December 8, 2025 - Board of Education - Regular Meeting

001I call this meeting to order of the Southary Board of Education at 6:30. May we stand for the pledge of allegiance. I aliance 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. >> Next item on the agenda is Mr. Winston. >> Yes. Anthony Johnson, >> present. >> Lorie Hicks, >> present. >> Amanda Flesher, >> present. Misha Early >> present. >> Cheryl Flesher >> present. >> Daniel Winston is present and Shirley Toiver >> present. >> Next item on the agenda is approval of agenda. Are there any corrections to the agenda? There are none. The agenda will be as written. Next item on the agenda is superintendent communication. >> Thank you, Madam President. Congratulations are in order to

002the entire Vandenberg Elementary School staff as they were named as being a world in motion steam school for the 2526 school year. This is a prestigious national honor recognizing schools that demonstrate exceptional commitment to science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics known as steam education. World Emotion celebrates schools that deliver hands-on project-based learning experiences that ignite curiosity, deepen critical thinking, and inspire students to envision themselves as future innovators. Schools selected for this prestigious award exemplify highquality implementation of a world in motion curriculum, strong teacher engagement, and a schoolwide culture that promotes problem solving, collaboration, and realworld application skills. Vandenberg Elementary School will be featured as a model for innovative steam practices across Michigan schools and beyond. Congratulations to Vandenberg Elementary School. >> Additionally, congratulations are in order to Mr. Sha Salmanin and Jennifer Toy who along

003with the support of assistant principal of Thirstston High School and lead CTE administrator Miss Beth Harris. uh also in conjunction with Chef Tony and Chef Leo uh hosted a wonderful multilingual learners family dinner uh for our multilingual learners uh here in South Redford last month. The dinner was a tremendous success uh when we think about family and community engagement when we uh host our multilingual families here in the South Redford School District. Additionally, uh in advance of the board of education uh appreciation month in the month of January and sticking with our tradition, uh the board has at its table place your gifts in advance the board appreciation month. Uh and also in time for the holidays so that you can enjoy them as early as possible. So, you'll notice that you have South Redford

004School District uh coffee and tea mugs there coupled with special treats from the hospitality tourism program in career technical education. So, our students made those treats that are there inside your coffee and tea mugs there. And then also on uh the backs of your chairs, you also have a South Redford School District uh jersey. And in line with the district's uh recent reinvisioning of its mission and vision, uh reminding the board that each of you plays an integral role when you think about the unity and doing what's best for the South Redford community and that we are all part of the greater good of um sharing a common goal and vision to promote student success here in South Redford. And so, uh, may that remind and thank the board for each of your contributions and,

005uh, in the spirit of unity and board appreciation and the holidays. We appreciate what you do, uh, as a board because oftentimes it's thankless work and the amount of time that each of you puts in and the dedication um, for our students and for our community is noticed, appreciated, and deserves to be celebrated. And that concludes my comments this evening, Madam President. >> Thank you. Next item on the agenda is board communications. Are there any? >> I have one. >> Yes. >> On Saturday at Pierce Middle School, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. there is a bizaar holiday popup. A lot of parents have small businesses, so they will be there selling their goods 10 to 2. >> What day was that? >> Saturday, December 13th. Are there any other board communications? Next item on the

006agenda is comments from the audience. There are none. Next item on the agenda is consent agenda. Do I have a board member willing to adopt the consent agenda >> to the chair? >> Yes. >> Like to move the adoption of the following resolution, please. Do I have a support? Support. It's been moved by Mrs. Flesher and supported by Mrs. Hicks. All in favor? I resolution adopted. Next item on the agenda, reports from Are you doing that? >> Okay. Well, I guess I don't have any. >> Anybody doing that? No. Okay. Next item on the agenda is presentation of Fiser Elementary School. Mr. B. >> Thank you, Madam President. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Principal Cous as well as several staff members that are here this evening from Fiser Elementary School

007to talk with the board about its progress for the current 2526 school year. >> All right. >> Hello. Hello everyone. Um, these little baggies are from Amy. I always try to give you guys something special. So, I just wanted to say >> thank you so much. >> No, it was bad. And I first wanted to thank my staff here. Um, we have a big event tomorrow. So, a lot of them had kind of made a decision. Um, we have uh the we're celebrating the Grinch and Whoville. So, if anyone wants to come tomorrow night from 5:00 to 7:00, um, some of our teachers have volunteered to read uh Christmas stories to the children. We have writing letters to Santa. Um, we'll be watching the Grinch movie and we have our our amazing Christmas um Santa

008shop. You know, when you get all the cool gifts, the kids get to shop for. So, >> I also wanted to thank u um uh Paige for being here and support >> cartoon. I'm sorry. The movie or the cartoon? The Grinch? Which one? >> Uh the cartoon. >> The cartoon. Okay. >> We do have an actual Grinch. So Dr. Branch is going to be dressed up and, you know, meeting and greeting the children as well. >> How nice. >> Yeah. >> 5 to 7, right? >> 5 to 7. Yep. 5 to 7. So I know in front of you, you have the whole slideshow. Um uh through my years, I've always created a video. So um I can go through I just, you know, for a loop of time, I don't want to um uh

009go through each slide too too long. Obviously, we have our vision. Um, I do have a a newsletter that I put out every week. Uh, some more to my to my to our um to our families and my and the and our district vision is always on top because I believe in it and I think it's important um vision and mission. Um, of course we still are continuing with our three big rocks and in our my district strategies balancing our assessment um in our system and our IRA performance. We will get to talk to you a little bit about our I our ready performance this year. Um I think it's important. Uh this is our data for Fiser. We have a um you know a solid baseline. Uh this was our first time taking it

010and a lot of the kids um I think Stocon had their way of thinking that it was the NWA test. So you know some of them didn't do as well when we sent the data home to the parents. I what I like about the Irated test versus the NWA is it gives them grade levels. So it shows grade level for reading and grade level for math. And I can be honest and tell you and I think I have some teachers here. There was a huge shift after those those papers went home and parents started talking to the children like no no no no you are in X grade and you should be you know in that grade level in your math and reading. Um, so I've so I've seen a lot of um, you know,

011stronger willingness to learn here at Fisher this year because our parents I think got pretty involved in in the data and looking at what we have and we do have a lot of room for growth. that yellow line is going is is uh it's correct me if I'm wrong because I don't want to I don't want to say this wrong this um Chase but the yellow line which is the largest base line of growth would be that they would be at that's at the end of the year. So they took the test at the beginning but all of those yellow I'm hoping to shift to to the left so they'll all be green. And then this is our I ready myth as well. And it's pretty similar to what our um our reading is. Um

012so on this chart it kind of explains that if you if the children just do I can't I'm sorry come closer. Um if they are uh if they work through their projected growth we would be at 25%. We want to definitely push them to their um they call this their stretch growth. And so that's when we talk to our students, we always talk about their stretch growth and not just their projected growth. That's nice, but we want to make sure they grow as much as possible. And last year, um Oh gosh, what did I do? Did I touch the screen? Okay, there we go. Thank you. Nope. Um, and last year we talked about math and I had um explained to all of you that we were doing a pilot program and I'm happy to

013be able to share some data with you as well. Um I do want you to hear from the kids um as as well as some of my teachers. But um so the target tutoring optional um examples below are you know that we are getting ready for MSTEP and uh we will be do tutoring during our third and fourth quarters utilizing that I already pilot for curriculum and kids use use it on the daily ongoing data and curriculum and um and hopefully 61% of the tutoring students will receive proficient or pary provision on reading and then 43 with math. So, um I'm just going to skip over these because I want because I in my presentation the kids are going to talk about that like we always do and you guys will hear about what they

014believe in and what they their uh their goals are. Fish in my goal setting um by June 63 63% or more of the students at Fiser will meet or exceed the annual typical growth of target and then 64% would also in meet the target for reading. So, I'm I'm just trying to go big or go home. I want I want them to we need to get over that hump and we're going to work really hard to do it this year. Obviously, we have Masba's hierarchy in our big three and with diversity, equity, and inclusion to um that we feel that is all in relationship building in their safety and curriculum and I, you know, I believe that we at Fiser really try hard to make sure that that relationship is there and that safety is

015included in that environment. Um, okay. What happened to my I lost I lost my slide. Sorry, guys. Um, my video slide. Okay, it was there. Sorry. You know when you practice before and it still doesn't work out. There we go. Oh, yeah. It was the next one. Okay. I'm sorry. I can still do this. Um, All right. So, here are just a few things that have been happening. We have a really strong PTO this year and um our PTO is putting on a lot of great things. We did a food drive um right after uh or between Thanksgiving was on the playground. Um, I did start Fiser spirit wear. Uh, and as you can see, middle school, I sent the link to the middle school, so if they wanted to buy spirit wear as well,

016and they have sparkly spirit wear there, so it's kind of nice to do that. And um, and I always celebrate in uh the month of December. And we kind of have like uh our our days are just we always have fun things to do each day of the week. So, where is my my video? Just >> just playing together. Okay. All right. Bear with me. I did try this. I checked this. So, we're good. >> Hi, I'm Miss and I am here today with some amazing fourth and fifth grade students and we are going to talk about our post data from last year. So, the first thing we're going to talk about is our ELA data. So, that's our reading and our writing, right? So, we were talking about how We can see that our

017third graders who became fourth graders actually went down in our ELA last year and so did our third graders or I'm sorry our fourth graders who became fifth graders. So what are some things that you guys think we can be doing to help improve those scores? What are some things we did in class to help improve that? >> Yeah, that's great. Right. kind of help us be better. >> Right. We can help understand Kayla, what do you think? What are some things that we're doing better at doing so we can get better at our reading? >> Right. that helps us with a reading comprehension, right? I been a really cool thing that we've had this year that we haven't had in years before. Do you have anything to add, Mason? >> Yes, we have read.

018>> Yeah, we're learning about figurative language right now in class, right? That helps us to be able to understand what you remember what the author >> Yeah. what the author is trying to tell us, right? Very good. So, the next thing we're going to talk about is math. And we can actually see that our math scores have improved when we're taking our own steps. So, what are some things that you think we're doing that have helped us to get better at math because they've gone up. So, what are we doing that's helping us get better at math? Chloe, >> um doing our math lessons. >> Okay. I math lessons. Yeah, that's been helpful. Dakota. >> Yeah. I already If we play the game, it still helps us both. >> Okay. So, even if we're playing

019games, we're still learning something with that iron, right? It's awesome. What about you guys? What do you think's been helping us improve the math? >> I like that. >> Yeah, that's a great point, too. Our wind time is a great time that we get to practice those skills that we might be having a hard time with. Right, Mason? What do you think's helping us get better in that? >> Because in our books, we get uh different problems that we need to solve. It helps us in every single skill that we need to to pass. >> Okay. So, we practice lots of problems throughout the day, right? Problems that we know we're going to see on MSTEP, right? That's awesome. Okay. Okay. And then the last thing we're going to talk about, um, and this is

020something that only fifth graders take, but you guys can still speak about it because you talk about it in class. Um, our science, uh, didn't go up, but our social studies did. So, our social studies scores went up. Um, so what do you guys think we could do to improve our science scores? What can we do more of to help our science go up? That's okay. >> Dakota, what do you think? >> Okay. Maybe we're doing some more research projects that you could work on at school and at home. Okay. What do you guys think we're doing that's helped us get better at social studies? >> That's true. Yeah. There. So, we do different things for different lessons, right? >> What do you think, Mason? >> I think that the in class is really fun

021because you get to learn and help. >> Okay. And you have to love social. >> Thank you so much for listening to us talk about our MSE data. We appreciate you. Thank you. Hello, my name is Michelle Chase and I am a coach on special assignment to Wayne Risa and I focus on early literacy and I work here at Fiser. I work at Fiser as well. My name is Mary Beth Anovsky. I'm an academic interventionist and I work K through five um reading and I'm Jennifer Butler. I'm the building instructional coach here at Fiser Elementary and I support teachers with instruction and curriculum, K5 in math and 35 with literacy. So, as I'm sure you know, last year the state of Michigan passed the dyslexia law and since that time we've been really gearing up

022to try to address the components of the law that we know we need to better develop for our students. and we're going to talk about some of those actions we've taken today. Um, a little background knowledge, dyslexia is a neurobiological disorder and there is a spectrum to it. So, some students might have very little evidence of dyslexia and some might have more extreme challenges. Um, and there are children who can exhibit um, characteristics of dyslexia that aren't actually dyslexic at all. So, the law focuses on um addressing the traits of dyslexia and teaching to address those traits serves all students, especially those with dyslexia. Now, before we talk about all of the things we've been doing here at Visure to help all of our students, I want you to recognize there's really two components to

023early literacy or literacy in general. There's a decoding piece of reading and then there's a language comprehension piece. and dyslexia, the the um learning disability aspect of it is really rooted on the decoding side. The inability to sound out words, read automatically, read fluently, spell and write. And so the changes we've made here at Fisher really live on that decoding side of learning to read and we still need to address that language comprehension side, but we'll talk about the one side of decoding today. I hope you do very well. Okay. So, um a few years back we brought on Youth Fly um the program UFly for um intervention and tier one and we saw a huge need for phonics phonic awareness and decoding and also um knowledge of high frequency words. All of those things

024were a great need. So we brought on you fly and we've actually seen based on iat scores that we have shown improvement K through five in those areas. So then um we will continue you with UFly at tier one and in intervention but then we also recognized that our upper L students needed additional support in those areas but UFly was not meeting the needs for that. So over the summer we were able to have um professional development with Anita Archer. Uh Michelle went in the um interventionist went and so we brought on phonics for reading and we've already seen great gains with some of the students that are using this as an intervention program. And the bonus for this program is it brought in multi-elabic word work and then the vocab and the comprehension piece.

025So while Mary Beth was addressing a lot of that in our small groups with intervention as Michelle lifted, you know, these are not just things that are only for certain select students or those that are struggling. These components are necessary for all of our students to improve their literacy skills and to become better readers. And so we also needed to look at how do we address it for the entire tier one population. And we have, as Mary Murth had said, we're noticing some of the things we've been doing in the foundational have really led to some gains for our students. But our upper students were still really struggling as we've seen in our data to apply some of that from the basic maybe one syllable words they were learning in UFly to the more multi-elabic

026complex words they now have to read in third, fourth, and fifth grade. So we began with it last year and we are moving into it a little bit more um this year and so we've adopted some morphology programs. Morphology is the study of word parts their structure and the different parts of the word that make up meaning. And so our students were really struggling to take those bigger words be able to number one decode them and figure out what they were and then two what do the words actually mean which impacts their vocabulary which then impacts of course their comprehension. So, we are using a program for the 95% group. It's called Morphe for Little Ones in third grade and then it's called Morphe Magic in fourth and fifth. And this is really going to

027help our students build their vocabulary because it gives them tools and teaches them how to break those words down into smaller parts, be able to read them, and then understand what the meaning is so that whenever they are reading and they encounter words they don't know, they are going to have the skills and strategies that they need to figure them out. So in addition to the what we're teaching, the dyslexia law also addresses how we teach and they uh it explicitly states that we should be using explicit instruction. So, one of the things we've brought in and we're focusing on kindergarten through 2 grade this year are the explicit instruction teaching strategies and the state is leaning into Anita Archersburg um which Mary Beth referenced for the phonics for reading program and so we have

028been getting training in that and bringing that to our teachers to help them understand how to you know really zero in on the the skills that our kids need to learn, break them into manageable jumps to avoid cognitive load and then have frequent practice ices and um through retrieval with a lot of feedback for students um and we are really trying to apply that this year and we will continue to grow that work. Okay. Hello again. I'm Jennifer Ballard, instructional coach here at Fischer Elementary. Um you saw me speak just a little bit ago with some of the work that I am doing with our upper grades and literacy, but I also support kindergarten through fifth grade in our building with math. Um and so we have some different initiatives that we are looking at

029with math. Um you heard Michelle speak earlier about the explicit instruction which is researchbased for reading. Math is actually very different and the research is actually leaning away from explicit instruction when it comes to math. Um and leaning into more of what's called cognitively guided instruction. And the principles behind CGI as we refer to it are really to build our students mathematical and problem solving abilities which we cannot do simply through explicit instruction and showing them how to solve problems. They need to learn how to apply strategies in multi multiple different ways to solve multiple different types of problems. So last year, you may remember that um we spoke to you a little bit about a project that we were starting um in conjunction with the state to focus on CGI. And we focused really

030just on one grade level here in the building last year to try it out and to pilot it. And we did a lot of work with coaching and a lot of changes in how we instructed math. still using our bridges program which is actually based in CGI but really leaning into more of those principles and restructuring how we taught it. And I wanted to highlight a few of the things that we discovered from that with our cohort last year. Um we looked at our data at the end and compared from beginning to end. And just in that fourth grade group um we saw a 31% increase in their proficiency um on the NWA in math in the beginning of the year to the end of the year. and that was the largest increase we saw

031of any grade level in the building. Um we also noticed that 71% of those students improved their percentile ranking. Um so may not have gotten to proficiency but made growth and again by far the highest we saw of any grade level in our building. Um also our fourth grade had the highest proficiency increase on MSTEP when we compared them to the other testing grades. So we began to see this was really going somewhere that was going to help our students. And so this year we are partnering also with the state um to extend that not just with one grade level but across our entire building K5. Um and so I'm doing a lot of work with um the state in regular meetings and supporting our teachers to really help our students understand how to solve

032problems. CGI really leans into solving problems through tasks and word problems, not just simple basic computation. Um, it really leans into teachers learning more about their students and understanding what is the students already know because our students actually do come to us even in kindergarten with very rich mathematical knowledge of how things work and we need to know what they know and how we build upon it. Um so that is a lot of the work that we are doing. In addition to some of the actual concrete data that we found last year with the cohort, we did some perception data of our students too and we had some really interesting results and we asked students to think about how they felt about themselves as mathematicians and math at the beginning of the school year and

033then how they felt about themselves at the end after doing the CGI work. 61% of those students indicated that they had gained a more positive feeling about themselves as a mathematician and about math in general from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Um, and some of the direct quotes kids would talk about in the beginning of the year how much they hated math and how much more they liked it by the end of the year. One student literally even said they did not see themselves as a mathematician because they were not good at math and by the end of the year they felt proud of themselves because they are now better at it and realize they are a mathematician. So we notice not only is it impacting our data but

034it is really impacting how our students feel about themselves and their ability and obviously our job is to educate the whole child. So, we felt like this is a very positive step for us and we are very excited to see how this is going to translate for the rest of our building. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Sean Salman and I am the multilingual learner coordinator here at South Bridge School District. I'm excited to share a brief overview of our newcomer center uh in South Lake School District, which is one of our most important supports we are offering to students and families who are new to the English language, our schools in the United States. Our newcomer center is designed to provide immediate and intensive support who are just beginning their English journey. These

035students often arrive with little or limited or interrupted schooling. They are unfamiliar with US school expectations and need additional academic and social and emotional support. Our program will give them a strong and stable start to this group. Students will receive foundational English language instruction every day which will be tailored to their WEDA proficiency levels. They will also receive foundational academic skills to help bridge gaps in reading and writing and in content learning. These will be done during that English language instruction time. They will also receive help and cultural orientation that will help them understand routines and expectations of our school community. They will also receive a supportive environment with multilingual staff and other fellow multilingual learners in which they can build confidence, form connections, and feel truly welcome. Our goal at Fischer's newcomer under is

036to support students in their grade level classrooms and equip them with the language and academics tools as well as the self assurance they need to serve to thrive in their new class. We will work closely with families as well, ensuring they know that they are valued members of our South Rford community and that we are equal partners with them in their child's education. Most importantly, our newcomer center is built on the belief that every student, no matter where they begin, has immense potential, and we are proud to create a space where that potential is nurtured, respected, and celebrated. Thank you for supporting us and this work with our incredible students. >> Thank you. Can I just go? Okay. Um, the reason why I included uh Sean is because in the elementary they house all the

037newcomers at Fiser. Um, and just this morning he called me and asked me what my numbers were in fourth grade because he had a fourth grader and a middle schooler and a high schooler coming and just registering today. So, um, and what we were trying to do is house house all of our newcomers at least in one of the elementary schools so that Sean can do a better job and and be able to work with larger groups throughout the the day instead of running from one elementary to the next elementary to the next to the next. So, you know, I just wanted to thank you for allowing that and, you know, in in uh so that we can help all of the all of the students that we have. Um, also I just wanted to

038share with you I really struggled last year with um with our kiddos not coming to school and you know part of the data you can talk about it all you want and you can do all these great things but if there's no butts and seats we can't teach them. Um so last year I posted every single week all of the daily uh percentage of of children and when they were coming to school and how much what our percentage was. Um and I found two things out. one we a Fiser was averaging about only 88% of our attendance every day and our highest two days were Tuesdays and Thursdays for some reason and we would get to maybe 90%. Um on a on a weekly basis I saw this pattern coming through and it drove me

039crazy. So we decided to do a few things and my cooperative culture team came up with um a few you know a few things. Well, this one, I'm sorry, this isn't my attendance team, but this one is for us to talk about culture in our school. And each month we are, and you can see the list of things. Each month we are celebrating award and each child in each class is getting a c or one child per class is getting a certificate and acknowledged at our uh Friday gatherings to um to uh to to understand that they're they're the epitome of whatever the word is correct. >> November was uh cooperation and December is sportsmanship. >> Yeah. So then each teacher gets to pick one student and we will acknowledge them for their sportsmanship. So

040that I'm sorry I jumped I sorry I jumped. Here's my attendance team. I apologize. So anyway, good news is that through that work um through what we've also been doing with our attendance team and that is that we're giving out certificates monthly for any students that have 100% attendance. So we're acknowledging them as well. And I'm happy to say that I'm moving the needle and I'm at about 90 to 91% on a daily basis. Um, we also ha I also asked the teachers to post these and so I made these little calendars and um and we they post per day if they meet their goal. Now their goal is not 100% but usually about 90 95%. So this is my kindergarten class. So they met their goal that many times through the month. So, um,

041so these are posted in the classrooms and then they they send them down to me. Um, this was, you know, Mrs. Fuber's first grade. So, you can see we send them when they're little. So, so we're just we're just going to we're continuing to plug along because if I can't I got to get them in school and then we can teach them, you know, that's that's so huge. Um, and of course we've tal you talked to our intervention team. They're doing great work in our family involvement. We have I have a new PTO president. She's doing a lot of things. And one of the things she asked our teachers was to to be able to support PTO at her meetings. So each each monthly meeting I have at least two of my staff attending the

042meetings. Um so that they're aware and they bring you know that that uh uh collaboration together and um and she wants you know more to see more of that as well. So, and I think that is Oh, and this Oh, this was our preschool parade. Um, it was uh actually it was our student council and we were doing a a career day and so they all and preschool they have balloons because it was like a Thanksgiving day float and they were also in their float mode with their their careers and and then we did have a sports day and seen us looked over there playing hockey. No. Okay. Any comments, questions? I can ask or answer for you. Yes, ma'am. >> Miss Co, I have a question because this is the first that I've heard

043about. Excuse me. the um South Redford having a program for new under well not under but um kids from maybe perhaps other countries that are not fluent >> in the American language. How long have we had that program? >> Um well it's you know it's been ongoing that that we've had but we we we have Sean since last year correct. >> Um So it has I don't want to miss >> it has been ongoing for quite some time. However, given the magnitude and the robustness of the program, this is really probably our fourth year now >> with um the size of the program as our ELLL population continues to grow here in South Redford. But as Chris mentioned, it's been ongoing, but it's certainly been more present in the past four years um than what

044it was previously as South Redford continues to attract students and families that are English language learners. >> And how many young people are we attracting to this program? >> Understand? I'm in full support of it. I'm not trying to be >> negative Nancy. I'm full support of it, especially as what's going on in our country. But I'm just curious. >> I I I couldn't tell you a percentage. Um not even in my building. I just know that we um we kept we kept having ongoing conversations and with you know Mr. Solomon like running from one school like he would go to Jefferson and maybe service two kids and then he'd go to Vandenberg and service three kids and then he'd go, you know, so just >> right. housing them all in one just has helped

045him, you know, immensely to be able to work with them and then they feel more of a sense of community, you know, so they don't feel like there's just those two kids here, two kids here. So, so that's what my, you know, that's what Fiser is uh, you know, I don't really know. I mean, we can I can get back with you and I can let you know what that percentage is for sure. >> That would be thankful. >> Yeah, no problem. I can do that for you. Any other questions? >> Well, I I just have a comment. I really like the picture of the Eagle Award since I see my granddaughter in that and she received >> I didn't put it up there because of that. >> But it is really >> But it

046was really nice, isn't it? >> Yeah. to hear her talk and she's so excited and excelling at Fiser and >> you know >> and when you tap it into the culture and the different things >> to see her adapting >> you know and wanting to be like everybody else in her classroom I I mean it's amazing. So you guys are doing amazing work. So thank you. >> I appreciate Thank you. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you so much. >> I have I have >> Okay. You weren't quick enough, Shirley. >> I just uh No, I wanted everybody to do their thing first. Um, what are you doing to get the parents to get our students to school for as far as the attendance? >> Well, so I've done a couple things. Um, one,

047I I'm in the office in the be in the morning, so I kind of have conversation What does that mean? That means we have rigorous content with real life problems. Okay. Number two, strong instructions where students do most of the thinking. I think if you all think about your time in math, you remember the teacher up at the board, right, telling you how to do it and then you try it together and then you go off and do however many problems at night on your own, right? We want to shift away from that sort of teacherled. So students are doing the thinking. They're pushing the learning in the classroom, not us. Number three, materials that build knowledge coherently within and across courses. I think most of us here would say that math is obviously the

048most important, but we know that other courses exist. And we need to make sure that our math goes with our science or we have literacy in math to help with our reading. And fourth, we have materials and instruction that encourage deep engagement and high expectations. How do we get students to really dig into the math instead of just coming up with X is equal to two and call it a day? Well, what does that actually mean? How did you actually get there? Really get into the content, not just do surface things. >> Yes. Uh so knowing this, these are like sort of our non-negotiable things when we're looking at curriculums, right? We were like, we need all these things for students to do. So, we kind of reached out to some professional organizations. I know

049we talked to like Ryan Resa, what do they recommended? I know some of us were in like graduate school programs. They were like, what did they recommend? We just started with this whole kind of just like group of curriculums and we're like, okay. And then we then started to investigate them a little bit further. Okay. So, we didn't just like we looked at some ed reports, we looked at all these things on the internet, but then we didn't just like trust what they said. We went in and we did the evaluation ourselves. We used this uh IMAT rubric, um instructional materials, uh educational tools. I think that's what it is. And it was it was long. Okay, I'm not going to lie to you. It was a lot of stuff. There was like 30 things

050that was like these are the things we could evaluate these things. And we went through all these curriculums and we really did go through all of these different things to find out which one of them really met our needs. Um, so we noted, like as you said, we noted pros, cons, right? Because nothing's ever perfect, right? There's always a pro and a con for these things, but eventually I think we settled on a a choice um of after going through all of this process um together as a team. And I think that's next, right? >> Yes. So, as Hannah said, you're sitting in your math classroom, the teacher's writing on the board, you're taking notes or sleeping like some of our students do. And we needed a curriculum that kind of pulled students out of

051that frame of learning math. So, we selected Imagine Learning. Imagine Learning um they pull us away from just memorizing and doing um doing the math, just mimicking what the teacher is doing on the board. and they have activities and discussion which help the students have a deeper meaning of learning. So imagine learning is what we selected. >> So one thing when we talk about imagine learning and why we chose this right everyone brought calculators pencils. >> Yeah. Okay. It's okay. It's okay. Right. So up here on the board we have a set of three different examples. Page number one on here is actually a screenshot from a PSAT SAT test. Right? The only thing I want you to notice about exhibit A here is how many words are on this page. Right? Our PSAT, our

052SATs are very reading heavy, right? I always argue that it's not necessarily a math test. It is a reading test. Lots of words. Exhibit B here in the middle is the curriculum that we have been using. Right? This is an example for our algebra 1 final exam from last year. And what I want you to notice about this page is the lack of words. There are not many words here. So what we have been doing is this content that is very wrote procedural math. Can you solve the equation? But what we have here is the SAT PSAT is asking them to think about what those numbers actually mean. Can you read this problem and then do the math and interpret what it means? Right? So, we had a big gap here between what we were

053doing and what we were sort of grading the kids on when they got to their PSAT scores. The last exhibit here, this is actually an I am learning uh test that we just gave several weeks ago for algebra 1. And you will notice words, right? And now we got all these words now. So, students are being pushed to the same level as the PSAT and the SAT. So now we have more of a curriculum match. When we talk about how are we looking at our students success and their learning, it matches much better than it did because even though our students could do this, they were very good at the rope math, getting it to this level is a major leap. So now we have the support and they have the support in order to

054do words in their math, which they all love. I'm sure you know that. >> And we're actually going to have you do a little math >> I know, right? Are you excited? So, I promise you it's going to be okay. Trust me. So, one thing you may ask yourself is like, okay, we're pushing the rigor. We're pushing all of this highle thinking and learning. What about the students who aren't so confident in their math skills? Where are the entry points for them? Are they going to walk in and see all those words and be like, I don't know how to do this and totally check out? The answer is no. With this curriculum, they give a lot of entry points. So depending on where you are on your math journey, I will say however confident

055you feel, they try to give you some easy entry points. So this is an example of a warm-up, also called a do now. They keep changing the words on us that we started off class with in algebra 1 last week. And the question is, out of those four graphs, which three could you put together in a category? What I tell the students here is there's really no wrong answer. If you can tell me three of these graphs that you're like, I think these three go together because this reason, you're good to go. Does anybody after about a minute? Am I allowed a minute? >> You're allowed. >> I'm allowed a minute. >> Thinking time is important. >> Anybody brave enough to say, I think these three go together? >> We can cold call >> A,

056C, and D. >> Why? because they're all parallel lines. >> I love it. Right. A, C, and D could all be put together because they are all parallel lines. You get an A+ for the day. I'll send you maybe a sticky note. Maybe a nice little >> I think you smelly stickers. >> Oh, there you go. Elementary student. They're going to HELP US OUT. ANYBODY ELSE? Anybody else? Anybody got another set of three? Brave enough. I thought A, B, and D went together. >> Does anybody have a guess why I think A, B, and D went together? >> They're all diagonal. Right. I love it. So, no matter what your confidence level or how much you know, maybe you don't know the word parallel, you could also say, I don't think those lines are going

057to touch each other or that line's going to touch each other. I'm not going to lie, when I did this with students, I had a student who came up with one that I hadn't come up with, which is always fun. I had somebody say A, B, and C. >> Look at the number 10 on each graph line. >> They all have a line that starts at 10. So, because of this easy access point, it helps students sort of get into the lesson without all the scary words, right? How are they thinking about math early before we launch in and sort of dig deeper into this? So this curriculum does a really nice job of pairing that rigor and pushing the student thinking and learning with the access. >> All right. So I am here to

058talk about some of the strengths of imagine learning. And as Hannah just talked about the warm-up or do now that we're used to seeing um there are a lot of warm-up activities warm-ups and activities that really push that thinking but also like she said the entry points they're like the the lowest level you know um with the notice and the wondering today I did an activity and it was a notice and wonder. What do you notice? Um it was in my geometry class. Oh, I did one in algebra 2 as well. And in the problem, each one was seven something nine. So it was maybe a seven times nine, a 7 plus 9, a 7 - 9, 7 divided by 9. And so it was somebody said it has all sevens. This one it starts

059off with sevens. And so you know it really is getting them talking. That's just to start it off like I just had a win. So, I know that when I work with my group or with my partner that I will be able to find more wins. So, as you notice in these pictures, the students are grouped together. Sometimes they work by themselves, sometimes they work in pairs, and sometimes they work in groups. And so, um, it helps them to be able to synthesize the information where, you know, they read something. I always tell my students, read it again. Like don't just read it one time and say, "Oh, I don't understand what it's saying." No, read it again. Talk about it. Okay, so that's the second thing. More reading to improve their comprehension, like breaking

060down the words. It promotes discussion. So, they're actually talking about the math, you know, and it's really, really great. I was just listening today like, "Oh my gosh, this is so wonderful." Just hearing them have math talks, you know, and so, um, it's fostering their critical thinking skills and their collaboration because, you know, we do live in a society where everyone's on the phones all into what they're doing, but this allows them to be able to have conversations with others. Okay? And so, it also gives them an opportunity for that productive struggle, right? So we're looking at today like in geometry um I'm looking at a group of students who came up with a way to um reflect a line I mean reflect a trapezoid um and it was just like amazing because his group

061came up with it and he was just like okay we need to get a a you know because they came up with something that nobody else came up with. I was like I didn't even think of it that way you know and so um it was really great. So they struggle, it helps them build perseverance and independence. All right. So supports for teachers. Um there are so many different things that we can do. Um our rep I haven't actually reached out to him. I probably should could, but I know that some of my colleagues have reached out and put in different tickets and he answers promptly. And so that's really great. But built up within the program, there are actually um a lot of like explanations and like you can go in and the teacher

062workbook will go over, you know, this this is where the student may see trouble, you know, like they may encounter an issue with this. So, it's kind of like letting us know in advance like look out for these things. Um there are slides, there are digital pulld downs. I've used the digital pull downs a lot with my algebra 2 students um in our first unit, but in our second unit I'm actually not I'm more so paper because of what we're doing. But it's all of these different ways to um look at the work to grade the work for them to do things as well. Digital assessments and so it helps you to streamline the grading and the prep prep work on our end. there's um the teacher like I was saying the best practices um

063and to access lessons access to lessons that offer intervention for struggling students and so that's a really great feature as well. So we give them feedback on all of the the lessons. One of the things that um and I know I'm I'm jumping I was going to talk about the students but I'll go to the professional development definitely there is a lot built within the program and we have people to contact and then all of the lessons are not just in English we have Spanish workbooks as well and so that's really great. Now, what I was going to say about for students, um, there's this thing where the lesson loops, okay? So, when we get to the practice and the student has to do their piece on their own, they are able to actually do

064a couple of problems, two to three problems that are from the new lesson, but maybe number three, number four or number five is from unit one, like it reach back. So, they keep looping the information, which we know that is really imperative when we talk about learning. um that they are able to see it again and see it again and the activities I mean they literally talk about things that are more real world the names that they're using are more up to 2025 names you know um it's just really it captures their attention and things like that so collaborative problem solving to support and affirm their mathematical thinking and so it's really um engaging for them and it's actually fun because they like to talk. Okay. And I'm going to tell you in the beginning

065the students were kind of pushing back at least. You know, they're like, "What is this? Why are we got to read all this stuff?" You know, but I don't have that question anymore. I don't They They don't ask. They're used to it. And I really think that it has really pushed them and helped them to be more independent thinkers, more collaborative thinkers and all of that. So, I think there's one more. >> Oh, nope. Thank you. >> So, I was sent up here to talk about parts of it. Like we've it's been mentioned before like there's nothing in this world that is perfect. Um, and so I am new to the district so I didn't go through all the labor work to figure it all out. Um but I am going to talk about some

066challenges that we've seen so far and especially in my time here. Um so there's a shift in the pedigogy. Um so it's a lot of relearning for everybody. So it was mentioned how we've all been used to this teacher at the board student taking notes doing the work. I do you do we do um so it's kind of like a shift for all of us. It's the way we are teaching the students um and the way our students are learning. But um there is support from imagine um and then there's also rea problem solving learning I mean problem based learning um we've also mentioned how this is more of a readingheavy uh curriculum so just speaking from personal experience just the way it's more vocap for the kids to learn um for example when we

067were learning algebra how many people know the x is Okay. So when we learned math, we may have learned x intercept. In our curriculum, they do not mention x intercept. They say horizontal intercepts. So that's that building on that vocab for our students. Um but there is illustrative I mean imagine learning um classroom digital reading and audio components for us to kind of combat that a little bit. Um and then there's the reduced procedural practice. Um, but we all have access to group software. So, we have the opportunity to make supplemental material for our students, extra practice for them to have more at bats with whatever they are learning. Um, especially kind of piggybacking off of what Carrie said, there's only a few problems from each lesson in our practice problem set. And so, if

068there's still gaps that need to be filled, we are able to create resources and supplemental material for our students to use to get more practice at that. All right. So, how are we going to implement it to make sure it's a smooth transition uh for our students and for our teachers. So um the purpose of the implementation plan is to make sure that the teachers are supported, the students are supported, that we are monitoring our pacing and making sure that we are on track and that we are holding to the curriculum the the um heart of the curriculum and not diverting too much so that we can keep the integrity and also um that we are still growing and learning as teachers and that we're not saying that this is it. we need to learn

069some more in order to build our knowledge of our um project based learning. So what is the process of this? The process is um trainings on um facilitating problem based learning. So um the trainings through Wayne Resa Wayne Resa has a ton of resources that you can attend PLC release time for the creation of student supports such as reference sheets. So, and also um sharing um time together to talk about student data and making sure we keep up to date with that. Um sharing pacing, landmarks and and struggles that um that we also talk to talk with our department about and also whole department release time. I know that it's a challenge right now to get our whole department release times, but I think we can be creative so that as a department we can

070um talk and make sure that we are um are teaching the curriculum in the best way possible. Especially um just connecting geometry with algebra 1, algebra 2, just making sure that we are keeping the integrity of the curriculum throughout each subject area. >> Oh, and if you want, there is a full document here. I think this will be shared with you after so you can look at the full implementation plan after. All right, now I'm back with good news. All right, so in Los Angeles um in Green Public Schools, they um the case study about them, they used Imagine and they had pretty good outcomes from using it. So, they saw a 25% increase in students meeting or exceeding the math standards from the previous year. Um, there was a 6% increase in college enrollment

071for the school. Um, and then there was a increase in graduation rate. Um, they were 22% points higher than the state expectations. So, good things coming from out of Los Angeles. Hopefully, we can see that kind of happening over here as well. because we are adopting >> questions, >> comments, concern. >> I have a comment. I can use Fiser as an example with my children, Mr. Fiser, the energy that they portray in Fiser when they were teaching them. As a coach, we talk about muscle memory and I see the energy that you guys possess right now. If that energy stays at that level that you guys present today, that muscle memory from where they got it from Fisher >> will reactivate and learning will be like fun again to them >> and their focus will

072increase. That's just >> I like the energy. >> That's a huge compliment. I think math teachers sometimes get a bad rap. >> I don't know if you've heard that before. So that is an incredible compliment for us to hear and we really appreciate that. >> The vibe that you guys are giving >> I like the part where you're putting words in it. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I cut some? >> Go ahead. Go ahead. where you put words in it to give them a focus point. >> Because when you just say x + y = z, well, >> it could be 2 + 3 equals 5. Why was that wrong? >> You know, >> it's been actually really interesting for me. So, I'm predominantly algebra and geometry. And so, I have this interesting thing that happens

073with the kids who I have a group of kids who are very much like math is their thing, right? they've been good at math and they come into this curriculum and there's a bit of a learning curve because now there's words they got to deal with and they're having some struggles because they're like just show me how to solve the equation. I just want to solve the equation. So, it's pushing them to get into this other vein of thinking about math. But on the flip side, I have students who have been like that kind of like I'm not a math person, you know, haven't had that success experience in math. And when we bring in the what does this mean? what is happening in the scenario. They are actually having success being like, "Oh, well

074that means the number of trucks and cars they put on the ship that equals this weight amount and they can do that sort of analysis piece." So, it's really exciting to see kids who haven't had success in math finding success in math through this program of thinking about it in a different way. >> Sorry, Misha. So, it's going to be funny, Nicole, you going to laugh real hard at this, right? So, several alumni come to my house and they're like, you know, like you said, you're happy at Fish or everything. Oh, sunshine roses. Then you walk into math and it's sunshine, sunshine roses, even though they hate it, right? So, Dylan, my son, is a he hates math, right, Nicole? He hates math. So, we're talking about math yesterday and I couldn't wait for this.

075I'm so happy to see this engine. >> He doesn't like math. Never. Never has. Right. So, he's in college. He's doing math and I'm a rope person. Give me the thing and I'm doing it. I can't explain it. Don't ask me the teacher. It's not happening. But we were talking and I'm like, "What does this mean?" And he showed me the whole thing. and he stopped like mid just like tell me time is that even though she knows I hate math I apparently was listening to SOMETHING I apologize I know my child and he was not having >> well thank you guys for doing our presentation >> to the chair Yes, >> I did have one question. How will the transition be from the middle school to the high school with this program? >> I'm

076so glad you asked that. >> Thank you. I'll slip my 20 later. I know money when I come here. Um, so I I think first of all, thank you for acknowledging the energy. How lucky am I again? Again, best job ever. Thank you. Um, you know, we never want to rush a thing and we want the right people to be doing the hard work around the pedagogy shift. We're teaching it differently, so we can't rush that thing. Um, we're very lucky that Shante McClendon, as many of you know, is also teaching algebra 1 at 8th grade. She could not be here tonight, but she's very much in support of this. And she's also the department head at Pierce. You see where I'm going with this, don't you? Um, and so we want to we want

077to go slow, to go smooth, to go fast. Okay. So, what Pierce is committed to is they want to make the right shift at the right time. We've also have a lot of new amazing teachers at Pierce, right? So, we're going to lean into those what we call numerousy routines, the notice and wonders this next year at Pierce. They're going to adopt those routines as part of their curriculum to lean into how to teach math a little bit differently without throwing out the baby in the bathwater before we know how to do it well. Because if we just throw a throw a new curriculum at teachers without that time, they're going to teach it the same way they always have. Period. So, we're going to go slow and go fast. So, they're going to start

078with the numerous routines and then they too are going to start looking at an adoption program to be aligned with this. And would you like the really good news? There's a sixth through 8th program that aligns with this. >> Just so I'm glad you asked that. >> That's good. the chair. Great presentation. I have a question though. >> Um, I'm going to say in a nicer way. Okay. So, think of a nice way. When you're dealing with an instrument of learning that you do not like, you're like, "This sucks." Then something else comes in and you're like >> this doesn't suck like that one. >> Like are you guys like this is better or is this like you know something y'all feel like long term is you know what I'm saying? It's like >> this

079isn't good. >> Mhm. >> This is better. This is a bad spouse. This is a better spouse. But this is the best spouse you can get. How are y'all feeling about this for real? Because Mr. Anderson said the word settle which I'm not you said it. I'm not making it seem like you meant it in a good or bad way, but >> what's the real about this thing? How do y'all really feel? >> So, I'm going to be super honest. >> Yeah, that's what I need. Like, you know, I don't want a C++ type math program like that. >> So, I was really, really nervous about this. >> You can ask them later about how I was, but I'm going to say I was really nervous cuz new stuff scary, >> right? This curriculum pushes

080us as teachers probably even harder than it's pushing the kids. like I am having to relearn how to do my job every day because the routines that I was used to previously are not my routines anymore, >> right? >> Um I was really nervous. I told everybody I was like the first six weeks of school I'm going to need a support group cuz I'm probably going to be angry and I'm be like I have no idea what I'm doing and the kids aren't going to like it because they're coming from middle school and they don't want to read and all this stuff and I was negative Nancy about it. Right. I will tell you that probably after the first like three weeks I was like, "Oh, I get it." There are so many things that

081they have been telling us to do as math teachers for I would say probably the last like I don't know five to seven years really pushing this problem based learning. And every time we had a reason meeting about it, it was like, great, where's the support to do this really fancy new thing that takes a lot of work. And now with this curriculum, it was like, oh, this is how it's going to work. Because now instead of me creating it, which is not my forte. I'm a teacher. I'm not a curriculum expert. I don't know how to make this stuff. It's complicated, right? But I can facilitate it in the classroom. So I went from being like, "This isn't going to work. I need to stand up there and do these things to like now

082I feel like I'm a convert to this and I will talk to anybody about it for like an hour about how much I see the potential in it in years to come. Like Nicole and I when we were putting together the slides got so excited talking about in three years what's it going to look like for my algebra 1 students that I have this year when they're finishing al algebra 2 and they've done three years of this curriculum of reading deeper level thinking explaining the math not just this wrote procedural thing that we've been doing >> right >> and that process that we went through I think Eric downplayed it a little bit we spent like 20 plus hours vetting I think our original list had like 14 different curriculums on it and we went

083through them and we're like this is working, this isn't working and we actually came down to two and we got down to the two. We met with the people they talked about it and we were like unanimous like oh it's is this is the one that makes sense. So while we say like no curriculum is perfect, there's going to be things and especially in the transition period that we have to sort of think about how are we doing this? Are we meeting the students needs? >> Um I think all of us have really found that this is not a settle. It's not just like this is good enough for now. This has really cool >> long-term potential for our math students >> because that's I mean that's just big for me because I think sometimes

084you know we just do enough change for the sake of changing because we need to do something and it's like >> we have the potential to be an outstanding district but we just can't settle for anything. So, no, I mean your word made me think about it. So, I don't want you think I just, you know, I don't want us to come back and say, well, >> it was okay, but it wasn't. It's like, no, I want us to be, you know, shooting for not the stars, but you know, just out there like nothing, you know, Miss C said it like, you know, I want to stretch us at this point because, you know, >> I'm looking at these scores like we got to do better. How can we get better for real? Not just

085lip service of we got to do something because we're failing. Let's do anything. It's like, no, let's do something that we can hit some home runs. Cuz at this point, it's like >> I agree. And we were really given that autonomy to like after this pilot program go back to the drawing board and be like, "This one didn't work. This was not it." >> Um, but it ended up being it. >> And it's and it's really exciting to see. And as a teacher, you know, like you get in your routines. This is year seven. We decided that I have been teaching algebra one here. And I, you know, as a teacher, also feel sort of rejuvenated in my job because I'm learning something new. I'm pushing myself as a teacher to be even better for

086our students. So, >> because you know, thirst is my school and I don't want to walk through the hallway and somebody like, "Mr. I know I said I like it, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT? LET'S DO SOMETHING better if that's not what we want to do." So, as long as everybody on board, I'm going to come ask each one of y'all in your classroom separately. Everybody gonna give me a thumbs up when we come back here and thank you. Great presentation. >> But I I want to add I cannot add on as eloquently and passionately as Hannah did. I mean my goodness. But I really want to thank the district and the department for allowing for that autonomy. I mean it was a 2year process slow. I cannot even stress how much time I mean department

087Nicole Thomas. I mean the whole team was amazing. You can't rush these things. And it's got to be the right people. >> You didn't see me up there. I'm not in the classroom teaching this. That's the wrong person. I'm in the background. The right people made the decision for the right reasons. And that's really, really important. And I'm so grateful this district because I sat through a meeting at Wayne County Resa a couple weeks ago and this very brave teacher raised her hand from another district that I will not name, but it's close. And she said, "We're on our fourth math program and I'm really frustrated." I'm like, "What math program?" >> And she's like, "Yeah, we had another math program pushed out by blah blah blah." I'm like, "What do you mean you had

088another math program pushed out on you by someone?" Right? It's like >> it's just wrong on so many levels because that's exactly what's going to happen. It doesn't become the shiny object. Now, it's not perfect. And they were very honest. There's some stuff that we have to do and tweak >> to fill because there is no perfect program to meet the needs of our students. may have been incredibly thoughtful, but I think the guts are there. So, I just want to say a it's a kudos to them that we're here today and I'm I'm very anybody else I have some say >> what I really enjoyed was the independence >> of what the students will get and also what the teachers and I like that. You know why? because that's the way it should be.

089>> And not just standing up teaching, but allowing our students to say, "Oh, I like this." Oh, or we should do this or we could do this. >> Giving everybody something to >> come together with. And I love that. That collaboration is great. Thank you guys so much. >> Yeah, >> I want to add one thing to this if I could. I've been in all of their classrooms multiple times and I've been in all their classrooms multiple times in years prior to this year. So, I can tell you not knowing a lick about how to teach math and having been a kid who stinks at math, the level of engagement that's happening with kids in the classroom is higher than I've ever seen in math. And that's to a teacher, two classes across the board.

090Um, and their energy is legit. >> Exactly what it looks like >> in the room. Yeah. >> Because they are energized by it. and the students are mirroring that back. >> That's great. And that's what I like to see. Yes. >> And thank you >> to all of you. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, >> yes. Go ahead. So, if this is a pilot program, are you currently using this for students? >> Yes, we are. >> Yep. We are doing it with fidelity um in algebra 1, geometry, and algebra 2 are those three core content pieces. Just curious. >> That is live. If you want to come on over, I'll be there tomorrow. >> Uh, no. >> Thank you for the invitation, but I'll pass. I failed math class three times. >> Mostly because a

091y or a >> Well, come on over if you ever change your mind. >> Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you so much. Thank you for all your questions. Now, if you guys want to leave, you can say 12 hours property. Next item on the agenda is discuss Thirstston High School and math curriculum. >> So respectfully, Madam President, unless there's additional conversation that the board would like to have this evening, we could probably transition to agenda item number 13. However, if there's additional thoughts or discussion that the board would like to have, certainly >> any other discussion the board would like to have because I think we >> I think we covered it. >> I did too. >> Yeah. My scene 13 is what prompted my last question on

09212. >> Consider Thirstston High School mechanical project part two. Mr. >> Thank you, Madam President. At the previous board meeting, uh the board discussed mechanical project part two. Bids were solicited and received for the work. The companies that are recommended for the work required are listed below along with the dollar amounts. And during the post review process, it was determined that the low biders for bid categories 142 masonry and 1411 electrical and 1412 security all had incomplete bids submitted. The second lowest biders are recommended for the work of these bid categories and therefore uh 10% contingency total expenses not to exceed 1,952,643 is requested to cover any unforeseen costs associated with the project. Bid award would be paid for out of the 2021 bond. Madam President and Board of Education, there is a resolution attached

093for your consideration. Do I have a board member willing to adopt the resolution >> to the chair? >> Yes. >> Like to move the adoption of the following resolution, please. >> Do I have a support? >> It's been adopted by Mrs. Flesher and supported by Mrs. Early. All in favor? >> I zero maze. Resolution adopted. That's all right guys. >> Next item on the agenda is consider thirsten high school cabling project. >> Thank you madam president. Additionally, at the board's previous meeting, the board discussed the Thirstston High School cabling project. Bids were solicited and received for the work. The company that is recommended for the work that is required is Cabling Division 27 LLC for $278,976. A 10% contingency total expenses not to exceed $36,874 is requested to cover any unforeseen costs associated with the

094project. The bid award will be paid for out of the 2021 bond and the total dollar amount for the purchase is prior to the application of any anticipated e-ate discounts that we heard from at the board's previous meeting. Madam President and members of the board of education, the resolution is attached for your consideration. >> Do I have a board member willing to adopt the resolution >> for the chair? >> Yes. >> Like to move the adoption of the following resolution, please. >> Do I have a support? >> It's been adopted by Mrs. Flesher and supported by Mr. Winston. All in favor? >> I. >> Zero naz resolution adopted. Next item on the agenda is discuss board of education orientation and operations man. Um, the board will discuss the board orientation operations manual. Board members Amanda

095Flesher, Lori Hicks, and Anthony Johnson, who have been assigned to the annual review of the orientation operations manual, will present proposed updates. recommended additions and deletions are highlighted in the draft man. Um before we start, I just want to say that this is just a discussion and I want everybody to respect each other and be civil. Thank you, Amanda. you being the chair. >> Well, first I should point out that we're still the previous committee. So, it's President Talver instead of Anthony Johnson because our work wasn't finished by the time January came around. So, the original committee met in the spring and summer um after the board meeting where everyone suggested changes and we ended up deleting a lot of the stuff we had put in because the majority of the feedback was that it

096was too long. And we also um simplified the section with the MASB awards because that was taking up too much space. So anywhere that we could cut down on the page count is kind of what we worked on at our last committee meeting. And so going forward, we can vote to accept the changes that the committee recommends. Um, but either way, it's going to have to continue to be updated. It's a it's a work in progress document and we'll have to update all the policies since we are going to be having a new policy thing and we do have the policies mentioned in there and we did remember to update the new board mission statement too on the front cover. So, that was in the latest update. discussion started. >> So if Amanda, it was

097you, Lori, and me. >> Yes. >> What do you two think? >> I'm sorry. >> About the manual. >> Like all of you rather. Like what do you >> I know that Amanda and I worked together on it and surely Amanda and I worked together on it. and discuss what it should look like, what should be in there, shouldn't be in there. So, Amanda pulled it all together because she does this really good work with the computer. Um, and then everybody kind of said it was too long, too much information. So Shirley and I talked with Amanda and got her to cut significant parts out of it, but you know, I mean, it is an operations and orientation manual. So for a new board member, it held a lot of information that they would find

098helpful. So I'm perfectly fine with it. >> Roger. Well, there are some things in it that are operational, and I understand that it says operations manual, but that's for the board and not for operations for the district. So, um I did see some um operational stuff that was district stuff, but there was a lot of things in there that was very good information. So um that when I asked you Lori about that >> and so um so we'll just discuss it and as I responded when you asked me about it that I did think it was important to be there for new board members since it is also an orientation manual, >> right? >> And that may be the only place they really get it. the information before sticking their foot in somebody's mouth or

099their own mouth thinking that they know how it works and doesn't necessarily. So, okay. So, I agree with that part. The orientation part I didn't have a problem with. Um, the bylaw part I think should be taken out. That's a separate legal binding thing that should be separate. You know what I mean? Not added into this. To make a long story short, I think it's still a little too long, you know, but if we break it up. So, I'm still not clear on the operations manual part of it. The operations of who? The district or of of the board because it's kind of intertwining, which I we shouldn't do. You know what I mean? So, I would like to see it in a couple of parts, you know what I mean? Like, so the bylaws

100will be their own. Um, I don't know. I I I think it's still a little too lengthy >> to the chair. >> Yes. >> Can I make a suggestion? And it's just my own personal suggestion. This is drug out two seasons over and over and keeps coming back. and it's due, like Amanda said, we're converting or changing policy holders. What I would say is move it forward. Close this section out. And when we assign assignments in the first of the year when we do our organizational meeting, then those people like Misha or you, the ones that don't understand and have all these questions or concerns, should serve on that committee and bring those back to the board so the rest of us know exactly what you're talking about. not expect Lori or Amanda or me

101or Anthony or Daniel. If you've got concerns, if you're on that committee, do the homework, do the research, bring it back to the board for discussion. Let's move it forward. Let's just quit beating it. >> Yeah. And one one thing I I want to just make a suggestion too is since we're gonna have a new policy person, um why don't we just kind of wait and see how they're going to do things and and have this go along with the policy. Well, I don't see where that's a big issue seeing as much as this is December. They're coming in in January. >> Yeah. >> And is it January or July that we make committees? >> January. >> So, we're going to have a new committee again. So, I kind of like the addit addition of

102just saying, "Okay, let's just close this. the next committee that's set up to do this. Let them take it and run with it. If they want stuff out, that's fine. I don't see a problem with that. >> Okay. >> To the chair. >> Yes. >> Mr. Rush. >> There's no rush. >> It's already been two years. >> It's not right. >> I mean, that's what I'm saying. >> Yeah. >> They're saying let's close it out and then this new committee come in. If it's if there a new committee that comes on there, then it's still got to be fixed or changed or whatever word you want to put in there. >> Only another 30 days, >> right? Basically, >> that was my suggestion. Let's just end it so we can start fresh and be done.

103That's not my suggestion. My suggestion is not the end is to leave it and keep working on it until the majority is satisfied with it. >> Sure. >> Um, what does close out mean? >> I guess I need to understand when you say close out. What does that mean? >> Well, I think the board either decides to bring it up and approve it as it is. >> Okay. >> Just so it's clearcut. Okay. How it stands now. Okay. >> And we have a new committee that we have to go back and do all the changes again with policy and stuff and there are concerns. >> Okay. >> And it'll be different people on that committee chances are. >> Okay. >> So that's mine is just like a clear break of it. I mean Lori and

104Shirley and Amanda have been working on it two years. It keeps coming back and and the board as a whole are not happy. And I think if we start fresh, the ones that have concerns about separation or looking about the history, why is this in why not start start fresh as we merge all the other changes we're doing >> come the end of January. >> So just for my clarity, so close means take this document how it looks now and we say okay, we approve it as it is. >> Either that or we decide we're going to table it. Okay. >> And just don't keep beating it up now. Just just put it on either way, one or the other, that we need to start fresh come January with a new committee. >> Stuff don't

105sit right. >> And anybody that is concerned thinking it's too long, then I think they should volunteer to be part of that committee and and do the work. So we understand because I don't understand. I look at it different than some of my other board members. you don't understand the the thought process that we had is what you're saying >> well about it being too long or this or that or the history you know I go back to the history so I would think it would be good for those members that are concerned about what the document is doing what it's used for I think they should be part of that committee instead of having three other people that might not have the same concerns having to bring it back this committee has brought it

106back numerous times for two years. >> But I thought that was the very basis of the discussion. I mean, we're not all going to have the same thought process, >> right? But we should have come to a conclusion one way or the other instead of >> not. So, we continue. >> But we have a different committee. >> I don't I have a problem with the one we have. I'm just saying I think that >> members of that committee >> are tired of doing the work and bring more. So, >> I think a lot of us are tired on our committees, but we still work through it. We see it. >> So I my suggestion is the ones with problems, >> please be on that committee. So let's put it to rest. That's all. It's just

107>> a waste of our time. We have too many other more important things to be worried about. It's a good document. There's a reason this document's in existence. >> It's just a discussion. So Okay, that's fine. >> It's a discussion, you know. Just let's let's start fresh. >> You said too many other things. What? Like what >> is a discussion? >> Yeah. Let me say there's too many other things to be worried about right now. What are those other things that >> Well, if you want to get particular and I'm not going to go down the path our grades, how our kids are doing, our safety. This is just a working document and we can't even seem to come to a consensus as a board. I would rather be function focusing on student achievement, keeping

108our kids safe. I'm just saying let's put this to rest and start fresh in the new year. >> I'm fine with that. told I mean we discuss it and then we bring it to the table >> because we've discussed it three or four times. That's fine. Okay. We'll just bring to the table for a vote. I'm fine with that. That makes sense. >> It's only a discussion right now. It's not a consideration >> and and that's what I just rules but a discussion is just that the thought process of seven people you know so we can sit up here and say a lot of things about a lot of things you know but I respect all of your thought processes whether I agree with them or not. But the operations part of it is is

109it's not doesn't say you know it's it's given >> not enough power or too much power. >> It's not it's not any spec it's it's not worded right >> and exactly and that was just something I was going to >> and it still hasn't changed. It's not a word right >> about operation. Maybe maybe like because it says orientation >> operations of the border operations of the >> district doesn't you guys are talking all at the same time. >> It doesn't clarify operations of the board. Operations of the district. There's no question. >> So, so let us let's let's decide >> how we want to do this. Do we do we want to start fresh? Say, okay, we're going to start fresh. Or are we going to say, let's discuss this some more? >> It

110only says discussion. It doesn't say consider, >> right? >> So, it's not it's not up for consideration. >> No, I'm talking about Go ahead, Lori. >> I'm saying as he's saying, this is only a discuss tonight. >> So, what I'm saying is that we discussed and everybody knows how everybody feels. >> Bring it back for a consider. It's either a up or down vote. At the next meeting, >> you're going to be setting up a new because we only have one meeting in December, >> right? >> You're going to be setting up your committees again for the following years and assigning people. >> Let them pick it up and deal with it. >> That's exactly what I was saying >> from the getgo. >> I do want to point out though, I think if it's

111voted down, it goes back to the same committee. Every time something's voted down, it goes back to the same committee for >> that. If those of us serving on that committee choose not to serve, right, it won't be the same committee. >> I guess that >> that's true. >> If that's how it's written in our bylaws and policy, >> yes, it's not clear like that. >> I thought the had to do like all the work until it was finished. >> That's what I thought. >> That's what I said. I didn't understand why it would be tabled and then picked back up by new people. >> Well, it's either you vote down or up. it it would start fresh. >> If it doesn't pay close, it goes on to the next committee, >> right? It'll still

112be a close committee. >> It's just don't keep car hearing this committee over two years back and forth. It's just a clear break. you start start fresh >> and those people that want to be on the committee >> or have concerns on how it is >> or either those that don't want to be on the >> So my I agree with that. My point of contention is when it said that I don't like the the total discussion of a whole. You understand what I'm saying? like somebody has a problem with what somebody else says. So then it'll be like, "Oh, well, it's going to be new anyway, so let's do and I don't I'm not trying to say I'm not trying to jab or anything like that. I'm just saying it's frustrating. >> You misunderstood

113what I said." No, but but no, you said quite a few things right here, but it's just it frustrates me that whenever somebody has a problem on this board or an issue or a discussion and it is different than somebody else's discussion, then it's either we're done and we'll move on to something else or we'll just table it and just wait until somebody else knew. that that leaves a lot of contention, you know, between all of us. That's the only part I don't like because it carries over. So, it could be a new >> person on the committee or any of that, but that's still in the back of your head still carrying >> to the chair. >> Yeah. >> Let me clarify. I'm I'm just saying if there's some of us are happy and

114okay and ready, some of ours aren't. >> My suggestion is to help the board move forward. The one that are having an issue with certain things should be the ones on that committee to make sure those issues are addressed. So that's it. Don't pick apart the committee that's trying to do and make everything happen. Then come up to the plate and do the work. >> That's all I'm saying. I I love to see you share it. >> I don't remember that. But I'm saying how am I picking apart people? Because I have a different opinion. >> It's just because we can't get past. >> Why not? because nobody wants to bring it to a vote. It was hard getting talking about before the vote. >> I mean, why can't we That's what I'm talking is

115what I'm talking about. That X >> is what I'm talking about. >> But we've had this this is like the third discussion. >> I know this is what I get it >> to the chair. >> Yes. I just want to point out that yes, we've been discussing it for two years, but there's been plenty of opportunity where the board could have sent an email or a text or a phone call to any of the three committee members. And we've had discussion during our committee where any concerns you yourself have had been brought up to mine and Lor's attention. So to have a new discussion every time we have a discussion basically instead of having had these questions or concerns ahead of time where we could have met during our committee which we got no response

116on except for one email from Misha. It's a little frustrating. It definitely doesn't want doesn't make me want to be a committee chair because I feel like the work isn't being respected. If you have an issue with it you bring it. should have been brought last like February, March when we discussed it the first time and we said we were going to get people's opinions. We heard absolutely nothing. The committee met again, got one response out of seven. >> Mhm. >> And now you want to discuss it again and keep pulling up stuff. So like vote it down, vote it up. Doesn't really matter to me. I just want to be done with it because it is a working document. Everybody's gonna have their own opinion and a whole another board is gonna come in

117and change it again even after we're gone. So, we're not voting and that's why I said it's a discussion and there are things in here that are great. So, I'm not saying that um and I understand what everybody's saying. I understand what Cheryl says. I understand what Amanda's saying. I understand what Misha is saying. >> I understand. >> I ain't saying nothing. >> You said something. >> I didn't. I just wanted clarity from what Cheryl's saying. I have clarity. She said, you know, just vote and make a decision. I'm >> And at the next meeting, we will do that. >> Good. >> I understand what Lori said and I understand exactly what >> What did I say? I I kind of zip it a while ago. >> You said that you was on a committee

118discussion. That's it. >> This is my note. Lorie said that she was a committee chair when this thing started. You said that. >> Yeah, I was. Well, I think that's what you said. I got my notes >> and and then we had another year went by. So, Amanda got taken to chair. >> Yep. I got all that written down. >> So, that's at our next meeting. At our next meeting, we will vote it up or down. >> How is that? >> Is everybody clear what that is? >> So, is that the first meeting in January? >> Yes. >> Okay. Just clarifying. >> Okay. We only have one meeting in in in December. >> I'm banking on that at this point. >> Me too. So, does everybody agree with that? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> There.

119Does that constitute a vote? >> No. >> Do you agree with that? >> Okay. >> Comments from audience. There are none. I'm sorry. I'm just 16. I'm already there. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. >> Okay. So, item 15, we will dis consider it at the next meeting which will be December January the 9th 12th. Next year. Okay. >> Make sure. >> All right. Okay. Next item on the agenda is comments from the >> There are none. >> Next item on the agenda is plus delta for improvement. Are you taking that? >> Yes, I am. >> What processes supported the board's work this evening, >> chair? >> Yes. The presentations were both very well and informative and um I'm sure the whole board is appreciative of these gifts and jerseys that we have up here. >>

120Yes. >> Yep. >> Anyone else? opportunities for improvement to support the board in his work >> to the chair. >> Yes. >> A working video system or going back to the olden days as like I talked to you about and I've talked to Jason numerous times. We used to use our video department at the high school where the kids got experience. They came in, they filmed and edited our board meetings. They got to see how we worked and we never had a problem like we have had with this because it's there are a few people out there that like to watch the tapes and I find it very frustrating even personally to go back and half is gone or the sound doesn't work. I think it's something that maybe our board president and superintendent can

121talk to Matt, you know, with our video production over at the high school and see about coming up with a some type of system because this is not this is not working. It's really kind of embarrassing. >> Are there opportunities for improvement? I believe that's it. >> Back to you, Madam President. >> There's nothing further that comes before this board. I >> 8:29. I'll adjourn the meeting at 8:29.