days I was just going to say

121thank you to Mr Clary and all those who have worked with the school updates um and the construction that's happening um I am a a coach for the tennis community ed program and I don't know know if most people know that I don't know how many like people know but the tennis courts there are terrible um between every courts there's about a a crack about that big about approximately the width of a middle schooler's foot and um I've seen some pretty close calls uh with some rolled angles um and that with all the other updates that's happening to that area it's uh really exciting to see that happening I'm just sad that I'm going to graduate before all that's going to happen but um thank you yeah I don't have too much to add but

122thank you and congrats to the Merit Scholars that came tonight and then also thank you to the member from oproar who shared their story and opinions um not much but uh there is a important election on the 5th and the ISD millage renewal it's important we're moving along pretty quickly um like I'm G to be ready um so I know that we have a lot um you know uh Awareness Month um as far as uh October and um days and everything to to celebrate um but I want to um recognize um lgbtq History Month um and and that was actually started um I think 1994 by a teacher who realized that you know there needed to be um more um topics um brought up and more positive things um with the history of lgbtq um

123community so um I wanted to recognize that um yeah and the election um we can say vote Yes for the special education uh millage um and I will be on your ballot as well um so vote Yes there um so uh so just building on the special education millage I know um you know there are there are times where um we might not have someone who is who it it doesn't feel like maybe we have someone in our lives who's directly impacted um but just a couple of things about the special education millage um special education is uh required by law so if those dollars are not renewed in a millage those dollars would come from other sources in our district so this millage is in support of all of all of our students whether

124they have um a special education plan or not and um the work that um is done um uh in our County because this is a special education millage for our County um as um organized by the Wasa intermed mediate School District um the the work that they do to provide um equity and services across our County um is remarkable but I think that what we have heard in my tenure here at the board and also that for the entire time that I've lived in this community is how remarkable the special education services and team is here in our um school district and so um by voting yes for the special education millage We are continuing to support um the good work and the good stewardship that has been um the history in our school district

125so please uh consider voting yes if you have questions there are past um recordings of our meetings uh when we've had um presentation when we had a presentation um so you could uh watch that recording to get more information you can also visit the WD website to get information um on um the special education um millage with more detail um typically in October we have a pink meeting and um I meant to remind Michael he did tell us earlier this month but I meant to remind Michael and I forgot so I'm wearing my pink I see Lauren's wearing some pink I know Fred has his pink shoes on so um I just want to yeah so I just want to I just want to remind everyone that um you know breast health is important all

126year long but if you haven't scheduled a mamogram or um you know sought to take care of yourself this is a good reminder this month to make sure that you schedule that that um in addition it is World mental health month so I um just want to extend that and I don't think that um I think I think in my lifetime the stigma around mental health is improving but it's definitely not um it's it's continuous and ongoing Improvement and so I hope that we'll continue to talk around issues around mental health and continue to educate ourselves and build empathy for those who um are impacted thank you thank you very much we'll just keep working our way down the table I I just want to say that last Monday uh Dr lch and I went

127up to Howell Michigan I think this my first time ever in Howell to the Livingston um our reca yeah yeah we uh we went to discuss legislative priorities it was a wish list we met with a number of other uh uh board members from across uh region 7 The michion Association of school boards just to throw a spaghetti at the ceiling to see what would stick and in a week or two the legis governmental Relations Committee is going to look at all that feedback from all over the state and try and uh make some directions for What legislation we're going to be uh coming up with this year um there are some interesting ones but we won't go into it right now uh and also this weekend at least two board members are going to

128be attending the annual leadership conference EP and Lancing am I allowed to say who's going up all right I'm gonna well I I didn't want to be part you know Su Susan East will be uh up there on the uh uh on one of very key committee that starts on Thursday and I'll be doing a presentation on Saturday and apparently it doesn't conflict with the Michigan MSU game so uh we're we're good I don't have to have a score timer or whatever in the rightand side of my presentation you know I was informed that it was happening thank you um thank you to my board colleagues who have already mentioned the special education millage I'll just say plus one to that it's incredibly important so please flip your ballot um I I didn't Michael wasn't

129here I did not respond to previous public comment because you were not here but I I would like to respond to some public comment myself um uh to team 122 I am again not surprised totally I was optimistic um really really disappointed um in in having that appeal come back denied um I hope to continue to um see improved processes uh with several facets of of that um that appeal without getting into student privacy and things like that I'll end it there um I'm wishing them the very best of luck in Lake Oran this week um to our lacrosse our girls lacrosse uh members who came last time and one individual spoke and to the on that have reached out to me since um both in writing and in person and our board as well

130I do not want them to think that they were not heard they absolutely were um the football appeal we had 14 days to file it it needed incredibly quick mobilization um it does not Place one over the other in importance and um I am very happy to see some um hopeful progress with lacrosse as well um to that and as Michael and Steve know I have requested that we consider uh adding E standing uh committee to our board committee assignments for athletics this is to provide support and Alignment between the board policies around mhsaa versus our school district um this touches our policy this touches Finance for us um it's a very big piece of our school district and I think we should acknowledge it by uh adding a standing committee to our roster thank

131you I have a few items I'll try to be quick um Jord did a really nice job just now talking about football things I still think that there was value in in going through the appeal process and I think there was value in having them see us and and hear from us and and we'll we'll continue to do what we can on that front but I want to wish you guys like win right go take this thing right and keep this thing going and everything in that regard um I want to say congrats to the Merit Scholars at the beginning um I want to note Tim I want to note you uh and your team I think what you did this week to collect items and to take PE to take supplies down to people

132in North Carolina [Applause] spoke spoke volumes to your commitment to this community it spoke volumes to the community's partnership with you and I I want you to know how much I recognized it I I as a person who lives here thank you you represented Seline there so thank you um pink for October for women in my my life who I care about deeply uh bus safety week right so red means red and please help keep our our students and and drivers and people out there you know my 16-year-old is out there like Graham bus safety week dude um but like so the reality for me is that that's really important to us and and we want to make sure that we're we're stopping and we're paying attention to those things because it's it's our kids

133that we care about uh soccer regionals are happening right now so and they're literally happening right now I'm going to tell you I'm here but my brain like if anybody gets an update wants to send it to my phone I swear I'll pretend I didn't see it uh because I'm I'm curious like it's late right now and they're they're real late in the game all right and as a trustee um I can say yes emphatically that I'm voting yes on the special ed millage I do think that it supports all Seline kids and I I emphatically say yes yes yes and then the last thing I will say is that we do have an election in two weeks and um I want to say just out loud how grateful I am um and I'll say

134this again as as we go but how grateful I am to have spend the past four years as a member of this board team and in service the people of Seline and and whether we see the the world the same way or we don't I hope after November 5th the best thing is we can all come together to work for the betterment of our students because that's what we do and uh I just I really am grateful for this opportunity for this time and then the last thing I have to to beg of is after Lauren or after consent I am begging for a bio break because I would like to focus on public comment thank you I'll talk fast based on that um I think everyone said most of what I had to say

135um except for uh as we are lifting up teachers and Educators as we try to do here um and lifting up the importance of the on uh upcoming election which you know absentee voting start now you can go fill out your absentee vote at your uh polling place and do ear early voting uh if you would like to hear how the state's uh Educators uh endorse people you can go to the Michigan um Education Association endorsements and that can be a useful way uh to prioritize kids and educ with your vote this year Brad I'm going to ask us to do the consent agenda I'd like to entertain him a motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed so moved JS support gby all in favor please say I I I oppose 70 thank you

136um what's next sorry I'm not trying to drag this out items for the next agenda sir uh yeah real quick we're going to be doing an updated hiring practices report from um Carol and the CH Department great without objection I'd like to have a 10 minute reset four and a half minute recess five minute recess please we will reconvene at 833 30 whatever five is plus e e e thank you thank you for your patience everybody we are going to move to uh into the public comment section and member we have a few more me I put them in the order thank you M of the public May address the board for up to 3 minutes or request to be scheduled on the agenda at a future meeting most of you who have spoken here

137before know the rules uh about the yellow card at 30 seconds remaining please uh attend to that and please also uh try not to please just don't uh make any comments that are direct uh what's the what's the phrasing derogatory personal attack I'll just read it personal attacks against board members the or the superintendent or District employees or students thank you I'll I'll read the name and tell you who's on Deck uh so uh Kristen driver is first followed by Susan at singer thank you I saw you laughing Megan come on you it's not like I I I screwed it up I feel free to adjust that oh okay I've left recent board meetings with a heavy heart that our student athletes experiences and parents concerns are not being listened to or believed and don't

138see evidence of this changing my middle school daughter has had the privilege of being coached by our cross country and track coaches my daughter and a few of her female teammates experienced Feeling sexualized by male athletes she was believed by her coach who then did something and put a stop to this Behavior it's that easy after hearing about the issues of the women's lacrosse team and not knowing the coaches at the high school level I now feel concerned that there are not safeguards in place in case the coaches don't believe her or are the ones causing harm I understand that you are limited in what you can share publicly however that puts even more pressure on the communication that does come from our school leadership when a parent comes and says that her and other

139parents have been screaming for someone to listen to their daughters about harmful behaviors at the hands of a coach when a mother shares that she has been ignored by her superintendent and never heard from him after her son was targeted in a racist incident we need to believe that and respond appropriately when I hear our leadership's response is to instead lift up the accomplishments of our athletic director or to reassure Steve that he is not racist the message is your experiences don't matter because they make us uncomfortable it is not for white people to say if someone's actions weren't racist if a black mother experiences it as that then it is if teen girls are saying they're being sexualized by their coach than they are that's great an evaluation system of our coaches has been

140put in place what I want to hear though is we've now learned that our evaluation system has not resulted in athletes concerns being acknowledged and responded to and here are the steps we are taking to remedy this our football coaches have brought such a positive cultural shift to the team however our coaches are going to be limited when our school leadership does not outwardly show that they have the capacity to self-correct and be better when a student who is connected to racist incidents gets more face-to-face time with leadership than the students who were targeted what message is that sending are we truly wanting to make our schools a place for all students to belong or are we really that comfortable being known as that white school I love hearing how many of our teachers are

141willing to put in extra work to grow their curriculums to be more culturally responsive I love hearing coaches who believe and Empower their student athletes but I'm not sure I have that same faith in our leadership right now I want to see and hear accountability it's uncomfortable to own up to mistakes to own up to lack of attempts to repair with black and brown families but this is needed to show that leadership knows it's not only on teachers and students to be a top academic and athletic program but that you all need to be the leaders to make our schools a place everyone can belong thank [Applause] you suzan at singer followed by Marcy Goyette hi I'm SU an ant singer I'm a parent of previous graduates and I uh served three years on the

142on the SE which was the reproductive Health advisory committee at that time um you guys proved me wrong tonight I just I'm gonna just admit it I don't usually say I'm wrong uh but I thought for sure you were going to vote tonight so with that in mind I anticipated how the vote would go and um my public comment was going to reflect that so let me uh modify that just a bit um I think I have two requests if I can quickly fit them in in my three minutes um and one is that and now you have the opportunity so I'm very excited about that um that that we just pause and you are doing that and I I give you great accolades for pausing and I'm talking about the sex ad advisory committee

143uh sex Ed curriculum that's proposed um that we pause and uh reflect on this decision and the gravity of this decision um and all its implications so I'll never know I I'm so excited that you are in a way doing that I don't see quite frankly personally in my opinion that you're anywhere near a vote but um that's my opinion um second to that I what I was going to say and I can still say it except just update it is um with this curriculum there are many that that approve as it is and and with with those modifications there are many that do not approve so um I would not be an approval of of this curriculum as it is I would be in similar uh fashion as uh trusty Austin in that um

144not his words but mine in that less is more sometimes and I think that is worth reflecting on I think um related to trusty estep's words I think in the spirit of true inclusion we have to step back I don't think this current curriculum is inclusive of the vast majority of well of all of our um students and families and Community it does not reflect mine I don't have parents I'm not a parent actively but I often have often have people come to me with this current curriculum I have people that come to me and and want my opinion since I I served and I was rather invested and um what's different this time than the previous times that we've come together and voted is prior I was always wanting to be that that team

145person that I always wanted to make it work so sometimes I'd say okay this is what was pasted but here's how you can make it work here's how you can make it work and still be in that curriculum and still have your student let me tell you what I've done in the past and it worked even though there were areas that I personally I already was I'm already at three minutes you're kidding me so so thank you for taking this time I think you need more time thank you Miss appr and quickly I think the big thing that you need to focus on now and not later is uh opting out that there needs to be a clear path to opting out not a check mark thank you followed by Julie Kelly thank you hi

146good evening um my name is Marcy goet and thank you for hearing I will admit not 100% prepared because I wasn't sure exactly what we was going to happen tonight in regards to the sexed um board I want to thank them for some of the process that has happened so far in that it sounds like with some of the things that they offered up today they offered up they heard some of our voices in regards to some of the curriculum they at least offered up a change however I will say and I will tell you these are reflections of my thoughts however I have talked with a lot of other teachers and some other ones I feel like there are other teachers that have the same thoughts as I do here we feel like our

147Pro our voices are starting to be heard but they're still not heard yet we feel like the process that has gone through has not always included the teachers and maybe not and should include more of the teachers voice in here um I still 100% I'm I'm not clear on this whole process and how it is going to proceed when is the vote um everything the feedback that they took was then taken and decisions were made with our um curriculum team not with our teachers I feel like we definitely have teachers on both sides I think that if we can come together and we are given the opportunity to spend some time and collaboratively work together we are going to find something that we can all feel good about giving to our students and feel like

148it's appropriate and um Equitable and what's Best Practices however if that process is not including us teachers in the opportunities to spend some time with the curriculum actually see all of the components of the curriculum which we have not always we've not been able to the access to one copy in an office doesn't make it conducive to what we do as teachers to really dig deep into a curriculum we need to have all of the materials in front of us we all need to have copies just to be able to look at this and do this it is true we are not all going to agree on everything we are not going to feel comfortable with everything however if we include a collaborative process between the board and us in you I feel like you

149will get to a spot that is best for the students um that's what we all want it truly is what we do want um I want to see that bridge that we work together to create something that you feel comfortable voting for we feel comfortable in um teaching to our students and doing all of that um so I hope going forward that you will listen to us or maybe even clarify to us what is this process going forward is it just going to be a vote in a couple of weeks based on what has happened so far or is there going to be time for more collaborative work I think teachers would appreciate that if that happened I will say though there is one part that I was very disheartened about tonight in reference to

150where it was brought up that if we don't feel comfortable with this it sounded like we should seek teaching someplace else or teaching another grade level that does not feel like the board supports us that did not feel very good hearing that comment thank you very much M go appreciate it thank you um so Julie Kelly followed by Becky Ro Bendis sorry hi I am Julie Kelly I'm a teacher at Heritage and I appreciate your time and thank you for letting me speak I do appreciate those of you who have wanted to hear the teacher voice thank you for wanting to hear our part two um I will say that I have often I've been teaching here for 20 years um i' I'm very well known for being a passionate educator many of you have

151been in my room because my expertise has been on display for you in many ways in many different things in the district however now my expertise feels like it's being completely disregarded do I have expertise in this age kid I've taught fourth and fifth graders for 20 years in this District I feel like my voice should carry some weight because I feel like I know these kids and what I want is best for the kids that's what I've always wanted that's why I'm a teacher I love children so I just feel like maybe that's being neglected because there's research out there that says in the grand scheme of things this I respect that I love to learn I check research all the time for all sorts of things but I also think there's something to

152the personal touch and the people who know our kids you saying that the kids would be most comfortable with their teachers I totally agree we spend a lot of time investing in them and getting their trust and we want it to be used for their good in the world and I don't feel like maybe we could do that if this is what we're being forced to teach without hearing what we're having to say about it as far as mixed genders um I hear the concept that you want the teacher to be with the kids so do we however we know because we've taught this for years and biology hasn't changed that the kids are very uncomfortable talking about this but we spend a lot of energy getting them comfortable so they can ask us questions

153we want them to know their body it's changing they deserve to know what's coming and not be fearful but with the other gender present we don't see how that will happen we think they'll sit yes and giggle and whatever we can get past all the giggles that isn't the issue but we want them to be able to ask and understand that's our goal with this whole process is to help our kids understand their bodies so thank you for your time thanks for hearing us I appreciate it thank you Becky Bendis followed by Amy tessin hi my name is beaky bandes I'm a fifth grade teacher here in Seline I want to thank um both the cab and the board tonight for your discussion and for the information I feel a lot more informed tonight than

154I was a few hours ago and for that I'm very grateful um I I do continue to disagree with some of the age appropriateness of the content some of which was discussed tonight some of which has not been and that's not really the point that I'm trying to make I want to talk more about the process that has come to bring all of this to where we are now it hasn't felt terribly collaborative with teachers up to this point um the first meeting where this was presented to the board came after school got out and most people only knew about it if they read Steve's weekly email right at the end of the school year it was in one email um I do read all of those so I did know about it but I

155was out of town as it was after school was out and so I was was grateful then that there was a second meeting that did happen during the school year so that part was better that it was during the school year but again it was right when school started and everything was chaotic for a lot of people I came to that meeting there were not very many people here um and so it doesn't feel like the community was terribly informed that this was happening and knew a lot about it um after that meeting the board your board asked the cab to get more support from the teachers uh more feedback from the teachers not support and if two weeks was enough time and Marcy said no but we were still given approximately that same two

156weeks to give that feedback and while many of us did I know that some people had a lot going on in that time and were're unable to give feedback in that two weeks since then the staff hasn't really heard anything until tonight and tonight it does sound like there's been a lot of changes or a lot of consideration for what people have said and I appreciate those updates um but it's still seems like maybe not all of the concerns have been fully fleshed out in that we were still having discussion tonight over what should and shouldn't be included um Marcy mentioned that the grade level is on both sides of this this curriculum and that we're really willing to compromise we're willing to discuss it as a grade level and find some common points where

157we're willing to compromise um but it seems unclear still what can be changed after approval um So based on what we've done so far I'm concerned about how we will go about collaborating on that CH those updates and those modifications after it's been approved I greatly respect the people on both boards the cab and the Board of Education I'm still feeling fairly disappointed in the collaboration we've had through the entire process thank you thank you very much M this Amy Tes and followed by Tiffany Alexander thank you Seline Aria School Board um I wanted to add my support as a parent in the district to all the families of all the football students uh and all the students so many students who have been directly harmed by systemic failures in our district and Community when

158individuals especially students are impacted our whole Community is I implore the board to take concrete and meaningful actions not reactionary actions there are no quick fixes to start to repair these systemic issues only then can we all Truly Come Together in all of our shared value to support all of our students Tiffany Alexander followed by railen Davis hello first I just want to acknowledge the fact that my child exists and when you say other gender what that does is erasee my child's gender so that's a classroom for that's my recent graduate that some of you know my fourth grader that's a classroom that's not safe for them because clearly that means if you're just seeing other gender that you don't acknowledge that my oldest child exists so um it's lovely to sit here and experience

159a rer uh with that I want to say thank you to trusty gold and trusty Eep um it's really nice to say let's have a committee um somebody on a committee it's only as good as uh if you actually listen to them and respect them um and as far as standing up uh standing up is actually taking action that trusty Eep and trusty gold took last night when they said no uh according to the parent that I spoke to uh they said you know they said no if you say kill all nword um we don't think you need to be necessarily be here so I want to start with that then I want to say I'm here to support the football families um I was a continent away when I heard about this it was

160a surprise to me that I would hear about it because I have no involvement with sports however Sports is something that brings kids together it's something that empowers them it builds a team it gives kids a place to talk about their problems and somebody who to to talk about it with um I see think we see the results of this year's football team not only in their wins but in how they've conducted themselves in this situation the number one word I've heard over and over and over again is a word that I have uttered here many many times as of many other people District leadership in this school is retaliatory it is rash and reactionary and now you have an entire group of students suffering from that retaliatory action this board has been asked many

161many times to be the checks and balances that you were voted into be not a soft place to land I support an independent investigation I support having that done by somebody who has no District involvement at all it's very nice to say you know let's have a committee I'm on a committee um I can tell you how it feels to be on that committee but that's another discussion so I would really like to see the board step up and to those of you that have thank you but there's plenty of you that like to say pretty words and those pretty words are not helping those students they're not helping your community we don't feel heard and and these kids don't feel hurt and this has harmed them real action is investigating the people responsible for

162that decision and holding them accountable which you have been asked to do in this case since 2020 thank you okay two years ago when you guys did the special ed review um we talked about how be careful what you vote for because it's just coming to the General Ed public General Ed and here we are um I would uh support that I don't think masturbation should be in here for the fourth and fifth graders um first of all there are religious uh beliefs that do not believe masturbation is okay at any age and therefore you're going to have more families opting out of the whole program if you include it in the fourth and fifth grade than families who would opt to stay in the sexed program um if it was omitted um secondly I

163would like to know why the co-chairs are making this recommendation because the cab has not met since the information has gotten to the teachers not only the teachers feeling like they're being excluded from this discussion the cab is being excluded from this discussion um so those recommendations you had came exclusively from those two co-chairs tonight um and so again I'm kind of wondering what's what's going on here um and I'm again the two years ago I brought up a lot about how our cab is dysfunctional the ant Arbor uh schools um sex ed committee has approved six different changes in the last two years in their schools because when small things come up they come up they do the policy the board votes on it it's changes both English uh sex ed Rody um the

164fact that we do have a 25-year-old sex ed Craig shows again how dysfunctional our cab is this should not be a 25y year uh choice you guys are making it should be a 2 to three-year Choice and then when changes are made little changes are made we can keep an updated curriculum and not having to go through this again so you I don't think you need to look on what we need to be teaching our kids for the next 25 years um I also um um lastly I would really like to to mention that um I was kind of surprised the New York Times had an article about the University of Michigan this last week um specifically how it has spent billions of dollars on Dei and yet over the course of the last 10

165years what's happening at U ofm is even worse than what's been going on and there's been more um dissent and more issues arising and I would just like to kind of uh put that out there that we know that as Seline we follow What U ofm does and we've been following the Dei and I know you guys have done some good work um but at the same time let's not let this the our issues and especially the sex ed um and what we call Best Practices um where are those best practices coming from and let's make sure that we do have all biases um taken off and and doing because I I have to admit I was kind of disparaged when um some of your the Schoolboard members say their opinion and other people came

166back and tried to room into them that they were wrong um and I don't think that is the uh role of our our our and the recommendation committee um thank you very much I understand there are two more public comments that have recently arrived hi um I was here last night for the special board meeting and I just wanted to share something um we actually had a beautiful thing happen out in the hallway and um I think that the district as a whole could actually benefit from more of those types of discussions happening it was a closed session I know the parents had asked for it actually to be open and I'm sure there were legal reasons why it couldn't be I don't know but we sat out there the parents of the victims the

167parents of the accused there was conversation and it lasted for hours and it was actually great yet what happened in here determined something that yet now nobody knows the real details nobody know so all that does is rumors start to spiral again you know what Tiffany said you know did that happen I don't know did the boy not do it nobody knows what evidence was there is not shown so if that boy goes back to school he's a Target now the kids do they feel comfortable I just think there's a lack of transparency and it was a beautiful thing what happened out there and that's what I think needs to happen more is discussion and transparency and um I hope we can find a way to do that more because um um I think it's

168going to go a long way thanks thank you Miss [Applause] car Jen um hi my name is Jen mcferson uh I have a junior on the sleen football team and I just I wasn't planning on speaking today but I ran into a woman in the parking lot who knew me and she asked why I was here and I kind of was filling her in and she um made a comment that really took me a back and she said oh yeah well um I heard that all a lot of the problems um are stemming because of the coach's error and I nothing could be further from the truth and so hearing that from her made me realize that the communication around this has been so poor that now not only is our team accepting blame that

169doesn't belong on them but our coaching staff is as well so I'm here for a moment to tell you about what I see as a parent and it makes me emotional for the first two years that my son was on the football team I never spoke to a coach and I don't know that he ever did and so when we had this new coaching staff coming in we were a little nervous the culture of this football team has not been known to be fabulous and in this very short year it has shifted so dynamically and so completely that I cry when I talk to the coaches they have made these boys a team they have made them one unit they have made them part of the community they have repeatedly told them you will show

170up for your community or your community will not show up for you and that's what these boys have done they're showing up for each other like they have never shown up before these coaches are so involved with this team they are so involved with the boys those coaches seek me out after a game to hug me and tell me how good my son played and I've never in my life seen my son so enthus I Astic about this sport so to have our coaching staff and our team put on blast for something that has nothing to do with them and for that to be the word on the street when really it's an accountability issue in administration is heartbreaking these boys have had words attached to them like frauds and cheaters and they're the ones

171that have to deal with it every day they're the ones dealing with backlash on social media from other teams in the hallway and they're not cheaters and they're not frauds and they're not liars and they shouldn't have those words attached to them and neither should our coaches so I am here just to tell you that this coaching staff is one of the best things I've seen in this community and we are lucky to have them and they are not to be disrespected that way thank you thank you parents the next uh Board of Education meeting will be held on November 12th at 6:30 I'd like to uh entertain a motion to enter closed session of the board of education at 9 let's say 9:12 um just to be sure and um with the intent to

172[Music] reopen reopen open session at approximately I don't know we're going to just say 10 o'clock uh for the purpose of discussion of items covered under Section 81h materials exempt from discussion or Disclosure by state or federal statute under H1 81h 23 roll call vote is required so roll call vote please we'll just go down the list sorry Tim Austin yes yes do we need to do a motion first oh sorry that's the follow the Ste moved Ste Miller support gerby quick question yes ma'am um so are we going we're going into Clos session for the two are we going to come back out of close session for the first one briefly and then reenter close session for the second one so the 10 o' is for the second one or it's for the whole

173thing I'm just putting down 10 thank you thank you thank you for asking that question a little tricky to organize starting with Mr Austin trusty Austin I yes thank you uh trusty Eep yes treasur gerby yes trusty gold uh McVey says yes uh vice president Miller sorry secretary Miller Vice and Ste y all good thank you very much we will move in those of you who are in the um I wonder if we should do the second recommendation now let's do them together I also like to entertain a motion to enter a second closed session whoops at soon as the last one ends we'll put the times in later with the intent to reopen at around 10 o'cl for the purpose of discussion of items covered under Section 81 a we're still talking okay um

174to hear complaints or charges brought against or to consider suspension or disciplining of sorry or consider a periodic Personnel evaluation of a public officer employee staff member individual agent if the named person requests to close hearing under Section 81a a simple majority vot is required uh do we have a motion Miller Miller JM and support Eep Eep if all all in favor please say I I oppos great thank you very much we'll convene in about oh I there I just have a question I was watching it home on TV give me one second um we'll just adjourn and then chat with you okay okay uh right so um thank you very much all in favor say hi we've done that and now we're in closed session thank you and I'm happy to answer your question

175sir as we're walking e e e [Music] oh B it all falls apart without you does anyone else test no sorry it's me TR that all right thank you I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize the Board of Education president to facilitate continued mhsaa appeal procedures to engage legal councel to review all facets of possible appealable issues and to further review District eligibility and enrollment processes do I have a motion is that Brad gerby yeah I'll support stean is there any discussion at this point right all in favor please say I I oppos there we go thank you so much uh without objection I'd like to adjourn this meeting at 1119 thank you I hear no objection right thanks Steve