001Hello. Hello everybody. Testing one, two. I'd like to welcome everybody to this evening's uh Board of Education meeting of May 28th, 2024. So standing as you are able we would like to uh do a Pledge of Allegiance led by Brad Gerbe. All right. 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. I'm going to uh immediately hand this over to Superintendent Laatch for a very quick recognition. Right, thank you President McVey so at this point we'd like to honor both uh Mateo Iadipaolo and Caroline Clark. Caroline be here tonight because of a prior commitment but they have done a fantastic job as Student Representatives and have really um we you seem you've held
002yourselves in high regard in the way you've represented yourself and the students of the district during your time as student reps. We're excited to announce that Mateo will be going to Michigan State University. Go green and will be studying finance, and then Caroline is going to the U University of Wisconsin Madison where she'll be studying political science or a possible pre-law track. So we're very excited for both of them and with that I'm going to turn it over to President McVey to um honor you further. Well Mateo if you could just come around to the front please. Jeez okay. On behalf of the whole board thank you so much it was great having you and any family members out there. Yeah. We do also have a commemorative flag suitable for, it's already framed, suitable for and
003if the board would like we would like perhaps quick picture of you with you and I'm so sad that we can't have Caroline here but I know but at least we got Mateo right? Yes. Right. Good okay. [Applause] I'm passing over the baton once again to Superintendent Laatsch. Okay, next we're going to be doing a recognition of the 20 of of the Rich Tompkins MHSCA Athlete Award & Scholarship and as before we do that though, Mr Goodman's getting ready to cue up a short um presentation that Hornet Nation did which is our Saline High School um program that supports Athletics in in the district and so he's going to be getting that up, and then what we're going to do is have Coach Debbie Williams-Hoak present what the actual award is, she'll explain what this award is all
004about about, and then I'm going to read bios on both our incredible student athletes uh with Peyton Widen and Jordan Wickham and then Coach Debbie is going to come back up to present the actual Awards, and then we'll hear a few words from Peyton and Jordan, and then we're going to take a picture as well. Okay Ben were ready to go? Two athletes from Saline were awarded Best Senior Multisport Athlete per the Michigan High School Coaches Association earlier this year. Jordan Wickham and Peyton Widen mark new ground for Saline. This is the first time where two students from the same school receive both the boys and girls award. These two also received an athletic scholarship for their achievement. Congratulations to Peyton and Jordan. So with that said coach Debbie Williams-Hoak and then press the green. There
005we go. Thank uh thank you very much Superintendent Laatch and the board for the opportunity to be here tonight to honor these two very special Saline student athletes. As many of you know I'm the boys and girls coach here at Saline, the Executive Director of the Michigan High School Golf Coaches Association, and the past President of the Michigan High School Coaches Association. Today I'm representing the 35,000 coaches and athletic directors who are members of the Michigan High School Coaches Association, as a member of the awards committee, to present the Rich Tomkins Multisport Award, again to these very special student athletes. The award is named after Rich Tom Tomkins who was the Former Executive Director of the Michigan High School Coaches Association and a longtime coach at Fremont High School where he built the Track and
006Field and Cross Country Teams into a state powerhouse. Rich himself was a three- sport high school athlete and went on to run Track at Michigan State. He had such a passion for life, for athletics, and for coaching this award named in his honor epitomized es what our statewide winners represent Rich passed away in 2015 but his family wanted to continue his legacy with this award. This award is presented annually to one male and one female in each of the four Michigan High School Athletic Association Divisions. The award was created to recognize the accomplishments of student athletes who have participated and excelled in athletics in each season during their four-year high school career while also excelling in academics, holding leadership roles, and contributing to their schools and communities. The winners of this award prove the research
007correct student athletes who participate in a variety of sports and activities in their high school careers are optimally prepared for successful lives. The minimum requirement to be nominated for this award is that the student athlete have participated in three seasons of sports, in all four years of their high school, this will be the last group that was COVID affected, and for only the first, and for the first time in history both winners from the same school have been announced and they're both Saline athletes and they're both golfers. At this time Superintendent Laatch will read more about them. Okay thank you Debbie and I'm going to read bios of both Peyton and Jordan and they're very long because of their accomplishments. We're going to start with Peyton it's my pleasure to present to you an exemplary
008student athlete Peyton Widen, Peyton has demonstrated outstanding academic and athletic achievements throughout his high school career. He's maintain an impressive GPA of 3.86. In sports Peyton has shown remarkable dedication and versatility participating in football, basketball, and golf throughout his four years. In football he has earned numerous individual honors, including being named a scholar athlete each year, serving as a Varsity starter from his junior year, and being recognized as the team captain in his senior year. His accolades include the Academic All State, All SEC Honorable Mentio,n Defensive Coaches Award, and Scholar Athlete Awards. Peyton's basketball achievements are equally impressive. He has been a Scholar Athlete each year, was the JV Captain in 10th Grade, and has received Awards such as the Sixth Man of the Year, Hustle Award, and Coaches Association Team First All State. In
009his senior year, he was a Varsity Starter and Captain, earning multiple honors including the Coaches Association Outstanding Student Athlete Award, SEC Conference Sportsmanship Award, Captain Award and Scholar Athlete. In golf, Peyton has been a Scholar Athlete every year and progressed to a Varsity player his junior year. His team accomplishments include being SEC Red Champions in football and basketball, as well as SEC Champs in golf during his senior year. Looking ahead Peyton plans to attend Michigan State University to study marketing his impressive record of academic and athletic excellent combined with his leadership and sportsmanship makes him a remarkable candidate for success in his future endeavors. [Applause] Okay Jordan Wickham with a 3.933 impressive GPA and Academic Honors, Gold Honor Roll, Scholar Athlete Award, Academic All State Region. Her individual accomplishments in golf, consistent performer with four-year
010Varsity record, regional qualifier for four years, Academic Award winner for four years, SEC All Conference Award winner for three years, and Scholar Athlete for all four years. In gymnastics four-year Varsity letter winner and team captain, in captain, in her senior year, qualified for regionals all four years, and states for all four years, earned All Region recognition every year and Academic Honors throughout her career, in Academic All State all four years, SGL All League all four years, and Academic All League for two years. In track four year of Varsity athlete and team captain in her senior year. Earned recognition as top newcomer in her freshman year and MVP award in her sophomore year. Consistent qualifier for Regionals or all four years and States all four years and even completed at Nationals for three years. Notably achieved
011SEC All Conference Awards in multiple track events the 100 meters, 200 meters, 4 by 100, and 4 by 200. She further excelled in her senior year by winning the SEC 100 Meter Champion Title and Regional 100 Meter Champion Title. Team accomplishments in golf include helping the team secure strong finishes in conference championships including a second place finish in SEC Red Championship in 2022 and a third place finish in the SEC Red Division Championship in 2021. She led the team to victory at the Tecumseh invite in 2023. In gymnastics, the gymnastics team was consistent in the podium at Conference and Regional levels throughout her career, she achieved second place at the South Central Gymnastics League Championship in 2023, and third place finishes at the SCGL championships in 2024 and the Regional Championships in 2024. In track,
012she's part of a very successful track team consistently placing in the top three at Regionals including a second place finish in 2022 and the SEC Red Championships including a third place finish in 2023. Post High School Jordan's attending Michigan State University in the fall and will be studying business and also interested in playing a a sport club or a club sport in college. So with that said let's give Jordan a hand. [Applause] And now I'd like to invite Coach Debbie back up to the uh Podium along with Peyton and Jordan so she can present the awards. On behalf of the Michigan High School Coaches Association and of course Saline High School it's my wonderful pleasure and honor to present you with these very prestigious awards. Congratulations. And also for Jordan besides her Multisport Award, we also
013have the opportunity to present her with um the Academic All State Award for golf this year and also the Academic All State team for golf this year as well. so congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you very much. [Applause] And then Jordan let's start with you can you please just address the the the group and um say a few words and then Peyton's gonna do the same and then we're gonna go take a picture. Yes, thank you Coach Debbie for this award I'm really honored to receive it. I couldn't have been able to do it without the support from my coaches, teammates, and family so thank you. I just want to say thank you to everybody who's helped me throughout the way um especially my parents, who are here tonight, um my coaches, um just Ssline in general,
014for providing me with the opportunities to have that I've excelled throughout my four years here, and that have shaped me of who I am and that I'm able to succeed at the next next level at Michigan State so thank you guys. [Applause] Okay it's picture time. I don't mind. Okay. Okay we're ready for the next one if you want me to just. I would also like to uh ask Superintendent Laatsch to add a few more recognitions. Right we will continue on with the recognitions. Next I'd like to introduce the Saline Trap Shooting Team under the direction of Head Coach Susan Duda-Osborne. Trap Shooting is the safest and fast fastest growing sport in America. If you're unfamiliar with the sport orange targets are thrown at 45 mile per hour from an oscillating machine in any direction
015the goal is to hit as many targets as possible in 25 throws. There are 50,000 athletes participating in the USA Clay Target League and there's never been a reported injury since the league has started. Athletes are required to take a Safety Course before joining a team, and teams have Range Safety Officers at every practice or event. The mission is in this order safety, marksmanship, and fun. The Saline Trap Shooting Team started in 2018 with nine athletes, seven had no shooting experience over the last six years the team has grown to 48 athletes that won the USA High School Clay Target League State Championship in 2023. Let's give them a hand. [Applause] Next month this team will be competing to win back-to-back back State Championships. The 5 team members that represented Saline at the 2023 State
016Championship were Senior Ian Lichtenstein, Junior Morgan Heusel, Junior Wiliam Rogers, Senior Gavin Male, and Sophmore Nathan Dubnicki. What makes the Saline Trap Shooting Team a powerhouse in Michigan is the depth of talent on the team. We have 26 athletes that have earned their Varsity letter this year, which a averaging more than 21 average. 3 of them are still in middle school and cannot earn their varsity letter. We have 11 athletes that average 23 or higher qualifying them to compete at the highest tier at the National Championship in this July. Our 2024 regular season just finished and we have these athletes with the highest individual averages representing Saline at the National Championship Team Event in July Junior Henry Schneider, Junior Morgan Heusel, 8th grader McKenna Heusel, Freshman Jacob White, Senior John Callahan. Congratulations on winning the
017State Championship in 2023 and good luck next month defending the State Championship title. [Applause] Okay and the next part is we'd like Coach Osborne to come first and and say hello introduce yourself and then we're just going to follow everybody's going to go through in the microphone to introduce yourself and state what your role is on the team. We're going to do every every person here okay? Good evening thank you very much for recognizing our team. This is how it really got started my son actually was a shooter on the Manchester team, and what ended up happening is he said to me, because he's a little bit of a different kid you know trap shooting is a little bit of a different kid, generally speaking, he said mom I always wanted to earn my Varsity letter
018from Saline and they don't have a team. Well I'm a coach and a teacher so I said let's start a team kid and so that was the first year in 2018 that we started the team, and it it really really grew when I opened it up to the middle schoolers which I want to say was in 2021. I thought maybe 5 or 6 kids from the Middle School cuz this is actually a 6 through 12 um organization and when we opened it up I'm thinking oh 5 or 6 there was 25. So it went from having 25 on the team which we are locked in at that that's all we can have that's all they can have on a field and then it jumped to 50 and right now we're carrying 48 kids so when
019we say the depth of talent on the team, it's it's true, I mean we have some real powerhouses on the team and you may have noticed when you were listening um to our bio that many of these are not seniors, one's an eighth grader, so I can't wait to introduce you to these guys come on up. I and by the way I'm the head coach Susan Duda-Osborne thank you. Okay so what we're going to do is actually yep we'll start here but we're going to have everybody introduce themselves and then go meet over in front of the Board of Education table over there because we're eventually going to do a big picture. Go ahead. And and not too many gaps, right, just like we're just, we're just moving. William Rogers on the 2023 State Champion
020Squad. Morgan Heusel on the 2023 State Championship Squad and representing at Nationals. John Callahan and I'm top five on the team. Ian Lichtenstein on the 2023 State Champion Squad, Jacob White on the 2024 State Champion Squad. Henry Schneider I'm currently leading the team in highest score and I'm going to Nationals, McKenna Heusel and I'm going to the National Squad. I'm Trevor Lantis. I'm one of the two captains on the team. I'm a senior. Sam Harbach 4 year member. Tommy Allmand 2 year member. Annika King, Junior member about four years. I'm Chris Carroll uh this is my first year. I'm a junior. I'm Kyle Zahn this is my first year. I'm Evan Seegert this is my third year. I'm John Onain and this is my fourth year on the team. I'm Ethan Janeczek and this is
021my second year on the team. Hi I'm Ryan Feldkamp this is my fourth year on the team. I'm Drew DeCaro and this is my third year on the team. I'm Greta Schneider this is my third year on the team. I'm Adyson Dubnicki this is my third year on the team. I'm John Iadipaolo and I've been on the team for three years. I'm Jax Presley I've been on the team for a year. I'm Nicholas Tokarski been on the team four years I think. I'm Devin Swisz. I've been on this team two years. I'm Vadim Marshall this is my first year. I'm Justin Ronayne and this is my first year. John DeCaro I'm one of the coaches. Kevin Dubnicki one of the coaches. Brian Huesel one of the coaches, biggest cheerleader. Dana Huesel one of the
022coaches. Susan King one of the coaches. John Ronayne one of the coaches and range safety officer. Thank you so much. [Applause] Okay let's go let's try to figure this out. Okay Jackie now there's only there's only 35 of you or so so you might want to squish in a little bit. Jackie might need a panel on this one. I'll take a picture for you. Are we ready? Yeah that's good all right one two three. Thank you. Parents? Anyone else? Good all right. Thank you everybody. [Applause] Okay I would like to introduce the next very important group, in this case a team, under the direction of Head Coach Leanne Roehm and Assistant Coach Sam hotopp I'd like to introduce some of the important highlights from the Girls Varsity Basketball Team, with multiple SEC Red Championships, multiple
023district titles, multiple Regional Final appearances, this season the team made 192 three-pointers, the 11th most in the history of the state of Michigan of any school and any class ever. This season made 14 three-pointers in a single game, this is top 25 in the history of the state of Michigan. This season the team finished eighth in the entire state in threo percentage at 33% and the top 10 shooting teams in Michigan. In the four years that our current seniors have been in our program, we've won multiple conference championships, District championships, and multiple and made multiple Regional final appearances this group has contributed to some of the best teams in the history of Saline. Their teams hold the all time Saline team records for scoring, steals, assists, three-point shooting, and wins but the biggest point of
024pride in our program is our culture. Our program is founded on three core values fiercely united, intentionally inspired, and gratitude. We believe that culture isn't built in a day, it's built every day, and thus we invest a ton of time into developing strong relationships, deliberate inspiration in life, and appreciating the joys of the moment. It is our culture that sets us sets us apart from other programs around the state. These women have bought in, invested in, and lead our culture on a daily basis. They have built something truly special. We invest in growing as people as much as we do as players, as a result the unity within the program has lifted us to great heights. These women have shown what it looks like to be strong independent women that are connected to others, are
025full of gratitude, and inspire the world around them. Those qualities in our athletes will last in us forever. It's that feeling we will remember long past the days that we remember how many wins and losses we had. As we say it's all about the ships, relationships, as a coach I can have a vision of the culture I would like to have, but there is no way it comes true fruition without the support and leadership of the families and athletes. I am in awe of the way these athletes have developed our culture, they're the drivers of our culture. With that said Coach Roehm, Coach Hotopp, and the players, let's all come up introduce yourselves and then we will take a picture as well so come on up. Leigh Ann Roehm I'm the Varsity Coach for Saline
026Girls Basketball, and before I have uh our amazing amazing assistant coach and these athletes uh introduced themselves. Seven years ago when I started, I started with a crazy vision going into athletic interview in front of um parents and players and saying, hey what if we make it about culture first, what if we are culture first, and make every day and every moment about that and it that that vision, that dream doesn't happen unless I have amazing parents behind us and these young women that drive the culture. Culture doesn't work in a program and if if it's all coach led. It has to be player-led and these young women behind me like it's my honor that I got to witness what they have built I had a vision they're the ones that did the work and so
027it's just truly a pre a a pleasure and an honor to be the varsity coach here and I appreciate the administration for giving a shot at this and these players for buying in, they're absolutely the most incredible women in the world I always tell them, uh one of the greatest things in life is playing the greatest game on earth with the greatest people on earth and that's what I get to do as a coach, because I get to be with them. [Applause] I'm Hadley Griffin and I'm a senior. I'm Kate Stemmer and I'm a senior. I'm Abby Zsenyuk and I'm a junior. And I'm Sam Hotopp Assistant Coach. [Applause] [Applause] So each year uh our school board members you see up here and all across the state and all actually all across the county and
028all across the state, 850 school districts, we're invited to take courses at the uh through the Michigan Association of School Boards, MASB, and uh at the end of each year they tally up the points and occasionally we receive uh uh pins and bits of tin and uh fun recognitions. Tonight I'd like to recognize our our very own Lauren Gold who has earned her uh Certified Board Member Award and take a piece so take your pin. Congratulations Lauren. It's also my honor to uh introduce uh pending board approval this evening in the consent agenda two new hires and I'd like to begin with uh Carol Diglio, Carol Baaki Diglio, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, who will begin officially on June 1st and please make your way to to the podium and [Applause] Hi everyone um this
029is my second time to the mic so I just want to say um I'm really excited that this is going to be my home, and uh I had fantastic six months as an interim, and I'm glad that I'm going to be here permanently for a while so thank you so much for the opportunity and I I told the folks in in my final interview that it's really about the people, not necessarily the place, and this this District checks both boxes it's such a wonderful place and it is all about the people. So I'm super excited to be here for a while, so thank you. Thank you. I would also like to call up to the podium and you can start slowly working your way up there now uh Julie Voelker who will be our new
030executive director of special education. Apparently you had an in in the hiring process. I guess so. I guess so. Thank you everyone. My name is Julie Voelker and I'm very excited to be joining Saline schools. I currently work for the Washtenaw ISD and I've been there for eight years as a program leader and also a countywide leader for many of our initiatives and um our supports that we've offered to the local districts. Over the years I've had the very unique and um amazing opportunity to work with the Saline Special Ed Department um between Kevin and Monica and the staff um we've worked around students and students that were coming to the WISD or moving back into Saline and I've always just been in awe of the dedication and the skill sets of the the team
031that's here, so I'm very excited to become part of that team and I bring my skills and um lead with Monica for the uh the next year, so thank you so very much. Thank you very much, very nice to meet you. [Applause] Board Secretary Jahnke are there any public comments for the first section? There are no public comments for the first section. Thank you very much. I will not have a response to public previous public comment as there was no previous public comment or comment at the previous meeting. We're at the revisions approval of the agenda items can be added or deleted from the meeting agenda and or the order changed at the request of an individual board member or the superintendent the agendas must be approved before proceeding further. I'd like to entertain a motion
032to approve the agenda as printed. So move Steben. Thank you. Support Estep. Support Estep Thank you very much. All in favor please say I. I... hear 7-0. Thank you so much. I'm going to pass this over now to uh Mateo is your last official role as our Student Representative and by the way we weren't sure how having two Student Representatives would would do this year and we were so delighted you you worked as an excellent team thanks once again I appreciate it. For our Student Showcase today we have Peer-to-Peer with presenters Lelaina MacDonald, Charlie VanHaaften, Bella Rodriguez, and they are advised by Riss Willwerth. And Dr Jason Sines. Who we love. [Applause] Hi, my name is Charlie VanHaaften. I'm here with Bella Rodriguez the reason we're presenting is our whole club is about making a
033campaign to you know raise awareness about mental health and what we do um and we think that we share a lot with the students, but it'd be great to you know share with the school board and the parents as well. So first we're going to go through uh who we are as a club and you know what we do. So we're a club partner with the University of Michigan in the um Eisenberg Family Depression Center um so they give us a budget every year and our goal is to make a campaign in our school to raise awareness about mental health, uh what it is, how to deal with it, how to help somebody who's going uh going through mental health struggles, um and you know reduce the stigma around that. We're going to go
034through this year's campaign, um and what we're doing this year. So uh a big thing was you know as we're doing today is educating people on it, um so we went through to uh did this had a segment on SHS Today um which is our school news channel um and you know talking about what our club is and a little bit about mental health, um we did surveys at the beginning of the year and the end of the year to see you know how successful our campaign was and how much people learned about mental health um and we are planning on doing a mural um on one of the walls in the High School um we did that in years before um I don't think neither of us were in the club and uh we
035like that so we wanted to do it again. So that's the mural we worked with the Advanced Graphics students um uh at uh Saline High School um the words in the bottom say grow through what you go through, which is our uh slogan last year that we thought worked better with our idea um and the handprints are going to be from each one of uh the people in our club to just kind of leave our mark um is what we wanted and we think it'd send a good message and get our message out there. So I'm Bella and it's kind of sad Lelaina got sick today so she's not here but she did and our whole chapter did a piece of this presentation but I'm just going to talk to you a little bit more
036about the facts and the statistics of mental health. So there's 32%, sorry sor no you're all good, so there's 32% of 13 through 18 year olds do have diagnosable anxiety and only 37% of these kids um actually receive treatment which is really saddening because these mental health struggles are are very real and can impact you in in serious ways um and then 15% of adolescence have major depressive episodes and this was in 2018 to 2019. So some of the factors that may influence mental health or mental health disorders are genetics, your family environment, um your peer relationships, socioeconomic factors, as well as any kind of substance abuse, technology use, um lack of support services which is kind of what we're here for and then lack of sleep or healthy foods. So these are just some
037I'm not going to read everyone to you but these are just some of the mental health conditions, some of the symptoms and some of the treatments, um a big piece of why we're here today is to mostly speak to a lot of the parents and to know the signs and to know what to do when you do see these in your kids, so you can catch it as early as possible and try to get some treatment for them so anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar, and eating disorders are all serious disorders that affect a large piece of our community here at Saline and all over the world. um These are just some of the strategies that we recommend and also um many doctors recommend as well so making sure you have adequate sleep, engaging in hobbies, is
038incredibly important more important than you think, um mindfulness and meditation has become a thing as of the past couple years really big on how that can impact you and your mind even physiologically so um and then technology detox which nobody wants to hear ever, um but that can make a huge difference in your mental health um just connecting with others getting out and and that can be huge especially for depression um and then learning to set boundaries with um your people, your bosses, your friends, school, etc, and with yourself um can all be really helpful. So some of the input from our chapter as well as other teenagers so some suggest suggestions just to our parents are to just make talking about this normal I know it's kind of there's it's very stigmatized and it
039can be an awkward conversation to have, but making make it normal, um educating yourself so that you can understand it and see the know the signs, um model healthy coping mechanisms you know you hear like do as I say not as I do, um but it's it's important that you set realistic expectations and also model those behaviors as well, because that's where a lot of kids end up with substance abuse issues, so just modeling those healthy coping mechanisms for your children and then also just encouraging them to join in a mental health club just like we are peer-to-peer, mental wellness there's a lot of different opportunities for them to either join to make a difference in our culture here at Saline or for themselves to seek help and get those resources that they need and
040then just educating your kids on the resources and strategies that are available to treat mental health disorders. So moving forward our suggestions include implementing more mental health education in schools, as well as establishing regular mental health screenings and check-ins, which I understand can be difficult and that was a big piece of our surveys in the beginning of the end of the year to kind of grasps the mental state of the students here at Saline um and then also increase the access to mental health resources and also make it more widely known I know that we've had a couple introductions to new counselors and social workers and stuff um so just increasing access to that and then also just involving parents, guardians, and and families in this process as well can make it a little bit
041easier so thank you. Don't, don't go too far, we may have Bella, Charlie, we may have a question or two for you from the board a gentle question or two. Anyone? Go ahead Jennifer. So first of all go blue, how did you? One of my friends is the Director of the Eisenberg Family Depression Center at the University of Michigan, Dr. Cross do you know him? Ethan? I do not. You do not. How did you how did you get involved with that organization and and bringing it to Saline? Because it's a it's a wonderful um a wonderful resource on campus. Yes so this has been quite a yeah quite a few years so we weren't directly involved in that um but it has been an incredible resource to be partnered with them and they've given us a
042lot of um opportunities to make it more widely known through out Saline. Yeah and uh the all Peer-to-Peer there's, Peer-to-Peer in like many different schools so at the beginning of the year you know there's like an education conference for all the people in Peer-to-Peer so we can be educated on it for any new members, so uh all Peer-to-Peers throughout different schools are all you know involved at the Eisenhower Family Depression Center so it's not just us. Oh yeah uh there's also the beginning year they educate us on it and the end of the year um with a bunch of different schools we share out like what each school's campaign was and you know kind of have an end of the year celebration so. Brad Gerbe. All right well real quickly I uh first of all
043I want to acknowledge your message about how important it is that we do talk about mental health and wellness and and you'd be surprised that people you think that aren't struggling with things, are struggling with things, and they just need some some mechanism and some means to to express it, to talk about it, to normalize it, all that so I want to applaud you for for being leaders in that work. Okay um you know I uh I always ask this of every group that comes to visit us and how can we help you what can we do to support your mission, support your message all of it yeah so basically that slide about kind of moving forward a little bit and just on sort of supporting as not just our club but we have probably
044three or four that are based on mental health or mental wellness um just giving us those OPP you guys do an amazing job already but like those opportunities and supporting us and um obviously social media is a huge thing so heavy on that um yeah, yeah. One of the things that I've talked to um like incoming high school students a little bit about and I and now I would love to add add your Club also but um like there there are some classes who can who can support the development of um some of these resources and skills and strategies um for students like for example Learning To Breathe it's kind of a the title of the course doesn't necessarily say all that it entails but I I um I think that course along with I'm
045sure others and your club and others, um it it's an opportunity for students to develop some skills and strategies for some really big things that are impacting their lives in an environment that's um more close-knit than maybe after high school, so you have teachers who are checking in on you daily that's a little different at a larger university or or um maybe um employment post high school so how are you um and I think the partnership with Michigan potentially could help with this but how are you partnering with students um and maybe the University of Michigan partnership to um support them as they transition out of high school and into that next level. Yeah so we've done a couple different programs as well as last year I know we did a couple different things but
046um last year we did the what do we call them the boxes oh it's like question boxes yeah yeah yeah so basically we have like a question and then there's a the box and you can put anon anonymous responses in there um and then we have an Instagram page which is Saline Peer-to-Peer if you want to go look at that, um and that's where we kind of answered as many of those questions as we could so you can ask questions without any sort of guilt or shame attached to that because obviously we do talk about how stigmatized it is um so that we have that that resource which is really really heavy on that being an anonymous place and there we can answer any questions, we can provide, we have an entire link uh we
047have a link tree in our bio that has every single resource you can find, people you can talk to, um and then obviously we make ourselves pretty well known in the beginning of the year when we go to give our surveys and just so that people know that they can feel comfortable to come talk to us. I think just even starting the conversation and just bringing that awareness and like you said destigmatizing some of that is really important and helpful thank you. I don't have a question I just want to say thank you for all the stuff you guys do as the clubs because I've seen like a lot because Caroline's a part of the mental wellness club and she talks about it a ton and that's amazing how you guys are bringing more awareness
048to mental health and helping ton of people thank you. Thank you. So had a couple questions but um thank you for creating this club and having um that support out there for your peers um it's super important um and I'm glad I mean I feel like it's being talked about more um maybe over the past few years um even um to be able to uh talk about it, and um you know the destigmatizing um so um if a so with the students um are they referred to you or um um can you explain kind of that that process with them um knowing that you're available um yeah. Yeah so um b obviously we make ourselves pretty like I said pretty well known in the beginning of the year we have like presentations during Hornet Time
049so during those presentations we explain who we are, we explain what we do, we explain other resources, and then obviously we give those surveys um so at kind of any and we pop up probably like once a month, a a couple times a month maybe, um roughly around that time to kind of say hi this is who we are we're still here if you need help, if you need resources, if you need a recommendation for something, um yeah so through our various activities, those students know that we're kind of a safe place and safe place and then along with that social media being such a big thing for our generation um people like to use that a lot as kind of a way to reach out to us without with it being more anonymous. Um
050so our Wellness Committee um who is ran by uh Principal Deneen um I know they've done uh surveys in the in the past as far as um can students identify a support person, right is there some like one person that they know that they can go to um I don't remember the results so I'm not even going to try but um you know I don't know if you've um I think it would be good um and maybe I'll reach out to um Principal Deneen um to uh you know reach out to you all maybe um get some feedback on that I think that would be super important um and yeah thank you all uh for what you do um I hope you expand or um there are more supports um that are put in place
051um and thank you for advocating. Well thank you Charlie, thank you Bella, I appreciate it thank you. Well done. We have two action items this evening I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the 23/24 SAS Tech Copiers bid award to Printer Source Plus in the amount of $726,177.44 as submitted by Jay Grossman, Director of Technology. Support Miller. Thank you. Motion Miller not support. Motion Miller. Thank you. You can you can support in advance of somebody. Support it. Was that Tim? Thank you. Mr Grossman you know we're going to have questions or perhaps you have something to tell us about uh how cool these Epson printers actually are? How long do you have? So yeah eight years ago we, in our last Bond we ordered our copy fleet from our last, last time around so
052they usually have a shelf life about 5 years on them we've gotten more than our use out of it, it is part of the scope of this Bond uh in this series to replace the whole fleet we're going to look to get that all done between this summer and the end of next to replace all the copy machines. The fun part is we are moving from um as alluded to we're going to Epsons which are now um ink jet instead of toner um the difference being that they are cooler, they don't require all the heat that it will take the energy to heat them up and put the copies onto the paper so we're hoping to have some energy savings, uh enjoy some cost savings on it, yeah they're really neat. Yeah I could tell
053I met you earlier this evening you were quite excited about them so I do have a quick question so uh when it comes to service you know there's always a breakdown do we have in-house service or do we still have to pick up a phone and call somebody for? Good question so part of the contract that we're getting will have them provide five years of service without anything uh without even having to call anything, there's just a QR code that will be able to scan and will open a support ticket and they'll be able to respond within 30 minutes and a four hour time window to to come out and service things so. Did our previous printers have anything like that they did have support it was a phone number we would call for the
054first five years and and they have been great coming out and supporting our printers while we've been with them um these new ones will be guaranteed to have support that they'll come out for 10 years to support these so it'll take us all the way through this the rest of this Bond. Thank you anyone else on the table oh Dr Gold. So 10 years but they only last five to seven right? Maybe. So the Canon copiers were guaranteed for 5 years the Epsom brand that we're getting are um supported manufacturer support for seven years so that will take us through most of it and then the company itself will actually come out and still physically they'll have parts and work on them and service them for us for up to 10 years. I was kind
055of shocked by that like I went looking like why do we need new ones, but actually that is what the industry standard is, but that brings me my question and you may not know this, but I'm just curious, it said that the company as part of the bid takes care of recycling these responsibly, I just have this vision of all of these do you know anything about that process? Like getting rid of all the old ones and having them end up in a landfill I mean they don't because it says that they recycle them but. Yes so they they have them get broken down they get taken to recyclers to take the actual like the metals out of the parts of them um and res and salvage as many of the pieces that we can
056a lot of these because the parts still work, they get sold to other company so they can be used to service other ones. Good this makes me sad every time I buy like a new washer and dryer or fridge or something I just get really nervous about. To say for responsibility that um part of this does come with a recycling program so when we have like used inkjet cartridges they will collect them and recycle those so we can reuse those as well so they won't be putting all this stuff into landfills. Great thank you, I know we've heard it from others at the table, but we appreciate that you're being such a good steward in that respect. Brad? Yeah I'm just going to follow up on that message about stewardship he's being too humble and
057saying about the energy efficiency we talking about our current ones um you you stated here 1,800 watts is our current copier fleet and it's a reduction all the way down to 180 Watts so I mean this is a 90% reduction we're talking about here which which I find to be significant and I appreciate it. The other thing I want you to know that I really appreciate about this bid and about your intentionality with it was the idea of us trying to get to two models for the whole District so that you don't go upstairs and it's one copy or you go downstairs and it's another one with a passcode and all kinds of differences I could tell you as an educator that continuity is really valued, so anyway so thank thank you for for being
058intentional about that. There is a sneaky double purpose with that in that as we have some machines that get a lot more use than others as we get to ones that have four million copies versus the same model that might only have a 100,000 copies on it we can get a lot more life if we if we switch some of those around and balance that out a little bit so to have two machines a color and a black and white machine make that a lot more uh attainable for us and make them last closer to that 10 years. I do remember that 25 years ago we were told that paper would be dead, so no no comment needed thank you. Jennifer, Jenny? I just when I was looking through the packet um I was looking
059at the bids and you know we always go to the total proposed cost like that's what we go to first and so then it made me dig a little deeper, because this um bid was um about $30,000 more than the one below it, but also more than than the one below that, so that when as I was digging, it really stood out that um the energy efficiency is where we're really at and the the warranty also so the manufacturer warranty being two years longer and the um less expensive uh printer being uh power usage of 18 watts and this um power usage of 180 Watts that's incredible, the difference there um I will say though that the students really love when the hot papers come out and they feel warm. The these are these are cold I
060I felt them in other districts they print out. They'll get over it, they'll get a hug instead. 160 page document and it was cold to the touch. I do want to also just mention um as you you may notice in that bid package uh there were three extra copiers bid on this one which are actually going to end up being removed from the other so that's why there's also a discrepancy when we look copier to copier it becomes a lot more. I mean I was just from um from an energy standpoint, from an environmental standpoint, from a cost savings um looking at the wattage difference was just a huge difference. Yeah. Very exciting very exciting. Thanks. Well hearing no more comments. I'd like to put this to a vote please all in favor say I. I...
061Opposed. Thank you very much 7-0. Thank you very much Mr. Grossman. Thank you. I think we're uh I'd also like to entertain a motion to approve the purchase of two vans for the Liberty Club, one from Mark Moats Ford Inc. in the amount of 59,635 and the second one from Gene But, I hope I pronounce it right Butman Ford? In the amount of $56,328.28 as submitted by Brian Puffer, Director of Community Education but I will hand this over to Dr. Laatsch. Well first of all, can we have a motion? Motion Gerbe. Gerbe. Support Miller. Thank you. Just a quick follow up from um Brian Puffer that the Liberty Club's paying for the vans from their fundraising account and the CARES Grant and they did go through the bidding process, wanted to make sure everybody knew that. Thank
062you. Any other questions, comments, queries, quibbles? No, okay thank you. I'd like to put this to a vote then all in favor say I. I... Opposed. Great thank you very much for the two vans. We have one scheduled report this evening the District Strategic Council Summary and Dr Laatsch will be kicking that off as soon as he puts on his clicker hat. Okay thank you for the opportunity to present tonight I do want to thank everybody who participated in this process we had a wonderful show of support from our community and staff and um I I really felt that the process uh of the Strategic Council was very productive specifically I want to thank Jackie Martin and Kara Davis who really did lead um the design of the meetings and helping to bring uh the
063result to fruition tonight, which I'm happy to present, uh next slide please Ben. So when we look at what was the purpose of the District Strategic Council we looked at these areas um the vision, mission, and the Saline Area Schools Compass, and we're considering well how do we move the District forward in that light. Who was who was on the Strategic Council? Volunteers who represent diverse stakeholders from the community, we also had students, I should I should have mentioned that we had some wonderful student represent representatives, and uh various District departments and this was to be thought partners uh to better support our District Continuous Improvement Leadership Team which is primarily led by Kara Davis and the Teaching and Learning Team. We can go to the next slide. In terms of expectations and norms,
064we did go over specifically what we thought was important that everybody who participated would know and that is we wanted active participation and we got that that people were attending the meetings it wasn't that they were taking go coming to some meetings and and not coming to others and that's important because we needed continuity, in addition we wanted them providing input based on their perspective a perspective as a community member, perspective as a student, perspective as a current staff member, and then we were going to use data within and outside the Saline Area School as a resource and that we were going to follow through on assigned tasks and communicate information as requested. So for example after a meeting were to happen representatives might ask us questions that we needed to go back and research
065for the next meeting, and then finally we'd use the Bridge to Civility as a framework for any difficult conversations. Okay next slide. So then we looked at what shifts could be made to build upon the strengths of existing District programming in order to best serve the students and help maintain fiscal responsibility and then we we divide it up into four focal areas. They were early childhood and elementary, so we had a group working in that range, then we had a middle grades group, we had a high school group, and we had an activities group uh with uh athletics, clubs. We also had Laurie Dawson participating for example to help in that area, and the charge was to go through the following bullet points we're going to gather facts, identify successes, discuss change proposals, consider opportunities
066for revenue generation and/or cost savings, and um consider special populations and consider mental health safety and security. So we were working under that umbrella with our charge. Next slide Ben. And then in terms of the timeline and I feel like we did a good job of sticking to this we we set the expectations in December, then we went through a series of meetings January through March, led to a full group discussion in April 24th, and when I say the the series of meetings that's when we were dividing up into groups working on those specific four areas and then now we are here to summarize the work to the Board of Education. In terms of how we thought about this, it's it's more of the Design Thinking um cycle. And so that was to discover, reframe
067opportunities, incubate, ideate/illuminate, evaluate/refine ideas, test ideas, and then deliver and then take it to scale. So our thought process was around that. Next slide. I'm not going to go over all of these specific bullet points here but the Early Childhood and Elementary Group identified a series of successes that are currently going on within our programming and then identified some focus areas and then that leads to the next slide um then that I am going to focus a little more time on and that is we we task the groups to come up with two to three what we'll call change proposals, ideas that we could implement in the District that may better support in this case early childhood um at our elementary level and when we say early child we're talking about Prek to third grade.
068So the first one was one and three actually tie together fairly well direct advertising and outreach and then uh value based marketing why come to Saline Area Schools for Early Childhood. So we we had agreed as a group that there could be more strategy placed on marketing families to know what kinds of services we provide that not everybody knows that we have a strong Early Childhood Special Education Program or what does Pooh Corner have to offer through Community Education along with our our private daycare and Little Star. So there were there there was a thought process there that we are going to work closely with Jackie in this case to better market and and talk about the wonderful services and supports that kids can get from the Saline Area Schools to try to get um
069families to be be considering a move to the Saline Area Schools. The sec oh uh Ben back up just a sec there. The the second one's very important um and that's this Feasibility Study for Early Childhood, I'm going to go into a little more depth with this, so there's a proposal out there from Governor Whitmer, that would um release uh GSRP Great Start Readiness Program funds so that all kids in Michigan would be able to qualify for that. Now we're not at that point now right now GSRP is um parents and families would meet a certain poverty level so to speak to be able to be eligible but there is a proposal out there that would allow the potential for all four-year-olds to more or less come to public schools and have that funded. So
070we we need to dive in to this and we have been looking at this in in great depth. Over on the right side column it says capacity N that means we're not ready yet to do this but we're looking into it and what that's involved is, where would we have the public area um for for people to gather how do we develop consistent curriculum and where do all the students go? So in essence a big question for us is if we had an influx of let's just say 150 students that were eligible to come to school next year or in a future year, where would we put all the students and so so what we're currently doing is looking at where could students be housed in which building? Would that be Liberty? Would that be
071a dedicated Early Childhood um building that would specifically house all these students, and really more or less where would everybody go? So we are currently looking at that okay uh next slide Ben. At the Middle Grades Level again we identified a series of successes and also identified some focus areas areas, which again I wasn't going to get into depth here with with those since all of you have the presentation you can look at that in greater depth, but I do want to talk about the the next slide Ben that talks about the two to three top change proposals that the Strategic Council Subgroup was recommending. The first one is exploratory classes at the Middle School Level partnering with uh South West Washtenaw Consortium. There's been a lot of discussion how um Career Tech ed is
072is very popular now and is needed and that we have so many students participating than at the high school level what's a better way at the middle school level to get students exposed to those types of courses and so that is an area that we are exploring. The second one is a summer academy to better help kids either catch up, accelerate, and and possibly expand credit into the high school that we we feel like we can develop that further and that's an area we should explore. And the final area to look at is this transition issue that we that we do have and I say issue because we transition kids more often when you have a smaller configuration of grades together, that there are some districts that have K - 8 schools for example, well
073they don't have as many transitions here we have a series of transitions that it's hard to make transitions whether it's from you know you're leaving the K - 3 environment, to the Heritage environment at 4 or 5, and then the Middle School transition coming in and out is challenging and so we're discussing the way to can we think longer term about transitions, um making sure the students don't fall through the cracks, we've had a lot of qu a lot of discussion about those kids that are are doing fine, that may not be on the um radar of of our staff, but how do we make sure sure we're really supporting all the students and their transition uh and then also making sure that we have clear clearer transitions and and so forth, and then there was
074talk about would there be K-4, 5-8 um we didn't dive too far into that possibility because that would involve grade reconfiguration at the at the actual buildings and we're not um ready to move forward with that. Okay if we go to the next one, thank you Ben. So again then this is the High School Group, identify successes and strengths and then focus areas and opportunities, and then the next slide Ben. The the possible top two to three change proposals the first one is every shs student earns a half a credit for an internship experience as a graduation requirement, and we've been studying this over the last few years, and you know for example I brought back that when I was out at a conference in San Diego they have a specific school that does two
075days of internship and three days in person at at their high school, it's a public school and and you know we really would like to explore that, especially for our students in their senior year to say what's a meaningful internship that every student could have and there'd be lots of different ways to earn that half credit, so we're exploring that. The second one is Liberty Club expansion. There is a weight list right now here in this building at Liberty um to expand the Liberty Club and so working with Director Puffer to determine hey is there space we feel that there is and what type of remodeling would that take in order to bring in that expansion which would be significant revenue enhancement for the Community Ed Department as well, and the third thing and again
076this is one it says Virtual Academy and on the right side uh where it says capacity and fit there's an N there right now, it's not because we don't think this is possible it's because we have to explore more of what this would look like, but the discussion is could we offer a virtual academy that would be revenue generating and if we did we'd have to look at what staffing would look like, um would it be blended model, and then would we be expanding the Alternative High School to operate in this mode, because right now the Alternative High School operates with a lot of virtual classes through Edgenuity, but with this virtual academy would that also be an option for some of the um Alternative High School student students who currently come in person to
077do their work, so this would be an area that we would explore, and then we go to the next slide. Again this is our final group our final subgroup Activities, Athletics, and Clubs and we looked at identified successes and focus areas and then the next slide Ben. These were the top two to three change proposals so the first one was extracurricular foundation what's the purpose of the club what are standards of the club that there are so many clubs and organizations which is a good thing, but that we have to put some um you know focused questions around them so that we can better help manage and support them and make sure that you know student voice is heard here. The next area uh facility signage, facility naming, corporate sponsors we do talk about
078that we have new spaces coming at the High School and STEAM and athletic weight room what and and then we've had conversations about you know what does that look like at Hornet Stadium and and expanding this has some opportunity here uh with revenue generation as well, and then you look at the third one leveraging facilities we do have strong rentals and and are lots of people who want to use our facilities, uh specifically I remember Reb Rebecca Groeb-Driskell talking to me about, because we stayed open with our facility rentals especially the auditorium at the High School we've now captured a significant market that was not there before COVID and we've maintained that. So is there opportunity here to leverage our facilities even further to um you know generate more revenue, and then finally the promotion
079of extracurriculars earlier to 5th and 8th grade, yes we have some extracurricular clubs and organization fairs that happen you know at the high school, but we want to get kids to know what the opportunities are earlier so that they would uh have better opportunities or have more knowledge about the opportunities they have. Okay uh next slide and so we did seek some participant feedback at the end to get some uh what what our participants were saying and here's just a few of the comments, I'll just read one of them, "I found the process to be very focused the ability to dive into topics by specialized areas added a depth to our conversation that allowed teams to drill down to real action items I feel confident that even if every idea is not feasible a real
080dedication to understanding the needs of the district and an effort to satisfy those demands is being made." And I think that sums up a number of the comments, okay next slide Ben. And that's it, so uh I want some next steps though uh we're going to be relaunching this full scale council in 24-25 to revisit in particular our Saline Area Schools Compass and the existing Strategic Goals and that process being led by Director of Teaching and Learning Kara Davis. So with that said what questions can I answer. I'm sure there are quite a few questions from the table. Chip? Dale? I'll go um okay so I don't have a lot of questions, but I do um appreciate all the time that you guys all put into all this and um the internship experience I really
081like that idea um and looking more into the internship. I think the Consortium Program is just amazing program that we have here and um gives the kids a lot of opportunities when they leave school so um if they can start doing some internships and gain credits that'd be great. Thanks. If I could just jump on that before Susan, sorry I apologize. The one of the books at came out of that internship program is called Learning to Leave and I got so excited after talking to you about it I've got another copy, I will make sure you take a peek at it, if that's right, good. Yes I had questions about um the con was it so the desirable need um so the chart Feasibility, Readiness, and Capacity Fit um is that something the council um
082discussed when they brought forward their two to three ideas, or is that kind of a you all have looked into it like the admins looked into the fe feasibility? Yeah that that's a good question, no, so when we were putting the last meeting we were putting to more or less putting together the slides for this presentation and so those subgroups discussed um and came up with the two to three focus areas and then and then we had at least one administrator leading those subgroups to be able to make that determination about well is this ready in theory, is this ready to go now, if we wanted to implement it or would this require a fair amount more more research and and so forth? So that that's how that was determined sort of that yes/no component.
083Okay, thank you. I was able to attend actually might have been that that meeting in particular and was um impressed how the groups were split up and came back together and I know um Kara facilitated that and I was really impressed. I also was able to attend I a different meeting we kind of split it up so we didn't have a quorum at one of the meetings but um able to attend and observe and um I sat in on the Early Childhood Group um and appreciated the conversation around a couple different topics one around um the idea of um extending uh learning through the schools down into uh preschool and one of the things that we that we noted or that was noted by that group was that um currently kindergarten is not a requirement
084so there's some steps that have to be taken um perhaps before that happens, um but I also just really appreciated there was um one member of the committee, and I I don't remember her name um but I just remember her talking about um the difficulty of the current school model for our young fives or some of the preschool programs that we have because as a um working mother it's difficult for her to get her um to to have her schedule fit around the the traditional school schedule so um there was definitely a lot of talk and a lot of perspectives that uh were being considered um and I thought that the the conversation, I know I learned from the conversation, so I appreciated that um lastly to those of you who are on um the
085Strategic Council um I served on the Strategic Framework before uh before becoming um before deciding to run for the board so I would encourage people who have maybe gotten a taste for um for the ins and outs of the school uh through that um through the work around the Strategic Council to consider um potentially getting involved um maybe even as a a running for board. I just have one quick comment today, I was reading actually an article um today right now the Mackinaw Policy Conference is happening up north and uh one of the primary tenants or one of the primary things that is being discussed and advocated for at that conference that I read about was that Carlin Gilchrist was or Garlin Gilchrist was talking about uh Early Childhood and the priority that the Governor
086is making at to make that part of her budget and so I mean it was I've read it today it's being pushed like the whole thing so I appreciate that we're trying to be ready for if that becomes a reality and now you know Saline families can realize those types of resources and that type of thing um I think I read in that article that um it's like a savings of like $10,000 a year to families right so that is significant it really helps um you know individuals who are struggling to find those resources and what have you and and it appears to be a Governor priority. So anyway so I guess I'm just saying that and I appreciate our our forthright about or forthrightness about it I think that's a word thank you all.
087Such your word, any oth? Dr. Gold. Thank you for your presentation I have a few questions. I wondered why the SRO was mentioned specifically for the Early Childhood winds like the school resource officer security I just wondered why that got grouped under Early Childhood. Discussion that we we've added in an SRO to the early to the outside of well had one at Pittsfield Township and this building is more specifically the early childhood buildings so now we have an SRO in this well with the City of Saline buildings. Okay. Which which include Liberty. And so when we're talking I guess one question I had sort of more generally is that like when we're talking about this strategic moving forward if something is listed in the sort of wins or positive column does that mean that something
088the District is seeing as a priority for funding moving forward when we're trying to decide like you know we have things listed as in the positive like if you go back to the positives part does that mean that that we'd like to see that as a budgetary, a budget priority, budgetary that's a word, a budget priority moving forward is that kind of the purpose. Well that was that was more or less the start to try to get to those two to three change proposals, so when we talk about priority priorities for funding I think it would be more in line of those two to three change proposals, would be where we'd be trying to focus our finances, for example if we were trying to bring the um internship idea to light then we would have
089to prioritize uh potentially doing that and not doing something else so um I see it's more geared towards the change proposals. So then with the club's um question is is that because clubs are a specific budgetary like is that because looking at how many clubs we have and offer has financial implications for the district and being more narrow and tailoring it just seemed a little contradictory to me because in one place we're talking about like being more specific about how our clubs are chosen and then another place it's like having more clubs for 5th to 8th graders I just I wasn't sure well I think well I I wasn't in that specific group but I but I feel like I speak for him in general that we we just feel that now that Laurie Dawson
090has taken on this role over the past couple of years um we're recognizing the need to have some um standardization of how we begin clubs and organizations, because there are so many of them it's not that we don't want to expand if if there's a need, and as we talk about the Middle School Level we're thinking potentially there is, uh but we also want to have a a process in mind I mean back in the day it would be um a student that has an idea just goes to Principal Stager or well whoever was the principle at the time in High School and said hey I'd like to start this up is there you know and then and then potentially it was it was approved regardless of whether um you know we already had that
091club in some capacity or because we also also find sometimes the clubs overlap a fair amount, so it's more just a way to help better organize uh the opportunities that kids have it's not to try to not expand more of the process. And then I was just wondering about advertising, do we are we going to and sort of reach out, I guess to families in terms of are we looking at the surveys for what um what people like about the district and sort of guiding Jackie's outreach, are we looking at particularly highlight highlighting the positives that came out of this process you know Special Ed goes sort of across all of these, but I as I've said to you privately and try to say to everyone every I think our Special Ed Department merits a
092special um kudos among all of our great educators in terms of bringing people to the district, so I was just wondering like is there like going to be a Strategic Framework for specifically for that kind of reach out to bring people either back to the district or to the district to begin with is that something that the next group is going to look at or is that something Jackie is looking at or is there a committee or? Yeah I think it's it's both. We would take the identified successes from the Strategic Council and need to embed that into our marketing strategy, but it's also what are the great programs that we know exist now and how are we marketing those and telling we're talking a lot about how do we tell the story of the
093District. I mean what you ultimately want families to know is what's the overall experience like to come to Saline Area Schools and we need to, we need to market and pro to promote all those great things like you said our Special Education Department, our CTE program, our Athletic Program, our Music Program, so it is important that we highlight you all of those things and so yeah as Jackie um taking all that information in, we are talking about marketing strategy and another really good thing that Jackie is doing is she is networking out to other communications leads in in local districts and beyond to find out well how are, how are they doing this, and how are, so really good job of networking in that regard. That's great thank you. Oh um just to build upon
094the discussion with you and Lauren um if you wanted to look at expansion of Clubs within the Middle School you could talk to our Trap friends that were here tonight because it seems like they did a really nice job of expanding down into the Middle School so they could be a possible prototype. If you could go back to the slide on the High School on the positives. Can you yeah put that back, uh right there. Oh no. No. No the High School. Okay back it up a little bit more one more. Ben right there the positives yeah. Yes so just a reflection here, that um overall academics aren't listed as successes successes or strengths like AP courses, diversity of courses, there were there was a comment about, um let's see at all um maybe it
095wasn't on the slide, but that was just something that was sticking out is really missing, um that when you think about a high school that's ranked as high as ours that academics didn't come up and that is our focus because we are a school district, um so that was just something that maybe we should think a little bit about as far as is um conversations with community members and why that didn't come up. The other question I had was with regards to consideration of K - 4 and uh grades 5 - 8 and then the high school, uh I forget what slide it was on, but I was just wondering um the the social emotional differences between grades 5 and grades 8 are pretty staggering, maturity and uh physical developmental levels, um of those children.
096What would be the next steps and consideration of making a move like that in in putting 5th graders, 6th graders 7th grade graders and 8th graders together. Well I I'd say right now we're we're not looking at that even if that's listed as a possible look at, reconfiguration is always a a possibility, but right now we're currently looking at that for our early childhood programs not specifically this, even though it's it was mentioned the group. Yeah because it it did list it and if we can find the slide I thought it was a yes that it could be feasible but. Well well that that's feasible but but. Yeah partially yeah. Right lumped in with a bunch of other things as it relates to transitions again this slide was about transitions by doing that in theory
097there'd be one less transition, that that's what they're getting at but I I I I'm here to say that we're not a position to move forward with that right now. Okay okay thank you for the clarification. And these were strictly ideas that came up within the groups right. Right yeah right and to clarify on that point we did talk to the groups over and over again that we're taking feedback and we are going to continue talking about the possible implementation of these, but that you know it's not some guarantee that all of these are going to happen and every everybody understood that at least to my knowledge in the group. Well I just want to say thank you to you and also to those in the audience there may be one or two attendees tonight
098who were also on, aha, I see you, I see you, who are on that District Council. Could you just wave for a second and so we you can accept our thanks oh yay, thank you very much. I appreciate your efforts and I know it was a lot of work uh and I know you treated it extraordinarily seriously and thank you so much for for your time and your service to the school district. We are now at the administration board updates part um I believe you start. Yeah I do not have any comments tonight thank you. It was a lot up front, a lot of accolades up front. We can work our way from one end to the other. We'll start with our student though thank you sir. I first want to say thank you to
099President McVey, Dr. Laatsch, and Principal Stager for selecting me and Caroline to be the Student Reps for this year. It's been a wonderful and experience learned a lot about how school runs behind the scenes with all the board does, gain a lot of experience from the board, and learned a lot from each and every one of you guys on the board and thank you so much for that and Caroline told me to tell you guys thank you as well she really liked this opportunity and we are thankful for it and we're looking forward to who's going to be the next School Board Rep and then for our updates we got the seniors are out so that's super fun, super cool, but but for everyone else keep going strong, finish with your with with your tests,
100and all everything and for act sports they're coming to playoffs so it be super cool to see what they do and thank you all again for this amazing opportunity it was it was a fun school year. We will be, thank you Matteo thank you again. [Applause] Thank Caroline. I appreciate you mentioning that we will be interviewing candidates on Thursday, Dr. St Mrs. Stager and I we're we we've got it all lined up, we're ready to go we've got a great group and one of them or maybe two will be coming here to the board table thank you, and I'm sure we you'll be able to count on your insights as well I I have your email and I'm just going to share it, thank you. We'll start with Tim because um Ben Goodman says it's
101easier that way. Okay so I want to give a shout out to the um Saline Area School staff for their hard work this year, thank you over the past uh few months we've seen many impactful staff members moving into retirement, you will be missed, enjoy your retirement. I also want to congratulate all of our seniors in the chapter of their life that is closing but many more amazing chapters are to be written. Special thanks to Carolyn and Mateo for uh dedicating your Thursday nights or Tuesday nights to us uh for the District um and to all the seniors that will be heading into the military after graduation thank you for your service and commitment to this country, um and then I don't think uh if I might come back to this later, I I have
102something else but I'm I'm I'm not just not sure what, okay I'm just going to do it. Yeah so okay now I'm yeah so um lastly a lot has been going on over the past few months um and even weeks not even solely related to the nationalized email. I wasn't going to be the one that wants to bring this up I guess but I am so um okay so first I wanted to um say I've read uh some things that were absolutely appalling and had no business being written, some directed at staff, some directed towards community members our uh staff should not have to endure these kinds of messages nor should anyone have to be subject to these types of messages, um and we need to do better. The email I was disappointed to see
103it but not shocked I believe we need to do things differently the flame of unrest within our community on the District's direction has been fueled by community members feeling like their voices have been disregarded we see this uh with parents moving kids to other schooling options. We as a District have become hyper sensitive to all differences which is, I believe only causes harm and separation for our children, these things can happen when we elevate committees by appointed community members that don't fully represent our entire community to a position of such influence. We as a board have also heard a lot regarding the Listening Sessions, we await the report to the board, but the but from emails that I have seen the sad truth is diversity sometimes does not get an invitation to the room of
104inclusion. I understand some of these some people may not agree with my thoughts or views that's diversity, I truly want a district that includes all, a district that doesn't want to create interpreters or chaos but a compassion and understanding for our differences, a district that stands for truth, a district that promotes the excellence and sacrifice for our fellow comm country mates that have endured um that our fellow country mates have endured to write the past wrongs, a district that understands our lane when it comes to educating these precious children that parents entrust to us, we all don't have to agree on how we get there but we should all agree in kindness that's it. Thank you Tim. Brad? On that we can very much agree, uh so first of all I want to say congratulations
105to our seniors and students and staff members like congratulations on your grad your impending graduation, we'll be excited to see you guys on Sunday night the football field and toss you'll toss caps and make us make your parents proud and all of it and it's exciting time and you should be congratulated for that and all the seniors. Our staff is outstanding and you're right they they do not deserve to andu some of the or endure some of the language and some of the things that were were said on a from a national media perspective, where you you don't even really know us, right you know you know and it's it's easy from afar to to toss insults and to to say things behind a keyboard and uh I guess what I would say is I
106know that our staff is outstanding, I know our staff is extraordinary, and I know that our students and our our culture is trying to reflect that, um I want to say very much so that um I would like to give my absolute support out loud here to the work of Kara Davis and to the work of of Ryan Kerr uh they're doing their job right we passed policy, and we did things that this is their job and the reality is that the policy says that we're going to promote an inclusive environment for all students and we're going to try to do that and that means that when that we have a student who comes to visit any of our school buildings or any of our school classrooms or anything whatsoever that that student knows that
107there's a place for them and that is okay with me in fact it's more than okay with me, um I will stand here and I will support that until I can't anymore, um now I'm not perfect about it, I'm not but at the same time and I I do think we need to to listen to each other and I do think we need to work together and I do think we need to listen to those who feel differently from ourselves just so if anything so we can learn from one another and we can try to to build those those consensus because I think if what happens is when we stop listening to each other we stop caring about each other and then we stop trying for each other and I don't I want to do
108that okay um and and that includes people who see the world differently from myself. At the same time I want to protect that student who's who comes to our classrooms, comes to our our places, and says what about me? Where do I fit? What do I do? And so for me um I think Kara tried to do that and I know your heart was that um and I'm sorry that that email was shared and put all over and I'm sorry to to you specifically I know but I I just that was a very difficult week I'm sure for you, and I want you to know how much I care about you, how much I appreciate you, how much I see your desire to lead, and and it it it meant a lot to me, so
109anyway so um that is that and I I think that's all I'm going to say for tonight but thank you. [Applause] All right, so uh building on building on all of that um I will also say congratulations to all of the graduates um with graduation uh pen uh coming up here on Sunday. I'm looking forward to celebrating with all of you and um hearing about all of your next steps whether it be in college, career, or military. I know some people started some of those steps today after uh finishing finishing classes on Friday so um congratulations to to all of those graduates and to each of the um people who supported them along the way so um teachers, staff, and um family, community members, etc. We often say it takes a village and it and
110it really does so um congratulations to everyone on this accomplishment. I also wanted to, I also wanted to mention the um I guess the notable uh news event uh last last week and I want to start by also um giving my full endorsement and support to Kara Davis especially and um to Ryan Kerr. I've heard we we've heard throughout the last week or so support for for both of you and the roles that you serve and I know that you are there for a purpose and I know that um many of our community members um appreciate the the work and the efforts and the communication that you provide to create inclusive environments for all of our students. I think what it boils down to is we are a public institution and therefore we are in
111service to all students and we need to create an environment that is inclusive to all students and I think the purpose of, I believe the purpose of the Listening Sessions and also our email Dr. Laatch's availability, um the availability both of Kara and Ryan and a dozen others, serves as a mechanism for those opportunities for for listening so those Listening Sessions are meant to be an opportunity for people to um to highlight areas that maybe they don't see as um being the most inclusive, because as I've said before I don't think that our work around um diversity, equity, and inclusion and belonging is ever complete I think it's ever evolving and it's it's something that we need to constantly strive to um to better in service of the students that we are currently serving and
112we know that the students that we currently serve evolve daily so um I just wanted to also mention that uh while Weber-Blaess is a field trip that our students attend it is an extension of Saline Area Schools. It is housed on the Saline property, the curriculum that is taught at those um field trips is has been curated or written by um Saline Area Schools uh educators and so as an extension of Saline Area Schools our policies and our um procedures should extend to those areas and I I just as I was thinking about this and discussing it with my family because my my kids and soon to be graduates often we have these discussions at our tables uh and we learn from one another, but one of the things that we talked about a little
113bit at our household was how um there is relevance in historical context and we can talk about maybe practices that existed in history, but it doesn't mean that we continue those practices that could be harmful, so we talked about how there might may be other groups who would also have not been historically welcomed or a part of um a school like Weber-Blaess um 50, 60, 70 years ago and and how we have um changed our practices to reflect that um one of the things that came up was that when my oldest was younger um kindergarten used to do a powwow and it was an opportunity for learning students the intent was that students were learning about indigenous people, however it was cultural appropriation and it took some educators who realized that through um diversity equity
114and inclusion training they realized this they vocalized this and they worked to create change and um that practice no longer continues. So I I just mention all of this because those conversations that were happening at my household, were happening at a wedding that I was at on Saturday, um have been happening around our community, are important for us to have and I think the thing that I keep coming back to is this work is never done, we need to continue to learn, we need to continue to listen, and we need to continue to make changes that promote belonging and inclusivity for all of our kids. So thank you to Kara, thank you to Ryan, thank you to Dr. Laatsch, and to everyone who supported them. [Applause] I guess I'll speak in order and then um and
115not be the anchor leg I I don't have a great deal to say tonight a as a board president you might imagine I receive uh all the emails, all the Facebook posts I go through I've done a lot of scrolling ,uh and I must and even receive the occasional phone call from some interesting parties, and I just want to say I'm still processing. I am processing and having uh difficulty dealing with some of it as as Tim alluded to at the beginning some of the posts that were written were just and and these are things that the beyond, beyond that and these are things the public doesn't see and I just wanted to let you know we we took the full brunt, we get it and uh and be I just want to say
116my board colleagues tonight are speaking far more articulately than I can for sure, but um to be as simple as possible I would rather have Kara Davis in my corner supporting my kids uh regard than anyone else uh in the world so Kara thank you so much and I'll let the rest of the board speak [Applause] So first of all I just want to start off with saying congratulations to Mateo and Caroline um and thinking about our our table up here and our our little board family um very proud of you both and uh can't wait to congratulate her in person as well, but I also want to acknowledge Tim and Jenny because it is very very hard to be a parent any day of the week, and I like I'm gonna oh I'm gonna
117get teary eyed, I can't I know I'm so proud of you but I'm bringing Kleenex on Sunday um I I'm I haven't been there yet so I can't imagine what you're feeling this week so I'm thinking of you all this weekend as well, as our wonderful wonderful graduates. Thank you to my board colleagues who um engaged in some crucial conversations up here it's incredibly important to respect diversity of opinion and to have conversations verbally and in person um that's how we make bridges to civility and bridge those gaps um within the past week I guess it is um or so, that week went fast um I got to chaperone prom and I got to see some students having a lot of fun got to stand in line with them and hear about the house parties
118I'm like stop talking to me about this um I totally acknowledge that you know folks will will review the logistics of the evening, but I can tell you from actually being there that the the students were having a good time um and then just today I was at Woodland Meadows um because I teach I think it was my 7th or 8th year of teaching Junior Achievement so I team teach um two classes and I got to work with the students and I was so, once again second grade, so incredibly impressed with their little high performing teams. They did this task and they built pizzas and they learned about cooperation and they already had cooperation, because you know the the the two teams that tied for first place with making 8 pizza successfully, I had them
119come up to the front of the class and I said okay we're going to do what we do in college we're going to debrief and look for success and talk about best practices so we can cascade that down within the classroom, and I said okay were did you have at any time did you have differences of opinion, you know different oh we should do it this way and and they all were respectful of each other may I say kinder than necessary, um and I was so impressed with all of them um to that end and I think that others in the community and in our nation and quite frankly our world can do a better job and if the second graders can get it, I think that we can get it as well um I
120don't need to go through what everybody else said but I was traveling for work and out of the country this week and so I felt I felt a little remote reading everything while I was over there um and quite honestly horrified by some of the emails, comments on social media um in a in a a few veins there were a few different things going on. I wanted to just sign uh just call out Kara and say thank you for all of the work um and I fully support you. I wanted to call it Steve and say thank you for all of your work and that I fully support you. I wanted to call out our prom planning committee and our Junior Council students who were involved in that and took a real hit, unfair they
121are under 18 and they are children, I see you and I fully support you, and our docents at the one room schoolhouse our volunteers um thank you for for working and creating um a historical experience for our students. I think those groups um had a lot of unnecessary hate, threats, and and um terrible terrible things said about them um and I I don't think that's right. I'm going to take a deep breath, because I want to leave on a positive note because I really I really do think that positive leadership is the best. Theresa Stager are you still in the room? I can't see you. There you are. So while I was away out of the country and all this is going on, four days ago our proud principal of Saline High School I'm I'm
122assuming this was you, it looks like you're writing style, um I'm assuming this was you, four days ago wrote this post on social media and it really helped me to just put it in perspective, she said, today, now I'm going to cry. Today at 10:18 a.m. the class of 2024 were dismissed for the last time as a student at Saline High School. After your breakfast as you leave the building be sure to pick up your Saline graduate lawn sign they will be available at both doors as you head to your vehicles. Throughout your journey at Saline High School you have proven yourself to be a very special group of individuals, your resilience, determination, and unwavering spirit have inspired us all. Truth. From September 2020 to this very moment you have left an irreplaceable mark on
123our school community. As you exit your classroom and enter the into the hallway be sure to say goodbye and thank the staff here at SHS for their work over your 4 years. On behalf of the entire faculty, staff, and student body, I thank you for allowing us to be part of your journey it has been an honor and a privilege to watch you grow, learn, and flourish. We are confident that you will go on to achieve greatness in all that you do your legacy will continue to inspire future generations, your impact will be felt long after you leave, and you will forever be a part of the Saline family. We hope your journey that begins now is is extraordinary as you are. Enjoy your last morning at SHS as we look forward to honoring the
124Class of 2024 on June 2nd. Stay safe, stay in touch and go Hornets. That is who is teaching your kids um that is the culture of Saline Area Schools and while I respect a diversity of opinion, please know that the people who are educating your children read these emails that we get, they read social media posts, they hear what's happening in the in the school district, and this is the culture that we have in our buildings and I'm very very proud of it. Oh um so I also taught my first Junior Achievement program this year um and it was a very powerful um program and um the the students and even parents came up to me um after the program and um said that it was a hit with the kids so um I was
125super excited uh receiving little thank you notes um from from the students and um kind of summing up what they they had learned and had appreciated so that was a cool experience. I want I don't think this is mentioned tonight um the Sex Ed Advisory Board uh public hearing um where where um their first public hearing is Monday June 10th at 6 PM in the Liberty boardroom. That has been posted uh publicly um under these uh board meeting meetings and special meetings um so you can get information there um I'm one of the board reps and so is um Trustee Gold um and uh I I've personally been impressed by the work that the committee has done, and um all that's gone into looking at um a variety of programs um and this is for
1264th specifically, 4th through 8th 8th grade right now um and what will be recommended um and so they looked at you know a number of programs um got it down to two and really did some indepth um you know looking looking at um the differences, and have are now recommending um something so um super excited about that uh our current curriculum um is very, very, very, very old um and uh so I'm I'm glad that you know hopefully we will um move forward with the hearings uh all hearings and um that it will come to the board um for action at some point this year. So um Pride Month is in June um and I'm I'm bringing this up because June is Saturday, and I won't see you at the next board meeting before then
127uh before school lets out um I'm really looking forward to the District and schools celebrating our LGBTQ+ staff, students, and families who are part of this community. Also this Saturday uh June 1st at 1PM um the Annual Pride Flag Raising Ceremony um will be at uh Saline City Hall um so I invite the community to um come out and um just come come as a community, it's been pretty good attendance over the years years um and it's good to see that support, and then um kind of a statement to to um what we were seeing um in the news. I have a statement but it's hard not to listen to this acknowledgement of hate and bigotry that our our staff uh member experience and I want to thank her I you know saw her at
128a meeting and she came up to me and I asked how she was doing and she told me that she was sorry, because she knows that like me and other LGBTQ children and and families um go through um possibly on a daily basis and um and so thank you for acknowledging that that meant a lot. Okay my statement um I will not tolerate hate in our schools and community. I will not tolerate hate and bigotry against our students and staff and I hope that you will stand with me. In order to make SAS feel welcoming and safe for all students our board policies must be fully implemented and cons with consistency and transparency. Everyone has to be made aware of these procedures and must be held accountable when policies are not followed and violations occur.
129We have to address bullying and harassment at every level in this district, and I'm going to say including our wider community um it is not enough to deal with serious systemic issues in this District on a case-by-case basis. We cannot be reactionary when our board policies and law requires the district to be proactive and not reactionary. While there has been great improvement since I was elected in 2018, with the creation and adoption of the DEI Advisory Committee Policy and The Trans Gender and Non-Binary Students Policy it will never be enough unless we are committed 100% to implementing these policies. While the Trans Policy was passed in 2021 we are only now um only now seeing action being taken, and I appreciate that our administrators have you know start started to do that, and so my
130my ask is um I didn't finish my statement um but my ask is to we can't be shy about this this is our policies um and I want you know our administration um to be proud of what the board is proud of and what what we passed uh unanimously um and make sure that you know that that we are 100% behind our teachers and staff who you know want to do this work and you know celebrate pride month next week, so um yes that needs to happen, um I appreciate that that has started to happen, I just want you all to push forward and don't let the haters and bigots and Moms for Liberty and Libs of TikTok and all of those people um put our district down we're better than that. So I will
131echo um everyone in congratulating the seniors and the families of the seniors uh graduating. Congratulations to everyone moving up in the world, from the littlest preschoolers who are going to start kindergarten in the fall, to our kids getting clapped out, which was always one of my favorite things at the elementary level, to the kids um you know moving up into the Middle School and the High School, uh as Dr. Laatsch said transitions are hard, but they're also exciting and so congratulations to everyone who's um uh you know reaching a milestone. The highlight of uh the last few weeks in Saline Area Schools for me was uh going to see our Band and Orchestra um uh play together, um it just no matter how many times I watch them play it's just really a fantastic thing
132to see and in such a big place um it's really neat to see like the seniors from specific groups called out so seeing the seniors who've been in band or orchestra all four years and the relationship they uh form with the teachers, I just think when we look at things like um mental health in our kids that is a really important that they find their place in the world and I my wish for us is for all the students to find their place, um whether that's in Peer-to-Peer or Gay Straight Alliance or you know a band there's uh I what I hope is that there's some smaller place within these bigger schools for everyone. My uh I was out of town this weekend but my family attended the Memorial Day Parade where our marching band
133uh performed, and I'm sure other students performed too but you know I only hear about what my kids do from the family, so I'm sorry um that's who I heard about, but I did hear about um Mayor Marl speech from my kids and uh my spouse and um you know he he was really uh my spouse was impressed by uh the highlighting of the sacrifices made um you know by those who sacrifice for this country and for our absolute right uh to um come to a board meeting and uh complain to elected officials without fearing for our jobs and uh to speak up and uh write criticize the government of which we I guess are um and so I fully support uh that right that we have as Americans, but as parents um and this
134goes in community members and this goes beyond um this goes beyond the people I agree with politically um so certainly there's people I agree with politically who I uh disagree with how we are conducting ourselves as parents and role models in the community so criticize us, criticize government, criticize the way the school is doing things but let's do it in a way that is constructive uh and leads with some grace um and that we would want our kids to look at what we have to say and write on social media and think okay like that's how I should talk to one of my friends when I disagree with them on something, so you know I think we should all try to behave in a way where our kids could admire the way we move forward
135and the fact of it is is that even if we parents and community members don't always agree with each other, our kids are still going to go and sit in the same classrooms and I think that's really what diversity, equity, and inclusion is about is that the kids are going to go in and talk to each other and they are going to hear what you say at home about about their neighbors and friends and so we all just need to uh remember and this includes me like how we are speaking about the others in our community um and so like just to finish up as my kids were studying this week uh my high school son was learning about how to evaluate sources, and uh I think that's really important, and I think it's important
136on both sides frankly of the political divide, because I think there is some new nuance and how we talk about DEI efforts that often gets um lost in these discussions because people kind of separate into their ends, and I don't think we have the final answer on which pieces of DEI education are going to be the most productive for our families and our students going forward and which pieces are going to perhaps look less effective in 20 years, you know I think you have to have a certain degree of humil humility um when you're talking about how we how we teach kids, but what I do know is there's better ways to criticize it uh and to be constructive than what went on this week and what has gone on in past weeks frankly, and
137so I hope that we can find those better ways moving forward. I just um I want I know that we've probably forgotten a lot of people but I also want to just acknowledge that Jackie had quite a week and um responded with um thoroughness and honesty and um really was able to dispel some of the misinformation that was out there so thank you for your work um communicating with uh individuals and um with the media. [Applause] Thank you Jenny. I would like to move to the consent agenda please. The consent agenda is listed in this agenda and will not be ready read aloud uh the motion noted will allow for the authorization of all listed items without discussion unless a member of the board requested anyone or all be considered individually. So I'd like to
138entertain a motion to authorize the consent agenda as printed please. So moved Gerbe. Gerbe. I support Steben. Gerbe and Steben. All in favor please say I. I... Thank you. Opposed. Great thank you very much. JS thank you. Oh items on the next agenda sir. Yeah the June meeting, only one meeting for June, so that'll be Budget Hearing uh also we have a schedule reports of a Tech Department Update, Wellness Committee Update, and Foundation for Saline Area Schools Annual Update. So just a quick note on that the Budget Hearing is scheduled for 6:00 PM, that's right so it's going to be uh early, and we will be moving into a closed session that evening for Superintendent Evaluation quarterly or was that's right I was talking about moving up a little later because our that agenda was getting
139a little crowded, so we'll we'll we'll talk. We'll talk. Thank you. We have uh I now is the time for a public comment because we didn't have one at the beginning I'm just going to restate the be the the the rules of the road. A member of the public may address the board briefly for up to three minutes or request to be scheduled on the agenda for of a future meeting, please note that students will be given priority to speak on any topic the first public participation portion oh sorry that says um this participation portion is offered at the end of the meeting just to allow for any comments that you might have to share, individuals addressing the board should take into consideration the rules of common courtesy public participation portion of the meeting cannot
140be used to make personal attacks against a board member, district employee ,or student and for those of you who are new to this uh we we we don't respond uh we take notes but we don't respond to your comments, just so you know thank you. Oh so the list Ryan Kerr is first up, and on deck is Charlie Hurst. Hey Charlie. [Applause] Hello oh, oh sorry. You have, she'll be watching the time closely. I time this out I feel pretty good about it so. Thank you. And I'm going to make an annoying noise. Oh great. My name is Ryan Kerr. I am the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Specialist for Saline Area Schools, I am speaking tonight as a Representative of the District's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisory Committee the DEIAC was established in April of
1412021, and has worked diligently over the last few years to help guide the district's Equity agenda and its advisory capacity, to the school board our committee consists of parents, teachers, administrators, board members, and most importantly students. These representatives of our community work tirelessly to support the diverse groups and families in Saline, while creating spaces where all students feel seen and celebrated. I would like to read the District's Equity Statement as a reminder of our shared committed values towards representation and visibility of all of the students and families that live in our community who help to make it the dynamic and thriving place that it is. Saline Area Schools supports students in becoming ethical and responsible citizens. Students demonstrate this attribute when they see beyond themselves to the needs of others, contribute to their community, promote
142social justice, take responsibility for the environment, and demonstrate respect, empathy and compassion. SAS embraces diversity and inclusion as it strives to provide a variety of perspectives for students to consider. All students in SAS should be able to see themselves in the curriculum we offer, further all students should be able to reflect and consider alternative viewpoints that exist within our society, in order to provide this the district encourages the use of resources from different backgrounds and topics. In short, it is clear that we value in Saline Area Schools or that it is a clear value of Saline Area Schools to embrace the diversity that thrives within our community. We the members of the DEIAC are therefore saddened by negative responses to the district's diversity and inclusion efforts and reject the open hostilities that have been directed
143towards those who would seek to build community across our differences, instead we affirm the work that is being done daily in this District to prepare students for success by providing equitable education and safe inclusive communities all while upholding standards of academic excellence and rigor. We support and celebrate the teachers administrators and staff members who do this work daily to improve our schools and in the process our community. Furthermore we acknowledge that those administrators teachers and staff members who engage in this work do so under the guidance of school policies which were crafted around the needs and desires of this community in compliance with state and federal laws. The work done in this domain is responsive to the communities that we serve, and we take great pride in our efforts within Seaine area schools to build
144affinities around the diverse needs of all of our students. We are thankful for those who continue to openly support and engage in this work and look forward to continued strides that are critical to the longevity and health of our students their families and our community as a whole thank you. [Applause] Ryan Kerr the the expressions of excitement you saw were because of your impeccable timing that's all. And wonderful words so very eloquent. Well I'm not allowed to talk about that. Charlie Hurst. On on deck is Chris Bunick thank you. I'm Charlie Hurst my pronouns are they/ them. I'm non-binary and I'm queer. My family has lived in the district for two years and there during that time I have served on the DEIAC and I want to I'm I'm speaking just as a parent, um
145but I I want to thank SAS for the opportunity to speak at this meeting to participate on the DEIAC um and also the Listening Sessions those open houses I attended two of them, and I thought that they were wonderful experiences. I'm sorry that other people had um different experiences, but I had a very positive experience and I I look forward to more of those opportunities in the future. Last year on the DEIAC I did make a recommendation to use gender neutral language when I submitted that recommendation I had no idea that my child was non-binary and this year at Heritage, I I saw my child's really um like lose all of the sunshine that they had you know throughout their life I and we didn't understand why they had like withered into themselves and then
146um we were getting some really scary phone calls from the school about how my child's mental health was doing we got therapy and they have felt empowered now to be who they are and they have that light back that they had when they were you know a a really little child before all of this concept of gender is kind of you know forced into a binary and in our household we were really affirming but still they had trouble you know coming out because they they were afraid, but the school has been super supportive they're now um empowered they want to um start a GSA at Heritage, they uh have two other students who are helping to uh found this club at the school I'm very proud of them and uh as as was mentioned earlier
147June is Pride Month and I want everyone in in Saline to be looking good for pride month so I have um some pins because I would like to recognize your efforts in DEI and I want to make sure you're all got your little pins for pride month. Well you're giving those out, Susan what time is the flag raising on Saturday the 1st. Thinking you said it. I believe I said 1:00 p.m. A little later thank you. Than the last year it was 12 or something it was hot all right thank you. Have you reached the end of your have you reached the end of your talk, Charlie. Oh yes I'm done. [Applause] Thank you. Chris Budnick followed by uh Ben Goodman. Thank you Chris. Good evening. In today's digital age the sheer volume of information at
148our fingertips is unprecedented a single post can garner a million views and a blink of an eye, but let me remind you the popularity does not equate to truth, disinformation has never been more prevalent and our ability to process, validate, and understand the vast sea of data is limited by our human nature. We often find ourselves reacting emotionally, relying on hear say, accepting information that aligns with the preconceived notions, it's easier more convenient often more comforting yet this approach is fraught with danger. Social media is a wash with triggering messages, phenomenon that is uh not going away in fact it's here to stay. The algorithms are designed to keep us engaged feeding us our content and resonates with our desires and our emotional triggers. I founded a social media platform in 2020 and through extensive
149research we uncovered the profound impacts of the digital interactions or um I'm sorry uh the impacts of digital interactions on our society. Today I want to emphasize a crucial point we the people are often our own worst enemies our desires, our reactions, our posts, all of these manipulated by the platforms we use, if we don't take a step back and realize that our actions today shape the future of our children, we risk causing irrevocable harm. Think about the impacts of a single post a person's life can forever be changed by what we share and say online, supportive gaslighting, public shaming, casual destructions of someone's reputation, are all too real. Today it's a it's a stranger, but tomorrow it could be your own child. The digital age does not discriminate. This is a friendly reminder we
150are all learning every day the words we write, the pictures we share, the opinions we post, they have they can have life-altering consequences. For those who choose to disregard this responsibility understand that your actions set an example for the next generation, your children are watching and learning from you. One day, they will not be remembered as patriots or revolutionaries, but as individuals shaped by the examples we set. So let us be mindful let us strive for a future where digital interactions build each other up rather than tear each other down, remember with great power comes great responsibility, and together we can make social media a positive tool for change. In closing I would like to thank Saline School's staff and faculty for dedicating their lives to our children it takes a special person to be
151an educator, may these situations build calluses and not shade your light that our kids feed off of every single day. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much Chris. Ben Goodman followed by Sarah Fabian. Hi my name is Ben Goodman. I have two kids in the district with IEPs receiving special education services. On May 7th, I attended the Listening Session with Dr. Laatsch and Mr Ryan Kerr That was the first listening session I've ever been able to attend and ironically enough it's going to be the last one I ever attend. I was not treated fairly that night I left that evening feeling uncomfortable, invalidated, and silenced as did many other people that attended that meeting that night to talk about disabilities not stuff that was mentioned in other Listening Sessions. The very next day I complained
152to Dr. Laatsch, Mr. Musson, as well as members of the Special Ed Advisory Council apparently that was the shot that blew up the powder keg, because I've been told by other parents that people have been complaining all week about the email that Mr. Musson sent out about meeting with us privately and even setting up times for us to meet with Dr Laatsch to talk about kids with disabilities that's it. Kind of ironic considering there were many in that Listening Session who didn't get many opportunities to speak, why because we had two people that suck the oxygen out of the room. One of those is related to one of you on this board. 7 days later on May 14th, I heard this same board member describe what was listed in those Listening Sessions. Was any of this
153privacy respected? No it was not. That was information that is Dr. Laatch is going to share any June or July meeting. How did you find out about it? That's right your spouse was there. I was crushed that evening I. Ben I appreciate it it's turning into an attack on a board member. Okay I apologize I will stop right there with that. Appreciate it. Thank you. It was Dr. Laatsch that needs to be presenting this material and special education parents we have rights to privacy, we have rights to be respected, and in DEI we've been kicked down the totem pole we really have I don't feel welcome at all attending these sessions anymore as a parent of two kids with disabilities. Like it shouldn't matter what my kid's skin color is, it shouldn't matter you know
154where we fit in in this DEI puzzle, they have disabilities. They belong here. They have something called an IEP and they are supported by IDEA we matter our kids matter, and that night you took so much from us in that Listening Session and we just don't feel welcome here, by people in this community, not by the schools. Let me tell you Mr. Musson, Dr. Laatsch, Miss Guenther, everybody who's been attacked in this District lately has really supported us and at this time we really need your board support. We need you to talk to this board member and this people in the community and let them know that we deserved a seat at the table thank you. Thank you [Applause] Sarah Fabian followed by Heather Finch. So I'm the parent of two kids who attend Harvest and
155I was a chaperon a few weeks ago in my son's 3rd grade trip to the one room schoolhouse and I wanted to share my experience um in relation to the email from Kara Davis that made national headlines last week. Without knowing anything about Davis's email or the ensuing controversy I was talking to a friend early last week about how strange some of the things I witnessed were on this field trip, um I was surprised to see gender stereo typing that went on during this field trip from the moment it began as there are definitely children in our schools including in my son's class who are gender non-conforming. The very first thing the docents did on this trip was divide students by gender and then proceed to treat them differently based on this. Over the years
156my kids have been in Saline Schools I've noticed that teachers use terminology like students, friends, kindergarteners to address students so this really stood out to me, another parent on the field trip turned to me and my son's teacher commenting about this and our children's teacher indicated that this was not something they were supposed to do. One of the highlights of the visit for the kids was getting to see all of the outdated forms of punishment from that time period. During one of these lessons a docent removed the bonnet of a female student with her permission and placed it on one of the male students heads while everyone laughed, this same docent also pretended to hit a different child with an imaginary switch, and made yet another child stand on his tiptoes with his nose to
157the chalkboard. As Davis says in her message there are ways to teach about this time period without enacting the very things that we've learned from and moved on from. If a practice alienates some of our kids we should no longer do it, period. Talking about historical practices and physically recreating them are two very different things and kids can learn important lessons without having to physically experience experience them, especially when those things can be harmful. I'm grateful that these things no longer happen in our classrooms and field trips are extensions of that learning so I just wanted to publicly thank Kara Davis for so eloquently communicating the values of our district and for ensuring that children in our schools do not feel excluded or alienated during their educational experiences. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you. Heather R.
158Finch and on Deck is Amy Good. Hello uh my name is Heather Finch uh I wanted to um cover a couple quick things um first of all I want to uh on the support for Kara Davis um I've worked with her for quite a while now on the DEIAC um and can say that she has been nothing but um supportive and constantly striving towards learning and doing better and putting the work in um for DEI and for all of our students um every day. In regards to the one room schoolhouse specifically um I wanted to call out um what an opportunity there is there uh as I think a lot of you know I have a child who has some pretty severe uh special needs autism specifically, who gets very overstimulated and overwhelmed especially in
159new situations, and when he went there that was a huge trigger for him and a big meltdown it was a lot because there just wasn't proper uh preparation put into that for him and there wasn't proper support for him when he went there and so there's just a big opportunity there for how can we help make sure that that is a place that is supportive for all kids field trips in general, it's something we can always do better with for our special education students, who were having an uh more of a Gen Ed setting, um and then I just also want to call out um Miss Julie Voelker who came up here earlier, what a humongous win that is for Saline Area Schools to have that higher. I you guys could not have a better
160head of Special Education than Julie Voelker so congratulations on that I am incredibly sad to have her leaving as the Head Principal at uh Progress Park where my son is so uh I am doubly sad and thrilled for this move so that's all thank you. Thank you[Applause] and on deck of course Tiffany Alexander. Hi everyone I'm gonna keep this short because I lost my voice this weekend at volleyball so I'm gonna do my best. First of all I just want to thank you all for giving us the chance to speak and I love having this opportunity to look every one of you in the eye um it's really important for me to tell you that I appreciate every single one of you, I know personally what you guys do for our students, I know that
161you fight for them, I know some of the negative that you get and that you hear and feel for all of our students um you guys are on the receiving end of a lot of stuff and we don't see all of that or hear all of that but I want you to know that we do feel and we're supporting you, we're behind you and we appreciate everything you do. I want to appre I want to say thank you for supporting all of our students. Thank you for the policies that we have in place um thank you for fighting for them and thank you for making them feel welcome and safe in our district. Quickly I just want to say thank you also for giving us the opportunity with the District Strategic Council, that was a
162really interesting experience and I loved that we had so many different um we had community members, staff, students, people who had kids in the district people, who didn't have kids in the district so I thought that was really interesting to get the different perspectives of those people and then also listening to the recommendations that we make so thank you all very much, and a special thank you to our wonderful staff thanks. Thank you. [Applause] Hello first I want to say to Kara Davis I am so sorry what happened to you that is not supposed to happen to anybody under any circumstances ever. It is is utterly reprehensible behavior it doesn't matter what your positions are nobody's supposed to be treated that way, number one. Number two I want to say Ryan you are such a
163welcomed addition I am incredibly grateful for his presence then I want to say I'm first of all I want to thank all the board members who chose to congratulate every single senior, um regardless to what it is that they're doing I think that's pretty cool because it doesn't really matter they've reached a milestone and that's huge. I also want to say I was kind of relieved to see people condemn what has happened because in the past, we have asked for that we have asked to condemn what has happened, and that is something that has been ignored and when that's ignored it feeds because every time it's ignored it says it's acceptable, we can continue to do this and we can get nastier and uglier and louder, because no one's going to say anything, so I
164was really happy to hear so many people um speak so eloquently about it um we're not allowed to attack anybody, but I do believe we're allowed to say thank you uh Trustee Gerbe I thought what you said was particularly powerful. Now I'd like to ask you to uh if, you're so inclined, to engage in a bit of an exercise with me I'd like you to pick any child that you love and care about anyone and I'd like you to see their face and I'd like you to understand that some of these kids walk in this building every day and that is how they feel every day. I don't want you to see some random student, I want you to see a child you love when you hear us banging our fists and yell and scream
165and beg and plead and demand, it's because some of us are going home to those students that make themselves as small in that building as they can, who hide in the tiniest and darkest of corners who are afraid to use the bathroom or the locker room, some who cannot be brought to board meetings because you know what they're going to hear how well we have community members who are leaving the district because you exist. How we need diversity of thought that you are a sin or that your family is a sin. These are children and they have to know that that's how some of the community members that they live with feel about them, they have to know that some of the people inside of their own school building some of their own classmates will
166stage a protest, because that's what their parents have told them to do. Thank you Tiffany. Oh is that it? Sorry I didn't give you yellow again because I was listening. Okay can I just, thank you, so I just ask you to really think please when you hear us asking you for these things we're not asking you because it's a simple question about guidelines or any of that it's because these children are living this every single day. That's what this is about. [Applause] Thank you. The next meeting of the Board of Education will be held June 11th at 6:30 p.m. preceded by the budget hearing at 6 PM, but there will also be a special meeting on June 10th for the SEAB the Sex Education Advisory Board hearing. Thank you very much and I guess I get
167to tap this. Oh did I miss, oh there's another page there's another page. I would like to entertain a motion to adjourn the regular. So move Steben. Steben. Miller supports. All in favor. I... Thank you very much appreciate it.