001Board members uh apparently we have a quorum. We're all here and I'd like to ask Jack-elyn Martin to take a picture for us thank you. Jackelyn is the correct pronunciation though right? I don't think so. Well I guess I'm wearing red. Pronounce peoples name right. Pronounce people's names right. You look. Well don't stand next to Jennifer because. Do that. Don't stand next to Jennifer or Steve because it's black. I have, what color do you have on Liz? I'm supposed to be wearing blue and yellow. You have white. You're not supposed to be. You can wear whatever you want... New hires the protocol is when you approach the front you must bow or curtsy. You don't believe me do you? Okay. Test For those of you in the audience, you would have noticed our Glee at
002having a picture taken, that's because we finally got to check that box. It was difficult to get us all together so thanks for your patience. Falls over the room. The meeting doesn't start till Ben says... We can go now? I'd like to welcome everybody to the Saline Area Schools Board of Education meeting for September 10th, throw that one out, 2024 at 6:30 uh could you please as you able to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mr Tim Austin. Thank you very much. Dr Laatsch has a rather important duty to perform at this point, and he'll explain what it is. Right so at our Board of Education meeting tonight we're looking forward to welcoming the 66 outstanding educators to the Saline Area Schools, and of these 66 new hires, 27 are SEA so that'd be
003the Saline Education Association, 33 are Education Support Personnel, 1 is in SASAA the Saline Administrative Association, 2 our central office members, and three are unaffiliated. So many of the new hires are here today, so that you can meet them in person, and we're going to ask for a everybody to uh line up in just a minute, and we're going to ask you to come up to the podium and state your name, position, assigned building, and how many years you've been in education. So and then oh afterwards we will get into the rest of our meeting, but we'd like everybody to, after they've introduced themselves to meet over here and then once that's done, we will applaud and then you are free to go. You do not have to stay for the entire meeting. So with
004that said if we can line up by everybody coming up and by getting in a row or a line, starting whoever wants to be first...and everyone else starts files in here. And then we will go ahead who...with this impressive group so here we go. Thank you. My name is Laura Naar. I'm the new art teacher at the High School and I'll also be teaching ceramic um and I have, this is my 23rd year teaching thank you. Yes okay. Hello my name is Jason Murphy I am a 14 year resident of Saline. I've been teaching for 23 years and this is my 20th year as a school counselor, and I'm at the High School. Hi I'm Camille Konrad and I'm a new sixth grade special education teacher at the Middle school um and this is my
005first year teaching. Hello my name is Eric Romans, Saline Alum Class of 07, this is my 11th year teaching and I'm teaching 8th grade US History at the Middle School. Got to put it down for the short people. Hi I'm Nicole Schingeck I am the new SEL Coach at the Middle School and this is my 24th year in the school system. Thank you so much for having me. Hi my name is Emily Real. I'm in my second year of teaching and I am at Saline Middle School as a 7th grade Social Studies teacher, thanks for having me. Hello my name is Nicholas Ewald this is going to be my second year in education, and I am a para educator at Heritage. Good evening my name is Val Lambert oh I am shorter than everyone. There we
006go. My name is Val Lambert, and I am the new art teacher at Harvest Elementary, and I'm very happy to be there, and it's my 18th year in education. Yeah. Hi my name is Diamond Hamilton. I am the new/old SEL Coach um I've been in the field for about 5 and a half years, and I'm split between two different schools. Hello, I'm David Brooks. I'm the new Dean of Students at the High School this is my 18th year. Hello. I'm Christian Kosky. I'm the new Special Education Teacher in at the Middle School. This is my first year teaching uh in Saline. I do have a few more years, I'm not exactly sure how many total, but have a few more years, in education so nice to meet everyone. Hi everyone. I'm Kristen O'Keefe I'm
007a school psychologist um and I've been teaching 12 years and I am am 4 days a week at Woodland Meadows. Hi. I'm Dana Schneider. I'm a school psychologist at Pleasant Ridge as well as the Early Childhood. I have 10 plus years experience as a school psych, 20 plus years in education. I'm well seasoned and my kids graduated from Saline High School, so it's nice to be back again. Hi I'm Taye, I graduated from Saline and 17 uh I am a para pro at the Middle School and this is my 3rd year in education. Hi everybody. my name is Jean Swisher. This is my first year in Saline and I have been in teaching off and on for 13 years and I am at Harvest doing literacy interventionist or a literacy tutor. Nice to meet you
008all. Hi, my name is Katie Selenko, and I teach 4th grade at Heritage, and this will be my second year teaching. Hi, my name is Carmen Woods. I'm a first year teacher hired for 4th grade at Heritage, and I'm excited to be here. Go Hornets. Thank you. Got to put it down for the short people again. My name is is Megan LoPresto. I am the new Agro Science teacher and FFA Advisor at the High School, and other than my student teaching year, this is my first year in teaching so. Well thank, thank you all much such a great pleasure to meet you all and now...she did. Apparently we already have your photograph, so you are free to leave. Thank you so much, class dismissed that right. We just pause for a second. This is the
009public, we're back to the meeting now, this is the public comment section of the meeting member of the public may address the board briefly for up to three minutes or request to be scheduled on the agenda of a future meeting. Please note the students will be given priority to speak on any topic. First public participation portion of the meeting will be limited to 1 half hour, 30 minutes, normally and limited to agenda items. A 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 rules of common courtesy. The public participation portion of this meeting can't be used to make personal attacks against a board member, district employee. or student. We have one student speaking and one uh non-student
010speaking so come on up, and I'll let you introduce yourself, oh and you know the rules of the timer. Yes I think it's is it 1 minute or 30 seconds at the yellow? 30, 30 seconds at the yellow left. Thank you. I don't think, I'll make it, I think, I think mine's, no that's okay. My speech is a little shorter than it was last time. The timer starts when you speak. Good evening Dr Laatsch and members of the school board. My name is Em and I am a sophomore at the High School. I was at the initial presentation of the proposed sex ad curriculum in June, and I would love to see it implemented in Saline Schools. I particularly appreciate the proposed use of descriptors other than boy and girl in the new curriculum, as
011well as the early introduction of male and female as legal or medical labels and how they are different from gender identity. I also agree that topics like consent and harassment should be taught early and reinforced each year. I could spend a lot more time than I have listing all the ways this proposed curriculum is better than the current one, but I'll leave that to the SEAB members. I have completed all of the required health and sex ed classes for K-12 schooling and I know that the proposed curriculum would have greatly benefited not only my education, but also my overall health and student experience, especially in upper elementary and Middle School. The new health and sex education program helps cultivate and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion among students, which is also a key component of the
012SAS Compass. It will also help students build a better understanding of themselves and others. I hope that you will vote to approve the proposed curriculum thank you. Thank you Em. And uh is oh Meghan Gunnerson please. Is is it still on? Okay um my name is Meghan Gunnerson I'm a parent and I also sat on the SEAB board this year. I know that we're you are being presented with your second public reading um I do not disagree with the content of that program at all from a parent perspective and professional perspective. I do again voice some concerns regarding the target audience for some of the topics. Some of them are awesome and I would have loved to see my current high schoolers get them in their 9th, 10th, or 11th grade year. I'm a little
013bit tentative about again the target age for some of the lessons. I believe in the diplomatic process and the democratic process, and I'm not here to complain I'm just saying that that is a concern that I voiced before and I wanted to state it again, thank you. Well thank you very much, appreciate that. There are no other public comments on my roster. Any others? No, great thank you. The next part of the meeting is response to previous public comment. I actually don't have a response precisely to that, but I would like to take a point of privilege as the chair to say a very brief statement. Our hearts, all of our hearts as school board uh trustees and teachers and parents are with the students, staff, and families of the Apalachee High School in Georgia
014as you heard about last week. Well it should be noted that in the middle of in the midst of the heartbreak and chaos and reported missed opportunities to stop the bloodshed, two interv interventions helped to mitigate the potential for greater loss of life, one of these was the combined effort of the school's two very well-trained school resources officers and the other was a use of a panic button system similar not exactly the same as, but similar to our own Informacast system, that alerted police and other First Responders immediately. So I'm I'm horribly saddened that we still need such devices and specialized training these days, but at the same time these efforts most likely saved uh many lives community members. I can report that Saline Schools remains vigilant and continues to support every effort to keep
015our children safe. That's really all I have to say about that right now. Revisions or approval of the agenda, I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda as printed or revised. Motion Gerbe. Gerby to accept the printed motion. Support Estep. Estep. All in favor please say I. I... Thank you. We have one action. Is that all in favor say I did we do that? Okay I just missed the count 7-0. All right thank you. We have one action item I'd like to entertain a motion to appoint Susan Estep as the voting delegate and Michael McVey as the alternate, representing the Saline Area, Saline Board of Education at the 2024 MASB Delegate Assembly being held on Thursday, October 24th, 2024. So moves Steben. Thank you JS. Support Gold. Thank you LG. Any quick comment you've
016done this before haven't you um Susan? Like forever, right I think all except for my first year maybe? And I appreciate and I appreciate that because as the alternate I've never been called upon so thank you, thank you. Yes I I I enjoy it very much sometimes it can be a long process and you know some things that um people come up and um you wouldn't think be would be controversial but so um yeah it's really good to to vote on that and hopefully um everybody can take take the opportunity to read it after we get um that packet as well, but if whenever we do get the packet um please let me know if um you because I represent the board there, um so let me know if there's any uh questions you have
017or if you all want to submit um anything on the floor u a proposal or um for resolution um I can do that for for us. Thank you appreciate that any other questions comments queries quibbles no? All in favor please say I. I... Opposed. Great hearing none. Thank you Susan, I'm sure you'll represent as well. We've now come to the SEAB Hearing Number 2. I have a brief introduction you guys can get yourselves you know psych yourself up uh I just like to welcome everybody to the 2nd formal hearing of the Sex Education Advisory Board. Michigan statutes specify that the formation of a Sex Ed Advisory Board or as is properly called SEAB, thank you, with very specific parameters regarding its makeup and its charge, so according to Michigan law and our resulting Policy 2418, before
018we vote to adopt any revisions to the materials or methods used in sex education instruction the board shall hold at least 2 public hearings on the propos proposed revisions. We've had our first already and tonight we'll hold our second public hearing this evening's Board of Ed meeting has a quorum of board members so tonight we are joined at the table by Co-Chairs of the Sex Ed Advisory Board Kristen Hoffman-Peavler, wave, and a parent in the district and Cameron Cochran, School Administrator in the district thank you very much. Now we know who's who. I would also like to note that 2 board members were active participants on this committee during the year, Trustee Susan Estep and Trustee Lauren Gold. The meeting will consist of two possibly three parts, uh the co-chairs will provide an overview presentation
019of the revisions to the curriculum, members of the board may pose questions to them related to these revisions, although we did pose quite a few questions the first time around so we might have fewer questions, and um I'm going to break with tradition and open the floor to questions directly related to that from the public rather than have you wait to the very end of the meeting, if that's okay, and um again we'll stick within the 30 minute guideline I don't know if we'll have many questions, but uh we'll keep it at that. So on those words I'd like to hand this over to you uh Kristen Hoffman-Peavler and Cameron Cochran. Point. Yes. Sorry point of order um are you talking about public comments, after clarifying questions following their presentation, yes. Okay so Q&A kind
020of thing. Yes okay um and if I could es especially if they are straightforward clarifying questions I knew I had left out a line. Okay I didn't know if we needed to vote on moving it up or we'll still have well this is going to be part of their presentation, the question part. Okay. They're prepared to answer a few questions right skill testing questions. Okay thanks. Thank you thank you Susan appreciate that we, no need to change the agenda for that this is the presentation thank you. All right, here we go, thank you all for gathering for the second public hearing on the recommendation of a new sexual education curriculum for 4th through 8th grades here in Saline. We are excited to, oh we got clicker going here too me there we go here let's
021let's rock and roll. We're excited to present this information to the stakeholders of Saline Area Schools after many years of work by the members of multiple terms of the Sex Ed Advisory Board uh we'd like to start this evening with a brief tour of our current Sex Ed curriculum, following that um we'll talk about our students need for an updated curriculum, then introduce our recommendation to the public and the Board of Education. I'd like to thank members of the Sex Ed Advisory Board for their work on this again this is uh multiple uh iterations of the SEAB in the making uh we've spent the past year with this current round of SEAB putting uh these recommendations together. I'd also like to thank members of the community and staff for their uh feedback over the past
022several months uh since the first public hearing. So what does SAS currently use for sex ed curriculum in the 4th through 8th grade. The term inadequate is not one that I would usually ascribe to anything associated with Saline Area Schools, however anyone with the most basic knowledge of our current adolescent health programming would agree that we can do better, by our students, in this regard. So, great, you can see that uh in fourth and fifth grade uh the information on the concept of puberty has not changed uh since the uh introduction of this curriculum that we are currently using um the ways that students, oh thank you, got it um thanks uh so the ways in which students engage with educational content certainly has changed uh the videos are so outdated that the information is
023getting lost uh in the awe of the olden days. So sadly we have teachers on staff at Heritage that as 5th graders viewed the exact same videos as our current students um in both in Saline and other districts with the only change uh thing being different is that uh they were using a VHS player at the time. So in 6th and 7th grade at the middle school level our current curriculum centers on the science of mammalian and human reproduction uh which is of course important experiences for students to have in their science classes, the bulk of the text is from 2002 with some updates in 2010 the SEAB felt that there was a need for more robust adolescent health uh experiences at that level, and then in 8th grade the current curriculum uses select lessons
024from the 2010 version of the Michigan Model for Health Curriculum. For context next year's 8th grade class, this year's eighth grade class, were newborns are not yet born when that curriculum was was written. Since the early 2000s the district has made many improvements in a variety of areas uh we have heard from students, staff, and families anecdotally and through survey research uh survey responses that improvements are needed to our adolescent health curriculum. So, we need an update, the big thing that is very different from when these first curricula were um written and introduced is um the internet, with the internet at their fingertips children are accessing, sending, and receiving more sexually explicit information at younger ages than their parents did. This isn't something that our generation had to deal with or face we had to
025like sneak pictures, sneak looks at magazines and you know uh gas stations and things like that it wasn't just available to us all the time. 21st century kids have to learn how to navigate the quick and easy access they have to developmentally inappropriate sexual materials. Did you know that 54% of kids have seen or access porn before the age of 13 and that the average age of first porn access is less than 12 and in fact for um boys it's about 10 and a half and girls it's just under 11 and a half and we know that so far sexting does occur in our district in 5th through 12th grades. It is imperative that we help kids make safe choices by giving them useful and accurate information to guide them, today's students need comprehensive, evidence-based,
026and inclusive curriculum in order to provide them with timely and accurate sex ed information before they become sexually active. Myriad studies show that the sooner that we start developmentally appropriate teaching about sexual health, both at home and at school the safer kids are and remain for longer. Another reason uh why we needed update is that there is a new law in the State of Michigan that second um thing down there in July 2023 the Michigan legislature enacted Senate Bill 66, that requires all Michigan school districts to teach and provide material on sexual assault and consent to all students 6th through 12th grades. This is similar to the HIV law in that it is required teaching that is separate from sexual health education and that means that regardless of whether or not a district chooses to
027adopt a formal sex ed curriculum they still must teach about HIV and AIDS and now sexual assault and consent. A new curriculum will satisfy that new law requirement. We also have new survey data in 23 Saline Area Schools completed a survey of stakeholders of students, staff, and caregivers to identify the community's thoughts around sex ed teaching and learning and we're going to review some of the highlights of that survey in a future slide. As Cameron already talked about, it's clear that our curriculum is old, and we know that Saline Area Schools is committed to best practices in education and sex ed should align with that miss mission um here's the little [click] clicker. So let's look at some data, in a newly published article from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the onset of
028a girl's first period is about 6 months earlier than in prior decades. At the age of just under 12 and this means that when you think of that bell curve if the middle is 12 that means there's a significant increase in the number of girls getting their periods at around eight or nine, and I actually because puberty Is my jam these days I was at a puberty lecture last night with these amazing um puberty gurus I don't know I fang girl like it was Justin Bieber, and they said that it's um and this was a good reminder for me that the onset of first period is actually the midpoint for female bodies for puberty, that they have already had many years of beginning puberty stages before that fierce period hit, so if we're not giving
029them education until that midpoint there's a whole chunk of their experience that we have not um acknowledged or addressed. So Washtenaw County you can see the chart or um the data at the bottom there Washtenaw County participates in the MiPhy health behavior survey, on odd school years only, and you'll notice that this data shows a marked increase in sexual intercourse from 9th to 11th grade and this is a clear indicator that what we're currently teaching is not resonating with students or affecting the change that we desire for them, and being able to scaffold information from middle school to high school should decrease those percentages. It's also important to note that of 11 districts in Washtenaw County only 6 participated in these years the MiPhy survey is the easiest way for our community and for this
030committee in particular, to track the trends in in our community, and I would encourage the district to continue participation at the middle school and the high school levels so that we can accurately assess our particular students needs when it comes to health and safety. So let's look at some National Data, in the chart that you're looking at um that is from the National Center for Health Statistics, and it breaks down by age the probability that a person has had vaginal intercourse, you can see that the probability increases at every age over the two time periods. Equally concerning is that this report tells us that reported condom use has decreased to less than 50% for females and to less than 60% for males, so more kids are having sex with less protection, and this is only
031vaginal sex. Oral sex rates are higher at 25 to 28% by the age of 16 and also begins at an average younger age. So how do we help our kids? We help them by acknowledging that sex will be a part of the human experience for most of us and that giving our kids accurate information before the start of sexual activity only benefits them. Saline Area Schools has long been committed to a comprehensive sex ed curriculum. What does that mean? It means that we are teaching students that sexual health is a whole person commitment. It involves your body, your mind, your heart, and your head, and it aims to provide all the information that you need to make safe and healthy decisions starting in puberty, through teenhood, and into adulthood. Does it include abstinence Absolutely and
032it actually stresses abstinence as the only 100% effective method of prevention um for sexual health and well-being. Does a comprehensive curriculum encourage a child to have sex? Actually it's the complete opposite, for decades studies have shown that giving kids more information actually makes them less likely to choose to be sexually active and someday when they do choose to have sex they're more likely to protect themselves and their partners from STI and pregnancy. You'll see a few links here at the bottom, these resources ,and I want to highlight the first link here it is an excellent annotated overview from the American Academy of Pediatrics of the need for comprehensive sex ed for schoolage children. The other two links below are two landmark longitudinal studies that support the link between comprehensive sex ed and decreased early sexual
033activity and safer choices, when they finally do choose to have sex. So that 2023 survey that we talked about we're going to review a portion of that K12 Insight survey that we we presented to you last year, the entire presentation is linked in this slide for your review. We surveyed current caregivers, students, and staff in our district about the sex ed scope and sequence that we currently use. Across the board all stakeholders want more information earlier for our students, they want all students included in the curriculum, including students from different cultures and LGBTQ+ students, and they want kids to learn about consent, it was concerning how many comments there were from students about sexual assault and dating violence and the district data does support that anecdotal evidence. Cameron? All right, so Kristen highlighted some of
034the survey results and feedback from students from the MiPhy survey and that was in line with parent concerns and feedback in that MiPhy survey as well. So the hope was with updated curriculum to have less shame around um adolescent health around sex and topics related to puberty and to so yeah I I would encourage you to look at those those points, and then a staff summary of concerns as well from the MiPhy survey, teaching of consent safe technology usage, again decreasing stigma and shame, associated with these topics and more inclusive instruction. So since the last public hearing uh the curriculum has been available for public review and during that time families and staff members have provided feedback, while the overall response rate compared with the total number of families and staff in our district uh
035has been low, feedback has been very positive uh families appreciated the proposed changes as being comprehensive, age appropriate, and inclusive. Additionally those that have reviewed the curriculum and provided feedback appreciate the holistic approach in addressing topics related to adolescent health. Some families and staff members have expressed some concerns related to the new curriculum and so Kristen and I wanted to take a few minutes in response to those uh concerns and feedback. So one of the topics that was uh addressed in the last public hearing was uh mention of sex trafficking at the middle school as a practice that you should be never asked to engage in, you know being paid for sex or sex acts and defining that as sex trafficking. The SEAB after feedback made the decision to remove that topic and some felt
036that we should leave it in. At this time we have decided to continue to keep that topic out of the the proposed curriculum. Other concerns and feedback from staff and families uh concerns related to mixed gender classrooms. So that was a question during the last public hearing on whether or not we would be teaching in a mixed gender setting. Currently at Heritage in the 4th and 5th grade we teach in uh you know boys are taught with boys girls are taught with girls and that's uh students go to the classroom in which they identify with. The feedback from some staff is that students will be uncomfortable being in a mixed gender setting while learning about topics related to puberty so much so that they won't retain the information or be able to focus on the
037topics at hand. Our response to that feedback is that adolescent health instruction in a mixed gender setting is seen as the gold standard um for a number of reasons and primarily uh the setting promotes empathy and reduces shame around sensitive topics. The method of instruction also provides a safe learning environment uh for all students within their known cohort, since trusting relationships have already been built and nurtured in their classroom. If I'm a fourth or fifth grader, I would prefer to have uh my adolescent health instruction taught by my teacher, who I've known all year, as adolescent health is taught in the spring. So again our response to that is that we want to make sure that students are feeling comfortable, we acknowledge that there may be families and students that will not feel comfortable with
038that, and we want to respect those wishes, as well. Another concern from staff was um defining masturbation at the fifth grade level and our response to that is that masturbation is a normal and healthy part of human sexuality and it's difficult for us to pair the idea of masturbation and kids but we grown-ups are looking at masturbation through an adult lens and kids on the other hand learn very early usually in toddlerhood that masturbation feels good and relieves stress, and it's not considered a sexual act to children, they're not carrying the baggage of adulthood and the things that we know um in the same way they just know that something feels good. So by naming and defining masturbation in a simple and developmentally appropriate way, we reduce shame and fear around the behavior and we
039define expectations that this is a private but normal behavior, as such the committee does agree as a group that defining masturbation in fifth grade not fourth just fifth is an appropriate curricular addition. Another concern was related to defining terms related to gender identity and or sexual orientation and that it may be uncomfortable for some families and staff members as well as students. Our response is that there's a lot to learn about the many ways in which humans identify and express their gender, SAS can provide lists of resources for staff and families to learn before or alongside their students, so that they can be comfortable knowing and using terms and definitions in a way that feels both comfortable to the speaker and also models kindness and acceptance of difference to students. Another concern was the frequent
040use of the term sexual in different parts of the lessons without having a definition for sex for elementary students, this curriculum the Positive Prevention Plus curriculum does recommend that sex be defined in fourth grade, but based on feedback and the committee discussion that we had um we have chosen to keep that lesson in sixth grade, as it is currently taught in Saline Area Schools, um and as we talked about in the beginning of the presentation is that kids know way more about sex than we think they do, and even if they don't have that detailed definition of sexual intercourse they can intuit the arena that is being referenced, and um there what there was a question about whether we could have an approved definition for the word sexual for elementary students and a good definition
041of that is uh sexual is an advocate uh I'm sorry adjective that describes how people like or love others and that can it can also be used to describe body systems and The Human Experience. One final concern that was brought up by some staff members is the inability to make changes to the curriculum once it's approved after going through this process that is mandated by the state. While the SEAB stands behind the recommended curriculum as it's proposed we acknowledge that the process of training and implementation of this curriculum falls on district leadership, school administration, and teachers, the removal of pieces of the approved curriculum is within the scope of building stakeholders in collaboration with district administration and the SEAB. So we want to show you some highlights of the new curriculum. Our team reviewed four
042different curricula written for our target age group of the 4th through 8th grades. We narrowed it down to 2 and then did a deep dive into those 2 curricula and after significant discussion, over multiple months, the SEAB voted unanimously, with one abstention, to move Positive Prevention Plus forward to the public hearing process. P3 as we like to call it, is aligned with National Sexual Health Education Standards, it is aligned with SAS Policies, our mission, and our goals, it is an evidence-based comprehensive curriculum, and is aligned with best practice in sexual health education. P3 is regularly reviewed every two years, but that we also want to point out that updates would always go through the Michigan Department of Ed process for sexual education curriculum and board approval. What we really, one of the things that we
043really like about this curriculum is that it grows with our students using consistent language and methods of instruction starting in the 4th grade and then spiraling up into 8th and even beyond. We will now begin to tell you about some of our recommendations. This is an important time to remind everyone uh that per Michigan law SAS families have the right to review curriculum, resources, and videos ahead of time to observe instruction and opt their children out of adolescent health if they choose to do so. Public review of the recommended updates will still be available at Heritage School until the curriculum is voted on by the board of education community members and staff members interested in reviewing the curriculum uh and materials are encouraged to email me or Kara Davis to schedule a time to do
044so. All right so looking at our scope and sequence for the 4th grade uh one nice thing about the P3 curriculum is that it is designed to be flexible that means that districts can create the sequence of lessons that works for their particular District um needs and the needs of their students. In the next few slides we will give an overview of the recommended scope in sequence for each grade level and highlight key parts of lessons in greater detail. The upper elementary curriculum consists of eight lessons divided between 4th and 5th grades, currently adolescent health is taught in 4th and 5th grades over the course of about one week in the spring and the proposed curriculum would be consistent with this in this regard. 4th and 5th graders are really starting to get a sense
045of the world around them and who they are within it. At Heritage we frame a lot of what we do using The Three Bs be respectful be responsible and be kinder than necessary. Positive Prevention Plus at the upper elementary curriculum does a great job complementing our existing values at Heritage. In the 4th grade you can see that there are six lessons that help students begin to understand some of the changes that they are currently going through, or will be going through soon, and support with being a kind and respectful peer. Anytime conversations around puberty and reproductive health occur at school, framing the conversation matters, the P3 curriculum not only emphasizes why these topics are important, but in lesson one it goes over how these lessons in class should go. Lesson 1 establishes group norms and discusses
046reliable sources of information, but cautions that some websites can give inaccurate information and that students should always get parent permission before going online. Additionally lesson 1 stresses that a trusted adult is the best place to go to for information. In 4th and 5th grade lessons 2 and 3 go over how to be a good friend, how to manage conflict with a friend, and how to avoid getting bullied or taken advantage of by a close friend or someone else, lesson 3 also discusses cyber bullying and includes uh and includes defining sexting as a form of cyber bullying. While topics related to friendship and peer conflict are covered elsewhere at Heritage including bullying, tying these issues to adolescent health gives students an important reminder that social changes will accompany the mental and physical changes that they will
047soon or are already experiencing through puberty. P3 does a great job using consistent language throughout the curriculum so that these concepts and skills build on one another. Some people outside of education may be surprised at the thought of discussing something like sexting in 4th grade, while few students are impacted by cyberbullying and sexting at Heritage, issues like these have happened, and occur even more frequently in the Middle School if we can proactively equip our students with knowledge and skills around these topics we could have a positive impact on our students lives and help avoid some serious missteps. The SEAB wanted to prioritize accurate information to help students understand the changes happening in their bodies, we felt that P3 was the best of the options we reviewed in this regard. In Lesson 4, puberty is explained
048as a normal process of human development that has physical, mental, social, and emotional impacts. The committee wanted to be responsive to community feedback about the need for more inclusive curricula. We appreciated the fact that P3 utilizes inclusive language and covers topics such as gender and sexual identity in an age appropriate way. For example in Lesson 4 which occurs in 4th and 5th grade the following terms are defined biological sex, gender, sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, and transgender. These topics are presented and defined in a gentle and developmentally appropriate way research from a variety of sources shows that introducing these topics in school can help create a safer environment for all students. These definitions are clear, concise, and make up a brief portion of the overall unit, any questions related to these terms will be addressed by encouraging students to
049speak to a trusted adult at home. Here's what a copy of the first page of the teacher manual looks like for Lesson 4 which includes handouts for students. You can see the materials and the content covered as well as some vocabulary and objectives. All right, so in 5th grade you'll notice that there are repeated lessons lessons 4, 6, and 8 and this is purposeful since spiraling information from year to year will improve student learning and retention. Note that in lesson 5 as Kristen mentioned earlier that part e that defines sexual intercourse will be removed from 5th grade and moved into 6th. The lesson still includes reproductive structure and function for both male and female anatomy and this is consistent with the current curriculum scope and sequence, so this is consistent what we currently teach in 5th
050grade at Heritage. Lesson 5 also defines ejaculation and masturbation you can see here we're talking about private parts again both reducing stigma, but also emphasizing the importance for privacy. One other aspect that's important in this curriculum is that we're not only talking about the changes that are happening within our bodies and about being a good friend and respectful, but also empowering oneself and advocating for oneself and we'll talk more about that as we go throughout this presentation. So adolescent health is taught in the spring at Heritage each year typically in May. 5th graders will soon be middle schoolers at this time it is important to provide this information to students to prepare them for the changes ahead. Defining these terms in a concise way open up the opportunity for deeper conversations at home. And as you
051can see the definition of masturbation is listed on this slide. Lessons 6 through 8 all focus on healthy habits, lesson 6 is covered in 4th and 5th grades and reminds students about keeping their bodies clean. There's also a great video on on menstruation shown in both grades that covers what the menstrual cycle is and available hygiene products. In lesson 7 we fulfill the state law to teach HIV in every building where adolescent health is taught. The committee recommends removing the discussion on other STI in this lesson and solely focus on HIV. Another important component of the recommended curriculum is its focus on consent and refusal skills, in an age appropriate way, these concepts will already be taught and K-3 buildings during the body safety presentations that were approved last year, and will be reviewed during
052adolescent health in the 4th through 8th grades. In lesson 8 consent is covered in the 4th and 5th grades. The committee had a lengthy discussion on whether or not to include this lesson in its entirety because of the mention of sex trafficking, as an example of something one should never be asked to do. Ultimately the committee decided to only recommend showing the consent video in 4th grade omitting the rest of lesson 8 at that grade level. For 5th grade the committee decided uh to recommend showing the consent video again and covering Parts C through F of lesson 8 that do not mention sex trafficking. Parts C through F uh focus on staying physically and mentally healthy and some sample slides are shown here. All right so within the P3 curriculum there are embedded videos within
053each lesson that help frame the main theme of that uh conversation. You'll notice that at each grade level the SEAB decided to add some supplemental videos for some topics these videos are meant to engage students and to help further explain certain important concepts. A large majority of these topics are addressed in the current curriculum. The recommended updates from Positive Prevention Plus provide a more engaging modern and inclusive experience for Saline Area School students. For the sake of time we will not be showing all of the 6 recommended supplemental videos for 4th and 5th grades. The videos are listed here and can all be accessed through YouTube. We will show the consent video as an example as well as one of the embedded videos included in lesson 1. If we could show that one Ben and then
054I may need screencast access for the embedded video. Consent for kids. This is you. Okay it doesn't look exactly like you, but let's say it's you. This is your body and you get to decide what you do with your body, no one else is entitled to tell you what to do with your body. Not your friends, not strangers, not adults you know, no one is entitled to decide what you do with your body except you, that's called bodily autonomy by the way, and that's what consent is all about, everyone is different different, some people love to hug and some people hate hugs, and each person gets to decide what they're comfortable with. Can a hug loving person just start hugging someone at random? Nope, they need consent. How do people know if they have consent?
055They ask. Would you like a hug? Yes I would. Can I hold your hand? I'd rather not okay if a person doesn't say yes can I hug you um I uh then they haven't given their consent. It's really pretty simple. Ask for consent. Listen to the answer. By the way if a person bribes someone or threaten someone to say yes that's not consent. Sometimes adults will try to tell a kid what to do with their body. Go kiss Aunt Doris goodbye. But the kid still gets to decide. No thanks that makes me uncomfortable I'll just wave goodbye. Some things kids can't consent to they can't enter into legal contracts, they can't vote, and they can't consent to sexual stuff, cuz there kids. So if an adult does something that kids can't consent to that's not
056okay. The adult is wrong and it's not the kid's fault and that's when it's most important to tell a trusted adult like a teacher. Why? Because it's your body and no one else is entitled to tell you what to do with it. Practice consent. Is it possible for me to screencast for the... It's okay if we can't we can try to do it at the end. Got I've got a wheel spinning for me oh here we go. Thanks for your patience folks. Now we can just skip it for now Ben and go back to the presentation so I just wanted to highlight one of the embedded videos um each lesson there is a a brief video at the beginning and at the end again the focus of those videos are more to frame the topic
057um they include characters in the 4th and 5th grade they're animated videos um they're pretty you know hokey but we we enjoyed them and again the reason we added the supplemental videos is because we felt really good about the the content within those videos as well. All right so let's get into Middle School, similar to 4th and 5th grade the recommended lessons for 6th graders include topics meant to help students understand some of the changes that they are currently going through or will be going through soon, as well as support with being a kind and respectful peer. We'll go back to the scope and sequence oh sorry so in lesson 2, 6th graders are um introduced sorry actually yeah we'll go back to the sixth grade. Where do babies come come from, like how do we
058get here? When broken down it's a simple thing every species reproduces, but in different ways for humans to make a baby there's lots of stuff that must be just right, but the two key players are the sperm and the egg at puberty everyone's body changes and becomes able to reproduce at some point between the age of 8 to 13 a person that is biologically a female starts ovulating it's also called the menstrual cycle or starting their period about once a month the ovaries release a teeny tiny egg into the fallopian tubes, if it's not fertilized after it's released, the egg is flushed out of the body during the period. When a person that is biologically male starts pity usually between 12 and 16 the testicles begin to make sperm cells these cells travel in milky
059fluid created by another gland this mixture is known as semen, this is the fluid that is is released during an ejaculation, there are lots of ways a sperm and egg can get together and join one of the most popular ways is when seen is release from the penis into the vagina once those little swimmers are in there the sperm race through the vaginal canal pass the cervix through the uterus into the fallopian tubes, sperm are drawn to the egg like a moth to a flame, now if you don't want to become pregnant when you have sex there are a lot of simple ways to stop it from happening, we call this contraception. When you want to have a baby sometimes people are not able to have a baby using the most popular method when this
060happens doctors can totally help them out, like using a tool to place sperm into the vagina near an egg or a doctor can actually join the sperm and egg together outside of the body and then place the fertilized egg into the uterus, all these methods achieve the same thing the sperm and the egg get together and unite becoming a single cell this is called a zygote, as a zygote travels down the fallopian tube towards the uterus looking for a place to nest, this tiny ball of cells divides and multiplies over and over and over. If the zygote, does not find a good nesting spot in the uterine lining, it passes out of the body during menstruation or the period, if the zygote, does find a nesting place this marks the moment when pregnancy actually begins
061and the fetus starts to grow into what is called an embryo. The time it takes for a baby to develop is divided into three stages called trimesters, it takes an em about 9 months or 39 weeks to develop into a fully developed baby. The zygote starts the size of a poppy seed and grows into the size of well a baby, most of a pregnancy takes place in the warm and comfy uterus also known as the womb, it has all the nutrients needed for that little ball of cells to develop into a fully formed body during the 39th week a fetus is considered full term, after about 9 months a baby is generally ready to enter the world. There are several different ways a baby can make their appearance into the world they usually come through
062the vagina, but sometimes if necessary doctors need to help them out they do this by opening the uterus and removing the baby that way this is called a cerian section or a C-section for short making babies is a natural part of life and we all start from the joining of a sperm and egg we're all more alike than you think [Music]. So to clarify that video would be occurring uh during lesson 1 of 6th grade in Middle School and if you were here in June when we did our first public hearing you might remember that we had two possible videos that we were recommending this video and then one from Planned Parenthood. We were going to see if it would be possible to trim that video to remove the very end of that that would
063say something along the lines of for more questions you know go to planparenthood.com we're unable to trim that and so we're no longer recommending that video because we know that some uh families and staff would feel uncomfortable uh with that resource being made available and so we're just recommending this video to be shown during lesson 1 in 6th grade. All right, so and it's important to not that that video is supplemental to the the content in lesson 1 um intercourse is defined at this time which is uh the same as the current curriculum that's taught in 6th grade and this is from removing that lesson e or part e of lesson 5 from 5th grade into sixth so this section is called conception to birth and includes an explanation of how the process occurs from
064sexual intercourse, fertilization, growth of an embryo, to child birth. Importantly this lesson also explains the importance of choosing to have a child as well as abstinence. All right and then in lesson 2, 6th graders are introduced to terms related to gender and sexuality, as an upper elementary these terms are introduced in a brief simple and age appropriate way that is meant to inform and encourage respect for all individuals. Importantly another component of adolescent health that P3 emphasizes is self-empowerment, when students can recognize unsafe situations and advocate for themselves we can create happier, healthier school communities. So in lessons 3 and 4, 6th and 7th graders discuss topics related to exploring friendships and bullying similar to lessons 3 and 4 in 4th and 5th grade. So um in lesson 4 and 3 we spiral the information on exploring
065friendships and blowing and abuse and then we recommend addressing uh HIV and STIs and that would occur in Lesson 12 although we are only recommending Parts A and B in Lesson 12 which teaches how viruses are spread and eliminates how to find resources for testing. It is an excellent information in a well-planned format but we felt that it did not fit our community's particular needs at the middle school level. So there's the scope and sequence for less or for grade 7. And then here are some resources for students that they will complete during those lessons um these resources come specifically from lesson 11 on media and peer pressure Woof, that's been a lot. We've hit 8th grade, home stretch. We're so excited, um I'm gonna to just update our little cheat sheet here. We have
066hit 8th grade here's the scope and sequence of eighth grade and you'll notice here that the the biggest differences from the current curriculum. The committee feels really strongly that solely covering sexual reproduction from a biology textbook is insufficient given the complex challenges and social situations of middle school students, and what they face today. With the updated curriculum we have the pow the opportunity to empower students with more knowledge and tools to maneuver through the challenges of adolescence in this 21st century. You can see that the sequence begins with a quick review of anatomy from the 6th grade lesson one it's really important that that students know their body parts, what their names are, what their function is. I feel like my back is to you guys the whole time. I'm so sorry that's rude. That
067they that that is empowering information and that the um that quick review is going to help solidify those things again, that's spiraling back to uh catch kids uh uh gaps in knowledge, and then it moves into the prevention of pregnancy including birth control options, and then teen pregnancy itself self which includes fetal development, alternatives to keeping the baby, and decision making and please note that in accordance with Michigan Law this lesson does not mention abortion as an option. Here's an example of a slide um from lesson 6 you can see that this curriculum leans into abstance abstinence in many of the lessons, like in this slide. It's even in red. And then here's the slide that shows options uh for pregnancy and does not include abortion. Here is a slide from the fetal development section
068this shows the type of information that's addressed during the fetal development lesson this slide is of tri trimester one. and in lesson 6 we also address STIs which are a very real consequence of sexual activity at any age, and again you see here the abstinence messaging, you might be thinking why can't we just leave it at that and say just don't have sex because kids need the why why is it important to wait why do we need to be prepared mentally, physically, and emotionally for sexual activity. Teens are pretty concrete thinkers for quite a while because of the way that brain development works during puberty and adolescence and yet they're also in that wing stretching time of their development this slide shows actionable choices for teens to be in control and keep themselves safe the
069more you practice these things in theory the more it is solidified in in in you to as ownership that you can access that stuff in the heat of a moment. We want the students to own that information long before they're in a decision-making situation just like we practice stop, drop, and roll we also practice other healthy information and choices and we pair it with something that they already know for example universal precautions, this generation of kids survived a pandemic, they know this stuff so let's review this and then apply the same logic to sexual health introducing condoms in the vital role they play before a student is in a sexual situation increases the chance that they'll remember the importance of condom use with sex. Do we want the first choice to be abstinence? Absolutely so let's
070reinforce that message again before we wrap up the lesson and let's address why making safe choices is so important here are two of the activities in the final lesson of 8th grade this is the why that every teen is looking for. There are also a few supplemental videos in the middle school and these reinforce the messaging of the discussion in a visual format. Kids spend a lot of time watching videos and being online and this is meeting them where they are in a way that they like to learn information. One of the parts of P3 that we absolutely love is the appendix of parent resources and education, because sex ed starts at home, with a million tiny little conversations and because it can be difficult for some grown-ups to get started with those conversations we
071love that P3 recognizes and supports the importance of those caregiver conversations with their kids and having this appendix of resources and the grownup and student homework after the lessons gives caregivers lots and lots of opportunities for talking with their students on their own time and with their own values included. Here are a couple of examples of the parent resources in the appendix, you can see one is uh guidelines for parents to talk with their kids and teens about sexuality and then all the burning questions parents may have about sexting. Now I'm a parent of teens and I recognize that in all sorts of different ways my job is to ready my kids to move through the world on their own, and I have to balance my rules and my expectations with their emerging independence so
072that when I'm not there, they have the information at the ready to make safe choices for themselves, even if that looks different than what I might hope hope for them and what I might have planned for them and that process of trust building takes time and attention and talking about healthy human sexuality with our kids is part of that trust building independence project that we are all doing called parenting and this curriculum supports that work that we get to do at home, thank you very much. Thank you it looked like you were gonna to say something Cam, no? No. Thank you very much pre well done. Thank you very much for this great presentation, one thing I neglected to say at the beginning was that there are some members of the SEAB Committee in the
073audience tonight and I'm not going to call you out specifically, but I did want to say on behalf of the board thank you, thank you, thank you for your many efforts in in bringing this to us. I'm going to open now to the board for questions if you have any um uh unfortunately uh Vice President Steben was unable to attend last week so last time so I'm going to offer the first set of questions if she has any to her and then at random anyone who has questions to to fire off, if you haven't had your questions answered yet please do so thank you. Thank you both that was really comprehensive as Michael mentioned I was on vacation during the the last one I believe it was in June, so I do really um like
074us pairing this with a traditional board meeting, because ensures that we can all be present and I think it conforms to the policy as well so this worked out really well, um and thank you you to the rest of the committee of course, um a couple of questions and I'll probably follow up with some questions offline if that's okay via email um but if we did adopt this uh can you talk to me about what the training looks like because the policy does describe that you need qualified certified staff doing it and that it needs to be um done in an organized manner so I was just wondering and Steve or or whomever if that's a question for somebody else that's fine, but what is the forward plan if this is adopted. Yeah that's a
075great question uh at this time you know we don't know what that would look like there are options available to us, so you know two of those options are through um Positive Prevention Plus in the way of both virtual training and an in-person trainer coming into our district to provide that experience for staff. We also have contacts at the WISD that would be willing to do some training just kind of not necessarily with the specific curriculum but just best practice in adolescent health education and kind of working alongside us as we go through um the curriculum with our staff, uh we'd be working closely with Kara Davis and the Teaching and Learning Team as well um and and talking about training and and funding that and all all those questions. Okay thank you it's just
076it's just really important in all facets to make sure that the law and the policies are um adhered to so so just want to make sure we support the staff that would would um would roll this out. If you guys can um uh unobstructed K-12 survey presentation link um we can't get access to the data behind it. Yeah absolutely. So that's the raw data behind that we can look at okay perfect because that's that's wonderful. um my other question was on um Senate Bill 66 it looks like it has a 2023 date on it so how are we fulfilling that legal requirement right now if we don't have that incorporated into this curriculum. So the the new law was passed in July of 2023 and June of 2024 so this past June is when um
077we needed to start having a plan put in place for the 24-25 school year um if this curriculum does not pass then um we will have to quickly create um consent and sexual assault uh um resources for that because currently our curriculum does not cover those things and so we would be non-compliant without doing a mad dash for resources. Okay yeah very important yes um I really like that this includes information on sexting um yes videos meeting kids where they're at I totally agree um consent and sexual assault as described by that law it's incredibly important. My last question and then I'll probably get with you guys offline while I'm reviewing the curriculum but um how long did the review process in the in committee can you talk a little bit about the journey and
078kind of the the depth of discovery on the the other items that you were considering and how it arrived here. Yeah so this conversation actually started 10 years ago and this is the 3rd term of the sexual assault or sexual assault Sexual Education Advisory board that has been working toward a new curriculum for Saline Area Schools um as we know in academia change is very very slow and um it has taken a lot of discussion with a lot of separate boards to get to a place where we could um have these different curricula to review. So having had the great honor of being part of the last two um as well as this term I have had these conversations with two separate SEABs and now this third one um around these exact same topics and
079the same the thing that's really great is that with this sort of reiteration of each committee the same curricula keep coming up and keep coming back for review and um I think that's a real testament to the curricula that we were able to review that these are really, really solid well-known curricula, and the the work that this committee did was a springboard off of the previous committee where we were able to say here are the things that the previous committee had sort of narrowed to which was able to spur us on and we we were able to meet just about monthly right um for this last school year so about 12 months of work yeah. Thank you those are my questions for the table okay. Thanks. I do want to remind students you are also
080welcome to ask any questions if they if they strike you. So I'm just going to let us rant sorry Ben I'm gonna to just let us randomly ask the questions around the table if we have any. Oh Tommy. I wasn't at the first meeting so I'll just get right to my questions respect you in your time um one comment that came up while you're were presenting was a concern about age and how young kids are getting exposed to these materials, and I don't remember who said I think one of you might have made the claim that by like 4th and 5th grade students are figuring out who they are in their place in the world and they're starting to gain more of that independence um uh and I would just like to ask how is
081that being factored into the content being taught to the younger generation a lot of the lessons involved were about consent and sexual orientation and sexual intercourse and terms like ejaculation and erection and the mention of uh abstinence was more stressed towards the 8th grader after those initial lessons um my concern the only concern that I see is is if we're trying to prevent and get them a head start at an early age how is that um those caution barriers and those lessons built in uh from the start. Yeah that's a really good question Tommy um so we because the curriculum is so dense we were not able to show you every single piece of the curriculum and so the what we wanted to pull out was the sort of um touch points where people can
082potentially have concerns around it and show you that this is very developmentally appropriate so actually what you saw here tonight is a very small part of the curriculum and most of it would feel very similar to what you had when you were in 4th and 5th grade where you're talking about body changes and what does your body due and um the structures and the names of things the the other pieces are additions but not the main bulk of it and so the if you were to sit in on a lesson or the whole week of the new curriculum you'd be like oh yeah this feels really familiar I totally remember this yeah, so it just it just adds a few things that your generation has to deal with on a pretty regular basis versus us
083dinosaurs who didn't have things like the internet and like I was 20 or something when I got my first cell phone, because they didn't exist before that right so there's extra things. Did that answer your question fully? Yes it did thank you I was I have a younger sister that's around that age group so when I'm learning stuff like this it's kind of like a scary to me, but then I also realize that it's going to happen eventually and it might take some adjusting on my part to be open and have her learned that an appropriate age the other question that I had was there's a lot of talk about uh removing shame and removing like a stigma behind a lot of these concepts especially around masturbation how it just it feels good and how
084it's a natural part and it should be a private part but a natural part uh and that tying that back into what I said first of with the um frequency of the sexual events at the Middle School and High School um what is the the balance between having that be a part of your human progression and your like transition into older and young adulthood and the limits to that for a younger audience. Yeah so um have you ever like if you think back in your life have you ever thought um like had an experience or done something where you're like that might have been a bad choice right and you didn't really have a name for what you did or a lot of context in it, but you felt sort of icky about it or
085weird about it that can apply to masturbation with kids is it for a lot of kids it's something that they already do and experience, but they don't have a name for it and they don't they might feel like you know I know these are my private parts because it's covered by a swimming suit, but I'm doing this thing and maybe it's weird and maybe it's wrong and maybe there's something wrong with me if you uh are able to just put a name to something and say totally normal if you do it great if you don't that's great too, whatever, right um it is a very it is a a wash through the curriculum it is not there's not like 40 minutes spent on masturbation and there's not a how-to and there's not a like uh
086a a huge dwelling on that it's just saying hey some people do this normal, private because there are kids that masturbate at school and um it's not a ton but it is regular and um it is also helpful for the kids that don't do those things at school to be able to be like um so I noticed Billy has his hands down his pants or you know or Jane is whatever you know with that and to be able to say I think they might need a reminder or I feel uncomfortable because I know this right that this is a private behavior does that answer that for you? Yes thank that was that was the only comments or concerns I have since I'm I've already gone through this and not that wasn't the first meeting so
087thank you thank you for all the information that you gather. I appreciate the question. Just want to say thank you Tommy you raised the bar on questions I think yeah for sure no pressure Kate anyone else on the board moving along. Oh Susan and Jenny, Jenny and Susan I was I was just going to say, because I do teach elementary school um just adding on to to um the topic that Tommy was bringing up I think that one thing that is going to be extremely beneficial to the adults that are supporting children is helping children to identify that some of those behaviors are private, because because I've worked with young children for a long time some um things like masturbation can be very self- soothing and kids don't even they're not even aware that um
088doing something that brings comfort the same as like kids might rub their blankets or things like that they might not even be aware that that's different than rubbing your blanket and so helping them to understand that that um you know masturbation because it involves parts that are private is a private activity and so I feel like that is going to be really beneficial for for the adults who are supporting kids in um identifying and then making choices around that so. Thank you Susan. Oh yes a couple of things um so I had a uh community member um ask about um the opt out and um they had mentioned kind of some of the stigmatizing piece of that um there's a lot of stigmatizing like stigmatizing in our current curriculum so so basically the opt out
089um so um I guess it we've heard from parents um come up to the the podium and talk about um opting out and how um that looks different uh from year to year, from building to building, classroom to classroom, whenever a child is is pulled from the classroom um so I guess how is that um and I know that SEAB doesn't you know do that that's a legal requirement so it might be a question for for the administrators as well, but making sure that we have um consistency in that and that the parents understand uh well and even the students um and how that would look. Yeah the opt out uh topic is is an important one to address I agree that consistency is is essential and that's definitely a topic that we as an
090administrative team will continue to discuss. I know Kara Davis has led a lot of work on our district optout guidelines um that you know involve both adolescent health and and other topics in different um classes uh Heritage students are you know there's a parent information night you know parents are given that opportunity to review materials and then make that decision uh we feel confident at Heritage that we'll be able to do kind of a a lesson by lesson opt out in the 4th and 5th grades it's something similar to what we've done in the past um you know some classes have done things like uh students who opt out will be encouraged to research another body system um and the purpose of that uh alternative assignment is not to punish, it's not to you know
091make them feel like they're they're missing out, it's really just to encourage learning and so the the emphasis is not on the the grade that the student will get for something like that, but really just on again making sure that while that student's at school they're provided access to learning. I don't have a lot of specifics at this time about what the opt out looks like at the Middle School with adolescent health, but I would be confident that would be something similar uh and in in line with our district opt out guidelines. Thank you. I oh. I wasn't not finished yet but yeah I'll go like I just have have more of a statement so if everybody I don't think anyone else has anything to say Jenny might. Yeah no I was just going to
092um say for the for public and for people who might not be aware that the district opt out is um a district tool but um uh opting out of sex education is state law that we offer that so I just wanted to make it clear that that's not something that we've decided that's something that the law requires and that we um comply with and so that's not something that this board or any board would be able to change so if that is a concern about this curriculum just know that that is something that is in place and I see it being in place for the foreseeable future. And something that the SEAB feels very protective of like that is an extraordinarily important part of the sex education curriculum here is that we recognize that sex
093education is a family thing first and what we do here is hopefully meant to supplement what you are doing at home and if you don't want to do that totally cool yeah. And just to add on to that again one of the the draws for this particular curriculum is the the wealth of um resources for parents and families at home um and so for those families who do make that decision to opt their students out of you know lessons or of the entire curriculum uh we would want to give them access to those materials so that they could you know we could help in having those conversations at home and and they would be the leaders of of any of those conversations whether or not students were opted out. I think the the biggest key
094difference and and the thing that we're really fortunate to have is that um when parents do have concerns about curriculum and come in to take a look at the curriculum and they're making choices or decisions about which pieces to omit for their for their child that our team um headed by Kara Davis is there to support those decisions, so for example those um potential alternate assignments would be a decision that is made together so that uh the child like you said has access to learning and so we're really fortunate to have resources and um personnel like Kara to help us and help families support families with those decisions. Yeah and another really big plus about the P3 curriculum is that it is based in modules and so it's very easy to for families to go
095through and say day three I want my kid to be out so that it is it is not trying to pick and choose moments to pull a kid out of but to say and make it easy for staff and families and students to know where they're supposed to be what is supposed to happen and um not try to um manage minutia in that it's really well designed in that way. So you had something else to add to. Oh yes um so I'm glad that um SEAB uh I mean you all did a fantastic job um the last last few years that I've served on um as board rep um I've you know I think this last go around you all it was very efficient and um you know everybody worked together and reviewed and I
096thought it was awesome thank you all, and so I'm I'm glad that um you know after getting the uh data and everything you all moved you know fairly um quickly I guess um to make recommendations on uh a part of our curriculum, so I know that we are not uh recommending um or you all aren't recommending um at this point the High School uh curriculum um so I do want to I hope that we move very quickly on that um I think you all have a great process where that could be efficient um I do want to read I think I've done this in the past um portions of policies that we have um so we have board policies and um that must be implemented um and I know there is a process as well
097so two policy Board Policy 2260 non-discrimination and access to equal education opportunity curriculum content, so uh reviewing current and proposed courses of study and textbooks to detect any bias based on protected classes asserting whether or not supplemental material singly or taken as a whole fairly depict the contribution of all genders, various races, ethnic groups, toward and so toward the development of human society um also required with that is staff training to identify some of those um problems with uh bias in the curriculum and all aspects of the program. I also want to bring up the um Policy 5517.02 the transgender and non-binary students currently our high school curriculum is super outdated as well it is not at all inclusive of our trans and non-binary students so what I just read we have an issue right so
098part of in in that uh with the curriculum the SAS Compass talks about the ethical and responsible citizen and so um so that um students demonstrate that this attribute when they see beyond themselves to the needs of others contribute to their community, promote equity, and take responsibility for the environment and demonstrate respect, empathy, and compassion um also research shows that LGBTQ students who attend schools with curriculum that that is inclusive of LGBTQ people, history, and events experience a better school climate and improved academic outcomes and I know having you know the curriculum that you're proposing also reduces um you know creates a better and safe environment and reduces bullying and so uh you know I just I wanted to to mention that um you know not only LGBTQ students but you know being able to
099represent race, ethnicity, all of that is super important, so again I'm glad that I feel like the curriculum that we're looking at right now um excels at that and I'm super excited um I'm not so excited that um our high schoolers aren't um going to receive that uh at this point anytime um soon, so I um I encourage I super encourage that um you know it's it's a board board policies and um I encourage that our administrators um follow through with that as well thank you all for your hard work. Thank you everyone, thank you board, oh Tommy I I had a quick follow-up question following your comments, and I I do agree that this updated curriculum is much more inclusive I know that politics and opinions aside it's a curriculum designed for educational purposes
100only regardless of like your opinions or your what stance on many of these uh things with um the changes being made to this and using terms like human with penis and human human with vagina um and having then lessons talking about uh like same sex attraction, gender studies, and like sexual orientation um how is how is that balance between using like non-descriptive terms such as human with penis and then using stuff like same sex attraction and building that into like the two different categories. Yeah um I think I understand your question, so the I think the big difference is that this this curriculum and the way that sex ed is moving um as we learn and know more is the idea that sex and gender are two very different things, sex is um a biological
101body-based thing and gender is um how you show yourself to the world and how you feel who you are inside and so when you say things like person with a vagina, the people in the room who have a vagina know that they have it, right and so they go oh that's my body awesome they're not going wait why aren't you calling me a girl right they're just going that's me okay I got to listen up right and so um those those moments aren't going to feel weird to kids because they're just going I can't believe we have to hear the word penis over and over and over again right, it doesn't matter if you're in a same- sex gender or same -sex um classroom or if you're in a mixed gender everybody gets nervous when
102you say the p word right it's just part of being a kid and you know for a lot of adults it's hard to say, um so I think that might have answered your question did it? Yeah. Do another followup from no? I didn't I just I wanted to just point that out and ask like if if that had been considered but it seems like the curriculum that you have been talking about and discussed have already thought a lot about that and I I appreciate the a lot of the thought and the um the process of going through making this thanks curriculum so thank you. Yeah and and I think it's also important to note that that the variation in um how deep curricula go for kids is widely different throughout the sex ed curriculum world
103and the the committee was so careful to make sure that we were providing information that kids need, because we don't want them to learn from Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook, the internet as a whole, but also balancing what our community culture and feel and values are in a way that is going to feel okay for most people and to Susan's point the Sex Ed Advisory Board takes very seriously the mission um of Saline Area Schools that this is a student centered decision-making body, it is not what I think or Cameron thinks or Megan thinks or Julie thinks or you know all the other different people that are on this board, that it is about what kids need and what kids need to be safe and healthy that we take ourselves out of it and I I do
104want to say this particular committee this group has been amazing at that process it has been a real joy getting to have done this for many many years, to see this particular group immediately band together and immediately work on something that can be a difficult conversation so. Thank you Miss Hoffman-Peavler, I'm sensitive to the fact that you've been standing for an hour and almost 20 minutes and you haven't had a sip of water the whole time but at this point if anyone in the audience has any clarifying questions they want to ask now uh they're welcome to do so, or and hear me out over the next two weeks parents who have questions or community members who have questions about the curriculum are invited to email uh the board, [email protected]. I will definitely make sure
105the appropriate people on the SEAB, the co-chairs get those questions um and uh that I I'll just leave it at that. At this point in time I I hope to placed a question of approving this agenda on on the uh as an action item on the September 24th agenda. So oh you do see a hand for a clarifying question, please just trying to make understand now we won't be able to hear you unless, I know you really didn't want to talk in the microphone. I could tell I could tell and and Mrs. Gunnerson if your question, oh can wait, no I Miss Gunnerson if you had your question was about this in your final comment if you want oh okay never mind, yes ma'am. Hi I'm Julie Kelly I'm a teacher at Heritage in 5th
106grade, so my question is are girls and boys going to be taught together? I didn't get what you said at the end of that, whether you took what we had to say about that into consideration and then decided we're still doing boys and girls together or we're doing them separate. What did you say I didn't catch it. iOh okay that's a good question and that's the most pressing right um so that question has not been answered at this time and that um you know based on what we've discussed and what I've discussed with others who are knowledgeable of state law that's a decision that can and will be made at the the building level with district leadership around whether or not um we'll be teaching with mixed gender classrooms or same gender classrooms. Yeah. Thank
107you. Thank you. Thank you um Miss Gunnerson's question was just a reminder that as well as emailing the the board email address with questions, uh the ,curricular materials will still be available at Heritage feel free to email me directly or email the board email to come in and read those before September 24th, email works best just so we can schedule something if there are questions that come up and so I can point people to the slides and things like that, but there this presentation and all the active links will be available to the community. Thank you we have one other question from clarifying question from the audience. Yes please um my name is Marcy Goyette. I am also a fifth grade teacher at Heritage. I am also our SEA board rep for the teachers at
108Heritage this topic was brought up to me in the summer and that's where I've become involved with this definitely a clarifying question that my teachers have been asking of me and ask me to see clarification was, we are looking at this curriculum there is a spectrum of on the parts of it agreeing, disagreeing, different parts to it in the past and some of the teachers at the building were there previously when the last curriculum came through, the steps that happened were that the curriculum was there and if you notice our curriculum our old curriculum now there are crossed out, there are replaced words there are sections that are whited out and those were decisions that were made but in previously in the past all of that had to be done before the bo the board
109vot voted and the board saw those corrections and changes and things that we felt were appropriate and then they voted on that and from what I understand I I will admit I was not there at that time, we couldn't make changes after that we've been assured that we can still do that that that's maybe not the process this time, but I think my teachers would feel better if I could go back and get some clarification on that, because we have and I will give Cameron lots of credit for this is that this discussion was brought to me I approached him and he's been very open and we've actually already started to talk about things um for example in the slide that you saw in regards to masturbation that is a topic of contention and some
110teachers don't feel comfortable with that. I reviewed the curriculum and what you saw I felt was for personally myself it's a definition of what it is and it mentions that it's done in private. I was fine with that however what you did not see is if you actually look at when you go to the female section of that, in the female section it's not the same exact description, in the female sections it mentions actual body parts that are involved, where some teachers are we've looked at that it's like is there a point then where we're almost maybe teaching masturbation because we are actually talking about the parts that are involved, there's a difference in that curriculum there from the male portion to the female portion. The male portion you saw no body parts are mentioned
111at all it's considered private parts when you look at the female portion it does mention parts like libia and things like that so those are the kind of things that we already as reviewing this curriculum have started to look at and say, hey okay if this is going forward this is one thing that maybe we want to look at, can we take that exact male description those two sentences and replicate that when we get to the female section of the curriculum that's where we would like to do, and I think teachers have already started to talk about that the ones that have reviewed the curriculum, but I want to assure my teachers that we will have that process because we're coming up on a vote in two weeks and like you said academia can move
112slowly there's a lot going on for teachers between now and two weeks from now, like do we have to do this process of looking at this curriculum talking about different parts um there was mention of sexual that word being used a lot within the curriculum , we felt like a few times yes you need to use that word but other times we could change it with reproductive health rather than sexual health or adolescent health versus sexual um there's those types of things going on, so I think I would like some clarification and take back to my teachers of this exact process. I can answer that question we've got three people who'd like to answer and I'd like the Dr Laatch to take the first go at and I'm looking at the law here too. Yeah, Yeah
113please. Okay I just want to go back draw on the last time that the elementary curriculum was revised, because that's what you were citing Marcy and I'll just say how it went, and I'm not saying that it has to be this way this time, but the way way it went last time is some of the teachers uh specifically in 4th grade had some concerns with one of the lessons and really what was happening is the curriculum was approved, but then we did say after discussing with the teachers, they did not want to teach every element of that lesson and so we were going with the curriculum is improved and you can't teach more than this, but if it was agreed that the teachers felt like we needed to limit the way it was presented so
114that it was more developmentally appropriate, we went ahead and and and did it that way. Yeah regardless of whether it plays out this way I just want to say that's how it went the last time we did approve curriculum. And yeah that is the way it goes so if you think of it like a basket, we're having a basket of curriculum, and then um like Dr. Laatsch said there might be things that we take out of the basket, but we can't put anything into the basket and so so going through this process we have omitted, like pre- omitted some things and saying we don't want to approve those things, but we can always take away as long as they've already gone through this process, so I don't want you or your teachers to think that
115you are being exempted from a process of looking through this. It is this part of things is very prescribed by the law, so we can after the fact make some decision from there but as we have presented it the SEAB believes that this is the best course of action. Is that the action that's going to happen? Maybe maybe not but that's future conversation. That answer your question? Okay I I have a very different response so, um looking at our policy and law um so before adopting any revisions to the material right? We so it talks about the public hearing so it's proposed revisions um so we have checked with law the law firm on this and we have gone through the Michigan Department of Education that the revisions are changes for addition but not for
116subtraction. We've already done that work um can you um Steve uh send that to the board that information. The legal information that you yeah we have that we yeah okay that's fine, because I'm okay they have it we haven't talked to you okay I thought it was yeah we wanted to double check that before we removed the HIV video from 8th grade that was so wholly inappropriately, inaccurate now that it was detrimental to students. Yeah I definitely want to check that before we take a vote um on it, because if people are if I mean it could be that we have the curriculum and um a decision is made from whoever to take out the gender and sexual orientation and um all of the definitions without the board even knowing um because they have approved
117that curriculum um and if it differs from classroom to classroom like that's. That's that's why we keep the mission and the policies of Saline Area Schools at the center of all of these conversations because it is the goal of Saline Area Schools to make sure that those things are happening and that's very important to the SEAB as well as to Dr. Laatsch to make sure that um we are doing what we say we're going to do. Yeah and SEAB strictly brings recommendations to the board um that's that's the role. Right beyond that I can't speak to what happens but we are committed to what is um in front of us us for yeah for those things. And I would also when we talk about at the building level it was mentioned about splitting gender right
118like the genders I think that needs to be something the board I think SEAB had talked about it being together um the curriculum taking it together, so I think that's something if we need to as a board make a decision on I think we need to do that. That is outside the purview of the SEAB, that is an operating guideline that is not a curricular recommendation, and so while we recommend that it' be mixed gender classroom and I would say... That is in your recommendations though to be clear? But yeah recommend but it is not part of the adoption. Yep because. Okay so that's did that answer all your questions? Right thank you. So I guess I'd ask for one more clarification. Come to the mic. We we're almost we're we're almost time we have one
119quick statement from Vice President Steben and I just want to note she will she's got a third you have a third question that's just will your statement interrupt the flow? Marcy I just wanted to really thank you for coming up to the podium and and we should definitely I I see a lot of Heritage folks here, we should definitely be listening to the people who have to operationalize this, I just wanted to really thank you for your comments. Great, so Kristen Hoffman-Peavler and is going to get sir her her and Cam the deep background to Steve and we'll pass it along to the board to help us in our final decision in two weeks or four weeks. You had another question to a clarifying question to ask yeah um you talked specifically about additions and
120subtractions, but I think what I've appreciated with my talks with Cameron is that we have looked at trying to find the common ground, where we've saw some disagreements about this curriculum or some differences or feelings about about this we've talked and sat and kind of already started that process of finding some common ground, or what we think might be the best practices, or some changes so that doesn't necessarily mean a subtraction it doesn't mean an addition it means changes changes in verbage, changes in that, and I just want to be assured because teachers are weary about this, we have been told that we will have that discretion because we want to take time with this we feel like this is a serious topic and we do want to have time with it and it has
121been hard. A lot of the review process was over the summer again I give Cameron credit I asked him I said I think the best bet was can you bring this curriculum to our building this will make it easier for teachers I myself when I first heard about this felt like I can't reach out to my members or do anything until I myself have saw the curriculum and to be honest summer hours and getting the chance to come to the office here to to do that was really hard and I could not do that over um most of the summer Cameron I said to him I said can we get it here, it'll make it easier and he brought it to Heritage and more teachers have now had the time to do at least that
122initial revision and look at it and have some feedback on it and I think we have already maybe start that process if it goes forward um we just want to make sure that we can do that and I want to I'm getting mixed from teachers, you know we've been told this, but in the past it has always been that you look at the final like the final draft and that's what you were voting on and approving or not approving and that's what I just want to go back to my teachers and say what it even if you say yes to the curriculum, we can still have those conversations, that again might not include addition, we're not adding on but we have the opportunity for maybe some subtractions or maybe some substitutions. Do you think we
123my question to you is do you think a week and a half would be sufficient? No, I'm sorry. I I appreciate that. The the number of meetings that we already have a lot of times whether it's within our contract hours or anything else I I don't feel like it is there's a lot the beginning of the year is a very tough time for us, we're in a process of assessing our students, getting to know our students, and everything, that's the one concern I guess as a person I might recommend then if we need to be more involved in that process to present you with something that maybe we're thinking about or we've looked at we feel un comfortable with. I would recommend putting off the vote, not in two weeks. I hope you don't mind
124I'd actually would probably chime in to it from just from the teachers lens if you will like just the beginning of the year is about creating relationships and community and like trying to get into our classrooms and some of that kind of stuff too so, I would think that like giving teachers the time to to do that will allow those robust things to happen when they're not going through all this transition of trying to figure out what's happening with their students, who's got needs like IEPs, and all that stuff so I I back that entirely. Thanks Brad. I'd like to add let Dr Laatsch handle that particular issue right now. I would like everybody to consider though that um as Kristen mentioned they've already sought guidance to say that if you are taking things off
125the plate, so to speak and even if it's a compromise it's still taking something off the plate, that is still um within the purview of the teachers and the administrators and how it would be implemented. Just like right now for any of our curriculum math curriculum, ELA we constantly have teachers to discussing with administration about well we have to adjust this or we're not going to teach that part of the lesson because it doesn't meet the students needs we we are having that those discussions all the time with our current curriculum even though that's what's been approved by the board. So I would suggest that there should be some latitude on how the administration and the teaching staff implements the curriculum even if it's it's approved in full so to speak. Now you can push
126it off I'm not saying you have to vote on it next week or the next meeting, but I would want people to consider that our teaching staff and our administrative staff, do need to have some level of flexibility on how they implement any of our curriculum. I I think um to some extent some of the things that have been brought up here though are would impact my vote so the idea of voting on what we have now and then then they go back and change it, I might have voted different. I think that's that's where we want the clarification we understand that this curriculum I think falls under different purview you know with laws and things like that versus just the analogy of our regular math curriculum or something like that um we just want
127to make sure that we understand that or whatever and let you know that you know if if presented to us at this point like what we see, there are some parts that teachers are not comfortable with, and have would like to see some changes too and things like that so and having gone through this process before, they really had the questions to want to make sure the legality of it that what kind of would we have the time and knowing that the week the vote is only in two weeks that what we were super concerned about like you know what you see right now, you know if you agree on that you know if we do want to make some changes to it um would we be able to. So I want to real quick
128and I I know Lauren had I know Lauren had her hand up um I just wanted to say real quick I think there's a question of whether you could substitute you use that word um I appreciate you bringing this up I really do. I know that we have um representation of um staff and teachers on our committee um I do know that um I believe Kara worked with um Cameron and uh Kristen on actually the outline and I thought that was wonderful that that was brought to the committee, because it was you know seeing exactly how that would go um I do think we need teacher, staff voice, and maybe that's a meeting with Kara uh possibly um well probably you know Cameron, Kristen, and also um hold on our um teachers and um who
129are on SEAB um to maybe have a conversation. And I also just want to say that the SEAB over the years has done their due diligence in surveying staff time and again to ask for their feedback on things and it has been overwhelmingly geared to change, that we need to change, and this doesn't work anymore the kids aren't getting what they want so the the committee has has done their very best to make sure that they're getting that feedback, prior to making any sort of a recommendation, so that we are serving the needs of what the data is that we get back, you know, and so if the if the if the data is showing largely that stakeholders in all areas are saying this doesn't work, we need more change then that is what we
130have to go on, so and I get your your your need for wanting to like look at it and think about implementation, but I just wanted to bring that up too that we have been doing that work as well. Great well one thing I can share with you and I know Dr. Gold you had something to add um one thing I can share is that the two weeks from now was completely arbitrary and we're happy to give you as much time as you need within reason, because we need to get the staff trained in by spring when this this comes into effect so we'd rather this be approved as a as a whole it's multifaceted and multi- parts and and challenging for some people absolutely we get that, but so I I'd like to give
131you as much time as possible by taking it off the table at this point and letting you go back to the drawing board uh to talk with your teachers, does this sound? Not the you know what I mean to the room. Dr. Gold did you have anything you wanted to add at this point thank you I do um I uh echo Trustee Estep that we did seek uh educator input and the input of people who uh understood um teaching because that was a big issue for me and I appreciate the feedback of the teachers who spoke up here. I think as a person who is going to be asked to vote on this, what I would ask is um if you are making, I think not right now, but before we vote on this we
132would need to know whether or not there's a consensus of the 5h grade teachers with specific concerns, because I don't want kids in Mrs A's class to get a different education than kids in Mr B's class than kids in Mrs C's class. I think that's unfair to all the kids and so um I think we're trying to be sensitive in bringing up concerns and I really appreciate that, but uh my questions are not for right at the second, but my questions for when I have to make a decision upon this is are you I understand that you're the union rep are you speaking for the majority of the 5th grade teachers who are going to be able who are going to uh be asked to implement this, because if the majority of the 5th grade
133teachers have concerns that are specific and actionable and we can as a board have some clarity as to I'm not talking about you know all the teas crossed all the eyes dotted exactly what you're going to teach, I understand that it's an art and a science right, but I would like some understanding as to what we're really speaking about rather than kind of in euphemisms if there's a a majority of the teachers who have concerns about some part of the curriculum, and we can understand okay we're passing this as a board, but there was this that seems very different to me than the question of like well when the administrative guidelines go through, we're going to do a this teacher's going to tweak this this teacher's going to tweak that I feel embarrassed to say
134the word masturbation in my office, and I understand that is what could happen I mean if you ask six pediatricians how they talk to their patients you're going to get some differences in the style, but what I don't want is differences in the spirit and content and so that's when I'm having a hard time understanding frankly from the references to how it was done in the past as somebody who's not doing that and I'm also having a hard time understanding whether this is whether you're speaking about the plurality of the 5th grade teachers having significance concerns or some people having some little tweaks, I can't tell and uh so that's not for us to do tonight. I'm just saying I understand you're having this discussion with um Mr. Cochran and you're but in order for
135us to vote, I think we have to know what we're voting on, because it's now I thought I was kind of clear on it and this question of having margin notes and makes it feel unclear and I share I both have empathy for the teachers having to do the hard work of teaching this curriculum with giggling 5th graders and you know it's not easy to for anyone to talk about sex, but I also really strongly agree with with Trustee Estep that people's personal discomforts can't get in the way of the mandate of giving kids information and I'm not saying I know our teachers are the utmost professionals so if it's just a style difference or things like that that that feels different to me, than there's major concerns with the curriculum, and I can't tell
136based on the statements tonight. I would like to have better understanding of that before I have to vote. So Dr. Gold had her hand up just before I said let's let's let's end the discussion um Dr. Laatsch is got a suggestion for how to move forward and I'd like to hear that and then we'll close it and go back to the. Okay so what what I am hearing tonight from all of the voices is that the Board of Education's not ready to vote on this at the next meeting there's just too many things that need to be addressed so my recommendation if the Board of Ed agrees with this, would be that you do go back and work with the 5th grade teacher specifically on figuring out what this compromised curric or however you want
137to word it however you're going to reset the curriculum so that then there would be another time that you come back to the board and present what that actually will look like, so that every like all to Trustee Gold's point, that all the 5th grade teachers would be in relative agreement that this is how it would would be taught, and therefore you could present that back to the Board of Education again and then at the following meeting following that, then that would be when a vote would occur because I think right now I'm hearing there's just too many unknowns about how that would play out. So it would be really really helpful if the teachers could fill out the Google form like every single one of them so that we can take that information and
138compile it into a big document and find the common places where there are there's praise and concern right. ...nervous to fill it out which is why we're here speaking on behalf of our colleagues... Yeah, okay so what we can do is we can create a separate Google Form for you with the same exact questions and take off the email thing, so that you guys can feel free to to do that, that feel good? I'm going to suggest that. Thank you for asking that. Details that you have to work out you will work out outside of. Not in front of you. Thank you. In the evening. you're very kind to read my mind and since this is not an action item, we there's no vote to take. I just thank you all for your support and
139thank you Marcy what's your last name Goya? Goyette goyet oh j g o y e t t e. Yes. Great thank you, thank you very much. Let me just wrap my head around what's next. I'd like to welcome Treasurer Brad Gerbe to the floor to discuss the board finance committee updates he has a few. I do. All right uh finance committee met today at five o'clock and we had a number of items on our agenda. I'll try to go through them and give just a quick summary and and what have you. So obviously the first first thing that we looked at was our initial uh pupil accounting and unofficial count uh count day is in October so I don't want to get you know too far ahead of things there's still some transientness, but the
140the positive thing is that enrollment is trending in a in a positive way for us in the regard of uh we anticipate I think I could say with confidence that we will realize a much, we will realize a smaller increase in enrollment than we had projected, um so that's always good to be in that in that way we'd much rather be projecting in the positive than the negative and and that's good. One there's a couple of areas of with enrollment that are are are very interesting to watch as as we watch them over time, the first one is um our Y5s in kindergart, our Y that's our young 5s programs in our kindergarten that enrollment is is looking like it's going to trend positively and double figures, which is good. So I I I love
141that we're capturing young hornets and they'll be with us for for many many years and then the other place we're seeing is we saw some small um cohort changes like little adds here in there, but we saw a pretty s we're seeing what may end up being may be because it's not count day yet um a pretty positive growth at the ninth grade level of of students coming who are in different programs K-8 who now choose to come back to the high school, so uh that that's another thing that that looks positive okay. Then we talked about okay then how did we uh you know we had made some changes to say okay but we're you know the thing that we should realize though as a district is that well that's awesome we were anticipating
142all over 100 student decrease we're still going to realize some kind of decrease and so we are still, as a finance team, talking about we want to get to a point where our finances and our structures are are equivalent and so that then we talk about, with regards to fund balances and with regards to expenditures and revenues. I mean we're we're equal if not in the in the black right and so we want to make sure that we're having those conversations so that our um we're we're teaching our pupils as with the best class ratios and class sizes and all those things but at the same time doing those things in a way that also respects our structures right and so so that's there and uh we we will continue that work so you know
143we talked about but there are also things where we we added for example like Pleasant Ridge we were pleased about the kindergarten enrollment and we added a an FTE there with with because we wanted to maintain that educational environment for for young people. So we're we're we're proud of the work that we're doing there, and I think that reflects our conversations about people accounting uh and hiring okay so that is that. We talked about the bond we should as a as a board we we we we can look into the board projects and there's awesome stuff on the school website that that you know Jackie is doing and what have you and that's like seeing the updates and Rex with the Transportation Center it's all looking very exciting. We looked at the finance piece and
144I guess here's the quick view of the financing piece is that we have currently out of the $180 million bond we spent about $29 million of it, we we have about $35 million which is in um which we've approved in incumbered projects right so these are things that we've approved and that are on the horizon, so we've spent about 64 million of the 180 million, but that's not necessarily right now you know shovels in the ground that's stuff that extends from now till spring and then what we'll do is we're going to then keep bringing things probably more spring summer because that's more construction season, and we'll continue as we move along like next thing we probably move to is things like the at the the the athletic updates you know Crabtree and some of
145those kinds of things. So I don't want to necessarily say what we'll do because sometimes those projects, because of money because of availability we can shift and move, but that's kind of where we're at on that. We are going to do a presentation as part of the second meeting in October we plan to do that with some of those more specific bond things so um Superintendent Laatsch said that we would bring that to the board just the board can get a little more clarity with that that maybe the finance team got to see today okay. Initial feedback on our audit is looking they call it clean, clean is good, uh but again I would anticipate that process finishing up uh end of October and early into early November and then uh two more things we
146had an as far as updates from the State go we are still awaiting clarity with regards to the 3% and uh how that'll all kind of pass through and all of that, so uh the the legislature is not reconvened and and they will probably have a little bit of a limited session between now and November 5th, but at the same time like we're still waiting for some clarity on that and the MIPster adjustment, and all that and then the last thing we talked about um was we talked about our Informacast system and how we've been really awesome and really fortunate to be able to to put that into into place for and and Dr. McVey talked about that earlier we talked about the button alert system and some of the funding that would be required
147for that kind of thing and we had uh in we had taken I I had sent that off or Dr. Laatsch, I should say I sent it to him, and Dr. Laatsch that sent that off to Jay Grossman head of technology, and guess what I could tell you is that in order to do something to that nature and it doesn't have to be specifically that, but we would have to um keep that in mind as we continue with ours because of Bluetooth necessities with regards to relays and feet and how that ties into our WiFi long story short the thing that encouraged me about it was that he said yes we're on top of it and we're talking about it and Dr. Laatsch you know we added that to our capital projects agenda and so
148we keeping those safety things in mind, I guess is what I want to say overall I don't want to get too ingrained in a specific thing but we're talking about those things and I'm really thankful that we're doing that so that was our six items that we talked about for an hour today. Thank you Treasurer Gerbe. Administration/Board updates here's the order I'm gonna ask Dr. Laatsch for a quick comment followed by Kate and Tommy, if that's right and then we can work our way around starting with Dr. Gold or starting with Tim Austin. I don't care. Okay you want me go first? Okay. Minor quick uh thank you everyone for getting off to a great start to the school year when I was um touring the buildings at the beginning of the school year often
149it's you know things are uh not all always ready this year I felt like everything was ready, kids were doing great, so were the teaching staff, and our support staff so just um thought it was was a really good first couple weeks, and then just wanted to thank Rex again um Trustee Gerbe gave a good update on the bond, I mean Rex has really been working very hard over the summer and has really just kept these projects on on track uh 95% of the summer work is completed maybe even a little more at this point, but the um stewardship with Miranda and Finance and Rex with the um you know the vision and the direction of this bond it's really going very very well, and I'm really pleased and and uh supportive of the process
150so. We don't have too much to add but we just want to say thank you to the teachers and staff who made the first couple of weeks smooth into transitioning from summer and all the sports are back up and it's exciting for the year coming up. And I'll be quick too um kind of the same thing thanks to the staff and all that they've done to uh make the the new year start out right and uh the enthusiasm we saw with the new staff. Also want to say maybe I'll knock on wood here real quick um with Transportation last year was a whole lot different we were talking about um you know bus routes being taken away and this and that and Rex was spending a lot of time in the in the bus and
151not doing the other important things and in this year we you know as of right now we've kind of got a handle on that and it's it's amazing what some work on the... Four applications. Four applications that's awesome and I think that has a lot to do with the um just the the ESP Contract and some of the changes we made to that so that's great. All right, I'm going to be brief also I want to echo the uh gratitude to um everyone at Saline Area Schools who has made the start of a new school year positive and for everyone who uh welcomed um all of the students back to buildings and classrooms and buses and all of the places, so thank you uh I sometimes feel like thank you isn't enough because the job
152of starting a new school year um I think it was Cam Cochran asked me earlier today like how how's the start of your school year going and I said I don't know because I haven't stopped to think about it, but I think okay. It's just really really busy and so um I appreciate the uh the weariness and the cognitive load that our um entire staff has right now and hopefully we will all settle in soon and feel a new normal. Routines bring that to us so that's all good. I wanted to also mention um in our meeting so that uh so that everyone has an opportunity to hear it that we are having an additional policy meeting um to the typical cadence of our meetings we will be having a policy meeting on September 16th
153at 5:30 we will still have the policy meeting that is scheduled for Tuesday, September 24th at 5:00 the reason for the additional meeting is that we had uh some proposed um modifications to the policy which is Policy 9141 which is our DEIAC Policy, and because of those recommendations and modifications it has caused us to look um at some parts of that policy in particular and so there is one piece that we feel we have a sense of urgency around and that is the um piece that specifically addresses seating new DEIAC Members and we know that we have a number of vacancies and in order for that committee to run smoothly and to to be able to do the work that they do, we understand that there's a sense of urgency we also understand that the
154board has requested two opportunities for discussion around uh any sort of revision that is made and so we are pulling that piece forward so that we can move move that hopefully, if uh well not hopefully I'll just say if the policy committee decides to move that forward it could move forward sooner rather than later so that we can move forward um with seating those members, and so uh so I have I requested that the policy meeting meet or the policy committee meet for an additional time so that we can move forward on that more quickly. So that is the reason for it um and then we will continue continue with our discussion as planned at our next meeting, so if you would like to join us September 16th at 5:30 and then again September 24th
155at 5:00 pm thanks. Quick clarifying question are you aiming for a one hour meeting or? We are actually aiming for a 30 minute meeting, however we know that um with public comment that you know sometimes that isn't um you know it within our control, but that is what we're aiming for. Got it. Are these clarifying questions? Or actual changes, because we're holding up a board committee? They're uh legal recommendations that we'll be discussing. Thank you, I do have a quick note that on Thursday in two nights at 6:30 the District is going to host a candidates forum, here in this very room, it'll be streamed and recorded and uh I would like to also note that our very own Tommy Allmand and Kate Sonnenday are going to be the emcee's or hosts or I think
156that's the what they've got planned at this point. You will not be firing off the questions though but you're going to be you're going to be the not even the moderators, you're uh you're just going to be our hosts for the evening, and we'll and I the board if there are any incumbents on the board they'll be sitting at the table and I'll be sitting in the audience and you'll be just uh helping us get settled in all right thank you. I'm I'm sure Jackie Martin we'll give you all the details, because I don't know any of them. Thank you that's really all all I have to say, I'll pass it over to Jennifer Steben, unless you're ready Susan, still not? Okay. Okay I'll go um I was going to mention that so I won't
157now um a couple other dates though coming up for other activities. Let's see these aren't necessarily in order sorry um our homecoming parade is October 4th the lineup starts at 4:30 and then the parade starts at 5:00, always a good time to see what the kids are doing I don't know if the two of you are in it or all right or involved in it. Our fall luncheon for the Foundation for Saline Area Schools and Fundraiser is on October 30th here at the Liberty School Cafeteria from 12:00 to 1:00. So if anyone would like to attend the Trustees are trying to get um tables together and um I'm sure they would love you to be there. I'm skipping that one um November 3rd is our deadline for grants for the Foundation for Saline Area Schools,
158lots of updates with them, because our meeting was today. So any teachers that are listening if they need money for innovative projects in their classrooms or buildings on November 3rd. our Run Tough for Chad Tough is on September 29th, it did change to Sunday this year, it's at 2:00 I think remarks are, I have a card, 2:15 are opening remarks by um by the Carrs and then the race starts at 2:30 and the Foundation will have a table because they're trying to get volunteers of all different ages and buildings, so you can stop by their table. They have generated $73,500 in corporate sponsorships for this academic year, that's 39 companies, so well done to our volunteers there, and I think those are all of my Foundationee updates. The only other thing that I wanted to
159mention is I was at the away game at Dexter for football this past Friday and another parent said something to me about our student section and said how impressed they were with the kids having fun, you know, you know, you know doing some games and getting into the Western theme but really acting responsibly and um just really enjoying the game and each other uh and I loved hearing that and I know how hard our High School staff works because I see them and Dr. Laatsch down on the track or whatever outside of the the field so thank you to the students for always being um good ambassadors especially at our away games. Mr. Gerbe. All right um so yeah I'll be happy to participate Thursday 6:30 I'm looking forward to what kinds of questions you
160guys have with putting us on the hot seat and all of that and so looking forward to that. I also want to exp extend my thanks for for the new staff and the people that we met tonight it it seemed like quite the quite an excellent group of of people with diverse experiences and all those kinds of things so it was that was really awesome to see, I'm excited that we got to meet them tonight. I want to thank our staff and our coaches you know the beginning of the school year is kind of like drinking from a fire hose right, there's just there's a lot for the staff to analyze and to to figure out about our classes you know you're figuring out simple things like names, but you're also figuring out what those
161names mean things about those those kids right and about those families, and so just trying to figure out all those things and I I know that I've witnessed it with my own children, I witnessed this with other children that our staff is extraordinary and they really like prioritize that those things and they really want to be good like they want to be better than good they want to be great and awesome for for kids. So so I'm I'm really thankful for that and what have you um and then the last thing I have that's on my mind you heard me earlier talking about you know the the system that we talked about with regards to Informacast and all of that and um I remisssed if I I I've just I've had it with having to
162talk about gun violence in schools and the only acceptable thing to me is zero. Right, like that is the only acceptable thing in a school and and I know that we keep talking about and we've we've really done a lot of good things in our school district, I want to make sure I say those things out loud with reviewing our Safety plan and having ALICE training and you know the the Informacast system and what have you, but I I sure hope that our politicians and our people who out there I don't know if they're listening to me right now and but like I I want us to to talk about these things they're difficult conversations, but at the same time like every kid no matter whether we're red, we're blue, however you vote whatever you
163do we all want to send our kids to school and we all want them to come home safe we want the staff members who love and care about them to come home safe. Zero is the acceptable number for me on that and so I I don't know I'm just racking my brain about I want to keep thinking about sensible solutions and all of that kind of thing and I'm sad my heart goes out to those people in Georgia, but we got to keep trying and we got to talk to our people and say what can we do, and that's that so, thank you for your time tonight. I had um the opportunity to attend the Middle School Open House and um uh of course I'm thankful to the staff but I wanted to specifically shout
164out the kids who were doing the greetings and handing out the maps, in case any of their parents are listening, because I know they're not watching a school board meeting but just the nicest sweetest kids with a map, and I can't read a map but they still kept trying to help me it's a good thing I don't have to go back to Middle School. They just really spoke well of the district I know there's probably a name for that team that uh shows parents around but they just were so enthusiastic about their job they made me smile and they were very helpful so a shout out to the Middle School welcome team at openhouse if anyone's listening tell them Dr. Gold says good job, and then I wanted to thank uh Mr. Cochran and Kristen
165Hoffman-Peavler and the entire SEAB Committee uh who have worked so diligently on this, for so long, and I think you know we're all learning a lot in the process and it's a hard process but thank you to them because they have put endless hours into this, and then lastly uh I just wanted to highlight that September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and I know there are Hornets in the district who are uh affected in a multitude of ways as survivors or currently fighting or family members with childhood cancer and it's a topic of course we have Chad Tough and then the wider childhood cancer community a it's a topic near and dear to my heart and even once you survive, the kids cope with uh the ramifications and families and siblings co cope with ramifications
166for a long time so uh just an extra shout out uh to those kids and the people who love them and the teachers who teach them for September. Thank you Lauren by the way I've been going to that school with children in the school and others since for the last 17 years. I'm still getting lost, so it's absolute, it it is I I don't know who the architect was but I I want that name. Miss Estep and then we're going to go on. Yes um so um yep I will be at the forum on Thursday as well, I was super excited to to find out that it is totally student um led and we're getting uh questions from the students. In 2018, it was um I believe the student debate team who did it and
167um and so you know just gives me energy and you know that that's why we're here and so I'm I'm looking forward to that, then let me see um so the uh DEIAC has a meeting coming up sept September 25th um hopefully we will have members prior to that, um you know our um Superintendent appointed uh Ryan Kerr um who's uh one of the chairs and um hopefully he can move forward to do his job and support us in appointing um uh new uh members who um have applied and we have a we don't most of our members um left, so um hopefully um we can do that uh very soon uh prior to the meeting. Clarifying question what time is that meeting? DEIAC, you said the 25th, I'm just curious as to when you
168usually meet? Well let me check yeah 6:30. 6:30 they usually go for an hour, half an hour? An hour. All right that's cool thank you. I'd like to entertain without reading this part I'd like to entertain a motion to authorize a consent agenda as printed. So moves Steben. JS. Support Miller. JM. All in favor please say I. I... Opposed. We have a consent agenda passed. Let me just skip ahead items on the next agenda Dr. Laatsch. Yep we're moving up uh enrollment update so I'll provide an enrollment update with Miranda's help and assistance with numbers for the next meeting and we're also having Monique Uzelac she's the director of WEOC which is Washtenaw Educational Options. They support WIHI, Early College Alliance, WAVE, and so forth and she's coming to just talk about the programs to
169make sure the Board of Education knows what they do and and that some of our students do attend those programs, and then um we'll go on close session for the quarterly update for superintendent evaluation. That's right there may be another item as well well so thank you. We have public comment and a member of the public may address the board and I believe the member of the public is sitting right now here, heading to the podium, fully aware of the timing rules, because this is not your first rodeo. I do have a question and I and I kind of want feedback from it, so because everybody has left. um it's related to the SEAB teacher that stood here, I know she represented grade 5, my curiosity you if you can answer, is if they're going
170to, Cameron and Kristen Peavler, are going to send the survey to the teachers without the names on it, is that going to go to grade 6, 7, and 8 as well? As they didn't, I just want to make sure that all the teachers have the same opportunity to give the same kind of feedback and I don't know if I should send them a question email or if that's something that comes from y'all? Just it's best that you send the email. To you or to them? Give it to any either anyone was on the board we'll make sure it gets to them unless you do have their email addresses directly. Oh yeah I mean I just didn't know if you were doing it anyway why send them two. But a good question send it to them.
171Okay. All right you haven't started your public comment yet. No thanks it's like 90 seconds one I wanted to publicly say thank you to all the um teachers who did um back to school night for lack of a better term at the High School um as a mom of more than one student it is uh a challenge to get around the building more than once to hit all 12 people um I didn't make it um I did um however at my request receive um 7 of the 12 syllabus or syllabi excuse me um for the classes I'm looking forward to receiving the other ones. I got the seven same day um and I'm also looking forward to seeing the syllabi for Hornet Time um which Karen and I going to have a chitchat about later,
172it I think it is really important especially in the last year or two that it just seems like transparency is such an issue and that such a volatile time, I think it's important to know what's coming at you and um or or what you want clarification on when it comes to your kids, whether it's sex ed or after school activity or how we're using academic time um so I am appreciative to the teachers who did send it already and I look forward to getting the other ones as well because their time is valuable thanks. Thank you Miss Gunnerson appreciate that. The next board meeting will be held on September 24th at 6:30, in this room, and I'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular Board of Education meeting at 9:02. So moved Estep.
173Thank you SE. Tim said support. Tim did you just? Support. Move to support. Let me carefully write your name down. All in favor please say I. I... 7-0 thank you very much everyone. 9:02 I said? Thank you good night everyone. Oh [tap, tap] there we go.