Saline Area Schools: Budget Hearing & Board of Education Meeting (06.11.2024)

001Good to see you. Thank you. You know what I've never gotten  so many compliments. This yes. All right we are   live. I'd like to call to order the um Budget  Hearing Meeting of the Saline Area Schools Board   of Education of July, June 11, 2024 uh so we it  was standing as you're able I'd like to ask uh   Jenny Miller to start is off with the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States  of America and to the Republic for which it stands   one nation, under God indivisible, with liberty and  justice for all. Thank you Jenny Miller who   sounded a lot like Tim Austin tonight. Public  comment member of the public may speak tonight   but we have no members of the public uh who are  wishing to speak so we will

002move directly to uh   I'd like to entertain a um a motion to uh approve  the agenda as printed. So move Steben. Steben JS. Just   for the budget. Just for the budget hearing yes  sir. Too late Tim Austin got it by a nose. All   in favor please say I. I... Oppose. Great we have, that  is 6-0. We're missing one board member, we do have a   trustee, I mean we do have a quorum. So I'd like  to introduce Assistant Superintendent for Finance   Miranda Owlsey. Who is going to uh tell us, everything we've ever wanted to know about budgets   our budget here at Saline Area Schools thank you  Miranda. All right so on the next slide we have um   just kind of an overview of what we're what we're  doing here why we're here today. So our fiscal

003year   as you see in the yellow I've kind of highlighted  our fiscal year ends June 30th, even though we get   a lot of refunding from the State and you see  in the blue bar their fiscal year goes through   August. So at this point in time it's a legal um  uh for it's a legal requirement for us to adopt   and amend budgets by June 30th, we don't have any  set things from the State at this point there's   three different proposals out, there they don't  have a consensus yet, and what it is. So we have to   move forward regardless and meet our con our laws  that are abiding by what our fiscal calendar looks   like. In general we also this is also a budget  hearing it is in talks of we um tax um put our taxes  

004out to collect the local taxes and that is this  budget hearing that that's including those taxes.   The action items for tonight so we're talking  about this current fiscal year that's closing June   30th, we're amending that budget and then we're  also adopting the FY25 next year's budget um that   also we taking action on the tax rates as well  for reference only in the documents that you'll   see I've also projected out FY26 and 27, those  just really help us plan it's hard to look in   just that snapshot without looking ahead to see  kind of where we're going a lot of those you'll   see they're more of a worst case scenario kind of  rolling forward, but if we plan for there and then   we can continue to monitor it as it gets closer  and closer into reality. We

005also are doing all   of our funds, so um that's one thing to note, we  talk a lot about the general fund but a lot of   others. So as we slide to the next slide um this is  basically what the tax form actually looks like. So   we have seven taxing authorities that we send  out this information to and they collect taxes   on our behalf. So we have Bridgewater, Freedom Lodi,  Pittsfield, City of Saline, Saline Township, and York.   So in general this piece of this document so in  the first piece across the top in that heavy blue   our black arrow you see our operating millage and  this is again you'll notice the difference on this   one and this is the only difference is we just  renewed this, we went to to voters and asked   them to renew

006it for another 10 years. So you'll  see that the expiration date to the far right is   in 2033. So in general that's renewed for another  10 years, even though we have a larger number   that we're authorized to do we only Mill 18 Mills,  that's the cap, that's the max. We start with that   larger number because there's a thing called Headlee  Rollback that slowly brings that number down and   we don't want to go below that 18 Mills because then  we lose money so in general we put that up there   even though we only collect 18 Mills. The the next  section in that red bar we have to collect the   debt um separately and track it separately for our  different um kind of like those mortgage payments   that we say we put out those debt um payments

007to  fund our bonds, but they're in different sections   so the collective of that red bar is the 7.5 Mills  that we talked about and went to the voters to   pass the next Bond, and we were reducing that down to  7.5 Mills. So that's reflected there. In the very   bottom we have a sinking fund and CARES millage,  the Headlee roll back this year didn't reduce those   down so those are the same Mills that we were um  Milling the prior year and then in general those   will be needing authorization again you'll see  they expire in 2027 so those will need renewals   back out to the voters and again. So just kind of  some estimates at the bottom so you kind of get   an idea of how much each of those um tax buckets  collects us on an

008annual basis and on to the   next slide. Just kind of reminding us what we talk  about when we use the terminology general fund   when you use bonds, these are all the finance  things that um us as an organization handles.   So in general we I keep track of all of these in  very separate funds and some of these still have a   lot of transactions, sometimes just large in size  as a debt payment you know there's $23 million   going out to a debt payment, we collect taxes on  it goes on a regular basis and then those go out.   So they're all different rules all different  kind of ways that they they operate so we have   heavily rely and talk about the general fund  because trying to make those ends meet is very   important, but there's also a

009lot of functionality  throughout the finance office and throughout this.   Everyone on the exterior sees sling as a whole  but it it's made up of all of these different   pots we we know our Community Ed sits in this  building and is a great resource for us as a   school district, as well as the CARES Recreation  millage all the way to food service and all of our   fundraising activities, that a lot of our clubs  and teams do on their own, to make all of what   happens at this school district happen it doesn't  just take one it's a very takes a village. This   next slide is kind of talks about how the state  has control of our general fund and our revenues.   In general this bar across here I've used a very  set even example if they if

010they set the   per pupil allowance at 9,700 per pupil times you  know the number of FTE students that sets a pot.   Then depending on how much we get in tax revenue. Is how much the state will chip in to make that   whole. So in this example here if the yellow bar  gets smaller then the state, the blue bar has to   get bigger and if general what we are experiencing  in the current, our local taxes, that operational   millage I just talked about does increase, it  doesn't mean that this we get more money. It   means that the state sets the bar and then they  have to chip in less they will assume we collect   18 Mills, whether we do or we don't, so when you don't  collect it you basically lose money on the table,   because they assume

011that you are collecting it. So  it's an important piece when I was like oh you're   going to tax more. We can't tax more than the 18  Mills, and we're also assumed we are going to collect   that 18 Mills. One of the other pieces that I wanted  to that, I did put on here is a it's a big buzzword,   and kind of news and things like that is UAAL. It's  basically you've also heard Unfunded Liability.   Back many years ago, the pension system came out  and said they were underfunded, they didn't have   enough to pay their obligations in the future,  and so there's all these different programs and   different ways that money is they're trying to fix  that. In general the the piece for us is we flow   through money in our budgets, so I talked the

012very  last time in our February Amendment because it was   a big shift down, and what I talked about is this  UAL and a lot of pass through money comes to the   district. We see that the revenue is equal to the  expense. So it's really important to remember that   so it goes up they both go up our revenues and our  expenditures and then sometimes they come down and   it's not because we're actually spending more or  spending less, it's just that there's shifts that   affect us as a whole to those total numbers. One  of the big pieces that I do internally at Saline   that makes it really important to not to get  this right, is in my budgeting processes I have   holistically separated out our retirement costs  of what we pay for every salary dollar we pay

01330   31 32 cents on every dollar for salary that we pay  in consistent, but I also um then have a separate   process for UAL and I'm not combined those those are  separated out so I am very assured that everywhere   in my budgets I have budgeted the revenue and  the expenditure on both of those sides and as   well as my internal process is when we get that  revenue in and we we expend it at that point   in time. Some people do a process where there's  always a true up that happens and sometimes if   you're not monitoring that it can sneak up on  you. It's not that that there's any different   you didn't spend more, spend less but you weren't  counting on something and making bad choices on   bad data, and so when that comes to Saline

014very  specifically I pay that bill and I also expense   that bill at that moment dollar for dollar at the  exact same amount. So we're progressing forward   in a way that we will not pool up a a difference,  because it's internal that way, and and basically   so the last piece to note about that is as you  can see on the right hand side I've said like   I've showed that I pulled that UAL out. It actually  is across all of every single salary account, even   across our other funds. Wherever Community Ed yet has  to have the UAL revenue and expenditure on it, but I   in my forecasting for future, I just leave it flat  so that I can take that revenue, leave it flat and   those expenditures and leave it flat it's not  netting out to any

015difference at the bottom,   but you'll see those are those dramatic shifts  2021 it's 4.5 million 2022 is 5.3 2023 they did an   additional one time, on the one time kind of payment,  and so we were at 9.7 and so you see I've brought   it back down to this year going to be about  6.9. So it is a big shift that that really it's   operationally kind of heavy but it's also like at  the bottom line remembering that it always comes   back it is a revenue an expenditure but you just  want to be making sure your budgeting processes   as well as your internal processes are happening  robustly that you understand that process. So   on to the next slide, this holistically doesn't  change I leave it in here to kind of remind us   of how our general fund

016is made up. So this kind of  just shows us really quickly these maybe changed a   point something, or a percentage at at very most,  but you know our most of our revenues really   do come from that state, the intermediate sources  is mostly our special ed millage, they it's a the   county based um tax space that then act $18 that  comes to us um that's up for renewal again in that   November which makes a very significant um impact  to Saline in general it's $9 million for our   special ed programming that if that is not renewed  that just comes out. That revenue does not come to   us. So it is significant and would and would be  very catastrophic to our budget if it was not   renewed. So very very important. Local is more  talking about taxes sometimes

017um some donations or   gate receipts from some of the athletic things,  so a lot of small little pots adding up federal   is just kind of a couple of the different grants  that come through. On the next slide we kind   of talk then and we kind of look at that trend  of cross this is the one snippet of the bo the   transparency page that kind of we put up there  and kind of shows those actuals along the way.   I have put at the bottom of the slide some of the  assumptions that kind of go into those different   revenue um categories so in next year I'm still am  um factoring in a 110 student loss and what that   is representing is this if I take the kindergarten  class and say repeat we'll get the exact number   of

018kindergarteners this year as we have or next  year as we have this year and I graduate out the   seniors so it's just a straight rollup saying  our losses and our incomings and goings is all   just flat and so I think it's a very baseline  level to go. We've got we've seen a a decent   and enrollment trends, but you know it it's still  enrollment happens throughout the summer as well.   So we kind of see those and kind of track those  along the way. Then very next year so you'll see   the 130 students so that's there's one last class  that's over 400 right now that's kind of pulling   through so this next year is less of a hit but  then I roll the classes again in that bigger class   is then graduating out with a smaller class

019and  it's a different um scope and so the same thing in   the 108 that year. So it's just class sizes as they  roll forward um we hope that the fall comes in a   little bit better than that and then we'll have  better numbers as we amend budgets and the next   time kind of using a more conservative basis and  so that's kind of you'll see that same trend kind   of when you looked at the document maybe the um  original, to February, to what we're um recommending   today. So that's a kind of trend as we're going  and Foundation that's the state at this point in   time I've taken the lowest out of the three  proposals with Governor, House and the Senate.   Afterward, after those budgets came out from  those sectors, the revenue estimate conference   came out, and

020there was basically kind of a  cooling not a huge reduction but a kind of   a curb off on the revenue side, so with that in  information in mind I chose the lowest out of   the three. There was there were some things  that was happening that were significantly   kind of different between the governors and  some of the houses so I the conservative side   um felt more reasonable at this point in time,  and you see the next two years I repeated two   200 so I just put it nice and flat 200, if that's  the case that's where we'll be. Basically if   all three government branches had kept uh you  know kind of one time grant money in there I   put it in I removed anything that kind of looked  like it was trending to be one time

021and removed   those um items. The next slide. This is a kind of  the graph I kind of upkeep and kind of keep here   is really showing a really broad overtime view  and kind of that thinking about some of the two   big pieces um that affect schools budgeting. So it  go rolls all the way back to 2007 so it is giving   this big scope but we look at the red line being  retirement expense. So in general those are on a   percentage basis um that red line just showing  that cost increased so you know in the nine 2009,   10, 11 you see that are we significantly increase,  but we've also been creeping up in our expense   and we pay we're up to 31% of every dollar  for that goes to an ORS retirement system, and at   the

022same time the blue line is doing our Per Pupil  Foundation Allowance that we're getting from the   state so it's a kind of a revenue number they're  not in the same they're on the same scales but not   in you know you have to look to each side one's  dollars and one's a percent but it just kind of   shows you those trends happening at the same  time. So I think it's a very good thing to   when you talk about the future and the big moments  that we're kind of talking about in some of this   retirement system and and if things are getting  fully funded now, what would that be, and kind of   looking back to before it got we claimed those was  underfunded, and those shift has happened so we'll   kind of see in these next couple

023years it'll be a  interesting um play out of what happens. Looking   to the next slide. This is just flipping now to  the expenditure side and these are same thing   they they do not shift all that much if most one  percentage one way or the other. It's breaking down   in expenditures and kind of the instructional  programs and kind of all of those other little   pockets that make up the district, but the the bulk  of what we spend on our revenue or our expenditure   side is really instructional and we're allowed  to do that we have a robust bonds and sinking  funds and things like that, that help keep this  pot really robust and to and able to spend it on   a lot of instructional programs, where not every  district is able to do so. Next slide. Same

024concept  of expenditures just looking at it in a  different way instead of by category now we're   looking at what type of expenditures and so you'll  see that in our general fund 86% of it go right to   salaries and benefits. So it really makes up most  of of what is is comprised of, so same thing just   kind of these are very similar from year over year  but I think they're very good important parts to   remember what makes that up. So as we go to the  next slide, this is kind of um where I'm taking   the time to show what makes up those numbers, so  there's a lot of a lot of you know 1500 lines that   go into it all in micro things but as we roll  up these are the things that are really moving  

025um what I've put into those budgets. So we'll see  that this year uh there was 17 lane changes people   moving from a bachelor's to a master's, those  make a big difference on our budget as well as   we so we replaced um quite a few resignations,  retirements in the budget with um some of them   it's been a very busy hiring season for Carol  and so some of those are already known, because   those are things you've been seeing in the board  package that's coming through, that we have hired.   There's some still outstanding that that will  have to be done and then we've also done by   attrition reduced seven FTE positions so that's  kind of a look to the fall, then from those next   two projection years, I left them staffing  very flat definitely pulled in if they

026have   a um salary schedule per their union contracts  and things like that, I didn't move people down   down on those, but and did not um change staffing  in those models um there's a couple other little   pieces that shift. We always look at class sizes  and elementary and shift of those so if we having   you know a large enrollment in an area we take  care of that year-over-year and really looking   at at keeping those there. The other piece is that  the ORS with a lot of things changing I kept that   very flat over all three years um there may over  time be a small reduction if the governor took   in her budget, she took that savings for the the  state side and used it all up in the state side,   if it's put on the districts

027we may see a savings  and that reduction in that percentage or it could   be even employees, they could reduce what the  employees pay into the pension system there's   lots of talk and lots of political um talk about  how that that will be handled in the future as   the ORS unfunded part of the benefits, they're  kind of getting to that point where it's closer   to being not underfunded anymore. Next slide.  This kind of breaks down um the piece this is   how you guys are kind of approving it and the the  thing that gets posted to our transparency page   it is within every one of these programs, the  there is salaries, benefits, the materials and   th those things so you'll see that a lot of them  shift over time, some things um go up while other   things

028go down, as well as they all played out but  the biggest shift 86% of every one of these buckets   is salaries and benefits. So it's kind of  that staffing piece makes a big difference in   how those budgets play out. On the next slide.  This really focuses in, on the end product. So we   talked about where it where it all breaks down, we  look at the revenue coming in and the expenditures   going out in a year. Where does that leave us with  fund balance. What's the difference. Are we adding   to fund balance, are we reducing fund balance  and um when we see the very bottom is just per   straight percent. We leave on there the Michigan  Treasury fiscal watch you know kind of um line um   so that you know that's at 5% watch line, because 

029in past years we were a lot closer to that but the   reality of our total revenue is a percent of fund  balance and that's listed down there there's lots   of different ways to calculate fund balance and  so um you know sometimes looking at it in my June   this year's amended bu budget, we're basically  looking to to balance in at 15.7 million which   that does sound a lot 15 million, it's on quite a  bit quite a large budget and 20% if you take just   simple math and say what is 20% of a full 365 days  of the year. 20% you know kind of rounds to about   76 days or 2.5 months of of costs. So when we think  about even even though it seems like a lot and for   schools and things like that and especially

030when  we're at 5% back in the day, um it's you know and   you think about it on your personal finance level  how much cash in the bank do you have to make sure   that you make ends meet on a regular basis. We are  not currently borrowing, that's you'll not see on   the um agendas upcoming that we are borrowing  from the state, before when we were at 5% we we   borrowed money to make ends meet at different  times so that we had enough cash flow to just   make payroll to make those things happen. We now  currently do not need to do that, we don't pay   interest on that money and we don't need to borrow  because we have our own cash on hand to be able   to operate functionally without that assistance. So  it's kind of

031something to just keep in mind as we   look at that um we really put those um estimates  out there to really say if we did nothing we   could be there, but I'd caution in that concept that  that's used as a tool, so that we can continue to   watch the trends and continue to make good choices  along the way so that that is not our intent to   end there, but if we did nothing and you know went  backwards and say ch made a lot of changes to the   opposite direction we could be there sort of  things so it's one of those things it's a good   starting point to kind of see where where we're  trending, and that's kind of how we've continue   to use the budgeting model to inform us in our  administration of how we're

032going to look at the   year. Next slide. So that fund balance that we're  predicting in there, I've kind of are I've rolled   back to our history, this is going all the way back  to 1996 of what Saline's Fund Balance has been, and   so you'll see the blues are actual and then those  um green are those predictions if nothing happened   and we continue you know head in the sand, and not  make adjustments if enrollment does continue to   decrease, you know and don't do anything that. We  could be in those scenarios and in three years   be back to a very bare bones kind of um scenario,  and on the next slide. This just takes a little bit   of time to kind of talk about all the different  other funds and what their fund balances list and   not

033all of them doesn't make sense that a fund  balance in one year in bond particular were in   the middle of a bunch of things we've already  pulled in the revenue and we're spending down   the bond funds. So um it's a reference that you  guys are approving those budgets but it they   don't necessarily it's not as much um time  on on that side to to hone into to what is   the meaningfulness of those funds fund balance,  but we still are approving them. Any questions. Go ahead Tim. Okay I just um wanted to thank you  you brought up the flow through money and all   that because we've seen a lot of that in the  news lately and how that's affected people's   budgets and schools and stuff like that, so um  that was going to be my question

034is how you how   you um go about doing that and you brought  that up already so I appreciate that, thanks. Treasurer Gerbe I will just back that up and  and speak on behalf of of Miranda, Assistant   Superintendent Owlsey, and just our budgeting  processes and you know our conservatism and   all of that kind of thing, I will tell you I mean  obviously you know we $164,000 to the good means   that we did an outstanding job of spending the  money that we had and and budgeting accordingly   and all of those kinds of things and I'm I'm very  pleased with um you know I I will tell you I echo   what Tim just said about the holistic approach  to UAL right and just being aware of those dollars   as we account for them and pass them through. We

035never want to think that those are realized   that was those are realized dollars that we have  to make you know hiring decisions based upon and   programming decisions based upon and so um  I applaud that holistic mechanism approach,   and I would give it my whatever word of  blessing or whatever it is as the Finance   Chair to to continue to do so, but I'm I I want to  make sure that I say that I'm I'm incredibly proud   to present this budget tonight. I'm incredibly  proud that I you know if you want to say I have   the chance to to lead the team, but really it's  Miranda who leads us and I just follow along and   look good on her coat tails but anyway like I'm  I'm really proud of the work that we do and that   we're

036really um mindful of our expenditure in our  revenues and we can always talk about those kinds   of things, but um thank you for the incredible work  that you do. Thank you for the incredible, I want to   thank you, I want to thank our staff too, because  they're really our partners and in doing some of   these things, and we made some you know the past  year you know as a team, we as a finance team went   through, and and looked at you know um making sure  that we were accounting for structures and and   those kinds of things and so Superintendent um you  know uh Laatsch I want to thank him for for helping us   to to navigate those conversations as a finance  team, and um anyway I guess I'm going on and on   but my point

037is like I am proud of the work that  we do as a finance team and I I'm thankful. Thank   you Brad with two minutes remaining I'd like  to entertain a motion to adjourn the Budget   Hearing at 6:28. So move Steben. Steben. Support Estep.  Thank you very much all in favor please say I. I...   That's a 7-0. Thank you very much I appreciate  that and in the two minutes to go just relax and ... Thank you ladies and gentlemen sorry for the delay  when we had two meetings back to back here I would   like to call to order the Board of Education  meeting for June 11th, 6:30 is for Saline   schools. So standing as you able  we'd like to start with the Pledge   of Allegiance this time led by Tim  Austin who's right under the flag

038today. Thank you very much. A brief note from  the Superintendent and an introduction of some   new faces to our board. Right we're very excited  to introduce a couple of future excellent Student   Representatives on the board. We'll start with Kate Sonnenday. She's participates in student   council, as part of DECA, Link Crew, and will be  a dedicated voice of classmates and eager to   take feedback and will be an active participant,  and then we also have Tommy Allmand. Who's part of   Marching Band, National Honors Society, and  also is part of the the trap shooting team, and   um he has an outreaching personality, is creative,  and has a love for education. So we would like to   welcome both Kate and Tommy to the board, and then  you can just come up and say hello at the podium so [Applause].

039And you have to turn the green light on  by hitting push okay. Once the year. Hi. Once   the year starts you will get your very own  table at the end so and your own placard as well. Okay there we go. Okay yeah. Okay. Hi I'm Kate Sonnenday  and I'm super excited to voice for my   fellow classmates and this opportunity. Thank you. Hi. I'm Tommy Allmand and I'm also very excited  for this opportunity, to be a voice for the   students of Saline, and to help out my home and my  community, in any way that I can, right thank you. [Applause] I've invited them to not stay if they  don't want we got a busy board meeting,   and I the the pressure starts at the end  of August so is it was very nice meeting   you and

040the other candidates for the job,  and we uh we're looking forward to working   with you uh coming August. All right. so  thank you, very nice to meet you and I'm   sure we'll all get a chance to one-on-one  chat with you a little later too in the year. Okay, we I'd like to also pass this back to uh  Dr. Laatsch for some special recognition this evening.   Yeah we're very excited uh to have a number  of our wonderful District retirees here who   have put um so much effort forth to support our  students over the years in a variety of different   ways. I mean we're looking at paraeducator, those  that have supported buildings and grounds, our   teachers have just done an incredible job and  as Superintendent I'm really proud to be part   of this staff and appre have

041appreciated the  opportunity to serve as your Superintendent. So   with that said I'd like to invite up uh Assistant  Superintendent of Human Resources Carol Diglio. Who   is going to present um an honor and uh you know  a token of our appreciation for all your years of   service, and then also uh showing that on the uh  screens we have a number of people that are all   also retiring, they're not all here tonight but  they're showcasing uh their experience in Saline.   Thank you um so on behalf of Saline Area Schools  it is my absolute privilege to honor and give   a heartfelt thank you to the Saline Area School Class  of 2024 Retirees. Unless you are in education, it's   very difficult to understand the depth of teamwork  required by a number of departments and diverse   expertise required to successfully

042run a district. We operate much like a small city or some   cases big city and rely on each other to run like  a well oiled machine, so that we honor all students   at the magnitude and success of the Saline Area Schools.  It is about the people who collectively make up a   learning community that is safe, clean, nurturing,  rigorous, engaging, state-of-the-art, diverse,   supportive, inviting, organized, and inclusive to  make every student a priority, so that we can   reach their individ so they can reach their  individual potential. Without a collective   effort it is not possible. In tonight's group  of 30 retirees we honor the collective effort   and diverse expertise of 18 teachers, 2 paraeducators, 2 custodians, 1 community   educator, 1 technology professional, 1 speech  pathologist, 1 secretary, 1 CTE technician,   2 principles, and an assistant superintendent  of human resources.

043For a combined 695 years of   experience and institutional knowledge. It is  their unwavering commitment to education and   to students that has allowed Saline Area Schools  to be a destination district for kids and families.   Thank you for your dedication and for your  years of service and education. We are fortunate,   as you can see, to have 21 Saline Area School Retirees  share their parting thoughts and words of wisdom   in the slideshow that's being presented throughout  the meeting this evening. Miss Martin, Jackie   Martin worked with the High School Writing Center  to create a poem titled "A New Beginning" that reads,   and I'm not a wonderful poem reader but I will  read it. "In all halls where wisdom whispers   flow, through every space in every row, you've sewn  the seeds of ideas and light and fostered dreams   to take

044flight, with gentle hands and a heart so  wide, you've been a beacon you've been a guide,   through seasons changed and years that flew  and all you've taught they carry you, through   new visions creations and design the stories  told the shared times each activity planned   with care so true, each student noticed all that  you do, you've walked these halls with grace and   might, turned timid mind minds to soaring flight,  with patience love and steady fast, cheer, you've   shaped futures year by year, now as we close this  chapter's page and step onto a freer stage, may joy   and peace fill your days, with memory sweet and  moment still, through your depart from this old   place, your legacy it still leaves a trace, in  every light in every heart a timeless cherish   wondrous part, so thank you colleague

045for all  you've done, for battles fought and victories   won, may your new journey be as bright and all that  mind you've set a light," and we really charged The   Writing Center to make sure that it was a poem  that was inclusive to all of the departments   and all of the areas of expertise and so we  really appreciate their partnership. So it is   again with a great honor that we have five of our  right retirees in the audience today, so what I'd   like to do is when I call their name, if they would  walk by Miss Martin in the back and pick up their   plaque and come up front um we'll start with  Diane Carrico, Paraprofessional for 31years. [Applause] Lisa Latona, Elementary  Teacher for 34 years. [Applause] Kerrie McClure, Custodian for 35 years. [Applause] Dave Mellor,

046Agriculture Teacher  for 25 years. [Applause] and Beth Musson, Special Education Teacher for 20 years. [Applause] Again I just want to be  very intentional and thankful for   the significant and important role  you've played in the field of educaction   the work and your support that you've given  to the community is beyond words and so it's with   great appreciation and thank you very much and  really enjoy retirement, really a heartfelt.   I also want to thank um Jackie and Betty Jahnke  for helping with everything, um they've been very   supportive, and of course the writing club  and the teachers that supported your poem   So have a wonderful summer and thanks again.  Before you dash off, we would like to have a   photograph with you we're we're starting to get  really good at doing the group photographs so. Board Recording Secretary Jahnke

047do we have  any? No, great we have no public comment this evening. oh My apologies. Give me one moment please I do  want to uh I did have a response to public   comment, but I've got the wrong date. To many  documents. Let's try again. Talk amongst yourselves. I don't know it's a good question. All right pardon the uh fluster here uh  I do want to just to make a few notes uh about the   the last public comment session. I want to thank  Ryan Kerr for the affirmation of the efforts of   the District to build affinities around diverse  needs of our students. I also want to thank Charlie   Hurst for your support, Charlie, of the listening  sessions and your sharing of your personal tale   of your child finding their light. I want to  thank Chris Budnik

048for your concerns about our   human limitations in the face of disinformation  and impact on our children. I want to thank Sarah   Fabian for her illustrative examples regarding  the program at Weber Blaess school, and to Heather   Finch for her ideas on how to make that program  more supportive of our neurodivergent students.   I also want to thank Tiffany Alexander for  acknowledging this board's condemnation of   hate and support of our staff. I also do want to  make a comment that at the last meeting a member   of the public in the course of his comments veered  into uh an attack on a board member although he   was notified in the moment to stop, and I've since  spoken with him. I do want to remind all future   speakers that there is no time time where it's  acceptable or tolerated to

049make statements that   directly attack the superintendent, the staff of  Saline Area Schools, or elected board members. So I I   did want to appreciate the well I just wanted  to make that statement at this time. So uh I'd like   to uh go on to the approval or revisions of the  agenda, items can be added or deleted from the   agenda or the order can be changed at the request  of an individual board member, the agendas must be   approved before proceeding first further. So I'd  like to entertain a motion to approve the agenda   as printed. So moved Steben. You been fast off the  button all evening. All right, do we have a second?   So moved. Second Gold. Oh, I heard Tim again, sorry you're  a little slow, but if you want it. All approve,  all in favor please

050say I. I... Great. Opposed. Great 7-0. We have a 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 just want to   check. The way this evening is going I might make  a mistake here, uh four action items please. I'd   like to entertain a motion to approve the Food  Service Management contract with Chartwells for   the 2024-2025 school year as submitted by Miranda  Owlsey, Assistant Superintendent for Finance. So   moved Miller. Thank you very much. Support Gerbe.  Brad's supporting that one. Do we have any   comments uh Miranda about the Chartwells. Just  a renewal? Thank you all in favor then please say   I. I... Opposed. Great 7-0 Thank you very much. I'd like  to entertain a motion to adopt the amended General   Appropriations Act for 2023-24 Final Amended Budgets for 2024-2025 Original Budgets and the 2024 L-4029 tax   rates as submitted by Miranda Owlsey, Assistant

051Superintendent of Finance. As Finance   Chair, I'm proud to make this motion. Motion Gerbe.  Any support? Second. Thank you Mr. Austin and all   any discussion. Okay all in favor please say I. I...  Opposed. Just to make sure. I'd like to entertain a motion to   approve the Community Education Rental Rates as submitted by Brian Puffer, Director of Community Education. Oh that, so move. Is that you Tim? Yeah. Thank you. Support. Gold?   Who, what, who? Oh thank you. Thank you  very much. I don't know if there's   any uh discussion about that, the table  or from you Mr. Puffer? Quick comments great. Thank you. Oh yeah just really quick that  uh last time we came to the board was two years   ago to update our rates and what not. So what we  did to is look at their rates, we

052look at other   districts that are comparable to our facilities, so we looked at Ann  Arbor Schools, Chelsea, Dexter, Lincoln, Brighton, and   Milan. Compared the rates to rooms that we have to  see where we're at where we fit in the scale, um   their staff for the last five months we go over  this just to compare data get feedback from uh   people that know the spaces, have been in the  spaces, and we make sure what we're charging   makes sense for the spaces that are Middle School  gym's not more than our High School gym, stuff like   that. Then we finalize the rates and here we are  and then they'll go in effect down September 1st. First real quick the Group B and Group C  that week days versus weekends or? No Group   B is basically your nonprofit groups,

053Group C  is are for your profit, and so we switched over   back in 22, it was we had a class 1, 2 and  3 and so we don't, we eliminated that class   1 which is basically all of our school  groups there for free and stuff like that. Hearing no other questions I'd like to put it  to a vote please all in favor say I. I... Opposed.   Hearing none, great 7-0. Thanks for sitting close  to the mic. I'd like to entertain a the following   motion to, sorry I like to entertain the motion to recommend the CARES Advisory Council to approve the Round III allocations of funds as follows in the total amount of $50,070.84 as submitted by Brian Puffer, Director of Community Education. I'll read these really quickly Adaptive Summer Cycling, PEAC 5,625, Air Conditioning Completion Project, Saline

054Area Social Service $17,862.50, Enhancing SHS Tennis Courts with Benches, SHS Hornets Tennis $4,928.34,   Kids’ Corner Safety Upgrades, Saline Parks & Recreation $2,675.00, Kids Summer Camp Patio Space for Saline Parks & Recreation $2,000.00, New Goalie Equipment for Saline High School Field Hockey $2,000.00,    Saline Varsity Sideline Cheer Uniforms the Saline High School Varsity Sideline Cheer $5,000.00, Sparkle & Shine STARS CheerABILITIES Squad, Work & Play Special Needs Resource Center, Inc. $4,000.00,    Water Polo Equipment, Saline High School and Middle School Boys/Girls Water Polo in the amount of $5,980.00. Do I have a motion? I will support this or I   will move um and for many many reasons as they're  all wonderful but also as a a mother of someone   who wore the field hockey goalie equipment I would  like to support this purchase. I I'll second the  

055support. Great anything you want to add about this  these uh proposals. Yeah really quick just uh um   yes this is our last round for the third round of  CARES funding for the 23-24 year. We will have a   fund balance of just over 77,000 going into the  next year um, and then our CARES application for   24-25 will be available July 1st on our Community Ed  website, so you can start applying there, have the   deadlines and everything for next year. Fantastic,  more and more people I'm finding out are hearing   about the the application process, are you getting  a real influx of applications or are they increasing? Yeah, we had the most   we've had since COVID, so it's definitely  when we took a break during COVID I think it was   two years we didn't run it, and so

056since then it's  this was the most out of the three um rounds that   we've had, I would say since probably 17 or 18. Well fantastic great well let's put it to a   vote. Oh unless you have. I'd like I just want to  say I thought it was nice to see that the Work   and Play Special Needs Resource Center did it.  I mean that's a fairly new organization and I'm   glad they were able to jump on. Yeah a good group.  And if I could be a cheerleader for the Cheer   Ability Squad uh I would be as well I'm really  happy to see that they made a proposal as well.   Yeah good group. What? Please. As a Cheer Mom I wanted  to say thank you very much to both the Saline   Varsity Sideline Team and the cheerABILITIES

057um  our friends with special abilities appreciate   both of those, the varsity girls have worn the  same sideline uniforms for a long time PreCOVID, um   and they were not very inclusive. We had our  first gentleman join our team uh last year   and they didn't have a way um to get him  a uniform, so um working with new vendors   this gives opportunity for all to have a new  uniform if if needed, um and all of these are   very worthy so I appreciate all that. Thanks. Thanks.  Well thank you. Then let's put this to. Oh putting   this to a vote. All in favor please say I. I...  Opposed. Than 7-0. Thank you so much Brian for all   your work on that. We have three scheduled reports  this evening uh and we'll just start working   our way down the

058list uh with the Wellness  Committee Annual Overview, and I'll let our   presenters introduce themselves. Unless you  need the fanfare and the drum role. Oh I don't. Hello thank you for having us here today so  my name is Musetta Deneen um along with being the   co-chair for the Wellness Advisory Committee, I'm  also the 9nth grade principal at Saline High School .  Hi good evening just a quick edit in the agenda  I'm listed as Noah Koller my actual name is Noel   Koller and it's hyphenated Ditto so. Oh, oh I'm sorry  I'm a member, resident I should say of Saline   and a mother of a graduating sixth grader. I'm  also an advanced practice nurse and I currently   teach at Eastern so it was a real privilege to  be able to be a part of this committee thank   you. Thank

059you co-chair. Thank you. So we'll go ahead  and kind of let you all know what we've been   up to this year. So first we'd like to always  talk about what our mission is as our Wellness   Advisory Committee and so the mission of the  Saline Area Schools Wellness Advisory Committee   is to ensure the wellness policy created by the  Saline Board of Education as required by law is   implemented and reviewed regularly. Additionally  we hope to support and improve the physical and   mental health of our school community, both staff  and students, through education, experiences, and   access to goods and services. So in addition to  our mission board policy really does outline   what the responsibilities and objectives  are for our advisory committee. So you can   see them listed here and so assessment of  the current school environment is one

060of our   responsibilities, along with reviewing of the  district's wellness policy, presentation of the   wellness policy to the school board for approval,  measurement of the implementation of the policy,   recommendation for the revision of the policy  as necessary, and then additionally the wellness   committee aimed to support and improve staff  and students physical and mental health, while   promoting health equity. And so this year we had  a big push to increase our membership membership   get some new faces on our committee and um kind  of revitalize what we're doing this year and so   when our first meeting happened, um we have we  had a lot of people who were really mobilized   and excited about wellness and how they could  really support students and staff here in the   district, and so with all of the ideas and  things that we wanted

061to do, right we were   kind of all over the place we needed to really  anchor ourselves and what would what we could   really tackle this year, and so one of the things  that we felt like we could really do is because   we had lots of ideas for what we wanted to see or  what we thought we maybe the district didn't have   but maybe we did, so we wanted to figure out let's  start from the beginning. So let's assess where we   are now, so we really leaned into this idea of the  assessment of the current school environment so   throughout our presentation you'll hear about the  tools that we used and the steps that we took to   assess where Saline Area Schools now with regard  to wellness. And so I'll let Noel take it from here. So

062besides looking at what goals we  wanted to accomplish, we also wanted to take a   look at what were our outcomes um what all did we  actually want to measure and so these two quotes   were taken from the program that we're going to  introduce to you, which is the school health index   by the CDC, and these really resonated with what  our goals were, which was was the idea that not   only did we want to look at students um social  and emotional health and mental health overall,   but what does changing that do, and here you can  see that changing that can help with not only   the social emotional health, but their academic  and their physical health as well. So introducing   the School Health Index so um like Musetta said, we knew where we wanted to start but

063we didn't   want to just throw together another survey  ourself, so having um staff from the district   on the committee it was helpful to remind you  know what other surveys have already been done,   there were surveys done and correct me if  I'm wrong uh with students and I think with   the community and parents so we already had some  feedback there, and so we really wanted to kind   of hone in on the individual schools themselves,  and to do that it was important for us to find a   tool that was already created not something that  that we were creating ourself, um but something   that was evidence-based and standardized so we  settled on the School Health Index again here   you can see some of the main objectives is to um  look at the strengths and current weaknesses of   health

064and safety, specifically to policies and  procedures, and then not only just to assess   but to develop an action plan um for what you're  going to do once those weaknesses are identified   and for the overall goal of promoting health,  enhancing behaviors, and better health. So what   exactly is a School Health Index um there are  seven health topics here um you can read uh that   are all encompass in the school health index um  but essentially the school health index is broken   out into 11 modules, and the 11 modules align with  what's called the Whole School, Whole Community,   Whole Child Model Framework so it's a visual  framework and it's also a framework that really   is holistic. Which also align very much with  um most of us in the wellness committee and   so between those 7 health topics and

065those  11 modules it encompasses this tool that's used   to perform your assessment. There are two versions  there's the elementary and then the middle school   and high school are combined together, they're  nearly identical in the questions that they   ask within the modules except here you can see  there's a couple differences uh related to age   gaps that make sense. So essentially um utilizing  the School Health Index um process it's two steps   and again ours for this year was to focus on  the assessment and so once you complete the   assessment, then you move into planning and we  have not done that yet and we'll talk a little a   little bit more about that, and then for your  future viewing pleasures I did add some videos   on here they're very brief, but it just gives a a  better explanation

066about what actually the School   Health Index is and why um it's beneficial  to use it. It's been around since 2017, I also   wanted to add. It was um developed in conjunction  with school administrators, teachers, parents,   and um other health leading organizations  across the nation. So why we chose it a a   couple things just to point out, is again, it's  evidence-based so it's driven by scientific   environmental um ideas and it aligns with the  Institute of Medicine we really like that it   was a team driven approach it's not meant for just  one person to go do the assessment, so it really takes takes into account us as parents that were  part of uh the community, and now's committee and   also the district members. We also like that  it looked from an assessment point of view not   evaluation,

067which means it's not meant to be  punitive in any way, it's not meant to pinpoint   what um teachers or divisions or schools may or  may not have been doing anything, it's purely just   an assessment, to see what level of performance  we're at now. It's very focused and we like that   too again because it brought us from you know  20 ideas down to one, it it gave us a a a driven   and focused path. It's all confidential so it's  completed online, but the scores are not sent to   anyone it's just for yourself they're not tallied  by the CDC or kept by the CDC and it's absolutely   no cost to do it, so that was also another big  benefit. And then like I said it does reflect   the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model  which is

068a little hard to see on here, but again   those are the 11 components there and it takes  into account physical health, emotional health,   environmental health, involving the community  and parents, so again for us we felt is very holistic. And then um just lastly a little  bit about the actual um index is scoring   so this is just an example this was not  our scorecard um but this is an example   of how the assessment is completed, so each  module has its own questions and you score   it based on your current performance, and so  you can see here 3 is what's considered   the gold standard and this is based off of  the CDC best practices that they developed   and then zero is not where you want to  strive right you're pretty far away from   the gold standard, and

069then you you complete this  with the modules you choose and you an overall scorecard. So again we talked about this in order  for us to get an idea for where we needed to go   we just need to know what our starting point  is, so we'll talk about or I'm going to talk   about the modules so these are the 11 modules  as uh Noel mentioned. We did not do all of them.   So that was another thing so we saw there's lots  of topics that are covered that involve schools   school, personnel in ways that we can connect with  the community and families and students and, so we   really wanted to make sure again, aligning with  the Wellness Advisory Committee's Mission, our   responsibilities as set forth by the Board of  Ed um and then what kind of is

070in our realm of   control or things that we could assess on, so we  decided to focus on Module 7, Social and Emotional   Climate, having parents on the committee and staff  members we felt like we could get several lenses   to inform any sort of response to those questions  um in the modules and then we also chose Family   Engagement. So again we felt like parents that  are on the Wellness Advisory Committee could talk   about how engaged they feel and could properly  assess that. So those were the two that we felt   like we could do we could tackle and we had  enough representation from the district and   the community to properly kind of assess where  we are. So again I kind of already highlighted   why we chose them, but for some other things that  I didn't mention and

071when we think about um the   alignment with the District Strategic Frameworks.  As we've mentioned our district does a lot of   surveys and gets a lot of data from our community  and from staff members and from students about   things that are going well areas of improvement  and so some of the data points that we pulled out   here is it says like you know less than 70% of  survey respondents agree or strongly agree with   SEL strategy support, etc. and there's and this  number is really heavily support um influenced   by the I don't know, so also just not knowing what  we have available is something that we have we can   look at to improve and then again that 40 to 53%  of student respondents say they sometimes enjoy   school. So again that really did have us lend to 

072the social emotional climate piece and then that   family engagement. So Module 7 Social Emotional  Climate um so the we just kind of listed for   each of the modules the individuals that made up  those subcommittees, who filled out the assessments   at the elementary and middle school level. So  members of each of the modules are Saline Area Schools   parents, they're District staff, so you have some  admin, school nurse for example, um elementary admin,   social workers, were also present during these  um evaluations and conversations. So for Module   7 the topics covered um essentially the school  climate, student relationships, personal development   for diverse needs, social emotional learning at  the school-wide level, community partnerships, harassment and bullying and what we do to prevent  that, supervision how do we engage all students   and what's our violence prevention process and approach and again

073you'll have those self-watch Module 7 videos that you can watch in all your free time this summer. So those are the topics that were covered with Module 7 and just to kind   of give you an idea of what the module looked like,  this is an example of a question from Module 7   and so it's really small I probably should have  thought about that so it says, "Have all teachers   received professional development on meeting  the diverse cognitive, emotional, and social   needs of children and adolescence in the past two  years?" And so the pattern of doesn't apply, no, some,   most, and all, is consistent throughout all of the  questions in each of the modules you have about 10   questions in each module, and so we would have  conversations in those subcommittees providing   examples that we see and kind of

074give our and  then rate where we felt like um the District's   at, and we did at the district level so we didn't  focus on one particular building um to represent   elementary, we didn't pick one elementary building.  We didn't choose between the Middle School or High   School, Alternative Ed. we tried to encompass all of  those and from what we knew. And so this is just   gives you an example of the questions some of the  questions they even provide examples of what they   mean so like for example if it's asking about  parental strategies it'll list some examples to   help and help you make a proper assessment of  where the district is. And so some examples in   Saline Area Schools for how we address these topics  right, so for positive climate, positive student   relationships, I don't want to

075speak for everybody  here but I think we have lots of moments where   students really are enjoying being here um and  that's families have positive things to say, I   know students say things that they enjoy here  at school all the time um, so yes there are we   have some things we can improve on naturally right  so can't say 100% of students say they enjoy being   here um but we do have examples where we have  positive student relationships. Professional   development um this year we had a series presented  by Nick Van Oss he helped create he created the Be   Good People curriculum so that was PD for the  whole District um really focusing on um student   learning, student behavior, and being how strategies  to use to support misbehavior. School wide social   learning so we've had some examples are

076morning  meetings, and Hornet Time, SEL lessons in class,   things taught by social workers, and SEL coaches.  So sometimes students will have one-on-one   interactions to support themselves, sometimes we  have whole class, and whole school approaches to   SEL. So for community partnerships conversations  with outside service providers to discuss how we   can collaborate um we've done that. Preventing  harassment and bullying so again working with our   administrators and also know at the High School  with Rachel's Challenge that was another example   for that. Preventing School violence we've done a  lot of work as an administration to really make   sure that our threat assessments and our ability  to assess threats and violence and things is   really, is aligned consistent and also effective  and so that's those are some examples in Saline Area  Schools where we're meeting those topics that are  outlined

077in Module 7. So Module 10 we're going to   follow the same format uh these are the topics  for Family Engagement. So again communicating   with families, strategies for families, engaging um  families in our decision making, Volunteers in   the building, how do we support families when  students are learning at home, access to school   facilities, professional development, school  health updates family involvement, and with   regard to our meal program and food and beverages  sold and served and offered on school campus. So   and again self watch video for you. Sample  question, "Do families have opportunities to be   involved in school decision making for health  and safety policy and programs?" So again similar   format you'll see here there's questions three  of nine there are nine questions for this module   and the similar format doesn't apply, not, some,  most, and all. Examples

078for Saline Area Schools   and how we engage families so communication we  have lot. We have our Superintendent Community   Message, weekly newsletters from building admin,  teachers give classroom updates, PowerSchool,   district and school websites. These are just  some examples. Parenting strategies this year   um Kara Davis worked on the School and Family  Partnership Series so that was um another way   that we've engaged with our families, um families  engagement school decision-making so there school   quality surveys. We do use that information so it  is helpful, and then also the District Strategic   Council I know that was um reopened again this  year, there's been Listening Sessions as well   for us to really engage our community family  volunteers, um room parents, I know are at the   elementary level and again these aren't exhaustive  list of things that are happening here but things  

079to just point out for you um in terms of engaging  in learning at home um I know we have PowerSchool   and Google Classroom. I will say with PowerSchool and  Google Classroom you do have to sit with your   child to get the same view that they have.  That's something I've always mentioned about   Google. A family access to school facilities,  again sporting events, open houses, right you can   rent spaces out as well through Community Ed. Professional development and supporting families   and strategies for assisting families who seek  services, so this um we have some information   on our website and we also do it on an as-needed  basis individual families if they need support we   help them, um and then school health updates I mean  again our district nurse, Karan Hervey is always on,   making sure that our families

080know what's going on  what they need to do, and then you know COVID aside,   even up even lately. So we have a lot of support  in that way for our families. So next steps   and then while we wanted to try to tackle this  together. So what we will say is our year we spent   making sure that we could to complete Module 7 and  10, and so trying to get to that scorecard piece. Our next steps really are we're going to we need  to one we accomplished a lot that was a big like   resounding message in our last meeting everyone  felt like we really accomplished a whole lot and I   would agree. I think Noel you would too um so in  the past a lot of our meetings would happen once a   trimester, but our group

081really felt like there's  we wouldn't be able to accomplish anything if we   just met three times, and so we consistently met  every four to six weeks to make sure that we could   agree on a tool, make sure that we had everyone  at the table when necessary to complete our   assessments. So we did accomplish a lot and so some  of the things that we need to do is to decide on   time to present our the scorecards to the district,  at least things that we observe based on from the   committee's perspective, and then decide as with  the district what they would like us our level of   involvement and advising steps to be as Noel  mentioned they do have recommendations for ways   that you can take action steps to improve in  the areas that maybe you didn't score

082as high   in, and so as an advisory committee we want to  support any way the district would see that is   most appropriate. So if that's for us to complete  the um recommendations or point out some ideas, if   it's to hand it off to the district to do that  themselves, or to collaborate we're open to that   um and so that's kind of where we are now as we  head into summer is, we have the scorecard so now   what do we do with it, uh and then considerations  for developing actions so what we really want to   think about is um focusing on like one module at  a time time. How important, someone talks about   identifying the importance, um how important  is the action to the school or the district   cost, time, so these are some of the

083things that  the School Health Index walks you through with   identifying what you can actually accomplish, how  feasible it is, and so they help us with that, and   so the last our next school year, maybe even  the next couple actually, is to determine like   wrapping up these two modules, and then determining  as our next step of completing others, that still   align with our wellness advisory expectations  and responsibilities. So I know that was a lot.   So that's all but thank you. That's all, all great.  All. We did so so thank you for listening. And can   I also say what a great leader she is to have.  You can say that. Thank you. You don't have to,   but thank you. Well thank you Musetta and and Noel.  No L two L's and an extra e or just N

084O. Just just   like. All right we'll make sure that gets fixed  in the minutes, so if there are any questions from   the from the board please. Oh I have one qui  I just slip in really fast since I have the   mic open the Nick Van Oss curriculum that you  mentioned I think you said the name really   fast, but I missed it. Oh I'm sorry Be Good People. Ah got it  right thank you. Be Good People. I said it really fast. Nick Van Oss. Yeah all right uh anyone at the table get,  Susan please. So um thank you for the presentation   um I am I believe a board rep um so include me in  on the um information I I was talking to another   uh parent um who is on the advisory committee and  has like

085super great things um to say about the   work that she's been able to um help with, and um  that's been really exciting, um and she talked a   little bit about kind of some um recommendations  and things like that um and partnerships she had   mentioned DEIAC and just getting resources  out there and stuff. You had a question about   um recommendations and where that would go? You know that's something that's come up with   the DEI advisory committee um as far as um  being that you know the Wellness Committee   is also a Board Advisory Committee um that  I think the board would like to also see like   those recommendations um whether or not you know  the District um you know implement it implements   it or um you know if we have feedback or whatever,  but um those recommendations

086that the committee   made I think that would be important for um us to  receive as um I know we've talked about it in the   past um just as a consent item or something so  accepting those recommendations and so that will   be you know available to the public and then  you know it can go out into the district um as   Superintendent he's fit so. Absolutely. Thank you. Treasurer Gerbe Yeah so an example I can give you  would be Hornet Time, right so we have   teachers of record for those that's a weekly  um so some of the Be Good People lessons um   we've incorporated into that time, as well  um and so those are examples that were the   entire class, the Hornet Time class, would have  some of that social emotional learning that curriculum. I'm sorry about

087my mic um would be you  you made the decision for 7 and 10 you said   based on like the group's interest and and what  have you were there any of the 11 modules. Where   you guys identified those as like a group as a  group of like like oh that's an area where we   really need to focus or that is a particular area  of opportunity for us is there? Anything where you   were like boy that stood out? I was going to just  mention this won't be a direct answer but my lead   into it, is there were some other areas that  we thought were important, but again having the   district members on the committee they were able  to identify that there was already work being done   on assessing those policies, so we didn't want to  do a

088cross over of that work, and so that's where   we really felt social and emotional was most  aligned with all of us um and then again the   family involvement, um I think stemmed also from  some past surveys maybe in data. And I agree and   I want to make sure that I say like I appreciate  your work in these these two areas I just want   to make sure that there wasn't something where  you're like and this is a area of of necessity,   so thank you. I think 7. Yeah. 7 so you did  where you put your energies right where it should   go so awesome thank you. Yes. This is definitely not  my area of expertise but I just wanted to extend   um a potential resource um for you that could  be something that your team explores or

089that   Kara um explores but the state of Michigan is um  offering resources in a curriculum called Trails   that was developed at the University of Michigan  and it's an SEL curriculum um that is being offered   to schools um I believe that it is a free resource  for schools, in the state of Michigan, so maybe not   as a as a whole, but um perhaps there could be some  resources that could be helpful to your committee   as you you know look into some of the SEL. I know  um the schools in Ann Arbor because that's that's   where I live every day. They are um implementing  it next year um and it is grade specific, age   appropriate, SEL curriculum. Things like um  managing stress through breathing, and and those   sorts of things, and they're embedding it into um  morning

090meetings so potentially that's a resource   that could be helpful um you know in part or as  whole as a whole for your team to explore. Thank you. Well hearing nothing more from the rest of  the board I just want to thank you once again   and we'll see you back here next year with great summary of 7 and 10. Great, thank you very much. Thank you. I'd like to call up is Mr. Grossman in  the house. There he is, you're hiding behind the podium like to introduce Jay Grossman, Director of  Technology who's going to give us a Technology   Department Annual Overview, sir. Yes, hi everybody  how are you a lot. There's a lot. Yeah we've been   really busy this year. So first I want to just say  thank you very much for giving me the opportunity   to sort

091of tell you what um technology department, my team, have been up to um we do a lot and I like   to take this opportunity to sort of tell you a  little bit about what our team has done and then   some of our projects that we've done throughout  this year, some things we've got coming up, some   things we're in the middle of doing now a lot  of this has been stuff you have all helped me   approve, and have been putting into motion so  like to show you what our bond dollars have   been doing, but really first and foremost I want  to talk about my team. It's been a very busy   year uh we finished it, but um looking over our  tickets, we do utilize a ticketing system, we   had just shy of 2,900 support tickets put

092in this  year, of those only 27 are currently open, last   I checked, I am noticing a quick typo that said  between July 1st of 23 and July 5th of 24 that   should have been June 5th of 24, when I pulled this.  2862 tickets been closed, there's 27 open eight   are pending, and there are a couple that are just  floating out there that we are just waiting for   contact on. I do want to make mention that that  is just tickets that have been put into our system   that doesn't count the things like the students  coming to our classrooms, or teachers coming to   us for help um the phone calls we get the text  messages the grabbing us when in the hallway or   in the building because there's a quick question.  This is just tickets that people

093have submitted   um so I I we have been very busy, and want to give  a lot of credit to my team for our team of 10 they   have been working very hard this year to keep  everything afloat. In addition to the tickets   they're also providing support for approximately  2,100 daily use student devices and over 500 staff   devices,additionally we are managing uh about  900 different devices Chromebooks that we keep   for state testing uh that are on a cycle and  kept completely independent of our our student   devices um for state testing we have to be  able to control those so we keep a fleet at   the Middle School and High School that um we also  supporting during that time, and then lastly we   also uh PowerSchools mentioned. So we are the  ones to maintain our student information

094system   PowerSchool. Everything that PowerSchool is  under the umbrella uh PowerSchool started as a   student information system it has become more  of an acquisition system in the past couple   years were of, they consider themselves an umbrella,  so everything that Powerschool found useful they   have purchased and therefore we support all those  systems that's things like um PowerSchool itself   that, Google Classroom, Remind, we use um School  Messenger college applications to Naviance uh   exporting information for rostering. All that  stuff is supported by our team and they do a   great great job with it. So some of the  things that we have done in the past year. Oops just little off then sorry it's like  halfway on there, keep going, one more sorry.   Thank you Ben, appreciate you. So this year  we completed a number of projects that you have  

095helped me approve that have helped help us upgrade  and maintain our infrastructure um starting last   year we uh have replaced all of the backup battery  backups in all 40 of our network closet. We   replace those with older alkaline batteries now  with 10 year lithium batteries, they're supposed to   use less electricity, last us longer, um hopefully  save us a little bit of money the main importance   though is to be that 20 minute bridge, when we have  a power outage, so that our admin staff still have   access to Informacast, which I'll talk about I  know that's your favorite word, Wi-Fi, phones all   that stuff that is powered over the internet  now uh our battery backups are new in place   so that we can main at least ensure that during  that first time that we can get communication  

096out to the masses and make sure that things stay  calm. Additionally uh on top of the individual   network closets we also replace the whole room  battery backup in our uh headend room with a   more efficient a 15,000 kilovolt for is our 20,000  one that we used to have uh whole room backup that   sole purpose is to cover those few seconds when  we have that power routage so that our generator   can kick on and our network infrastructure stays  up. We have found the hard way sometimes when   that has gone out and that battery backup did  not work and it has taken over a day for us to   get everything back up. So having this replaced new  and good for another 10 years gives us a lot of   security that in the event of anything at least 

097our systems will stay up and running. Another   item we started with uh at the beginning of this  bond to help with our network infrastructure was   uh replacing what we call our core router this  is essentially the brains of our network that   sits in that head-end room is connected to that  generator and essentially its job is to direct   all the traffic on our network any device using  our network, Wi-Fi wired, any network we manage, all   of our cameras phones, everything goes through  this and that is determined where it goes um   our last one was about eight years old it support  was over uh up so we were able to replace this and   looking ahead, um we've been able to increase that  from our old one that capped out at 10 gigabits a   second to one that

098can handle over 100 gigabits a  second so as we go forward we'll be able to handle   increasing speed and network requirements. We also replaced our storage area network this is   now capable up to 50% of compression for our disc  space using lots of tech words here I realized but   it it helps us save a lot and is allowing us to  purchase less storage for this backup, while still   maintaining the integrity this is the data storage  that we use for all of our finance data, the things   that we need encrypted and backed up and making  sure that we have acc access to so our district   can run. Our first one that we had people used  to call it a my first sand it was very slow it was   one of those if you've been teaching for

099a number  of years and had old computers when you would turn   it on you could go get your coffee and by the  time you came back it might be at the loading   screen. Those are what our servers were when we  replaced this last year it increased it from   5,000 processes a second to 50,000, so literally  10 times faster and it is now like if you turn   on an iPad and it just turns on, so it has helped  us increase our speed and make our work a little   bit faster as well. Verkata we all know our  camera system visitor system hopefully everybody   has dealt with that now that is another project  that you have all helped me approve this year and   I appreciate. Last summer we went through and we  replaced our entire camera and visitor

100management   system we have to date we actually uh installed  another camera today so there's 548 cameras on   campus, as well as our visitor system which is  now able to be more secure, because we are able to   put that into the vestibules um allowing us to  control who comes into our building before they   actually get in there. So we can do our scans  make sure that only the people who should be   allowed into the buildings are getting through  those locked doors. This has been a very big   overhaul we had that have had it in place since  last summer and I've had nothing but complaint,   sorry nothing but no complaints on it, a lot of  great things on it, I know right um yes exactly,   it's been a learning process with some of  the guest stuff but

101the cameras have been   really wonderful and everybody now that we've gone  through a year of making sure that you have your   ID to come in it is it is running very smoothly, um  and then the last project that we completed this   year that I wanted to mention before we get into  our upcoming ones is informacast. I'm not going to   talk a lot about it because we've talked about it  so many times but with your help, with Michigan   State Police grants, a number of grants, this  project that we started five years ago at Pleasant   Ridge with just three speakers and the panic  button has now grown to over 700 speakers in every   single building, panic buttons, um communication  through digital signage, audio, strobe lights,   everything, and um it has been a really big lift to  do

102it is very important it helps ensure the safety   and communication for all of us and something  that we hope to never use, but it it makes me sleep   better at night knowing that we have it. So  what are we doing next we are currently in the   middle of a couple of projects. So most recently  we have started our audio video standardization   project uh that's going to be a two-year project  that we have started um our first package that   you helped me approve was to start replacing  projectors, sound systems, audio systems in all   the classrooms at Harvest, Pleasant Ridge, and Woodland Meadows. That actually started this this   week and they almost done doing the cabling at  Pleasant Ridge and we'll be moving over to Woodland   Meadows next. So after that, we're just going  to keep following

103up, this is going to help our   teachers by giving them a standardized classroom  they can walk into, everyone's going to be able to   walk in have the same experience if somebody has  to guest teach in a room, everything is going to be   the same it's all also going to be functioning and  working, sticking with this new technology we've   talked about lampless projectors in the rooms, the  brightness of this so that our rooms that have a   lot of daylight that these will be able to be seen  and be able to be used by the students. With our   new operations building we are on my side we are  working right now on connecting fiber optics if   you recall we had a little conversation about  fiber optics recently and what that was that's   currently in place, we are

104working through a  series of above ground and underground connections to   go from the Middle School up to Operations so that  will be functional for for when that building   opens it it's on track for the end of October,  providing that internet there will allow us   to bring everything online in that building, our  command center for the security of everybody, our   bus garage and information so we can uh pull  bus cameras as well as internet and activity,   door access controls, video, av, presentations  everything in there. We are also sorry we've been   doing a lot. Network closets so as I mentioned  earlier one of the things we completed was the   brains, the core, uh in addition to replacing  the core we have also started replacing all   of the switches in each of our network closets  mentioned we have

10540 different network closets   every single one of them has uh technology in it  to provide our wired and wireless network that is   all old and beyond support or beyond service and  support, so what we've done is worked on consolidating that   and upgrading it. These new switches  will have the capacity to handle that 100 gigabits   that we're upgrading our core so eventually our  district can be uh transmitting at 100 gigabits a   second, it also allowed us to go through and with  the with the increase in wireless technology   so much of our data ports that we use now are  left open and unused. So this has given us the   opportunity to actually go through an inventory  all of those unused ports pull out and remove   some of the cabling and consolidate our switches  so that we're using

106less equipment, less energy and   also less of a security risk, because any one of  those open ports is something if it's connected   to the internet somebody could plug into that  and then they are on your network, so by removing   those and making them non-active, we are also  increasing our network security while maintaining   our infrastructure and actually upgrading it, to keep with technology that that's going to   keep advancing um I've mentioned these switches  provide power to all these devices that wasn't   a thing eight years ago when our first switches  were installed. The power requirements now for some   devices go above and beyond even what switches  five years ago, two years ago, were using some   of our cameras require 60 watts worth of power  now when things 30 watts was to be unheard of.   So as we

107are moving to that technology as things  are moving there and requiring that we have the   infrastructure in place to be able to handle that  so as we upgrade with other projects in the year   we're already going to have that in place and be  able to continue on. We're also replacing some   of those Chromebooks I talked about, so managing  those fleets of Chromebooks after about five years   or so the batteries swell on them, keys go missing,  screens get broken, and part of our bond has been   to replace those a testing fleet at a time we do  have about 500 new Chromebooks to replace at the   Middle School this summer. They're sitting in boxes  and we are beginning that very long process um and   part of that is also our responsibility of taking  all the old Chromebooks

108that we have and finding   replacement homes for them. So we're also working  with recycling companies who will come out and um   wipe those give them to other companies that are  in need for that, reimbursing us for them based on   some of that condition, so helping bring in some of  our own revenue, and um helping offset some of that   cost, but again just making sure that we are  responsible and getting those things to another   home, so that you know a lot of them go to other  districts that can't necessarily afford to buy   new devices and so giving them the opportunity  to at least have devices for their students is   something that we really strive for. The last  project I wanted to mention is one that you all   just approved for me at our last meeting, it

109is  our copy machines. I will actually happily say that   these notes, I printed were on one of those copy  machines, in the High School um we've already had   at least two of our trucks arrive with copy  machines, and if you were to look in the High   School Media Center right now, it would look like  a a factory there are just lines and lines of copy   machines and parts getting ready to go. We are  in the process of configuring them, getting them   installed, and within the next two to three weeks  those are all going to be here so we are moving   really fast on that project and it is one I'm  very excited for, I want it to be here before our   teachers get back and uh so they can all enjoy it.  I will say

110I have already had um a couple of staff   employes always use the new copy machine without  any of my instruction on how to use it, they did   it just fine, so I'm confident that these these are  going to work just great. So what's up upcoming   we have more to do. With our AV project we  have the other 4 buildings coming up this next   summer, so Heritage, Middle School, High School,  and Liberty we are going to be starting another   bid uh coming this September to get that project  going, continuing the same standardization   trying to get the same look and feel in every  classroom so that from kindergarten all the way   up through 12th grade, if you are teaching in any  classroom you can have the same experience. To   make it something that's easy, usable for everybody, 

111and then we can work to help on any of the little   perks that we like to add to to help en enhance  the classrooms. Once all of our switches are in   place and we had enough time throughout the  year to sort of see where everything lies our   next plan is to then go through and replace some  of this data cabling, some of the cabling in our   district is 20 years old it as I was talking  about some of these power requirements these   devices have, some of the cabling in our building  just they're too old they cannot handle that stuff   so as part of our bond project we have identified  those areas where we will be going through and   cutting out the cabling and running new wires and  getting everything up so that it can handle

112speeds   for the next 10 years. Then the last piece  of that is we also have the all the technology   that is coming into the High School and the  Operations. Operations is coming along it's ready   to go in October we'll be moving stuff in getting  everything ready as they're ready for us, um we've   been starting to talk about a lot of designs for  the additions at the High School and AV access   controls, cameras, security, Wi-Fi, sound systems, I  you name it we're going to be a part of it. So a lot   of stuff coming down the road, a lot of stuff we've  done, a lot of stuff we are doing, and we just are   going to continue serving everybody. That's it for  me. Do you guys have any questions? Well if I could   start, I do

113have, I just want to first of all thank  you for your focus on managing the costs, reducing   power, and increasing safety. I appreciate that. Couple technical questions the Operation Center   are we doing buried cable or is it line of sight  or what's? It's a mixture of both. So DTE actually   is the real determining factor on that, because  they own the the telephone poles, and they are the   ones to tell us if um there's too much on them if  we have to do something underground, or if they'll   let us actually mount our uh wi cabling on their  poles um and so we're that we're kind of in a back   and forth period right now to determine how many  they're letting us use and how many we have to...   It was tricky to go under uh the

114train tracks too  but. We are avoiding the train track. Good for you.   At all costs. I also want to ask a quick qu,  thank you very much for that I wanted to ask   about the Informacast glitch that we had when the  power went out and came back on is that has that   been resolved. Yes. Okay. So that was more of a one  time because we were resetting the controller at   that particular building when that went off  on. That has been completely removed and um   I I've been verifying that one for the past  year and a half. And are we still at about   like 10% uh Chromebooks in held in a bance, so  to speak uh for breakage? Or is that number   gone down? It has gone down. We we started  with about that you know

115through it's been a   couple of years since we have replaced  that number ,so we we do still maintain   devices for breakage, we maintain devices for  those who um are in financial need um and then   the rest of it, fortunately um fortunately for us  the current generation model the current model   Chromebook that we have uses the same Parts as  the ones that we are replacing, so part of what   we are assessing are some of the ones that maybe  the battery is too swollen on it but the screen   is good, we're going to harvest a lot of those  parts and keep them and be able to do our own   in-house repairs for a lot of that. Excellent and  the very last thing was that with the increased   turn on speed uh you said it's used to be

116able to  get a cup of coffee so now your coffee consumption   has been reduced? Don't drink coffee anymore don't  have time. There you go thank you I appreciate that.   So the rest of the table, do we have any comments,  questions, queries? Oh apparently I was it. Great Thank   you Jay. Thank you. Thank you. I know like yeah.  Informacast a four-letter word, no, we like Informacast  has been you, I yeah as you said I hope we  never have to use it. I relate it to insurance   it's the thing you have to have, that you hope you  never need. Yeah, thank you Jay, appreciate that. I would like   to call up Foundation for Saline Area Schools for  their Annual Overview, and I'll let you introduce yourself. I am Stacey Rumpsa, the Executive Director  for the Foundation for

117Saline Area Schools and I   uh want to thank you all for giving me a chance  to give a year in review for the Foundation. We had   such an amazing, fun year and we're able to provide  so many cool projects for teachers and students   so, um actually if we could go back in the slides.  We'll start out. Okay here we go so I would like to   thank this group our excellent Board of Trustees  and the Executive Committee and our District Reps   who always show up at our Trustee Meetings once a  month to provide updates and then our two Student   Reps that we had this year Sarah Yousif and  Grace Oberski. It's an amazing team, we have a lot of   fun together, and then moving on to financials  um our net donations from July 1st uh of

1182023   to May 3st 2024, we brought in $207,000 so  just to give you a breakdown of the year.   Our sponsorships, which include cash and in  kind sponsorships came to 72,500, so you'll   see 48,600 was in cash and 23,900 was in kind  sponsorships. The one thing that we always start   off at the beginning of the year is our annual  Employee Campaign and that brought in $9,000,   and then we have our Free Fall Luncheon that we  do every year and that brought in $41,000, our   Giving Tuesday campaign brought in 5,000, our  year- end appeal letter that we always do at the   end of the year brought in 18,000, Blue Jeans  and Bling it netted uh $56,100, and then our Third   Annual Superintendent Circle Dinner brought  in 20,000, and general donations came out to 9,300. With the

119next slide um this kind  of gives a breakdown we did um 96,000 our   budget for grants was $96,500 for a total  of 27 grants, so you can kind of see here   here the breakdown of the percentage of  districtwide versus grades 9 through 12,  grades K through 5, and then grades 6 through  8. So teaching and student grants amounted to 49,200 and building and district grants were broken down to 47,100. Back to financials again, I've got my slides out of order. Our net donations including sponsorships again you see for 23-24 $207,000 and this kinds gives you a history of where we were in 2020,  2021, and so on the um year 21 and 22 actually   that includes $100,000 that was specifically  earmarked for the Alternative Ed High School   uh by a private trust, so that created

120a big  jump for that year. Some of our events the   one first one that we did was the Fall Luncheon  that brought in, as I had mentioned $41,000, so   that just shows some of the pictures from our  event. The next one was Blue Jeans and Bling,   the total revenue for that was 75,000 and as  I'd mentioned uh it brought in a net at 56,100. It was a lot of fun. Some of the slides I thought you get a big kick out of that one. Our 3rd Annual Super 3rd Annual Superintendent's Circle Dinner that's a dinner that was started 3 years ago, Mac's Acadian Seafood, Wally MacNeil has been so generous. One of the things we  do at the fall luncheon is kickoff for the   for private donors who donate $1,000 or more, they  um are

121then um given an invitation to attend the   Superintendent Circle dinner and we had 20 donors  which ended up equaling out to $20,000   for the Foundation and so um we had a our own  little space and the chef gave us a a breakdown   of the menu, he was a lot of fun, and uh it was it  was a good great and we appreciate Dr. Laatsch for   always helping us with that. Back to our Grant  Budget, we had um a little over $96,000 in Grant   Funds, which I'd mentioned was uh 27 Grant Awards.  These are just some fun pictures some of the ones   that we touched on uh marine biology, astronomy,  iLab, and Spanish that's just drop in the bucket   obviously out of the 27 that we had. We also did  a presentation of Grant Awards, so

122I had a lot of   fun popping around to all the different buildings, and providing the wonderful teachers and staff   their grant certificates and as you can see in  some of those pictures we have some students,   because we had a couple of student lead grants  for the Robotics Team. So yeah, this grant   was particularly fun because actually got to see a  grant in action. This was uh this grant was called   The Rube Goldberg: Using Hot Wheels Track for  Energy Collisions and Conversions and this was   for fourth grade. Meg Phillips, Erin Gregoire,  and Kaitlyn Gasparovich were the grant writers   for this. They had a very well organized afternoon  with all of the fourth grade classes where we got   to hop around, and get to see the students  working on these projects and it was a lot of  

123fun. I mean and and they were such good sports  they understood that maybe if their um project   didn't go was planned there was always room for  improvement, and so then they would collaborate   and figure out what they needed to do to to get it  to work. So that was a blast and as I had mentioned   it was really cool to to get to see one of these  grants in action, and then a big thank you to all   of our sponsors that you see here. We really  couldn't do this without our sponsors and our   donors um everyone, but it really appreciate  everything that these folks do to be able to   provide the budget for the the grant process. And  then looking into the next school year already   have a few new ones lined up: Cottage Inn

124Pizza, Mancino's, Cornerstone, Saline Oral and Facial, and   Saline Optometry so looking forward I'm working  on the um sponsorship lineups right now and we'll   be doing that over the next several weeks. The  next thing is for 2024, later this year, is the   Foundation for Saline Area Schools Hall of Fame, these  are our inductee the event is going to take place   on a Friday, just one night only this year. We're  going to try that out, October the 11th and you   could see our inductees here: Ray Larned, Mary Larned,  they were Distinguished Educators, Brian Worra   is a Distinguished Alumni, author and a poet,  Robbie Felton is Distinguished Alumni. He was   on the 30 under 30 Forbes list. Greg Degrand  um big sports athlete I mean lettered in   so many different things as well as was in the  um

125Wind Ensemble and has continued on into   um working for the police department in Canton  in numerous roles so he was a distinguished   alumni, and then Lila Howard and Norma Freeman  also Distinguished Educators. So we will be   honoring them on October the 11th. Our new, well  not one is new, our student representatives for   2024-2025 Grace Oberski is going to be our senior  representative formerly our junior, and then Bryce   Nadig is going to be our junior representative  for this year. So we're looking forward to that   and we have a big thank you to Sarah Yousif  who happens to actually be here tonight. Yeah   she was an excellent student ambassador for the  Foundation, and we are wishing her all all the   best as she moves on to the next chapter in  her education at the University of Michigan.

126So, mark your calendars, so for our alumni  banquet that's coming up on June the 21st   it's going to be at Saline Middle School at 5:30  but before that we have a crew um who has been   working on the alumni archives just right outside  of this room, spending a lot of time in old   memorabilia and yearbooks and all that, they're  going to have an open house from 1 to 4 the same   day as the banquet ,so that'll obviously be  here. We have our alumni golf outing coming   up on July the 15th this is the second annual one  at Brookside at 8:00 in the morning, we'll be   participating in Saline Summerfest again, our oh  I forgot to change the date we uh Hall of Fame is   actually October the 11th that was just changed  officially as of

127yesterday and then we have our   Fall fundraiser that will be here at Liberty on  October the 30th at noon and that's it. Thank you.   Any questions? Are there any questions from the  rest of the uh table. I have a couple comments   and one question. Okay. Stacey thank you so  much for the um the entire presentation but   really the balance of the grants, between all of  our buildings, and age groups I think that that   was very intentional and and uh appreciate  you serving all students. Mmhm. I know the   Foundation is always thinking about things that  they can do to keep it fresh, so and there were   recent surveys, do you have any comments on um  ideas you have in the coming academic year for   things that you might do a little differently  to... Yes these are

128these are tentative right   now uh but we're looking to do some more family  oriented events to educate all of the younger   families as to what the foundation is and what  we do, because not all of the younger families   are aware of that and to bring in that next group  of of young families um the other thing that we   don't uh set this is not set in stone, um but we  are thinking about changing up our um the spring   fun or end of winter spring fundraiser that we  do, we this just as in discussions but we're   thinking about maybe doing a dueling piano  type of event and where it would be desserts   and champagne and that type of thing just to  kind of change it from you know kind of what   it has been, but that

129is that I mean who knows  I could say that and then it may not work out   so this is just what we're what we're looking  towards. So yeah, does that answer your question? Okay. I was also noting as as uh Vice President  Steben noted the um variety of grants and the impact   of students across um you know the the continuum  of students that we serve, and I I wondered if you   might tell us a little bit, because it's been  a little while since I um since I knew more   about the grant process, but I think I remember  that there was um support for writing the grant   but also if your grant isn't selected there was  feedback and then an offer of support, um for that   in the future so could you talk a little bit 

130about that process of a grant isn't selected   or if someone has an idea but isn't sure um to  fill out the form. Yeah sure, so Julie Simon is   our chairperson for our grants and she works very  closely with Kara Davis who is the connector with   all of the teachers and the staff, and there's a  grant window where um It's usually the beginning   of October teachers, staff, students, can um submit  their grants online and then there is the review   process with a smaller committee, and um Kara  and Julie ,along with a couple of others kind   of determine which ones can get pushed through,  and then which ones maybe are not quite ready or   just not ready. We do have some board um sorry not  board, building um ambassadors that these teachers   and staff can kind of

131go to so that they can have  support in terms of how to write it, because I feel   like sometimes just the the thought or it's just a  daunting that, it's looked at as a daunting process   just to submit a grant, and we try to make it  absolutely as easy as possible because we don't   want to you know scare anybody body off, we want  those grants coming in, so that's kind of how how   it works and then once the grants are approved uh  it goes to our Board of Trustees who then vote but   there's that little filtering process beforehand  so. No I think that's great because I do think the   first time someone goes through the process after  you go through it it feels more manageable, but at   first it's a little daunting. Yeah. I also

132was  just um going to give my support for the family   involvement, I do remember and I don't remember  exactly what it was for but it was a foundation   event that was before a football game in the  High School gym, and our kids were there and um   the acorn someone I think Zoe was dressed up as  the acorn probably um anyway it was it made an   impression on our kids who are now alumni and um  look back fondly on the impact that the Foundation   had on their school experience. So I I think that  um inviting families to be a part of some events   and um helping them to see that the the um ways  that the Foundation supports schools is is really   a great idea. Yeah that's one of our goals for  this coming year is

133to put more emphasis on that. Yeah, it did show up at the kindergarten  open houses. Brad Gerbe. All right uh first of   all Stacey I want to thank you for your commitment  to the the Foundation as the director and your   team everybody's with you and and all of that  and I want to thank you Sarah again okay um   congratulations and good luck at the University of  Michigan. And so I I a couple of things number   one uh from an educator perspective I want you  to know number one I am sure that when you are   walking through the door that you are very  welcomed and very everybody's very excited   to see you and uh one of the things that I want  to talk about is that yeah I I noted that we we   support all kinds

134of different kinds of programs  and different buildings and all of that, but these   these are things that also allow teachers to  be to be innovative and to try things and to   say like I want to inject this into my classroom,  but it just doesn't fit within our building budget   and so I want to try this in marine biology I  want to try this in Spanish and and so I want   to make sure that I I I give appreciation to  the fact that like these really are ways in   which we can push on boundaries and do things  that we otherwise wouldn't be able to do, right.   Exactly. So um I want to say that out loud, now  my one question that I have for you is you said   that you guys had a $96,000 budget for

135grants  how do you set that budget? Like how do you come   to the determination, do you based on grants  you've received? Do you, do it based on, it's so   Finance? Our Treasurer works, he has a formula  that he puts together and it's it depends we do   what's called an upfront or what I call an upfront  sponsorship that's from back in my cable days that helps determine what that's going to be uh  based on some other calculations. I am not the   right person to break down all those finances,  but um that's how we do it, and so we we we get   commitments from our sponsors in like the May, June,  early July time frame and then their payments are   due in October, so that's how we know at least  for that part what's coming in. And

136I I guess   I want to give a shout out to Tom Costigan who  does that right? Yes exactly. Yeah thank you. He's great. Was there anything else from the rest of  the board? Well no, then let me thank you very much   for all of your efforts and we I know the teachers  appreciate it, I appreciate it, we all appreciate it.   thank you so much. Thank you. I have had a request  for a bio break since some of us have been meeting   since 5 o'clock and it might be time so if we  could without objection uh take a quick recess   and be back at about 3 minutes after eight to  resume give or take. Thank you so much I appreciate it. Mr. Goodman are we ready to start? We're ready to  go. Thank you very much

137we have three discussion. Thank   you for the your patience folks, we have three  discussion items ahead of us. I would like to   welcome Jenny Miller Chair of the Board Policy  Committee and thank you very much you uh we we   postponed for two weeks the the last report and  I appreciate your flexibility on that thank you. Okay, sorry two thing, everything happening at  once, um so I wanted to take us back to May 28th   that was the uh last policy meeting, and um at that  meeting we discussed a number of things including   a couple of policies that you're going to see that  we're going to discuss in just a moment um tonight,   but also um we discussed um some items that are on  the consent agenda, and so um I wanted to address   those items first.

138The items that are going to  be on tonight's consent agenda so I did send to   the board a memo um kind of uh giving an  abbreviation of uh the changes that were   being made and why they were being made along with  the um the uh documents that you see in the board   packet that show the changes. So um the first um  the first that you'll see on the consent agenda t   tonight let me just turn I just want to make sure  since they're on the consent agenda and we didn't   have a board policy update, that everyone is is  familiar in addition to the memo that was sent um   so first is um Evaluation of the Superintendent  you may recall that um there have been some,  changes uh related to Evaluation of All um School  Employees

139and also some items um we're going to   talk about later uh have changed um they used  to be prohibitive bargaining topics topics, but   now they're not, so we've been um undergoing some  changes really since February um the discussion   started on those here, um as a result of changes  um at the state level. So you'll see that policy   1240 is um changes to the evaluation so it  mirrors um the policy um that we talked about   earlier uh well we talked about two pertaining  to admin and pertaining to special or to sorry   let me take a deep breath. Okay there is a policy  that we explored earlier this year pertaining to   admin and professional staff, so basically what  has happened at the state level is that um the   rating system is going from a three point or

140from  a four-point scale to a three-point scale so there   is no longer going to be a rating for educators  that is highly effective there will be effective,   minimally effective, and ineffective. So it'll be  a three-point scale now we already talked about   that earlier this rel regarding um administrators  and professional staff, this is mirroring that for   the superintendent. This uh the law takes effect  July 1 so that's why it's coming to today in the   consent agenda. Okay next oh and also I should note  too that um MASB is also providing tools for us to   realign our evaluation tools um to accommodate  that change in um going to the three-part   um or three tier evaluation system. Okay the  biggest um piece that I wanted to address today   and um Tim and I had a chance to talk

141about  this, Michael and I have had a chance to talk   about this further, so I want to invite them to  chime in if they'd like to, but there is um a set   of policies that are on the consent agenda that  are in response to um the legislature repealing   portions of the State School Aid Act so um  I want to say two things about this so the   first thing is it is merely a coincidence that  this is happening in the same week that the SEAB  presented their curriculum. This has nothing to  do with that, this is in response to the um State   Legislature repealing those portions of the School  Aid Act, nothing to do with the fact that we talked   about sex sec advis uh the Sex Advisory Board  last night. So that first I wanted

142to say the   repeal um removes um a provision that had um in  previous policies, there has been um a reference   to required discipline for a staff member who  would provide information regarding abortion to um   a student, and um because the School Aid Act  has repealed that um I want to just state a   couple of things um first the discipline that was  mentioned in the policy was very vague and unclear   making it really difficult for any legal action  to actually occur or discipline to actually occur,   and so when um when that was being reviewed um by  legal teams they um you know catch those things   that say oh this can't this is not enforceable, so that was the first thing. The second thing   that I want to say is, that this is being repealed  and I

143understand that this is a topic that um some   um might have some strong feelings about, so I want  to say a couple of things, first if we left this on   our books which is not advised it is not legal  it is it would be a an opposition to um Michigan   Law um therefore it would not be able to um stand  in our in in any sort of action in the school   district. Secondly for those who might be concerned  um there are some safeguards that remain in place   in the state of Michigan. So the first is that if  a minor were to seek an abortion in the state of   Michigan they are required to have um guardian  consent parental or guardian consent um if they   do not have parental or guardian consent they can  appeal or

144petition the court and um a judge can   can make a determination um that would uh that  you know that would um allow um for that course   of action, so even though our law has changed and  therefore our policies are changing, I do want to   just mention that um those are some safeguards  that the state still has in place for anyone who   might be concerned. So that is on the consent  agenda tonight to be in compliant compliance with   with current law. I don't know if Michael or Tim  want to say anything else about that. Well that   that's all I wanted to do is, um I know it changed  based on state law changing so that's why we have   it in the consent agenda, and then just the timing  of it, and then having it stuffed in

145the consent, I   wanted to, you know now that we had the little  conversation about it that's all I just wanted   to make it a little more transparent. That's all. Yes  absolutely transparency is the key. So um Tim   when Tim contacted me he was like it's on the  consent agenda, and I said well my my policy   report got moved to this week, so I am going to  mention that we had this discussion at the Policy   um Committee Level, and so that's why it's a part  of my um Policy Update today. So those are the   items that, oh sorry yes. So I have one quick  comment with regards to 1240 in the Evaluation   of the Superintendent um because of the change  to the evaluation system we will will have to as   a compensation that's the reason why

146the compens  you going to see that the compensation committee   is meeting, I think it's is it July July 9th and  the reason why we're meeting on July the 9th is   because now we will have to make some adjustments  with regards to Steve's con our Superintendent   Laatch's contract, with regards to how we compensate  him, based on performance. So just FYI there are   some things where we're going to have to engage  in those discussions, because his contract has   language that is no longer legally compliant due  to that change so. And just to build off of what   Brad said um and that that meeting will be after  the um MASB Superintendent Evaluation Training on   the 20th. So we can take that knowledge into that  conversation as well. And is that a publicly, has   that been posted as a

147special meeting yet? Yes. Okay  thanks. So in addition at that um policy commit   committee meeting I'll talk about um the two  policies that are going to have first readings   on the next discussion item so I'm going to not um  miss those, but I'm going to gloss over those for a   minute just to say that um there were a couple of  policies if you look in the um in the board packet   you'll see the policy agenda from the previous  meeting. There were a couple of um let me see I'm   looking right here, there were some policies  that had, let me see Policy 3220, 6320, 6321   they were technical corrections is what Neola  calls them, so they technically don't have to be um   brought uh to the board there, I I know Michael  refers to those as

148like scriveners errors, so they   were things like um changing he/she to they or um  those sorts of um uh gram grammar or um updates so   if you want to take a look at those you're welcome  to take a look at those, but those minor changes   nothing pertaining to the policy operation or um  procedures so those were also changed. We did table   a few um a few policies sorry we did table a few  policies that were on the agenda due to time and   so we will be bringing those um forth at our um  upcoming meeting um which will be on June 18th at   6:30. So that agenda will be posted later this  week um and and so that was our um board meeting   and there was some public comment, but I'm going  to save that for

149our um one one piece I'll I'll   mention during our discussion item two and then  um I can also respond during um discussion item C so. For public comment, so now moving do you want me  just to transition to number two or do you want to,   okay all right I didn't know if you were going to  announce so the next item under the board policy   update is policy discussion first reading of two  um readings, so I'm going to do the second I'm   going to do them in reverse order that they're  listed here so if you want to scroll to Policy   1540, because that's the easiest one to start  with first. So this policy is um new to us   that's why it's on for a first reading um but it  may look familiar because it is closely

150related   to um a policy um that we have uh 3131 um that was  uh on the consent agenda back in February it was a   change, that policy has been on our books and it  was um changed due to um the para law changes   that we just talked about with superintendent  evaluations. So basically um there were some items   that were prohibitive topics of bargaining and now  they are no longer prohibitive, so it's important   and I'm living this first hand right now to have a  way to recall um if there are staff reductions so   we talked about that before with our other  professional staff but now we need to talk about   this for administrative staff should that should  the need arise. So um this was recommended by Neola,   but also supported by Assistant Superintendent  Digl, Diglio, am

151I saying that right? Diglio  I said it and then I was like does that sound  right? Superintendent Assistant Superintendent   Diglio um that it is important that we have these  policies should the need occur and and I'm saying   this, because I ju I just said that I'm living  this firsthand um this is occurring last week and   this week in my own district, and it is very very  important that we have this written in policy not   just for action that a school district might  take but also for transparency with the people   who are impacted. So that is Policy 1540 a new  policy for administrative staff reductions that we   didn't have before. Sure. One, if you don't mind want  so okay so we nego we enter into a collective   negotiating process with our different unions  and one of

152them is the what AASA is that word   is that the acronym, right, what if the if they were  to through the negotiating process to like the   the part that kind of like impacts this is they  could theoretically now um negotiate the part   about length of service or tenure status may only be  considered when all other factors are considered   equal, they could collectively negotiate language  that would be different from that right and so   what would supersede what? So so this is this is  our policy and um so my understanding and correct   me if I'm wrong Carol because this is her area  of expertise, but my understanding is that this   policy is is in alignment with current state  law, that was recently changed, and because it   was a prohibitive talk topic before, it could not  have been

153negotiated it there are items that can   be negotiated now um the the items that are in  this policy are the bare minimum, but that other   items could be negotiated is that is is that  how it is Carol did I understand that correctly? Okay. So but we would have to adopt different  language if they, collectively bargain something   different, correct? Yeah so this. This is okay, go  ahead, Steve has an easy way of explaining it.   So Brad but so this line that says length of  service or tenure status may only be considered   when all other factors are considered equal. Right.  So for example if you had a teacher that had been   in a district for 20 years, but had an ineffective  evaluation. Right. You wouldn't be able to say well   that teacher gets to stay over a

154two-year teacher  that received an effect evaluation I mean that's   what that ultimately means. Right, but I follow  that I just wanted to make sure like how do   we then react to it if through the negotiations  process, right our policy becomes in conflict with   the contract of of those employees? Does that make  sense? So so my understanding is that you wouldn't   be able to act in opposition to this policy, but  you would you could add other measures so here's   an example um here's an example that I'll just say,  so based on rating so so maybe the first person   to go would be somebody who is ineffective then  minimally effective. So you could negotiate also   a scale of effectiveness so it could be  something like if you are effective, but   you've had disciplinary action. Does that make 

155sense, so that could be negotiated yeah and I'm   not agree saying that I agree or disagree with  the language I'm saying I just wanted to know   where the collective negotiations process  begins and ends and our policy kind in like   how much comp how much do they change based  on each other if you will. Our yes so our policy   is based on the law. Right. So you wouldn't any  negotiations wouldn't be able to supersede the law   or our policy, but they could be an accompaniment  correct? They could be in addition. Kind of. Potentially. Yeah can we would you mind  coming to the microphone, I'm sorry Carol. So the the state has been very specific about  timelines, on purpose, so they're trying to   encourage people to get these even if you're not  in a contract year, even

156if your contracts are not   expiring they want this they want bargaining  groups to demand a bargain to kind of clear   this up. If you remember back in 2011 before all  this changed, there were a lot of contracts   that had old language in and the the contracts  can supersede that sometimes you have to be very   careful you don't want language in a contract  that is not in alignment with the law. So the   contracts are the contracts, and sometimes what  they did last time is grandfathered the contracts   until your contract opened, and then you negotiated  those out, so you have it is tedious and you have   to be very careful about it. But because these  were prohibitive topics before and now they're   no longer prohibitive so they can be bargained  but they but that's up to the

157bargaining. That's   correct, that's correct, and they won't so not to  get too detailed, but if you get into something   where the contract is not aligning with law or  board policy, a lot of times it won't stand up if   you have to go to arbitration or further down  the line, but if they're in there you have to   consider that. Okay thank you. Yeah you're welcome.  Yeah yeah that's helpful clarification um so um   you know you've noted you've noted that the  changes with evaluations for all of our staff   and then um for now re reductions and recalls,  so that is what that is related to and so it is   no there is no red and green on it because it is  a new to us policy um even though it might look   familiar because you've seen it

158before. Okay so now  we're going to back up to um Dress and Grooming,   Dress and Grooming so let me just say this has  lived a long life right um so this policy I sent   um I sent uh well you got the items in the packet  but I also sent clarification I want to make sure   that everybody understands because this policy has  been um on committee table for for multiple years.   So I want to just um take us back for transparency  for anyone who might be listening and is   interested this is a new policy for our district,  however Neola has had this policy since 2009 and   it was revised in 2022, and when it was revised in  2022 it was recommended that we um consider this   for our Neola policies, so over the last couple of 

159years there have been um some discussions on this   and some iterations of um um of the uh policy drafts and one of the things that I just want to   make very, very clear and um I also think that it's  important that the body of this board understands   that moving forward any draft language that  is being um proposed needs to go through Betty,   so that it's not lost in individual Google Drives.  So if you are working on revisions to a policy um   I would ask that you send it to me and to Betty um  for uh so basically let me back up so if a trustee   wants to have a board revise or a policy revised  or or a new policy considered any any of you can   do that you can um make a motion or

160um suggest uh  consideration for the policy committee, when when   that happens if you have drafted language which is  usually what we ask, please submit drafted language,   so that we have something to work with um we would  like I would like for you to send it to the pol   well best practices would be that you would send  it to the policy chair and to Betty so that it is   all contained in um a way that is historically  uh saved for the next policy committees if that   makes sense, because we've had multiple versions  of of this policy floating around. So with that   said the current um policy committee looked  at several versions of um this policy, we also   uh reviewed the recommendations from Neola and  um discussions from previous policy committee   meetings and recommendations from the DEIAC.

161I want  to note this is where I was going to bring up the   um public comment from the last meeting I want to  note that there was one recommendation from the   DEIAC which could be a part of the policy but upon  um looking at this particular policy let me   pull it up upon looking at this particular policy  if you look down under Item B when it says   participation, um the the way that the policy the  sorry the way that the policy is operationalized   for dress and grooming is through our hand books,  which are created um at um at an admin level for   uh specific buildings, and so when we were thinking  about the involvement one of the, one of the um   recommendations was student involvement and we are  um a school district that supports student

162voice   and so we want to note that while we didn't check  that, I want to explain a little bit about that. So   it's not checked because we felt like it could  be difficult to get student input from all of   the variety of buildings that we have however we  would want to encourage in the operationalization   of this um policy uh student engagement where  appropriate. So like for example it would be um   much different to get student voice at the High  School than it might be from um from another   population say um like our EC um Early Childhood  Special Education Program here for example or um   even even one of our K-3 buildings it could look  very different and um so we want to just note   that although it's not checked as a part of this  policy,

163we do recognize that student voice is um   a goal of our district and we would um hope to  see that um in the operationalization of this policy. Do you want to, do you want to. Yeah so as  it relates to the handbook review that is actually   happening right now where the administrators  are meeting and looking at hand the handbook   and they're looking at this potential updated  policy to make sure that their um language they   use in there is really amplifying D on here and D  D says, "ensure that all administrative guidelines   impose only minimum minimum and necessary restrictions on the exercise of students taste   and individuality," meaning they're going to um work  towards not having all these undue restrictions   and that will uh be reflective in the handbook. We  want it to be you know

164the least prohibitive   possible really the only time, that um the only  thing that as you read through it and perhaps   you have some comments about this but it really  is when when dress or grooming interferes with   the learning environment, that is where um you  know action would be taken but we also removed   um you'll notice we removed some things like um  the type of discipline you know that a student   would be sent home or suspended or something like  that, we didn't feel like that was necessary um so   I don't know if um Jennifer and Lauren we spent  some time on this, I don't know if either one of   you have anything else to add or um you know.I  would echo that I I think my thoughts on this   is for there to be sort of

165minimal restrictions  outside of distraction, but respectfully to the   DEI committee those restrictions that are set much  like when you go to a job or all the other things   that our kids are going to learn to do in life  you don't necessarily, when you start a job get an   input any input on the dress code, and I just think  there'll be too many cooks in the kitchen, and   the teachers will have the best idea of what is  distracting, and I'm glad they're seeking student   input at that point, but this policy has been like  worked and reworked and discussed many times and   I think adding more opinions on what the dress  code should be versus just letting the people who   are running the schools, run the dress code makes  the most sense to me, and I think

166there's other   ways to seek that and certainly if we're having  just fewer pieces of input all together on   what kids are wearing that would be the goal. Just  because I think it ends up being a lot of work for   everyone it's disruptive to students, parents get  called in because somebody's shoulder is showing   and it's usually you know or and it just ends up  being not really what they're there to learn, but   to the degree that there is a limited dress code I  think it's probably fine for the administrators to   come up with something, and if we hear that it's  not being applied in that way or there's feedback   from students after they start then I would  love to hear it. We we also just to to build on   what um Trustee Gold was saying we

167did include  references to Policy 0145 discriminatory   Harassment and Policy 1662 Anti-Harassment  um so you know some of the things that may be   traditionally or historically had been concerns  over dress code, should be also addressed in those items. Yeah we're read so I had if Jennifer  has anything to say before we open it up, okay   as part of the policy team, so okay, we're  opening it up for discussion or questions. Yes you can go either direction I so I I one  of the things that I believe strongly in is   you know allowing the the members of the the team  to to own the work that they do and I'm sure that   you guys did debate this and spend a lot of time  on it. I will tell you I have some concern about   the elimination of

168you know staff and parents and  students and and some of those input pieces and I   can understand about you know cooks in the kitchen  you want to streamline those types of things I   and and I think we have outstanding principles  who will indeed you know have strong practices   and handbook language and all of that, but I also  would want to reiterate and say out to the public   that you know like we also have mechanisms for  feedback, right, and for for ways for those things   to come to us and so I'm inclined to support  this as it's as it's written, however I would   want our community partners to understand that  like we are still always evolving and changing   and engaging in discussion, and if we did need to  invite and include more of that participation then  

169I would welcome that feedback. So that's all. And  I do think um our building administrators do get   feedback um especially when there is something  that someone might think has been distracting or   um you know difficult in a learning environment  there has been feedack back that has been given   and so that is another reason why we didn't want  to require it, but it is always invited, we have   lots of mechanisms through our um administrator  email and even to the Let's Talk! like there are   lots of ways for people to give feedback, but  it's not required um we know that students are   also constantly giving feedback, um especially  at the upper levels. And I agree that's why I   that and I agree with that that's why I said  I'm I'm inclined to to support the committee   and

170support the work that you've done here but  just I wanted to reiterate that we're always listening. Yeah um a couple things um so I think  this was brought was it 2022 um when Michael   was Chair and um was able to get feedback from  the DEI Advisory Committee, I think it came   a couple of times actually um and and so um so  I I so since we're bringing up so specifically   the invite participation of which is what it  reads um options staff, parents, students in the   preparation of a dress code which may specify  prescribed dress and grooming practices um oh   I don't know if that's part of it okay sorry  I'm like trying to read underneath the crossed.   So so what it says um it says, "the superintendent  shall develop administrative guidelines to   implement this policy

171which designate the  principal as the arbiter of student dress   and grooming at the building level." So  we removed in his or her building for not   um not the content of this policy but because we  remove those his/her items. Okay so then options   for B say, "invite participation of staff, parents,  students in the prep in the preparation of   a dress code which may specifically uh prescri  which may specify prescribed dress and grooming   practices that may not amplify the rationale for  prohibitive establishment by board policy" um so   that has that has been removed um so the only  thing that that is there is that the prc the   principal of the building is the arbiter but then  it goes on um C was also removed where it says   instruct staff members to demonstrate by example  we removed that

172piece, because there is a dress and   grooming policy for um staff and students that  also already has that language. D then says,   "ensure that all administrative guidelines impose  only minimum and necessary restrictions on the   exercise of students taste and individuality" and  E "direct staff to enforce the school's dress code   in accordance with uh Saline Area School's  non-discrimination policy" and what we have   marked off is a non-discriminatory and uniform  manner without regard for a student's sexual   orientation, gender identity, or gender expression  we took that out because it is above um I didn't   read that part so at the we took that out because  now included it says students have the right to   dress in accordance with their sexual orientation,  gender expression, or gender identity within the   constraints of the dress code promulgated by the  school. Which

173is sorry I'll get to that one. That's okay   yep and then finally we removed students who  violate this the for um sorry students who   violate the forgoing rules will not be admitted  to class and may be suspended from school we   removed that. Okay I don't know I didn't read all  of it I. Because it was also redundant. Yes. That's   cover elsewhere. Well and we also didn't, we don't want  students removed from class. Yeah. We want   them remove as we want that to be as limited as  possible and we didn't feel like an infringement   on dress code was a reason that students should  miss a day of instruction. Yeah yeah. So sorry.   Thanks for no thanks for um like uh thoroughly  uh reading that um so so since 2022 um I've asked   the question about, because

174it kept coming back  to the table without when we had marked invite  the participation of staff and students, it  always came back to the table where that was all   like unchecked, and I've never heard any sort of  reason as to why that was happening, so thanks   after two years um hearing why that that would be  the case, um so um because you know I think every   time when it did come to committee um you know it  was like okay let's check this right. I think   the important I I think the way it reads inviting  the participation of, does not mean that um that   they're writing it right, I know when I first um  got on the board I believe or maybe it was when I   was attending meetings prior, to being elected um  there was

175a group of students at the High School   and they created a Gender Equity Club and so I  know the dress code came up um I know I've heard   from teachers and staff who have talked about the  dress code and wanting like talked about wanting   having having input into that, um I also know  the the DEI Advisory Committee um that there   um in the past has been talk about when when they  were reviewing this, they had you know tons of like   ideas and and comments and um I think it was more  like this could come back to the DEIAC right um so   I think even with inviting the participation of,  we have staff, we have parents, we have students in   the DEIAC um so um you know and I don't know if  we still have a

176Gender Equity Club but I think   it's a way of the people who are being impacted  by it or having having to um implement it, um   would want to have possibly um some input,  participation in, you know helping with   that I don't think that's you know not necessarily  like going to happen every year, but I I don't see   why we would if that's from Neola as options why  we wouldn't choose that, so so that's one thing.   Sure. I think I think that one of the things  that our policy team has kind of been looking   at is reducing the I guess the I guess reducing  the specificity of a lot of these um policies in   that realm like for example I'll just say for this  particular piece we feel like input is frequently   asked for and um

177and accepted, so we didn't feel  like it was necessary to include it here. So that's   that's the reason we weren't saying that they  shouldn't take input from students or parents   um we also aren't saying that the DEIAC shouldn't  continue to be involved in this um we just were   saying that that um that because there are other  mechanisms that would invite input and feedback   that it wasn't necessary here and also we felt  like well there may be an overabundance of   feedback and participation at like an upper level  there might not be as much at the lower level and   so it might make it more difficult um to create an  um the handbooks with with that in mind so not   saying that we're not taking the feedback, but just  removing it from this particular policy and just  

178making it known know that all all feedback and  and uh ideas are respected and received. But we   also we don't accept all feedback because that's  exactly the feedback was to to have that staff   and parent or sorry student participation  um from the DEIAC so you know I'm not saying   that this is specifically DEIAC. I see this as you  can do a little survey or go in and talk to a   student group that focuses on gender inequity  like. And that and that could be specified in that   operational, because it does talk about um  administrative guidelines and that's coming up   in another topic. It is so that would be helpful.  Yep yeah uh sure go ahead and then I'll.    I don't want to interrupt, but I just I mean when we seek  student and parent input,

179there's not only the DEIAC student and parent input, so we could just  as easily get student and parent input that says   that girls should be covered from their like, their  whole body should be covered and anything else is   a distraction to their sons, and which input are we  going to take? That's why I and it's really poorly   written it's like you should seek input, what kind  of input, who's input do you listen to, what... Participation.  It's not, it's not I mean they can seek input  but you might get that's I just feel like it's   kind of silly, because if you ask a hundred people  what they like to wear you're going to get about   90 different opinions, and the whole point of the  policy is to not do so much micromanaging, of so I   think

180I was the one who felt most strongly about  this because I just feel like the policy sort of   speaks for itself, if it's not interfering with  your education you can wear it and to have a   bunch of people arguing about what is interfering  with education or what their own norms are just   doesn't make any sense to me, because you can ask  10 different parents what they would like to see   in a dress code and you're going to get a wide  range of opinions, so I just don't see I mean yes   we can ask our administrators to sit and listen  to it, but in the end the policy clearly says the   least restrictive enforcement as possible, so it  seems to me like um not necessary. Yeah well and   let me just let me back up just

181to say, I didn't  read this portion and then um I know Jennifer   wanted to respond to this this particular piece  too, but it says, "accordingly, the superintendent   shall establish such grooming guidelines as  are necessary to promote discipline, maintain   order, secure the safety of students, and provide a  healthy en environment conducive to the academic   purpose. Such guidance shall prohibit student dress  grooming practices which," and so it's very specific   if there's going to be any sort of um uh you know  um prohibitive dress or grooming it would be a and   we did select this "present A. hazard to the health  or safety of students or others in the school B.   interfere with school work creating disorder to  disrupt the educational program C. cause excessive   wear or damage to school property D. prevent  uh the student from achieving

182educational   objectives caused by blocked vision or restricted  movement". So we also felt like by checking those   four boxes um it was also creating like the least  prohibitive and um the other thing that I before   Jennifer and then I want to come back to your next  piece too, but a recommendation is just that   a recommendation for consideration by the board  so we did consider the recommendations and we'll   continue to consider those recommendations  it doesn't mean that they're always   taken into policy sometimes they'll be taken  into policy sometimes they'll be um considered   in other areas and sometimes they're not um  they're not uh ne necessarily going to be a   part of this version of the policy. And then we  can do consensus during these readings. Yep, absolutely.   Yep, so Jennifer do you want to speak just to

183that  piece and then I want Susan to continue. Yep, I   just wanted to add that I I think we do survey the  community members, parents, guardians and staff   and students annually and I think that there  are some open-ended areas where um people can give   feedback, you mentioned Let's Talk! that's another  one um we're always available at our email as well   as any educator in the district so I felt that it  was already covered and the input was evolving and   ever present. So okay. Sorry so I yeah, um thanks  for um your all's uh input and explanation, um I   I guess because we don't often see like this in  policy and I think one of the reasons um why is   kind of like best practices right, because  they're I mean type in dress code and see  

184what kind of things come up right um as far as  um incidents happening um people being suspended   because of their hair um or not being able to go  back to school, honestly um that happens, but   you know I think I think that's kind of part of  to to um you know the purpose that why it's this   policy that they um recommended that so um but  anyways so the E um so I mean I guess going back   to the recommended optional language this you  know this came to us what 2022 the the revision   which why didn't we have it in 2018 that's  interesting to me as well, so talking about like   that participation like I don't know if it was um  I I don't know why it wasn't adopted then maybe   you remember Michael but 2018,

185What? 2018 was when  we adopted the MASB Policies and that was part of   it this revision basically was like there were  two pieces they added and then cleaned up some   his/her language and that was it and it and they  did exactly the same with administration dress   and grooming and with staff dress and grooming. We  passed those with no problem, the issue was that we   took it off to the DEI for input. But no. I'm sorry  I'm sorry 2018. When we originally adopted. Yes All   of this wasn't there. it wasn't there? Really really okay.  Okay. it had no it hasn't been it's a new policy   to us. That's why it's here. Yeah I was surprised  that it was already. Well it was slashed out to   2009 so. That's when Neola had it, we've never had  it.

186So what happened probably then was that I don't   know some box didn't get checked while we were  doing the transition from one to the other, okay.   That's yeah I just took note of it yeah, um so the  optional language um came to us in 2022 um because   of the Title IX changes and in order to be in  compliance with that um it is optional because   you know it obviously you have to follow it  anyways right, but you know it's it's clar   clarifying for um the people who are referring  to this policy who will be implementing it like   the building administrator or those who want  to look at it to to see if the dress code is in   compliance in the handbook. So there were two  that came up and the top one we have checked

187um   students have the right to dress in accordance,  so it's talking about the right um and then the   last one is specifically where the superintendent  shall develop administrative guidelines, um it's   a different meaning besides the students  have a right it says directing so direct   staff to enforce the dress code um what  it previously said in accordance with   sorry not in accordance. I'm I'm sorry just  point of clarification Susan where are you   read I'm not following okay. E that begins direct  staff to enforce okay thank you. Okay start over   direct staff to enforce the school's dress  code um in a non what it said previously in   a non-discriminatory and uniform manner without  regard to the student sexual orientation, gender   identity, and gender expression um so I think  the two are different um with you have this  

188right and then we're directing staff that  they must recognize that they create it and   cannot um discriminate based on that, the LGBTQ population is um is uh one of the communities who   is uh like grossly impacted by um dress code  enforcement in schools look that look up   dress code and that will come up. I do see  that you know um it's important to enumerate   versus um you know just kind of broadly saying  non-discrimination policy, so I just you know if   if there's discussion about like possible other  identities I know this is specifically to Title IX but also impacted, you know I agree other  groups are impacted but um you know if if if we   want to add so sexual orientation, gender identity  it should say well and and gender. So. I'm not done yet   gender expression

189um. I didn't know if you saw  at the top where we had added that in the top   paragraph, we had at we moved it to the top and  and made it consistent with our other policies. What? So at the top we added students have  the right to dress in accordance with their   sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender  identity within the constraints of the dress   code promulgated by the school, so then those four  items that are checked ABC and D below are the   items that would be um promulgated. Yes. Okay I just  I didn't know if you saw that because. Yeah I was   trying to say like it was kind of a different  like they have a right but then it's you know   directing the staff to make sure that it's  enforced, um so so so

190other identities that   we could, that are negatively impacted um we could  add uh race, ethnicity, and then I would also say   um socioeconomic status um you know that's not I  don't think that's in our non-discrimination   policy, but um I think maybe um um a good item to  add um I think for the purpose of the optional   language currently um it is based on the gender  gender identity um and expression. So I I just   want to make sure I understand you so at the top  um and and I don't know if you want I don't know   since this is a discussion, I don't know if you  would make a motion or or if you just are going   to make the recommendation, but would you recommend  that we include um for example race or culture at   the

191top because I can also see where like um the  the town where I grew up a a lot of um students   wear burkas with like you know a lot of their  bodies being covered and and I know like there   was a time in history where that might have not  been um something that people would have liked   to have seen. So I can see where like culture, race  those those sorts of things the things that you   mentioned um could be an addition that could be um  helpful I don't know. Can I offer? Yeah. Something, um   so while we were in the meeting we actually went  through all of the policies that described the   protected classes and looked for consistency  and the most consistent language always   referred back to our non-discrimination policy  so I'll just read it

192and this is the preeminent   point on our website and that is referenced  everywhere so I don't think we're talking about   rewriting the district's discrimination policy.  It says, "the district does not discriminate   on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex  including sexual orientation and gender identity,   disability, age, religion, height, weight, marital or  family status, military status, ancestry, genetic   information, or any other legally protected  category collectively the protected classes in   its programs and activities including employment  opportunities." And then it directs folks um to our   Assistant Superintendent for for Human Resources  for any um complaint or more information so   that's what was consistently referenced in a lot  of the um the other policies and with listing out   some of those classifications at the top and  then reinforcing with our non-discrimination   policy which rules the district, I was

193very  comfortable having um having that language   um we also have the transgender and non-binary  students policy which talks about dress code um so   especially since it impacts the LGBTQ community um  negatively and that's the purpose of the optional   language, because of those um very um specific uh  changes with Title IX, I especially recently um   I think that's that's the purpose and I think it  should that's. I think that's why we specifically   called out sexual orientation, gender expression,  and gender identity because in the in the suggest   language it says um transgender or gender  non-conforming and our policies don't use   gender, transgender or gender um non-conforming  we use um sexual orientation, gender expression   or gender identity, so that's the purpose  of that I am not opposed to taking that   um statement that Jennifer just read that is

194a  part of our non-discrimination, even though it's   already referenced in here I'm not opposed and I  we can have a discussion about this if anybody is   opposed but I'm not opposed to to taking all of  those protected classes and placing it in here   if that would if that feels like that would um  be more protective of um students. I well I think   I mean some of the because it's a dress code  component doesn't necessarily apply to some of. I   don't know when you were reading them it felt  like it could when you were reading them it   felt like it could. I think we shouldn't assume and and  I I think the non-discrimination policy rules   the district. It's on the front page. Yeah every policy  rules District. Well this is pretty pretty forward   and I I

195think all those delineations could um  affect dr grooming. Will you will you read   each of them again the protected classes  again? Yeah race, color, national origin, sex   in parenthesis including sexual orientation and  gender identity, then new new comma disability, age,   religion, height, weight, marital or family status,  military, status, ancestry, genetic information or   any legally protected category collectively termed  protective classes. I just felt like it was all inclusive. So um Trust Susan do you think, would  you just like the LGBT community to be   specifically mentioned because you think that  it allows another level of protection? Is that   I'm is that what you're asking for so not only  referencing the non-discrimination policy, but   specifically putting an additional language  from in addition to the first paragraph where   it has the language? I'm just trying to  understand. So the

196optional language had   both right so this isn't just me recommending.  The reason we changed the optional language   was because it didn't align with the way that  we referenced it in the transgender policy, so   like that was I think the reasoning I mean  I if we want to put the optional language   back in it's fine, we it's. I thought that our our  main non-discrimination policy was actually more inclusive. Conncur completely with that right  I mean I think that our transgender policy   is covered using our non-discrimination like.  What if in addition to referencing the um the   general non-discrimination policy, we referenced  the transgender policy? Yes thank you. That would just be one   addition. Yeah. And would still like call back  to our own policies. Yeah. So let me just say   so where it says, E. direct staff

197to enforce the  school's dress code in accordance with Saline Area   Schools non-discrimination policy and transgender  non-binary student policy. I would be okay with that. Yeah because I think that's an important  part that's listed within that policy so that   would make sense. And dress code is mentioned  in that policy so it kind of closes the loop on   those two things and um if I I just think that  if there's an opportunity for us to provide um   safety and security for our transgender non-binary  student students then it doesn't hurt us to add   it there. So could I ask for the next steps then  you've made some modifications to this recommended   policy as part of the first reading. Is this  something then that you would have to go back   to as a Policy Committee or is something you

198would just give to Betty. So I was  just going to ask, I I feel like the recommendation   was to consider two, I think there were two things  to consider but but please um correct me if I'm   wrong so for E I am in support of Susan's um  recommendation to include and um for part E and   transgender non-binary student policy. Could you  just add the policy number if we to be consistent?   Yeah it doesn't have the non-discrimination  policy number there, but we could add it up above   where we call out the number. So Betty um if we're  in agreeance, oh Betty's not here okay well when she   watches it and I'll also call attention to it, but  up at the top where it says clothing may serve to   deliberately intimidate is um prohib is prohibited  by

199Policy 0145 Discrimination Harassment and   Anti-Harassment. Do you think it's needed there?  Or just down below and we can reference E so do   you see where it says up above it says it's  in green? I I was thinking that we would just   include it down at E but that we would where  it says E direct staff to enforce the students   sorry direct staff to enforce the school's dress  code in accordance with the Saline Area School's   Non-Discrimination Policy, we'll put the policy  number in parenthesis, and Transgender Non-Binary   Student Policy and put the policy in parentheses.  Yeah. Is that is that something that we can all   agree on here and that it doesn't need to go to  the policy committee. Okay if anyone is opposed um   we can return to that. The the last thing I think  unless

200um we want to send it back to committee,   but I think the committee was all in agreement  so I think it would be best served if we um had   some discussion from others at the table about  how they would like us to move forward with Part B. So I think. I I agree with Lauren statement  on that and um yeah sometimes I think we have   too many too much input in the District, we get a  lot of input from a lot of people, so I think that   kind of sometimes muddies the water. And I think  we're not saying we don't want input we're just   saying that um you know in this particular policy  it's not going to be called out specifically that   it's always um an option so anyway that's Tim. I  don't know if

201anybody else has anything to say   about I think we need to make a decision on how we  want to move forward with that one. I think there's   kind of consensus already okay. So um for Betty  when she watches this and I I'll also email her   we're going to leave off B, but we're going to make  changes to E um this is our first reading so if   there are things that you think of um between our  next time that this is on the agenda I'm assuming   the next meeting that's an assumption, it doesn't  have to be, um we will have another opportunity for discussion. Thank you, Jennifer Miller for your  excellent work on the policy committee. I'm   going to pass it over to Brad Gerbe for uh Board  Finance Committee Update. Sure um I can give

202this   pretty quickly considering that at six o'clock we  already did a lot of our our budget work here, but   um we have closure on our so at the Finance  Committee met at five o'clock and uh we had   a discussion about a few items. Number one we  talked about the budget for the year ending   23-24 which we um have approved earlier in the  the meeting, and we took a first look at the   introdu introductory budget for 2024 and 2025  we also talked a little bit about um you know   I I believe strongly in this like trying to  leave it better than how you found it kind of   idea and so um always trying to think about how  can we be innovative about uh you know finance   and committees and so um one of the things that 

203uh Assistant Superintendent Owlsey and I, are are   looking at is finding some way to denote areas of  our budget that might be areas to to keep an eye   on, and caution, and so we would come up with some  kind of I in my world I I I she I would like her   input more than mine, but on like some kind of  color system where boy like diesel fuel went up   by you know 32% this year as a as a committee  we better keep an eye on that or like a couple   of years ago we saw a significant increase  in um in heating and cooling costs and some   of those kinds of things so we're trying  to come up with some some ways to come up   with some some checks and balances and some  things that

204will help us to identify those   areas of the budget where it's like hey let's keep  an eye on that as we go. So that's kind of in   in um in the works if you will, but uh we talked  about uh about a 600 you might have seen in the   paper in the Detroit news and other places that  um there was $24 million that was allotted to the   schools through the EPA and luckily our district  was fortunate to realize $600,000 of that money   for the purpose of um purchasing three buses so  that's a a big thing for for Rex Clary and Tracy   Mulcare and what have you and all the people who work  in transportation. I think that that fits very hand   in hand with our community and the support for the  bond and the new

205Transportation Center and solar   and all that but it also will help to alleviate  some of that um let's be honest with you like   this technology we're very much at the the  front of the line of it and it will improve, it   will get better, and so one of the things that  I want to state is that I really appreciate one   that that we applied for this and we're granted  it and these buses are like $350,000 a piece and   so if you heard 600,000, okay this will help us to  to to try that out and have those first buses that   are out there that are electric, but also not have  us like be having to eat a million dollars worth   of buses for something that we might go through  some quote unquote growing pains with. So

206I just   I think it's just really good stewardship I think  it's really awesome that that we got this grant   and I appreciate the work that goes into it and  and went into it so thank you for that. And   then we we talked a little bit about um you  know the CARES Act and the money and things   of that sort I'm really excited excited to see  that those grants really support um the Saline   community as a whole you heard things about school  programs and cheerleading and cheerABILITIES, but   also support for Saline Area Social Services  and some other thing groups that do some really   really crucial work in our our community, so we're  really glad to have that partnership with the City   of Saline and with the community, and then the  last thing that I will tell

207you that I and the   Finance Committee are kind of watching closely is  um the budget process is kind of going through um   the like as as um Assistant Superintendent Owlsey  said you know they're trying to land on what will   the per pupil increases look like and some of that  kind of stuff I will be really interested to watch   and we want to watch where does this UAAL money  kind of fall with regards to health care being   um funded at 140% and what will what what how will  that horse trade occur with regards to to finance,   where does that money end up being allotted  because the governor wants it in one place, and   the legislator potentially wants it legislature  wants it in another so that's something that I've   really gonna to have my eyes on and

208uh hopefully we'll  have an answer soon as our fiscal year begins July   1, so so that's that and uh yeah so I want to thank  the the team and Assistant Superintendent Owlsey   as I said earlier and that's the update. If anybody  has any questions let me know. Thank you Treasurer   Gerbe. The next the very last discussion item uh  regarding public facing administrative guidelines   I had asked uh Truste Estep to postpone this two  weeks ago and uh thank you for graciously uh   allowing that, um there's been a lot of movements  going on behind the scenes, but we will we'll   probably touch on those but I if you want to start  the ball rolling on this uh Trustee Estep the floor   is yours. Okay thank you um so um I'm gonna give um  I guess a little

209bit of history um and then uh and   then also um some specific things that um I sent  about administrative guidelines policy um and   then um also I guess some some questions that we  can talk about further um so um I had sent   um after I requested for it to be on on as a  discussion item, um I had sent some information out   um and so I'll sum up just some of the the points  um so for these policies administrative guidelines   and handbooks are considered to be an extension of  the policy manual and binding upon all employees   and students, as long as they are not inconsistent  consistent with board policies, oh sorry I missed   the the timeline sorry um yes um so copies of the  district's administrative guidelines manual and   each handbook shall be made part

210of the board's  reference materials maintained in the district   office um and this was prior to access um of the  public online forum platform. So uh going back   to the timeline um so I guess that's kind of  what what we're talking about is um qu there's   been questions about whether the administrative  guidelines are available to the public um so,   um I've been asking about the guidelines for a  really long time um I'm aware that we purchase   the guidelines along with the policies in 2018.  I had start I had seen looking at other districts   that um there uh there's a drop down for um  so whenever you go to policies our says policies   and guidelines, but there's no drop down for the  guidelines or forms so some districts who make it   all um online um it would

211be that policy website  and then a drop down for administrative guidelines,   and then forms, um a lot of our policies um talk  about administrative guidance sometimes have   a reference that says AG I'm going to make up  a number 2111 um or like refer to form you know   2111 and so I've always been like well wait  like if the parent supposed to fill out this you   know form or look at this administrative guideline  for example, what like it's nowhere right like   how are they going to to find that so that that's  I guess why kind of questions like what are these   administrative guidelines and forms um that  I've been kind of forming over over my time   as a board member um so we talked about it at  Policy Committee um and I had given an update  

212um so that was um when I was Policy Chair um so  in the board minutes December 14th, 2021 um we   had talked about um Neola had communicated um that  they were updating the administrative guidelines   and that um we would be able to see them through  the Board Doc platform in January and February   time frame so 2022 another uh update came  out with Neola is currently working on providing   a complete administrative guideline manual for  school districts 20 July 2022 there is an update   from Superintendent Laatch that um the admin team  had met with Mark Kleinhands from Neola um and   have worked on a timeline to update the necessary  admin guidelines. I guess that person had said   um that uh it took him as a superintendent over  a year to update the admin guidelines um and   so

213Superintendent Laatch said we're organizing  monthly meetings to do this work moving forward   um part of that timeline was meeting monthly  with the team um to finalize it, to send it to   to Neola for drafting, and then uh scheduling  a time with the Neola team and Betty to draft   them to put them officially into practice. I'm  hoping they are put into practice already, but um   that's yeah something else um so then um so yeah  that's kind of the the timeline um when we started   to get information about progress on it, we  don't have these administrative guidelines um like   publicly available, it sounds like maybe there's  drafts um there was a timeline item timeline   that we did receive um which had the admin team  working um together, it appeared that some there   was dates and everything um

214and some of those um  it appeared were um I guess gone through um so it   came up again recently and and so I you know  wanted I guess I guess there was a question of   whether it was public and kind of obviously my  argument is the board um is a public body and   we are a public institution and um anything  that you know under the board except for very   specific things under Michigan law is available  to the public so um I guess the question would be   if we didn't have those available online, which  is an option or the policy says you know the   older outdated policy says, that we can have them  for print off and everything, um do we want our   communities to um have to FOIA stuff like that? And so um you

215know um as as an elected official I   think it's important to build trust uh with our  community, having these guidelines um is you   know good for our staff, students, administrators,  families, and community, because it increases   clarity, it will hopefully provide consistency,  um make it accessible, and transparent um and and   so um and we want to make sure that our policies  are being implemented um especially when you know   looking at the the three policies um I'll just  read the policy names real quick um people can   look at it um but uh Policy 1230.01, which is  the Development of Administrative Guidelines and then um Policy 0132.2 Administrative  Guidelines so that's under the board tab there   um and one of the things was these administrative  guidelines shall be binding on the employees and   students of this District.

216So it's like if we  binding them to that they may want to know   what what what that looks like um okay um and  then um the next one, ah where did it go um is   the Policy 1210 which is Board Superintendent  Relationship and just just talking about   that um you know our superintendent is um  the chief administrator of the school district   um and responsible for you know the operation  of the schools and so their methods should be   made known made known to the staff through the  administrative guidelines of the district um   and then the board shall retain oversight of such  administrative guidelines so you know I think   it's important if we have to you know and there's  also those forms so I guess you know questions   that um come up is looking at can we

217make that  public and accessible on well does the board want   to? If that's where we have to go um voting or  whatever um that putting it on the website,   what's the new timeline current timeline, and  um um you know are there guidelines that are   completed, that will get on there? How many are  left and um and then uh when can we make these   guidelines and forms um available to our entire  District community, um so I guess kind of the t   like what are we going to do and then um to make  it accessible and then um can we get a timeline   down so it actually like um happens, and we can  um you know yeah I'm going to put that there   and then I'll help facilitate. Can I can I respond  to a few things

218okay so this has been an ongoing   topic you know brought up you know over the  last since my tenure I guess on the board, and so   um there we have had a couple of different Neola  reps since my since I've been on the board and um   and so I had requested that Betty um schedule a  meeting with Melody who is our current Neola rep,   because I wanted to know I wanted to know who  has public facing um administrative guidelines   and also I wanted to know um what the purpose or  reasoning was to not have them public or to have   them public. I wanted to know what the rationale  was there so we specifically talked about 1230   Point 1 yesterday and my intent is to get my notes  written up for all of you however we

219were here   late last night for SEAB, I'm still in school this  week so I came directly from work tonight for the   budget meeting, so I have not had a chance to get  these in writing but my intent is to do that and   I will do that um hopefully after this weekend. So if uh if you could extend me that grace. I will   do that for you. Yes I'm doing that right now,  yep, so we met yesterday, so we met yesterday yes   so and then I also want Steve to to speak um  also so um because we met together with Melody   so what I wanted to say is we specifically talked  about 1230.1 and we um Steve has already been   talking to her about that prior to this meeting  just trying to figure out like why

220haven't they   historically been public facing. I will tell  you that in our county, Washtenaw ISD and Ypsilanti   are the only public facing administrative  guidelines everyone else does not, and our county, no? oh okay, she mentioned. Okay let me  mention the one specifically she said,  Dexter no, Chelsea no, Grass Lake no, Ipsy  yes, Milan no, Manchester has no AGS. And some. Okay oh because they're not Neola.  Sorry yeah so Lincoln is not Neola, yeah,   neither is Milan is switching and then  there's another District that moved to   Miller Miller. Okay so currently these are these  are the ones that she gave us those those six   specifically um so I guess I'll just say of  those six specifically Ipsy was the only one   that had them public facing, however um what I do  want to just mention

221is that um this Policy from   Neola is from 1995 and upon further reflection  um Melody and other uh Neola reps um they are   in agreement with us that this needs that there is  revision that is needed in this um policy and she   and I had some ideas about some ways that we could  revise this policy to make it um more up to date um   and they're going to do that too, but I don't think  we want to wait for that so um I will be working   on that and I'll also send that in the update,  but what I wanted to say is that um when Melody   was talking to us she said that if you ask one Neola  Rep they'll say one thing, if you ask another Neola rep   they'll say another thing, because this

222policy  is so old and antiquated, So um the other thing   that I just wanted I was looking at my notes  from from what you were asking for, um I'll let   Steve speak to some of them but the other thing  that I just wanted to say is that there won't be   administrative guidelines for every policy because  some policies don't um aren't don't it's not   necessary like for example she used an example  from the WISD that it said the finance director   will handle the budget and someone had mentioned  that um that then administrative guideline would   then detail how the um Finance Director handles  the budget but that's actually a part of his job   responsibilities and so that's like a separate  thing so they didn't need the detail or the   extent of the detail in an administrative  guideline

223it was and if you look at that   um policy I don't have it up for me but if you go  to the WISD and you look up Finance Director Policy   you'll see um that it it was pretty spelled out  and didn't need further clarification so there   are going to be a um policies that don't reference  and don't have administrative guidelines um but   I do want to hand it over to um Steve because um  in our discussion and in the work that he's been   doing outside of me because he's been working  with Melody for quite a long time he has some   updates so I just wanted to kind of give I don't  know is that kind of a synopsis of and then you   can do the rest okay. Thank you Jenny. Okay so I'll go back

224on the timeline that Trustee Estep   um first mentioned and that is true that we were  working with Mark the previous Neola Rep to   start this process however it did quickly get kind  of derailed with COVID, and that that's on me for not   you know I mean I I change priorities with this,  um so now that we're back with uh Melody who's   our new rep, we have over the past year been  diving into the um administrative guidelines   and the way we're approaching it is, what are the  policies that we are using and implementing most   right now and trying to dive into to right now  it's over a little over 40 of the policies, so we   have a draft of over 40 admin guidelines that are  that will be ready to be released um at the start  

225of the next school year, and the question is well  why aren't they ready now? Well a number of them   involve lots of other staff that we need input  on for example there's one on nursing so Karan   Hervey is reviewing that right now bottom line is  the timeline is that we will have these over 40   admin guidelines, ready to be released at the start  of the next school year. Betty is finalizing them   and then what we'll do is we'll send them to Neola  who puts them in production and that then the next   question is well where do they reside and so when  we did talk to Melody yesterday about Policy 1230.01   which is development of administrative guidelines  a specifically did dive into the the question   at the very end or the statement at the end that 

226Trustee Miller mentioned a copy of the district's   administrative guidelines manual and a copy of  each handbook shall be made a part of the board's   reference materials maintained in the district  office. So we debated that for a while and so is   your interpretation that we would to me that's you  put everything in a binder and go ahead and and   then you have it there for the board's reference  and you know she agreed that's the interpretation   how however, we both then did reflect to your  point this is a policy from 1995, our handbooks   are already online, and therefore if they are when  they revise it, all of that will likely say, you   post it online, and then therefore she said it's  it's it's your call, you know there's the districts   that she's now researching um and those

227that  she represents are about 50/50. Now I did ask her   previously because I had asked her this question  quite a while back and she said at that time I   really had not researched it to and had stated  that she did feel that most were sort of private   facing and that usually who has reference to it  is administrative um the administrators. However   um Trustee Miller and myself in discussion then  said well okay the public at least certain number   of members of the public have expressed that these  should be online public facing, should we just go   ahead and do that? And so we we do think now that  that makes more sense and that we go ahead so the   recommendation for the Policy Committee will  be we can go ahead and revise that last line   that says

228a copy of the district's administrative  guideline uh manual and a copy of each handbook   we could say that they will be posted online and  so the recommendation is that we just go ahead   and do that and finalize the drafts over the  summer and then send them to Neola for production   and post them online and then what what it will  look like like Trustee Estep said is, when you go on   Board Docs Now on some sites you can just click  on a a a menu item that says Board Policy Manual,   some of them you can drop down it says guidelines  others you can drop down it says administrative   guideline manual so we're recommending that  we go ahead and just add them there so you   have board policy manual then you drop down it  says administrative guideline

229manual and we and   we would we would go ahead and move forward with  that. Can can I ask Steve a followup question? Can   can we add the forms as well? Yeah we haven't  talked about the forms? But. What forms? Like the   student opt-out forms. The suggested forms. There's a ton of forms um  so so I I'll give a um a great example um of   so Plymouth Canton Community Schools uh has  an an amazing example um of how they have you   know three of those things and you know a lot  of it is just drafts that is alignment because   it has to be in alignment with the policy um  that um you know as a policy committee filling   in those blanks or checking what options um  so there's just kind of those standard Neola   drafts, there's

230also forms I'm not sure if  we we have those um so one example um that   I found with uh Plymouth Canton um was a policy  on um student uh students and and suicide and um   and so the administrative guideline had um and  they may have expanded this because it was talking   about teachers and staff so it sort of um you  know um what happens when a student um threatens   or you know you have concerns so it has like a  whole I mean it's very great and thorough and   um like you know con like make sure you contact  the principal and you know 911 like all of that   um and then there's also forms uh actually  multiple forms um associated with that and   one of those was um suicide risk assessment so it  was a form

231there for you know your staff member,   who's like you know looking for that right maybe  the um an administrator isn't like available at   that point in time, and so it it was just a really  good I get I guess example of how that could play   lay out and it being accessible um as well  yeah Jennifer. I I just wanted to offer two   things number one was um a follow-up question to  Steve if any of these AGs would have anything to   do with safety that can't be public facing like  our EOP? That wouldn't be in there all the I mean   the examples that do have their AGs online do not  appear to me that they have you know blocked some   it just appears that they have what any of the  AGs that they've approved and again

232you have to   go through a process of approving them for the  various policies and then you know when you look   on some of the sites some districts have more AGs  than others you still have to select which ones   you're you're you're you're using but I didn't see  anything that would lead me to believe there's you   know some sort of safety of mind. Peace of mind it's it's it's  paramount. Number two I I appreciate all of the   suggestions and and discussion of forms I would  really like us to not solution where something's   going on a website and what the drop downs look  like I would like to see the 40 AGs the end of   the summer and then maybe discuss I I think we're  getting way operationally into the weeds, I number   1 is the creation

233of of the guidelines and  then the review of the guidelines and a discuss at the table.   I will put a message out to Melody though that  we have some questions about if those forms are   from them or if that's something that Plymouth  Canton added I can ask that though yeah Plymouth   Canton could have right but but they're they as  I was saying I mean knowing as a I think policy   committee and at least chair um no sometimes we  receive administrative guidelines um because it's   about the change of Title IX or something right  so I think you there's something talking about   board members don't approve unless there's a legal  reason to um so yeah it's not this this knowledge   has to do with the Neola platform if you go  on Neola they say they do you

234know have this   as a package if you you know MASB talks about  Neola guideline or sorry Neola and what services   they offer so um I'm not trying to go into deep  anything. I step one I think step one is the the   AGs we want to have the 40 that are in in process  now um go through production and have those, but I   will ask Melody like what else we can definitely  yeah the forms um can I can I say one thing um   I just wanted to say that um one other revision  I didn't mention this, I was going to mention it   in in the um email that I'll send which I will  eventually and I'll synthesize all of this but   um we also kind of looked at um one of the things  that Susan brought

235up that Trustee Estep brought up   sorry I'm being informal um it was the piece that  says we'll be legally bound um and in talking to   Melody um there's a little bit of um ambiguity  and inconsistency just just lack of clarity in   that statement so we wanted to know like what is  that referencing and what are they legally bound   by and so we do want to revise that portion of  the hand or of the um Policy also to say employees   and students are bound by the handbooks that are  updated and signed each year so they're signing   the handbooks so they're not legally bound by the  administrative guidelines, although the handbooks   are um created based on the administrative  guidelines, so um it it says guidelines and   and she guidelines and handbooks. Yes so she was  saying that

236um that there's a little bit of uh   interpretation there and she didn't think it was  fair to say that um students they're not signing   the administrative guidelines they're signing that  they are agreeing to the handbooks and that which   is included there. So that would be um something  that we would discuss if we um when when we come   to revise that policy. So I did I have asked  this question um as well um as far as handbooks   for our employees, staff handbooks, I don't  know if we have those uh currently or how yeah   well I mean you mentioned signing like signing a  handbook I just the um staff wouldn't sign right.   I I don't believe we do it's something that we we  will need to talk about with um Carol and HR, but   I don't believe

237we have this handbook that each  staff signs. Okay staff member not to my knowledge.   Thanks um I know Tim had something, I just want to  say so what I'm kind of hearing what I think and   uh 1230.01 we'll get that revised that's kind of  a step one get the 40 administrative guidelines I yeah yeah and but I think um I  understand that we're not going to have   an administrative guideline for every policy, so  I think that's important that we understand we   aren't going to have that, and uh I do like the  idea of having it on a website or something uh   because yeah I'm not going to come in here looking  for administrative guidelines in a manual. Just   to add appreciate that a binder in 1995 was the  height of technology. Go Brad. So so

238I I I can   appreciate the fact that superintendent  Laatsch says that you know this is something that   is in development it's something that they're  willing to do I will tell you I am waiting into   this with some hesitancy though and the reason  why, is because I want to make sure that like I   mean there is language here that says the board  itself will formulate and adopt administrative   guidelines and rules only when required by  law and when the superintendent recommends   board adoption. My point is this I also don't want  to start getting into the board trying to like   influence minutia of how our administrators are  implementing policy right, like I am caution I I   that part I'm not comfortable with, I will flat out  say because we have really good administrators and   we have really good

239leaders and they know how  to operationalize these things in our schools   better than may I might just by sitting here  every other Tuesday, and so I appreciate the   fact that we're going to do this, I appreciate  the fact that Steve's willing to be transparent   with the community, and put those things out  there I just want to be very cautious about   how much we start to input if you will about  how our administrators are going to do their   jobs. Anyway I I just want to make sure I  say that out loud it gives me some real pause. Yeah   I I don't I mean if that'll be the decision of um  the superintendent if he wants us to prove these   40 guidelines right um I think kind of the the  Neola um piece whenever we do get

240administrative   guidelines and it's things that we do need to  change because it's a legal change right and we   want to make sure that happens I think that's  kind of that piece where where the legal piece,   but I think you know all of these policies say  that we are delegating the superintendent to do   these, actually it's in our I wasn't able to um  it's in our board operating procedure because I   know that's a favorite of yours, where um it  says that um the regulations are developed and   updated as needed um based on recommendations  from Neola and so it you know that's that's   that's how we know that the policies we have are  being implemented through that, like that's all of   the policy so the details like. And I'm really glad  to like hear that like our

241administrators and and   and our superintendent are willing to say these  are how, because I believe we are implementing our   policies I really do believe that okay but like I  will state it again that I just want to make sure   that when it says the superintendent will function  and implement and develop these guidelines that I   that's not Brad Gerbe that's not the seven like  that is their their way of like knowing what is   best for our schools and guys I'm I'm I I will  state again I'm hesitate in that regard. So Jenny and   then Lauren. So I just wanted to say um that I  I just want I want to state this fully and clearly   that I do think that Steve is to be commended  for this because when we were discussing this I   will tell

242you that the reason why districts do not  have public facing AGs is because of the level of   scrutiny and and what I will say is that the level  of scrutiny became overwhelming and interfered   with the with the business of districts especially  during COVID so I just want to put that out there   that the level of scrutiny is is a concern,  however our superintendent stated clearly   in that meeting that he has nothing to hide and  that he if the public is asking for transparency   then transparency is warranted and if things  are going to be scrutinized then we will hear it. Oh Lauren sorry I am being casual, Trustee Gold.  It's fine um so first I'd like to express some   disappointment with Neola here on the record. I  mean whether or not we think it's a good

243policy   or not a good policy it has been the policy that  board members are supposed to have some sort of   access to administrative guideline since 1995,  before the pandemic before anything else and it   and I know we didn't have Neola policies by then,  but I don't think that's the fault of the super   intendent or the district, but Neola shouldn't  have a policy in our packet that we pay money   for that they aren't they can't even cogently  explain and that it's not updated. I mean and it's   important right it's not just some like policy  on like you know turtles on school grounds or   something silly, it's an important policy it says  that we have smart parents they can read and it   it's been ignored for many years, so that my first  point of view like so

244I think because that policy   has been on the books whether they're going to  change it or they're not going to change it, we   have a responsibility to follow the policy as it  stands now to the best of our ability, as to um   Trustee Gerbe's consideration of us micromanaging I  don't think that is the intent I think the intent   is just that we have the ability to look at them  nobody says that our input needs to be sought   or that we have the ability to change them,  they're not even saying that we have the option   to have input before they get published it sounds  to me like what's going to happen is people not   this board, not are going to our our people are  going to look at this write something and spit   it out, so

245as to like concerns about us having it  doesn't sound like I mean all it'll be is that we   will know what the administrative guidelines  are, the big question I guess for the board   is whether they're going to be public facing I  would agree strongly with Trustee Estep that   they should be I just think especially since  there's been so much question about it and I   also commend the superintendent that they should  be that he's willing to consider that because I   think it just makes the most sense. I think the  number of people who are actually going to look   at every single thing is questionable, but I  do understand that people did not always act   in good faith. I have a couple of questions so  these are 40 administrative guidelines, will these   be the only administrative guidelines

246that the  district will be using? In other words I know Kara   was working on administrative guidelines for the  Transgender Policy, so does that that's included in   this so will will those that are released the 40  of them be a combination of Saline Administrative   Guidelines and Neola Administrative Guidelines  yeah it would be like the two most recent that   we've been you know that are more District  specific would be the Transgender Nonbinary   Administrative Guidelines will be on there  and then also that whole component with the Opt   Out Policy that we'll have those on there and then  also then prioritized what what we're deeming the   most important policies that we're actively using  now to start. We'll we'll keep building, but yeah   um you know we had the sort of the I guess a  method you could take would

247be you go through   the nine binders of policy and just start knocking  them out one after another, but it just seems like   that's really not effective, because you're  not using well over half of the policies in   in the manuals, um so anyway that's the the  priority is to start with these 40 policies,   and then we can build on that. Then my question  becomes for is it is it or is it not going to   be the practice of our district to seek input  on adminis like it sounds like there was some   confusion over whether the input of the DEIAC was  sought in writing administrative guidelines for   the transgender policy moving forward for example  the SEAB will there be administrative guidelines   for the Sex Ed policy that we're reviewing should  we approve it and would SEAB um

248recommendations or   input be sought on these administrative guidelines  or would it just be that Neola wrote them or so   that I guess that's where I'm just sort of  wondering, because we had some confusion over   whether the DEIAC committee's um input was uh  sought and it sounded like they felt like they   were giving some input so I guess that's where  it gets into like when when Saline is writing the   policy or the administrative guidelines sorry  I don't want to be confusing on this um are   we going to just go with Neola all the time, are  we going to have some administrative guidelines   that are district generated, and how will those  two proc and I know we're not going to decide   this tonight but I think it is if we're looking  into this how will those two

249processes differ?   Real quick on the um on the Sex Ed Advisory Board  um there's a wealth of resources um at the state   level um so those guidelines um and I know WISD  like our uh regional representative um on and   on their website has a lot of like um guidelines  and stuff that have already been created for the   SEAB process um as it pertains to the law  so um really great great resources um and   information, so I but but so that's aside from  your your so what you're saying is there won't be   administrative guidelines for our teaching of our  Sex Ed curriculum possibly yeah unless unless Neola has okay unless unless unless  Neola has that as a draft   um I don't think that's something that we  as a District would um that would be too. It  

250it it pulls from policy so if you Google or  not Google, but if you're inside of Policies   and you search on administrative guidelines  it'll give you a list of every place it's   mentioned and that is what I expect the 40  come from correct? Where they're listed in policy. I'd like to answer Lauren's Trustee Gold  so you had asked you know who how do you get   input from administrative guidelines I think I  mean in its simplest form to back up the purpose   of administrative guidelines are are to help  administrators who work in school districts   and know what happens in buildings, know how  to operationalize it, so in general you're   not seeking the public's opinion or or well I  don't want to say opinion, you're not seeking   the public knowledge for administrative  guidelines because we look at

251it like the   administrators are the experts on how to actually  make these things happen in the school buildings,   and and the public is not, and so I in general  administrative guidelines will be written by the administrators. So from a policy standpoint, I  wanted to just look back because we've been   looking at this also, that the advisory boards  are Advisory to the Board of Education, so should   the DEIAC or the SEAB, etc. make recommendations to  the Board we could in turn then um collaborate   or um rewrite policy to direct the superintendent.  What happened I think this time is that there   isn't clear there wasn't clear guidance, because  these policies have been antiquated or they're   not up to date or they're not congruent  with like what's currently happening so   by getting clarification on how this is supposed 

252to happen, now it will be clear to like for example   I know um that when a group from the DEIAC met  with Kara it was in good faith everyone had   good intentions to give some feedback and to  do the leg work and to present some ideas and I   don't think Steve is saying that like he wouldn't  be open to hearing ideas, but I think that that   those bodies were created to advise us and so if  communication unless we rewrite the policies that   communication should be directed to us and then we  should then um direct that outward, because it   gets confusing and then it just gets to be um you  know it there gets to be some some bad feelings   about how things are are being operationalized or  how things are being handled. So I think

253that we   need to consider that those advisory boards  are meant for the board. Yeah well I I think not everybody has a DEI Advisory Committee right  um and I think not everybody has a three-year  plan um after not everybody experiences you know  racism to the level um you know um that that some   people um do in their District, so that's where  you know again 2020, the three-year plan happened,   um so so yeah it's um guidance so I guess to the  board for the board, but also um to the district   right and and there is that latitude to like you  know do what you can and and why we have the the   DEI advisory committee um to help support that,  um and I would hope that everybody would be on   board with that um and so

254I I think I think it's  hard to say like for example like emails about I   think holidays and celebrations that go out, like  that's not something that's prescribed like in a   policy, in an administrative guideline right, so  these are recommendations um based off of you   know thorough research that the administration  frankly don't have time to do right um and and   you know I think kind of the the purpose of you  know I'm glad this is all you know um coming to   a point where where we do have an answer as far  as administrative guidelines in general, but you   know the fact that this came out because it you  know an advisory committee did the work um and   I think it wasn't just necessarily we have to put  this in a public facing admin as an

255administrative   guideline, I think those were resource concrete  resources that they wanted to to go out to the   the schools to to reference um the Safe Schools  Training that's offered in Michigan, to reference   um the guidelines that are put out there with  the you know um where we took it from the model   policy through GLSEN, and so um you know they  created like slideshows and all sorts of things   to where it could be straight to the point  instead of like you know digging or whatever   so you're not going to put slide slideshows either  on as administrative guidelines on a you know um   it's not going to be consistent so I think all  of this you know I I guess got kind of murky   when Neola was brought into it that Neola does it  versus you know

256I think that's I think there's a   bigger goal here right and hopefully we can all  work together as a board, an administration, with   our constituents. I think what I was saying and  if I could just say one last thing about that   just to offer clarity on what I was saying I'm  not saying that the advisory committee should   never do anything that then that would then impact  what is happening at the administrative level or   or staff level. What I'm saying is I think that in  order to not lose, because it seems like there were   some recommendations that were made that never  made it to the entire board so in an effort to   streamline that those recommendations come to the  board, and then they're disseminated. I think is is   the way that that it should go instead

257of um and I  think I'll just acknowledge this that when Channon   was here she had access and she had relationships  and she had knowledge of of where things and how   things went so it it was kind of that we sometimes  call it like the invisible side of things that we   didn't realize all that she was doing to connect  those parts and pieces and so when she was wasn't   here some of that was lost. So in an effort to  streamline that those advisory committees would   bring it to the board since they're advisory to  the board and then um it could be disseminated.   I'm not saying that the work that they've done is not important.  No, I was just kind of specifically going   to to where this all, became like um you know this  yeah so so

258um I got oh I had a quick point. Sorry   Michael were. I did I I wanted to bring us back  to the rest of the board meeting uh I believe I   heard your questions your your main question  and the sub questions were answered and and we   discussed and I'm sure this is not the last time  we'll be having a discussion about this, but uh for   considering the time I would like to say I think  this was very productive and I appreciated airing   some of this. Brad I think I may have cut you off  but um it is really it is getting late I'm going   to um ask for administration and board updates now  and I'm going to forego my own whatever comment I   was going to make just in the nature of time for  just

259to expedite things. So Dr Laatsch. Okay I will do   the same I so therefore I only have one I just  want to bring everybody's attention that there was   a really nice article written uh in the Sun Times  about Nurse Hervey, honored with the distinguished   service award, um the the award acknowledge as a  person who has continually supported or uniquely   contributed to the Michigan Association of School Nurses, School Nursing or School Health   Services in the past 5 years, so I'd encourage you  to Google that Sun Times uh Nurse Hervey very very good   and uh well deserved. Thank you. We'll start  at one end and move along okay. So um as some   things wind down some things ramp up and what  I've noticed is a lot of construction equipment   and uh materials at every building site so

260so  Rex looks like he has a fun summer ahead of him,   good luck on that. Also wanted to just mention  Saturday the 15th at 11 o'clock to 3pm at Washtenaw   Farm Council Grounds the Saline Social Area Social  Services will have their food truck festival uh to   kick off the summer so. What time? 11 o'clock to  3 pm. Okay thank you. Susan. um yeah uh so yesterday   was I think we broad mention of it um the SEAB uh  SexEed Advisory Board public hearing um I thought   it went super well. We had um Kristen Hoffman-Peavler and um Assistant Principal Cameron Cochran   um who are co-chairs and gave us an amazing  presentation and some you know data that they   that we received from the school, and um what they  took from that and the whole process process and  

261so um you know I I thought that was wonderful um  there will be some um opportunity um so look for   for the date when that will be available. So I  think President McVey will um keep communication   with them um to see uh where we can get the  public feedback and also uh review of the the   curriculum so people will have opportunity  um to do that before the second hearing   as well, which is um not scheduled yet but um  it's supposed to be towards the end of August   so thanks to that team I thought it went  really well. I'm going to put out a call to the   board to help us uh reach a date that's amenable  to everybody. All right and happy pride month. Thank   you um I'm gonna I'm going to abbreviate  comments just

262to say um happy summer to um   all of our staff and students who um finished um  another fantastic year. Last week, I'm a little   bit jealous this week as I'm still in school  anyway um just a little stressed but it's okay   because that's what the last week of school is  and it's going to be all over soon and I'll be   able to sleep again. Anyway the uh other thing  that I wanted to add on to what has already been   said is that um next week is Juneteenth Holiday, which is  um recognition of um the emancipation of enslaved   people in 1865 and and so um there are a number  of things that are happening around our community   I would encourage you to um look at joining uh  one of these activities one is at the Saline

263District   Library where there will be um a presentation by  Brandon Freeman um he is an expert on the outdoors   let's see I had it up here but I won't I won't  belabor it but he's an expert on Shades of the   Outdoors a A BIPOC outdoor enthusiast community and  he is going to discuss how the outdoors was   structured to exclude people of colors and pres  color sorry people of color and present presents   the illustration of BIPOC Engagement within the  outdoors as a continuation of a march towards   civil rights, there will be refreshment, lawn games  and um those things will be presented as well, so   that will be um the event will be held on the  south lawn of the library near the Leslie Niethammer Memorial Trail so that is happening on June  19th. Also on June

26419th um at the Michigan Theater   in Ann Arbor is um uh viewing of the film called  The Right to Read which is um was a documentary   created by NCAA act n sorry I'm trying to rush  sorry NAACP um activist uh Kareem Weaver and   um the the basis of this documentary is that he  believes that literacy is the the most important   of civil rights, and he is um campaigning for uh  better literacy access for um Brown and Black   students so both of those are happening on June  19th if you can't make it to both, if you have to   choose, go to the Saline District Library because  the right to read is available for a lower price   than the ticket at the Michigan Theater online  I think it's like $4.95 on streaming platforms   so anyway it is

265a wonderful documentary, I've seen  it a couple of times and since literacy is one of   my um passions, I wanted to share that with all of  you and equity too. Thank you uh two super quick   but very very important things, thank you very  much to all retirees um that were a part of our   uh uh slideshow tonight I heard 695 years of  service and knowledge and I think that's something   that bear is repeating um we also haven't  been back at the board table since graduation   so I wanted to um shout from the rooftops happy  happy graduation and best of luck to all of our seniors. All right um I want to congratulate also  our retirees in those of years of service that   it is difficult to replace that kind of expertise  and that level of

266service and so congratulations   because you deserve it and it's well deserved  but uh boy you're tough to replace. I want to   thank our SEAB you know for for their commitment  yesterday and presenting the hearing and I want   to thank anybody who came and offered us public um  hear you, know participation on those things like   that's important that we hear from our community  about those kinds of things. I want to thank our   voters I I do this often but uh for their support  of the bond and you're going to look and see all   these roofs and all this all these things that  are making Rex Clary have to work really hard,   but at the same time like they're really exciting  things that are happening for our school district   so really really excited for that kind of

267thing.  Thank you for sharing about Juneteenth activities   and um I was really happy to be able to attend  the flag raising and just I'm really proud of our   community and that you know for for so many things  and and speaking of one last thing I'm proud of   something has been really important to me has  been um speaking to literacy and specifically to   dyslexia you I you guys know I sent a a a  forward on and I want to give a shout out   to an extraordinary staff member of ours Caroline  Stout who was featured in a podcast from um Stateside   where she and Senator Irwin, Jeff Irwin were  working hand in hand to try to enhance bills that   were related to um literacy and really money  that is dictated to being able to have early   interventions

268and specifically around dyslexia  and that's been some of the conversations I've had   with some people just in our community and what  have you. So I had mentioned those things to Dr   Laatsch and I mentioned those things to to Mr. Musson  and when they sent that information to me I was so   happy to be able to send it out that like Caroline  Stout is out there representing Saline in this   incredible way for the work that she's doing and  so I want to make sure that I um make sure that   I give props to that and how much I appreciate our  um District's commitment so thank you to to all of   our staff to all of our students it is summer it  is so deserved and thank you, thank you, thank you.   Briefly uh I had something

269to say for pride  month but I have several things to say and um   I guess I will just uh say let's celebrate pride  and individuality and um those brave individuals   in our community who are celebrating. I wanted  to highlight that uh the first Friday in June was   gun National Gun Violence Awareness Day um and  uh I wanted to remind uh the community uh the   importance of safe gun storage. Not just for  people with toddlers but people with teens all   people all humans people with uh depression in the  family, please, please, please, please go get a gun   lock store your guns safely um it really could  save a life and um a heartfelt uh empathy and   sympathy to anyone who's lost a loved one to gun  violence. I also want to mention in that same   summer

270um everybody gets excited for summer I like  summer too, but I think of drowning, and so uh I   want to encourage the community and our educators  those people who are around kids to remember to   always be supervising kids uh around water and  um anything we can do in as a community to help   parents, have eyes on kids, to have lifeguarded  events, and to be uh to get our kids into   uh swim class early is also appreciated and not  just little kids but remind your teens if you're   in open water you should be wearing a life vest  I just can't can't get into June without having   those comments. So uh that's what I have to say  today. Thank you very much everyone on the board   for your updates um I'd like to entertain a motion  to

271authorize the consent agenda as printed. So move   Steben. All right. Support. Who supported it. Lauren G.  Supporting thank you. All in favor please say I. I...    7-0. We're all here. Items on the next agenda. Sir.  Yes so we're starting with a scheduled report   uh from Ryan Rowe, County CTE Director as requested  the board had asked to find some updates there,   and we will and then second we'll be doing an  update on the Superintendent Listening Sessions   and Perception of Equity Survey and then finally  I'll be sharing our Bullying Report um as a as   another scheduled report and then we'll have  superintendent evaluation update or quarterly   update. Quarterly. It is a lot well tonight was a  lot too um Sarah Yousif you're on deck. I'd like   to invite the public to for the final leg of

272the  public comment section and Sarah Yousef you're up   you no longer have privilege of being a student  sadly but but you do have the privilege of being   here first. Awesome hi everyone my name is Sarah  Yousif and I'm just up here to say a few words   after Jennifer Steben um officially announced that  she'll be rerunning for the next School Board   election. Well choosing to be her senior adviser on  her campaign, she told me a few things that really   stuck out to me, but most importantly that it's  always about the students, getting kids through   graduation, while prepared for what's ahead and  helping our community foster respectful dialogue   while moving forward has always been priorities  of her. I'm so glad to see this through every   aspect, I recently graduated from Saline High School and I'm so thankful

273for a role to give back   to my community by supporting people like her.  Saline gave me so many opportunities such   as being chosen as a US Senate Youth Delegate  and speaking in Debate and Ethics National Final   Rounds. I'm excited to bring us perspective as  a recent graduate to what I think other students   need and help guide her and how she can utilize  her skills to to make the most effective change.   She's excited for this cycle and has been  honored to serve the last six years thanks   everyone thank you and David Hayward followed by  Tiffany Alexander and the anchor leg here thank you. Thank you, I'd like to say a few words  about the uh Dress and Grooming Policy that   was discussed um I think that the idea that  the district would deliberately choose to   make

274decisions without seeking input from all  of its all of the stakeholders that affected   by it is a strange one, two very important sets  of stakeholders are being left out here first of   all parents not every family can afford to  run out and buy a new wardrobe because of the   fiat made by the administration and most  importantly students who after all have to   wear uh the clothes and groom themselves  and are legally required to to be here   um if we found out that uh the the dressing  grooming code had been made by a panel that   was composed only of men for instance we would  be uh appropriately skeptical that this um did   the right thing to um address the needs of of  girls not necessarily because of ill intent,   but because the people who were writing

275it didn't  have the right experience and know to write know   the right questions to as, we should think  the same thing when we see that a group that's   that's lacking in diversity in terms of  race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status,   disability status, sexual orientation, and gender  identity is going to be the arbiter of dress and   grooming, for for all the same reasons this  is not the right group to uh determine what is   the least restrictive dress code for all of these  groups, in order to understand that you need to ask   the people who are actually impacted um this is  really an issue of basic bodily autonomy and um   leaving students and family out of that process  is misguided thanks. Thank you Dr. Hayward. Tiffany Alexander. I want to talk about DEI lens and the  importance of

276maintaining it. One of the things   I heard over and over and over again as I was  sitting here was everybody's an expert, one thing I   am acutely aware of is what I am not an expert in  which is why when writing guidelines I ask admin,   I ask students, I ask staff, I ask teachers because  I know what I'm not aware of you are not experts   in being Black, in being queer, in being disabled,  you are not experts in any of that you are not   experts in being a marginalized group, and you  are lacking the DEI lens when you think that you   are I know I'm not an expert in being a teacher,  because I'm not a teacher so if I need an opinion   about a teacher or what what teacher needs to do  I will

277ask one, I'll ask many, because that's not my   expertise. You do not have a diverse enough staff  to think that your staff is equipped to make those   decisions. Let's start with holidays and guidelines  it took somebody from the indigenous community   talking to another member of the community to  point out that having a powwow was inappropriate.   That wasn't that long long ago that was not  1995, okay let's talk more about guidelines it   was because we pushed to get Ramadan recognized  that Ramadan was recognized, we asked for Autism   Awareness Month to be recognized we were refused.  Okay you are not experts to make those decisions   in isolation. Let's talk about dress code you are  not experts without asking what students feel and   families because you don't have the representation  that it takes to be an expert in

278that, examples are   that's why we have the Crown Act because you don't  know anything about having my hair not a thing   that's why we had a student multiple students  across the state who were not allowed to wear   their indigenous regalia during graduation, okay?  Because the people making those decisions are   not experts. You are lacking the diversity required  to be an expert and you are ignoring the DEI lens   when it comes to administrative guidelines, to  say that we're going to make these guidelines   and we don't need to seek the opinion of the  community of the people you are representing,   well I mean I fairly I don't really see a good  reason to vote for anybody if that is the case,   so I encourage you you to really think about that,  yes I see, when you make

279those decisions and talk   about yourself as experts. Thank you Tiffany. The next Board of Education meeting will be held   on July 9th almost a month from now at 6:30  in this here place. I'd like to entertain a   motion to adjourn the regular meeting. So moved. At 10:15  I think that's I don't know what the seconds are.   So move Brad Gerbe. Second Tim Austin. All in  favor I. I. All right thank you good night oh. [Tap, Tap]