Southfield Public Schools Board Meeting 10/10/23 7pm

001my d just got the job last year she was the my might to AP what really told were talking re I'm great to ready e oh no us you was for e okay she said she's this on oh my password is incorrect so I can't see anything it is what it is I ain't going to worry about it good evening everyone this is a meeting of the Southfield Board of Education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered as a community meeting there are two opportunities for public partic participation during the meeting and comments are limited to 3 minutes per individual the board will listen to comments but may not respond during the meeting if you wish to address the board please submit a comment card

002immediately roll call Ashanti Bland board president good evening IET word Deval vice president good evening Leslie love Smith Thomas board secretary darl be Joyce trustee Jillian Holloway trustee bran Boyd student representative mantre goodam student representative uh Telicia Bel um will be absent this evening she is under the weather and uh trusty Johnson is on his way Dr Jennifer green super intendent taking minutes this evening is Miss Carolyn Foster we are joined in the audience by several members of the executive District Network team and our technical support is being provided by M1 Studios thank you pledge of allegiance uh I will ask that our student board representative mantel goodam from uhsa lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance you got this man tril you got it don't worry we'll help I Allegiance Al to the flag

003of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all job I wasn't that bad public participation if you wish to address the board regarding a school related issue that has not yet been resolved by School administration please submit comment card immediately comments are limited to 3 minutes per individual as a matter of fairness speakers with complaints against individuals are asked not to mention any persons by name complaints concerning employees pursuant to board policy 9130 should be brought to the attention of School principles or other administrators before coming to the Board of Education your cooperation is appreciated PG it's all good good evening to the board members to the superintendent to the trustees to the student representatives and to the audience

004my name is PG you may remember that I came to the board talking about one of the previous Town Hall study sessions that we had so the Southfield Police Chief Elvin Baron and the Farmington Hills police chief formed a collaboration to do a series of Town Hall study sessions the first one we did July 31st was on gun violence we had over 400 people in the City of Southfield the second one in Farmington Hills at the hawk we didn't have the big crowd I think it was the subject matter in addition to the construction but that one was on suicide prevention this one is going to be on domestic violence we know that since the pandemic and even long before then that domestic VI violence has been high and On The Rise but when the

005pandemic started and people were quarantined man you know mandatory quarantine that's when a lot of the domestic violence instances came out and I was surprised to see how many divorces how many people didn't even really like their spouse and they had been married for 15 30 35 years they didn't like the spouse because they were spending more time with them when you're doing that revolving door lifestyle sometimes you don't realize who you're married to or who you love but in any event domestic violence is not a good thing I found out during my research about domestic violence we have men that are victims of domestic violence and for any man that would not put his hands on a woman he deserves to be applauded but I can't Envision why a woman being the victim usually

006would put her hands on a man so I'm hoping that I can get everyone in this room to support this event and be there it's going to be on Wednesday November 8th at the Southfield Pavilion from 5:30 to 8:30 and we're asking the question what are the signs would you be able to identify the signs just looking at a person that they were a victim of domestic violence so please support this event and your superintendent Dr Martin green she's on the uh domestic violence board with the chief of police Elvin Baron so I'm hoping that you come and support it thank you so much thank Haley groble I say it right yeah okay thank you sure made hi um I'm Haley groel I'm the parent of a kindergartener at Thompson K through 8 um I'm

007going to preface this by saying that I looked through several of the agendas from the meetings over the last few months and I don't think I saw anything regarding this issue if I'm wrong I would love to know when it has been discussed um I keep hearing about all the improvements happening to buildings and parking lots across the district and it's great and I'm glad for it um the playground at Thompson is a safety hazard it has the main slide has a foot long crack going down it and then there's another hole that's good 8 in it's a hole in the bottom of the slide uh just waiting for someone to get their hand or foot stuck in it um the zip lines don't work the paint's peeling off it's not an accessible playground uh

008one of my child's teachers will not use the playground for their recess and went and bought U like balls and outdoor stuff to keep the kids occupied during that time because she doesn't think it's safe enough to play on the playground um which a teacher shouldn't have to do that um I think everybody knows recess and play are super vital for kids especially when they're in elementary school um and with vandenbberg closing we're getting more students at Thompson in the next couple of years anyway um I know that play equipment upgrades for Thompson were on the bond proposal that was passed last summer I just did couldn't find a timeline as to when that was going to happen and I'm just here to urge you to look into it sooner rather than later because um

009I don't want another I don't want a kid to get hurt on it so that's it thank you thank you thank you dwine Jones good evening everybody thanks for the opportunity to talk to you about a very serious issue um that I'm really concerned about and that's violence in our schools especially at the high school at entt and so um being involved in schools and having been involved in public education for a long time um there's no secret that there's an inordinate number of fights at ENT and so we hear it in the school Community all the time uh let alone the recent incident with the football team that has me very concerned because we know that when there's escalation um that these things lead to escalation and so the minor fights lead to bigger

010fights the bigger fights lead to you know other kinds of activities and so we've witnessed that and so my concern is that I have talked to a few people in the district and you know I'm not going to use names or anything of that sort and I feel like there's not enough being done um and so I'm really really concerned about it in that um some of the the responses I got was that you know we have the the authorities uh involved Southfield Police and the Oakland County prosecutor involved with the football incident I don't feel that's enough because we know how kids and sometimes coaches my venue has been Athletics my whole life how they will cover for kids for different kinds of reasons and um so my feeling that there's not going to

011be much that's going to come from that and so that doesn't preclude someone from central office coming down to the high school to find out exactly what's happening down there at any point at any time the central office can supersede in certain areas what legal authorities can't nobody can stop anyone from central office going down to the high school and say hey what's going on down here and so I don't feel like there's enough going on I'm really concerned about it I have gotten an opportunity to speak with some folks in the district and I app appreciate that I think that's important and I really um I'm honored to have that um that opportunity to discuss those concerns and so my concern is that we need to be doing something culture-wise throughout the entire district

012from K through 12 dealing with not only teachers and administrators but with cafeteria workers bus drivers custodians everybody so that there's a change in throughout the entire District things in terms of in services for the entire District we all get in service days and we can kind of set those agendas but why not do something around a very important issue I voted for bonds I'm going to keep voting for bonds no matter what but brick and mortar doesn't brick and mortar doesn't make a district the people that's in it and the care for the kids are what's most important and so I ask again and I that there's more be that there's more that can be done I'm looking at the clock here and that uh we keep that Forefront on our agenda U that's

013my piece thank you thank you thank you Marie Banks good evening um I was asked to speak on behalf of our Southfield booster club president couldn't make it um and speaking with the ad um just to put the call out to the community that tutors are needed our students are looking to be successful academically as well as athletically but they need our support um and our assistance so anyone that's under the sound of my voice that has a couple hours a couple days a week um that could provide some tutoring to uh the sports that are in season and it probably will be the same need next season please contact the athletic department and also um as officer for uh PTA at University we have our monthly fundraiser at paner bre in lakebrook village on

014October 19th from 4: to 8: let that be a time for us to come out and fellowship and raise some money as we have great things in store this year thank you thank you Miss Banks is that it uh that is it for um uh Miss Banks uh would you please provide us with the details for the paner bread fundraiser again thank you very much the paner I'm sorry it's the paner bread in Lake th Village sou Road at Southville Road it's from 4: to 8 all your purchases will the Panera will donate 20% of all the purchases um and let them know when you make a purchase to say that you're with the university PTA and um your donation will be greatly appreciated what's the date on that the date is October 19th okay

015it's a Thursday and we'll be doing that every third Thursday of the month oh awesome so feel free but we don't want you to just come in and take your food and go home sit and let's build community again would you mind emailing um myself Miss Foster or Dr Green that information pleas absolutely thank you we can get it out on our social media y we have a flyer okay thank you thanks again board matters um so I will um let the trustees that have any board matters go first and I will go last trustees any board matters trustees SM Thomas thank you good evening everyone so first I want to um start by congratulating our students um on a a beautiful y decorated uh and it look like a beautifully outcome uh beautiful outcome

016for the homecoming I was able to kind of hang around a little bit for about an hour until I was kicked out by my daughter um and so but it was it was really nice to see all the young people um dress so nicely and conducting themselves and I know there were a couple of hiccups and so um I do want to first state that um I am so appreciative for the students who felt um safe enough and felt like they really wanted to change and they really want to um change the culture of their school and the things that are happening and so they did step up and they did report different incidents that took place and I want to applaud Dr Green and the team because I know that that pretty much happened

017um pretty much right away that it was addressed um because I was right on top of it throughout the weekend wanting to know what was going on how it was being handled and pretty early that week um it was addressed and so those are the type of efforts that we have to continue and I want to continue to encourage that um when you know of something happening speak up give the information uh it's going to take all of us to change the culture and so I am appreciative um of the actions that were taken pretty immediately to address that and then also I have to shout out our volleyball team who's been doing a a wonderful job um tonight they are having their in out game uh they've been having some pretty good success uh

018this season I've been able to jump over there from time to time um whenever not having to be here um and so as they're over there right now playing uh I just en encourage community members to support our volleyball team because sometimes it's some of those Sports those uh fall sports that are not as um as recognized and support so of course I'm going to be one of their biggest cheerleaders and so I'm going to encourage that others uh do the same as well thank you and I support uh your daughter in your quick ushering out of her homecoming um events well I had to get pictures trustees go in look at you trustees are there any other board matters I do um through the chair sure um I've just got a couple of things

019I would like to share with the community um last week um there were a couple of us that attended the ocba U meeting which is um a School Board Association for Oakland County it was myself trusty hallay and trusty Joyce While others of the trustees were handling other business in the district during this time we talk about legislation they update us with what's going on and what other um legislation laws and bills are coming down on the pipeline and how we can in uh work with our um current reps to make sure that we are doing our due diligence for our students um they also did something that was really nice it was a great refresher and it was called Pearls of Wisdom where they talk about um open meetings act and how we have

020to um engage with each other and the things that we can do and cannot do when to reply chain emails um um strictly information only and these are just things to make sure that we are effective Ive um within the guidelines and the laws of um uh School Board they also talk about um parent Community concerns and how to um deal with some of the concerns through town halls um and other items such as that it was a very good meeting and um I was pleased to to get some of the refresher courses the second piece that I want to share with the community is I'm currently working on a community use and I mentioned it before but we are working diligently to put some policies and procedures in place um with a couple of

021our community members and some of our board members as well that we can present to the board at a later date we do have our third meeting I believe it's our third meeting coming up this week um that I hope to um bring a little more closure to some of the procedures and updates as we need to um hone in on um the use of our facilities and making sure that we are um ight and standing board members uh for our our facilities and making sure that we um limit the risk and liabilities for our district as well so stay tuned as we develop those policies thank you thank you trustees any other board matters um do you have one trustee Johnson good evening everyone good evening um so we did are we when are

022we reporting out about you yeah oh you can report out right now okay so I'm going to report out that was on my list okay cool about the cube conference that we attended a couple weeks back in Chicago so I attended a few different sessions and I had a really good time um the first one I went to is are your school policies fair and it was presented by the National Education Association which has actually affirmed itself as a racial Justice organization focused on anti-racism and fighting white supremacy and the session was all about creating policy through a racial Equity lens so some of my key takeaways were that all policies should take into account how the policy will impact groups in our district that have historically been disadvantaged um equity-driven School boards are courageous

023have strong working relationships and express vocal support for those already leading on equity in the district so we don't need to reinvent the wheel just lean into those opportunities that are already existing um and there are organizations that some other districts recommended to conduct an equity audit to see what areas we're lacking in I feel that as a majority black school district we often we don't I feel like as a board we don't talk about diversity and inclusion enough um because we feel like we might not need to as much but there are a lot of subcultures within that culture that should be addressed as well um I also went to radical care leading for justice and urban school districts and the session was about showing students in our wider community that we care about

024diversity equity and racial justice so some of the key takeaways there were that it's important for school districts to adopt an anti-racist stance and it's important to lead by example by publicly resisting Injustice via educational programming board resolutions um opposing or supporting policies at the state county or federal level um and so an example of an educational thing that happened in the new rochell school district they took students on an environmental racism tour throughout their community so they were able to give them a history lesson and also help them understand how communities of color are disproportionately impacted by environmental issues um so yeah that's how I how the cube conference went and overall I took away that we as a board should be more vocal about cultural and political issues in addition to remembering to

025put diversity equity and racial Justice at the Forefront of everything that we do um and that leads me into this next thing so this is something that very well might not work out um but I'm doing it because I think that it's important for us to State our values and to show our students what civil discourse looks like um I sit before you today with the Deep sense of responsibility and a commitment to our community and a profound belief in the principles of our democracy as a member of the Southfield Board of Education I believe it's essential to uphold the values that underpin our Democratic processes and protect the interests of our community which is why I'm introducing a resolution in opposition to the proposed ballot questions uh one and two that'll be on the

026ballot this November which would convert the elected positions of city clerk and Treasurer to appointed ones some of us might not think that this has anything to do with education or our role here but I disagree because we're elected officials and voters in this community and while education is sacred so is our democracy I have the utmost respect for our colleagues on the city council but the city has provided inadequate reasoning and information about these proposed changes I don't believe making our position on this known should be a point of conflict this is the Democratic process and we're allowed to respectfully disagree the city's argument for making these positions appointed hinges on the notion that it may attract better qualified candidates it will save money or that it alleged that allegedly most communities do it

027this way while this argument may seem appealing on the surface um we must carefully consider the broader implications of a change like this one of the cornerstones of our democracy is the ability for citizens to choose their representatives and officials electing our city clerk and Treasurer ensures that these key positions are directly accountable to us the voters and appointing them would erode this fundamental principle furthermore an elected an appointed City Clerk and Treasurer may be susceptible to political pressure and influence potentially undermining the Integrity of our elections and finances elected officials are directly accountable to the people making us more likely or less likely to yield to external political influences empowering the city council to appoint these positions diminishes Community involvement and critical aspects of our local governments residents should have a say in selecting

028individuals Who oversee our elections and our tax dollars elected officials ensure that our voices are heard while some municipalities have appointed City Clerks and treasurers many others still elect these positions reflecting the diversity of our nation's government structures we don't all have to be the same and we should not adopt changes simply because of Trends but rather consider what is what's good for the people here in Southfield recent events at the national level serve as a reminder that the of the importance of having independent election officials attempting to undermine the Democratic process elsewhere underscores the need for us to safeguard our elections here in Southfield as members of the Southwood Board of Education we recognize the vital role that education plays in shaping our future citizens and leaders our students learn about the principles of

029democracy Civic engagement and the importance of our Democratic institutions by opposing this proposed ballot question we uphold these values and set a powerful example for our students our duty is not to just educate but to protect and preserve the very essence of our Democratic way of life I urge you to support the resolution my fellow trustees um against these proposals ensuring that our community remains steadfast in its commitment to democracy accountability and the will of the people together we can protect the Integrity of our local elections and financial management while setting an example of responsible Civic engagement for our students in District um so should I move to approve open for discussion so um it's it's not an action item um and it's not an agenda item um what did happen was um you introduced

030the resolution um which I would um urge the members of this board uh we have a study session in two weeks because I think it Garners further discussion um I'm only speaking for myself I can't speak for the other six members but I would prefer um before making this an actionable item to actually be able to to discuss what our stance is um I I don't think that this evening is the time um because I think we need more facts um I was at um a meeting last week and I don't think that all the facts were presented so I would love for as a board if there is a town hall that will be introduced for the city for us to get some more information from there before we introduce or vote on a

031resolution I think that a resolution could be impacted either way by data and facts so that is my ask um of this board um trustees please feel free to weigh in um but I would definitely um I would not put a motion on the table right now to open that item or make it an item on the agenda but I am very open to more discussion and I'll just say while I respect that election day in four weeks and the city over the course of this year has had every opportunity to let us know what what was in this or what their reasoning behind this was and they we hosted a town hall or the South lther Village Democratic Club hosted a town hall because the city after multiple requests would not do it so

032in the next four weeks I don't expect to receive any additional information that'll change our minds I know I've spoken to all the board members behind the table um but I defer to you all I mean I think what you said is fair I I just believe in everybody having the same amount of data and from what I know everybody at this table was not at that town hall so that means that we do not all have the same level of information um I believe in being well informed um having a lack of information can cause people to make horrible decisions I'm not one to Quicken or hasten to make a decision based on being put on the spot I respect you um but I would say that it would not be fair to our

033community as the Board of Education and to this school district to move that right now without having a conversation where we can have open dialogue and respect people's time so that would be my ask at this moment um and it's not because the election is coming quickly um we've seen what the city did over the last year but respectfully I am not the city council um we are the Board of Education bus stands this agenda at I only speak for but anyone else who would like to um weigh in please do so um but that is my um perspective um through the chair yes ma'am um I do agree with uh president Bland trusty Johnson um individually uh uh it's it's a different lens but at the Board of Education which is where I sit

034right at this moment I do believe there's information that I deserve to understand holistically before I can make that decision as a member of the board um trust uh board president Bland has pointed out some very um important points I was not able to go to the town hall as I was someplace else and um I would like to understand what all of the facts are prior to bringing it to this table with respect to you thank thank you um I I do agree and we did speak and I did share with you um my thoughts and feelings about it uh so let me just be clear Leslie L Smith Thomas who was elected by the residents of south of the City of Southfield we can have a conversation outside of jwe about any of

035the proposals Andor candidates that I support and or endorse or do not how however as a member of the Board of Education in this role um I have to always lean on the decisions we make as a collective body um and understanding that the Board of Education and the city council are two separate entities um and I know that we have had many years um of concern of even the residents sometimes being being um not fully educated or understanding the difference of the roles um and that we're two separate entities there's not one over the other we can choose to collaborate or we can choose to have differences of opinions um on different matters as we have over the years that I've sat here in the seat and so um I do want to encourage

036you because we all wear different hats multiple hats I was in attendance as you know um at that town hall the board of education is a uh governance body that is nonpartisan although we individually have our partisan beliefs and um that we F and values that we follow and so I want to encourage you to continue to be an advocate I want to continue I want to encourage you to continue to lift your voice um I do respect that you thought to bring it to this body um I think that in the future what I would say uh understanding uh parliamentarian uh rules is that should you feel that um something should be introduced as a motion move forward with doing that um and do so in in a way and in in that everyone's

037afforded the amount of time and opportunity to um have a deep understanding of what the issue is that is U being brought forward um as a motion and so again unfortunately I have to agree um with the stance as it relates to not the matter at hand but how the matter is being handled um I do have to agree with board president as it relates to that and um again separate from here I can talk to anyone I'm willing to talk to anyone um about any of the upcoming proposals Andor candidates and and where I stand um regarding that however in the seat that I'm sitting in right now with this issue not being a direct impact to education although it is a direct impact to our community right um it is a conflicting one

038to have to say this is perhaps not the time or perhaps the the space um for such a resolution trustees are there any other comments regarding um trusty Johnson's ask trusty Johnson did you have anything else that you want oh I'm sorry just cut into the chase I I understand what you're saying and I agree with you uh I I totally do believe in being an informed voter uh one who's been voting ever since the age of 18 and that's been 40 something years so I don't want to get with my age okay okay okay totally informed I I I like to be and so I I just know that we need to have more discussion on it that's my take on it okay understood trusty H through the chair um I could appreciate everything

039um trusty Johnson has said and I have a lot of agreeing I'm agreeing with a lot of what he's saying but I also am looking at the board and everyone is concerned about different issues so I don't think this might not be the time to accept that at this moment understood um so in regards to um that ask of the resolution I would um make sure that we move that to our study session or we can have some more open dialogue maybe be presented with some more facts um I think that gives us time to reach out to our counterparts right to ask for more information and then we can discuss at that day but I do appreciate you bringing it to this table MH just for um for recordkeeping and Clarity purposes that was

040not introduced as a motion correct okay correct thanks for your consideration um I do believe that you know we as a school board can and should take political positions and tell this community what our values are and I'm looking forward to discussing this more agreed um I do have have um a few board matters um and it it leads into some things that were said um by trustee Johnson my first is um I want to applaud the members of this district for having courage um it's something that I tell my children all the time um you need to be courageous and speaking up I realize as we have more and more people come to the podium um there's more and more informative concern and I appreciate it um you should be concerned um without the

041concern the culture won't change and I heard um Mr Jones loud and clear um organizational culture is something that I specialize in and it takes it truly takes a whole village it's not something that you can do in silos or in autonomy it requires everyone um so what I've realized is as this board become comes more cohesive because I I do believe that things trickle down um and I believe at the top you are the example and if you lead by example um it will reach the smallest of people right that being our students and that's what's important um the parents the community and the students will change the culture um I've recognized that we get a lot of emails that are solution driven um one thing I tell people please don't bring me a

042problem with at least having three solutions um it won't help me right we have a lot of work ahead of us and I think we've all been up to task I think that Cube opened our eyes for those of us who went um to a lot of factors and there is one story that I would like to share out of Chicago that put a lot of things in perspective of where we are in 2023 um during Co we all got to get Chromebooks um the deputy superintendent of Chicago and I believe trusty Smith Thomas was there for this um the deputy superintendent of a district in Chicago said that they were handing out Chromebooks and hotpots to everyone and she was excited because some of these children had never held a device and she said

043she saw this mother and she said the mother was glaring mad and she said said immediately she got defensive how could you be mad and we giving you this technology and this Verizon hot spot you going to be able to watch YouTube you know you can do some things with this I mean and that was her perspective so she said that she walked over there in her stilettos and she talked to that Mom and said you don't look happy did we do something wrong and she looked at her and said ma'am I don't have electricity and it stopped me cold because I do live in a bubble right I I pay my $7 for a dozen eggs you see what I'm saying but some people are deciding whether they buy eggs or pay electricity and

044we take those things for granted and that is the conversation that we need to be having outside of some of these smaller things we need to have the courage to be vulnerable there are people out here that need help our children are those people um so I encourage everyone in this room to continue being courageous continue reaching out to us continue holding your counterparts accountable we hear that word a lot I believe in it I know what it means if I do something wrong I will fall on the sword at any given time and I've done it in front of you all so I just ask that as a community you continue to hold us accountable but we can do it with Grace we can do it with love I tell people when we fire

045people let's love them out the door you don't have to be rude and you don't have to be mean and spiteful if we want our children to stop fighting we must stop fighting in front of them that's right so I truly appreciate this community I appreciate this board I won't stop telling y'all that um I may get frustrated I'm human um but I appreciate you always answering my calls my texts my emails and um we have work to do um so as we continue to move forward please keep reaching out to us we need to know what's going on we can't be everywhere all the time but you are boots on the ground um so that is my board matter because it's not what we do it's how we do it that truly matters um

046knowing our why is extremely important and our why is these children um so thank you all um and I would just keep encouraging you to reaching out to us we see it and we answer and we hear it um we have um the report of our student board Representatives uh mantre goodram from University High School Academy mantre good evening good evening evening for the month of OCT October here are the past current as well as important future events at University middle and high school academy occurring this month the class of 2024 is starting their fundraising campaign for the school year senior class kicked off their fundraising with the senior Sunday in both the later weeks of September as well as the first week of October uh the senior Sunday was a huge success and a

047grand amount of money was earned although I don't ex have the exact amount yet cuz our senior sponsor is still calculating the money um um from October 18th until October 22nd the senior class of 2024 will be starting up in running their class of 2024 double good popcorn program each senior will have their own virtual store where parents relatives family friends and even other students can purchase popcorn so please make sure to show some support for the uhsa class of 2024 I would also like to give a big thank you to our 2024 senior sponsor Mr Cary for all his hard work and support senior dues are also coming up so make sure to remember the date the first half of senior dues can be paid starting November 1st during lunchtime only the first half

048of the senior dues must be paid in order for seniors to get measured for graduation cap and gowns on a separate note the first first window for digital PSAT PSAT testing is currently open and these test dates are still full school days for all students including students that are testing in grades 6 through 12 uh today Tuesday October 10th from 1 hour until 3rd hour all 11th grade students took the PSAT tomorrow Wednesday October 11th from 1 hour until third hour all 10th grade students will be taking the PSAT and finally on Thursday October 12th from 1 hour until third hour all 8th and n9th graders will be taking the PSAT parents and students please make sure that students arrive on time especially on the respective testing dates if a student is late for testing

049they may miss the test or have to take the test on a certain on a separate date immediately following the PSAT testing Miss Lewis will be accepting payments for spring 2024 AP exams the deadline for these payments will be Wednesday November 9th also at the U we are excited to bring back Michigan First Credit Union their office will be opening soon operated by students at the U additionally on Thursday October 19th parent teacher conferences will be held virtually and on Wednesday November 8th report cards will be released furthermore the umsa application opens soon the application opens on Monday October 16th and closes Friday October 27th also breast cancer pink out day at the U will be Monday October 23rd lastly the U would like to recognize a couple students for their achievements so far in

050the month of October the students of the month are seventh grader Anthony Jones thei Anthony is gaining recognition from officer Jared our Southville police liazon for his awareness and communication of alerting officer Jared of a visit visitor in the building and in 12th grader Skyler little Skylar is gaining recognition for Miss Lewis for his leadership in the yearbook team's efforts as well as designing the front and back covers for the 23 24 umsa yearbook he has been named editorinchief and will oversee the entire creation and marketing process moving forward the schoolwide activities that are occurring at the U are positive and productive for student achievement and enjoyment thank you all for listening thank you trustees are there any questions to go I have a real serious weakness for popcorn so could you please could you

051please share with us those dates for the fundraiser for the popcorn L for the yes what are youres the dates are October 18th until October 22nd okay and I don't have a link just yet but when I do I'll send it to you all please do thank you you can have all of my calories um I I do have a question um I think um for the community you heard us mentioned the Digital P PSAT um a while back and now that the school uh the scholars are taking it are you hearing any feedback from anyone about the ease or does it ease anxiety what's the response to it I heard uh the 11th leers that took it today they felt that it was a lot easier and little I think they seemed a lot

052less stressed stressed later on in the days so I felt like it was a little easier on the students so it I think it helps thank you for uh your report very thorough now we will hear from our Southfield oh I'm sorry okay I didn't um Mr goodram those two students what were their names the one student about um so seven seventh grader Anthony Jones the 2 and 12th grader yeah Anthony Jones II board president if if it's the pleasure of the board I can send everyone a copy of the youth scoop which is their student newspaper that has both students highlighted so that you can not only read about the students but you can see as well yes okay great thank you [Music] anyone else hearing now uh we will now hear from brayan

053Boyd who is our student board representative from Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology good evening brilin good evening everybody all right since our last board meeting southord anas has so many wonderful events that I'm eager to share so here are some of the upcoming events that occurred in September as well as what we have coming up in October on September 18th principal Reese introduced Warrior of the week this is something that highlights a student for doing something Immaculate in the school so during our weekly seminar meeting that we have on Monday called Reese's pces uh he spun a creaky wheel of names of students who have been entered for doing something that a teacher recommended them for over 35 names were entered into the first wheel and Mr brayan Bo won the first

054one [Applause] I took a picture with a Spears on the TVs for two weeks okay this month our radio Productions class has been working hard to bring back our W uh sorry our radio station and today I'm proud to say that after nearly a decade eight years Salo anent radio station is now back online the class has been working hard to really put it out there on September 26 we had many HBCU come and visit southord an students could go around to different tables inside the gymnasium learn and inquire about every school that came this allowed for students who may not be able to travel to different schools and visits to still have the experience of meeting professionals and someone from that school on September 27th the warrior school store which is called The Warriors

055Den had its grand opening and we prepare for homecoming later in that week students were excited to buy snacks in the school and support our group called BPA which is business Professionals of America most of the funds for the school store will be put towards conference and trips for the school store staff the day was finally here Friday September 29th this is the day of our homecoming game in our pep rally the pep rally was organized and put together by student council and it had amazing reviews we had the marching band performance dance performance tug-of war and so much more to make this event memorable we had a lot of good feedback from this uh pep rally and we're excited that everybody liked it we then announced all of our homecoming royalty winners for 9th

05610th and 11th grade that night we had our homecoming game which had amazing attendance from our community including most of the board members I see here today we are victorious and won our homecoming game from 40 to zero September 30th homecoming setup began at approximately 8:00 in the morning we had to prepare for amazing attendance and we built an Eiffel Tower that took 9 hours to build we didn't finish unfortunately it was too tall we had amazing attendance good food good reviews as well as a few hiccups that occurred everybody still had a fun time and I'm glad that I could be a part of that on November 15th we are hosting our annual Senor pinning for the class of 2024 we plan to bring an elegant twist to the senior pitting and we are

057excited to see all of our seniors come out with their famili so we can all Bond and meet together these are some of the main events that happened this past month including our testing that happening today tomorrow and Thursday and I will be excited to come back next month to share the next events that happens at southord an thank you all thank you thank you trusty SMI Thomas thank you um Mr boy you mentioned about the warrior of the week is there an incentive I know you mention you said you took a picture it was on the screens there is an incentive so the first thing is obviously you get recog recognition from the whole staff you take a picture with the spear and it's put into the yearbook for all the words of the

058week for oh nice that year as well as principal reee buys you some something to eat so okay wonderful that's that's the part I was looking for I wanted to know how would someone support those efforts um course so and teachers are real big on making sure they recommend someone because it's you know it's good recognition and plus you know who wants to who wants who doesn't want their name call out on a little creaky wheel on Reese's pces so so a gift card Chick-fil-A is that good I'm pretty sure he might work on that soon okay all right recomendations um that I know that they were looking for donations so I'll ask what uh types of donations I did have an opportunity to attend the Reese's pie uh last week and turn the squeaky

059wheel and pull out the name and there were quite a few students in that Barrel so it was very um good to see how many students had actually been recommended for the warrior of the week very good great did anyone else have any questions for brillan um I just want to say that it was um awesome seeing you at the homecoming game you were representing as a student board rep made us very proud um I I like that you were so humble about stating your win um I was thinking it was going to be a mercy um game because it was blowout from beginning to end um so congratulations and and I also would like to highlight that there were no incidents at that game um those young people were very very respectful and it

060was a really good turnout oh and let me thank the alumni association for coming out and supporting they had a tent and it was good to see everyone so um brayan and manre this is the time since I know that you are are testing um you have the option um to leave now if you like you also have the option to stay but if you do need to be dismissed to uh get to some schoolwork or some studying please feel free to go and again great job you make us proud thank you you're [Applause] welcome there through the chair have more comment oh sure um as the the gentlemen are leaving it was really good to see um brillan at our homecoming game and the the caveat to it all is that he was hanging

061out with our previous student rep King Twitty so it was really good to see these young men um working together and collaborating and having a great time and like board president said um celebrating the win and so many other ways thank you so much uh we will now have the report of the superintendent good evening uh board president uh board trustees assembled and Community um those two young men make us all extremely proud and they are the face of the Southville Public School District and they are changing the culture one student at a time so very proud of the work that they're doing um you you were all very accurate in that we need to be well informed to all the changes that are going through Lancing going through locally going through Lancing and going

062through at the federal level there are a few that I wish to highlight for you today that will have direct impact on our schools specifically um earlier today uh the governor did sign into law with immediate effect changes to the retirement rules under house bill 4752 and this will afford our retirees to come back after a six-month sitout period instead of the 9month sit out period it does have a 5year on set date so we will most likely be having this conversation 5 years from now as well it also affords those individuals that are in that six-month window if they so choose to come back and work for a school district as a substitute teacher or in any other capacity excluding that of superintendent they could earn up to $155,100 during that time so again

063uh substitute teaching is always um an option for our highly effective teachers that have gone on to retire so so um any retirees within earshot of this message we welcome you to come back after uh that six-month time period so very very uh pleased to see that one moving forward but not so pleased to see some others that may uh cause disruption in our schools one of which is a Senate Bill 40 uh 463 and that's surrounding FASA and we hear FASA and we think oh it's a great thing students completed they qualify for scholarships they qualify for uh pel grants different Financial a to go off to college that sounds exceptional in theory when you're tying it to whether or not a young person can graduate it can be detrimental again as the senior

064educational leader for the district I am strongly opposed to anything that will prohibit a child from graduating based on another entity completing a form and and sometimes children don't have the adult in their home to complete the fast for form on their behalf so I don't want them to tie their diploma to whether or not a parent completes a fast for form so I ask that we all stay aware and a breast of what's happening with some of these uh bills that are trying to make their way through the house the other part of it is what happens if a student decides to complete the form on their own because if Jennifer was in that situation I probably would have filled it out on my own so that I could get my diploma so now

065that being said am I going to be brought up on fraud charges because I simply wanted to get my high school diploma which I deserved so we need to really read the fine print associated with many of these bills um making their way through um there's also one that's very very alarming to me and this one was uh referred to the committee on regulatory reform and that's House Bill uh 5603 and this is to afford students as young as kind kindergarten to bring medical marijuana to school we know the challenges that communities faced when cannabis became legalized we know that students with medical conditions have we have policies procedures and laws in place for them to bring their medicine to school taking the lid off Pandora's Box and allowing medical marijuana throughout K12 school districts

066will be a nightmare for educators for parents and for other students again there are a lot of larger issues at play and we need to be acutely aware of what those are and not be distracted by some of the other things that people want to take away our attention so those are the the big ones that I wanted to lift um I I did speak with Miss Foster today regarding the advocacy Institute I do plan on attending with any trustees that uh are going to DC in January we need to continue to Advocate on behalf of our young people uh again here at the local level the state level as well as the federal level because there are some significant changes being proposed that will impact our children not only today but for years and

067decades to come any questions regarding that board pres the chair uh truste Smith Thomas and trustee uh word of all have we heard from Jennifer Smith on any of these she has sent out um she sent out an email saying to contact her on a couple of things but I don't know if they've held any webinars I know sometimes she holds her webinars so that we can get caught up on things haven't seen any so she hasn't so she hasn't sent anything stating a resolution no in support or against nothing we haven't received it yet yet where she's from oh sure I'm sorry my apologies uh Jennifer Smith is from um masb she runs the governance um and legisl legislative arm and uh it's really on top of making sure that all of the different

068bills that are impacting education come down to the uh local school boards for either resolutions and support of or against board president if it's the uh request of the board um I can ask Miss Foster to reach out to Jennifer tomorrow and see if there are any pending resolutions for these specifically because these would have direct impact um devastating impact to our community for sure trust uh trusty word of all um uh Dr Green is there something that our public can lean into with reaching out to whether it's our state reps or whoever it may be with some of these concerns that are happening in legis ation um that will impact us so that we can put our voice out there absolutely what we will ask our communications director uh to do is to post

069all of the representatives for our school district on our social media and on our web page to ensure that you have direct access to those individuals thank you indeed anyone else trusty Joyce yeah so Dr you said you're going to the uh J advocacy uh conference I I feel so strongly about all of this impending legislation that yes I will be going to DC and I hope that trustees uh well I know trustees SMI Thomas goes every year um and she usually brings back a very um detailed report I am going to try to go I did let Miss Foster know that I was going to check my work schedule you and I spoke and I think you said you were going as well correct so we do have some representation um please get with

070Miss Foster anyone who plans on going to DC this year um it sounds like we could use our weight and gold up there um so um thank you for that information the only other legislative update um southa Public Schools contributed to a white paper uh regarding the broken promise from idea you know that's something that we go to DC um to discuss every year it was adopted into law in 1976 and we are still waiting for them to fully fund the 40% that was promised to us back in 1976 and as of late um it was funded at 133% um it is costing the district significantly and uh we were happy to contribute to that white paper that will be submitted to the White House perhaps we'll get the 40 acres and a mule with

071that as well um waiting on that also so that is all for the legislative update um next you see on the agenda is our current enrollment a few weeks back I mentioned that our numbers were elevated uh however we had to do some data scrub to determine what our numbers truly were fast forward to this past Wednesday with count day I am um here to report out this evening that we budgeted for 4,874 students and officially thus far we have 472 five which gives us a variance of 149 students or approximately $2 million difference therefore we will be making some additional uh recommendations to the board of education to keep our budget within balance for this school year so um I did have one comment just because I know that our study session um sometime

072that information does not get out we have asked that our current enrollment and the enrollment status of each building be post it on our website so the community is informed um I know we have a lot of people reaching out about specific schools so we want to let everyone know where we're at with our enrollment just to keep with the transparency of it all and since we know that we're having certain buildings that are closing um as as the young lady here stated earlier at public participation with certain buildings closing you're going to start getting an influx to other schools so we have requested that of um Dr Green and the communication staff as well so um we are trying to get better with how we communicate information to the community thank you board president

073our director of communication is out currently yeah so I just wanted to let you know that that will be forthcoming in her absence trust M Thomas thank you board president um can we request of um of Dr Green and her team an effort um or at least some conversation around some enrollment efforts um canvasing um whatever the strategies might be not here to tell you how but we like to talk about what okay and timeline yes thank you anyone else regarding enrollment all right thank you board president at this time we'll have a 2 and 1 half minute intermission uh to watch A Brief video that was covered by Fox 2 news last Friday I believe Miss Foster to fire Ops 101 it's a program hosted by 11 different fire departments across Oakland County at

074occ's Auburn Hills campus giving government and public officials a firsthand taste of what our firefighters do best fire service isn't just going and fighting fires every day we've morphed into hazardous materials confined space rescue um EMS is a big portion of our job and I'm getting suited up with them pull my pants up that gear is heavy those down can't forget the air pack so I can breathe feel like I've got better posture and the final touch the mask there we go there's a smoked out building we breach open the door I'm going in and then we find out the hard way that it's not like the movies you have to hold the host tightly like a Lifeline because billowing smoke blocks Vision you can't even feel anything because of your gloves after only a

075few minutes of stumbling around which felt like 30 minutes it's hard to see I'm trying to grab the hose as I go along we finally make it out it was so dark I didn't even know Mike was in front of me all I could see was like the uh the tank had a glowing thing on the back of it the person that was in front of me then we find out real smoke is even darker than that and burns black I already had respect but it it just it just went up a few notches the amount of physical exertion involved the amount of teamwork involved they really have to trust each other that's Pontiac mayor Tim grimo putting out a car fire I tried my hand at it too here we go oh yeah we

076did it we did it and it ain't all smoke and fires there's hazmats and active shooter scenarios I didn't not realize the firefighters went in two buildings while Shooters are actively shooting and if you're ever trapped after a car crash firefighters are the ones with this the jaws of life oh man these are actually heavy we can't screw it up perfect we cut the roof off and break in through the rear windshield breaking glass using equipment like this in fire Ops 101 gives decision makers experience a deeper understanding of what these departments do and need say we need to set of jaws of life and they find out they're $45,000 for the set you know it's kind of mind-blowing for that politician at least until they've gone through it themselves it's amazing what firefighters go

077through it gives me a new appreciation for the amazing work that they do reporting in Auburn Hills Scott walek Fox 2 News the reason I lift that video into the conversation as you can see here on the counter this evening I too participated in fire Ops 101 and will receive my honorary badge at the next city council meeting uh it was a very intense day uh we had a car fire a trench rescue a chemical spill a house fire an active shooter drill and a car accident which was an actual extraction where we did break the windows take the doors off and peel back the roof of the car so it was exhausting and we have the utmost respect for our firefighters so thank you to Chief miny um to our handlers lieutenant dasta and

078Lieutenant Chestnut and all other members of Oakway uh the reason that I wished to to engage in this training is doing part to us starting a fire academy and I wholeheartedly believe that as again the educational leaders in this District if we are not able or willing to fully engage in the curriculum to know what our children will experience then we should not start an academy that we're not willing to do ourselves so I have firsthand knowledge now of what our children will learn and I'm very proud of the work that they're doing this is our first class and we do have eight students enrolled in our fire academy this year next we will turn to our bond updates and not to uh comment directly on public participation um however I would like to lift

079the fact that we are working diligently with the bond team to see what projects we can move up Safety and Security are our primary goals and thus with the last board agenda we had some requests for the elevators and for the bleachers and it sounds as if we make may be coming back to you with some playground equipment uh we had the smallest series at the beginning which was series one so we are looking at those items that are most pressing or the highest priorities relative to safety that will be moved up first so we will have something for the Board of Education regarding those items uh relatively soon we have our next meeting on Monday of next week and we'll be with plant Moran um Barton mow our Architects and all other parties uh

080for the entire day to work through some of those pieces well we always appreciate um community members coming and lifting items to the board um I just want to ask what is the protocol internally where that information could or should have either been reported or known to jwe logged so that before it came to the board um there was internal knowledge ABS so there there are several different mechanisms by way uh in which we can report these items um I I did hear that a staff member knew so staff members can report it by way of school du which is our internal reporting system for anything operational um if the building level leader knew they could report it directly to operations if a Community member knows and you go on our district website you can

081click contact us and it will come directly to the office the superintendent and to our communications director so there are a myriad of ways in which this information can be brought forward all of our decisions were predicated to date were predicated on our facilities audit that we had uh completed and in that audit we had items that were red in the district that needed top priority yellow and then green they had a little more life expectancy we've had that audit for four years now so some things have shifted some equipment is not in the same condition so we are moving some pieces around the table but there are a lot of ways in which that that information can get to us plus we're out in the buildings um unfortunately I haven't been on the playgrounds

082as much as I I would like as of late but that's that's another way that uh we see what's happening out there for president if I might um just want to encourage those in the schools daily again we always appreciate and I would never um discourage a Community member from coming to the board meetings um and lifting but usually by the community members come to the board um it's because an issue has gone on for too long and or Andor unaddressed um so if you are there and you see it please we just heard all the different um avenues that matters can be reported especially when they are uh of safety concern and a direct impact to our Scholars so again um we it's all of our responsibility it's all of our responsibility to do

083the to due diligence so before we leave that conversation I would ask that tomorrow morning we at least go over there so we can ensure that nobody is getting on that slide um that's troubling um if we if we knew better we do better um I think we need to do better um so I appreciate you mentioning that and I think that speaks to what I said about us having the courage to speak up absolutely um you see something wrong say something um please know nothing can happen to you from letting us know that there's a broken slide um on a playground but we don't want our kids injured no so thank you for that um we also have our owner rep and our construction management team here this evening if you have any questions

084regarding the board updates that we sent electronically to all of the trustees and it was also attached to the board packet for our community um most recently actually starting today we did have the move management team back at uh Adler Elementary to move out the remainder of the Furniture as we've looked to expand the scope of work while the Adler family is being housed at Eisenhower so we initially started the scope with just doing the windows and doors and the secure entry and now it's morphed into making sure that we have all of the abatement taken care of the lights the flooring the roof Etc the painting So once they come back um they will come back to a completely renovated space and over here to our far left you will see some of the

085finishes that will be in the new main office uh there at Adler Elementary upon their return so the move management will uh occur it did occur today and it will uh continue through tomorrow um that is an active construction site another thing that uh is important to lift we've had a couple community members reach out to us relative to the pothole repairs and the sidewalk repairs at the University in MacArthur campus we did the emergency repairs only we were not refilling the entire parking lot so we we have to be very careful in our balance Balancing Act of ensuring that everything is safe for the temporary uh time in which we will occupy that space before we raise that entire campus and build a new school on that campus because once we bring on the

086heavy equipment if we redo the entire parking lot bring the heavy equipment is going to destroy the parking lot in the pavement so anything that was of hazardous conditions we did wish to address and we will continue to do so we also had the concrete work start at uh Kennedy Learning Center this past week and Dan Anderson I'm looking at you because I know I'm forgetting something else that we have going on right now as we speak to the microphone sir thank you good evening everyone good evening uh just to clarify we'll be beginning the chiller replacement project at busy starting next week yes I knew it was something else forthcoming so that's great uh the last several Summers you may recall we had the temporary unit in place at uh the busy early childhood

087Center so I'm sure that Dr Thompson and all of our baby Scholars will be happy to get permanent air conditioning there any questions for our bond team oh thank you um can you speak to the change order for um I'm referencing report 6241 so that was the specific change order for the parking lot at at MacArthur good evening uh so the reason for the change order uh at the parking lot there is this was an amount that was above the contingency that was initially so this is the difference uh that's being requested and that was due in part to going back to replacing uh the concrete and the curbs uh in those hazardous conditions to understand and this isn't a different quote no this is if you recall during the last meeting when we adopted

088the governance procedures this is still within our scope so this that's why it's put under information and anytime that it's above the 10% contingency that was already built into the original request we will bring it back before the board as an information item okay thank you again to improve our transparency anyone else okay thank you I guess we'll see you back minute oh I think U TR H had a question it's not a b question okay it's not a bond question okay okay no it's not it's about the short video that you showed about the um the fire fire Ops yeah the fire Ops um I was wondering do the students get any information or or or any of the fire department um Personnel coming out talk them about fire safety cuz Halloween is coming

089up now and I was just wondering if they get a video or some type of um conversation from a firefighter we have a very strong partnership with the southfi fire department and the Southville police department they come in on a myriad of topics um earlier today there were calendars dropped off for our second and third graders districtwide from the fire department with a lot of different topics uh relative to safety um this fire academy is actually taught by a Southfield Fire Department I don't know what his official title is I think he's a captain um but he's coming back and actually teaching the classes there so we do have a lot of Engagement with our police officers as well as our fire department on safety um to your point of um the upcoming um holiday

090that many celebrate there is uh something around um a blue pumpkin that I wanted to lift into the conversation it's been on the news most recently and it is uh used to identify students that may have autism and it was specifically focusing on how to engage with those students so if you see someone with a blue pumpkin versus that of a an orange pumpkin or Jack Lantern approach them with less less noise but engage them um as you would any other student but it's the the noise Factor that's the big factor with students with those blue Jackal lanterns and I know we're going to have some trunk Retreats districtwide so I wanted to lift that in the conversation I'm I'm glad you did lift it just because I know um many of our schools have

091autistic children um if that's possible to get um our building leadership to send something out in their newsletter so parents understand everybody doesn't have the same understanding of what that looks like for that demographic of student and I think it's fair when we talk about inclusivity right being inclusive means everyone absolutely um and I think that's just a a teachable thing right um so I'm glad you lifted that um and and I see Miss lsay and her mindfulness and always reaching every child um so I know that is definitely um something that we should talk to our kids about so I would love for us to um get that out to parents and director Smith is in the audience this evening I saw her nodding her head I was about to ask her to come

092to the podium and tell us a little bit more about these Blue Jacket lanterns but I didn't want to embarrass her um and you did a good job Dr we will ask that she puts together some specific language that is universal for all of our buildings so that they're sharing the same message and and not uh sharing different messages relative to that matter thank you for that absolutely next under the report of the superintendent is busy's director's report you all have a copy of that in your packet as well as um the community has a copy of that in their packet Dr Thompson is here this evening so we'll ask her to come to the podium to address any questions that one may have relative to the uh busy Head Start report good evening um

093board president Dr Green it's nice to be here this evening so um as Dr Green mentioned I I did share my board report I wanted to start out with the enrollment piece um we're looking pretty good on enrollment right now we have um nine classes open and we have four more to open uh we just got seven candidates from Elite so we have candidates to um interview so really um happy about that the people we've hired this year have are great so I feel like our we're off to a really good start so right now our Early Head Start class uh progr programs are full we have 8 and8 in the um infant and the toddler classes um we have 83 students in Head Start start so we have uh 45 slots available and then

094we have 30 slots um filled in gsrp and then we have 50 slots so um currently we have three Head Start classrooms open Three Head Start gsrp the Blends open um one gsrp and then both of the baby classes so just four more one more Head Start one more GS Head Start gsrp and then uh two more gsrp classes so um looking good and we do have uh kids we have a classroom um we're just waiting for staff for our head start for the fourth Head Start class so we that'll um open next um we need to be 97% enrolled by um April 4th 2024 in order to not be in Jeopardy of losing funding but we know we're confident that we'll reach that we're currently at 58% enrollment um we get we draw a

095lot of our kids from DHS from Wick a lot we get a lot of our um students from um through word of mouth so busy has a reputation so people come from lots of different places Oakland County and from Wayne County um we have our um enrollment advertis on mares Facebook and then on our website so we have this year we've noted that we have more um more diverse population so um students from Yemen and different African countries and and that so it's nice to have that diversity and then we have students with disabilities and and students who are in the referral process who who will be entering the referral process so so I'm I'm going to interject for one moment because I heard about Facebook and things like that but I also think there's

096an opportunity to collaborate inter District um because you have schools with students that have young siblings so I would ask you to lean into your village right um and and find out whose kids are having little brothers and sisters and grab them too right because it starts there we want to build this up we don't also we don't always necessarily have to build it out we need to keep the district children in the district and if they start at busy and you have a beautiful program they will keep their children here so it's going to start with you Facebook is great I love it I don't um I I love it for marketing purposes um but I think leaning to your elementary schools and your K8 I think there's an opportunity there for us to

097grab some of those children as well so I appreciate you telling us um how you plan because that's a big lift right I I don't think we should be naive to hear we're at 58% and we need to get to 97 by April um so I think it's all hands on deck right okay definitely and we have um had some people who've been to open houses and have referred um siblings to us as well so yeah that has happened so um thank you for for raising that too I do appreciate that um so for our waiting list we don't we're not full yet so we'll have um more people on our waiting list once we get full but we do have people that we're processing and trying to get into classrooms as we get new

098staff um our average daily attendance um for the month of September so the numbers that I'm um sharing now are for the month of September um so we had 80% average daily attendance and our goal is 85 % so um we we are tracking that diligently um through child plus our family service workers um have been working with classroom teachers so we have three assigned to the various classrooms so we've had um lots of illnesses and things like that so um but working on that as well and um we've reiterated our policies to staff as well as our families too about if if kids are ill or even if staff members are ill to make sure that they stay home and and come when they're well so that not spreading things for our um child

099adult care uh program or cacfp for the month of September um for we served um 4,438 meals and that includes breakfast breakfast lunch and snack um we had some concerns um regarding the the family style um meal service as well as um food service and so I've um addressed those conc consistently um with the food service manager and he he has been quite responsive um so as soon as I send him an email he responds right away so that started on the um 5th and then the 11th of September and then through the fourth of October and then we have a nutrition meeting that Mr Ingram scheduled for tomorrow so we're going to um address the food service and make sure everyone's educated and Dr Thompson we did provide the trustees with a copy of

100the SF busy menu for this month as well to that's correct and yes there were some concerns about the vegetarian um meals yeah so we've addressed that as well so uh last year what they did was to provide a vegetarian a separate vegetarian menu so when we have our meeting tomorrow I'm going to request that as well but trying to meet the needs of all of our um customers our our Littles who are in our building um for um the compliance piece um Oakland County Health Department provided hearing screenings for 80 students during the month of September so we're on TR with a lot of things this year um right now we have four students um with the receiv receiving Services um who have IEPs individualized education uh programs and then we have three that

101have been referred um and then for compliance we need at least 10 at this point but we have um students who are in the referral process meaning we have to um teachers need to fill out forms and then make the formal referrals to the team team we do have um the issn department our staff back in the building so we have the two little step classes as well as the social workers occupational physical therapists um and the resource room teacher the child um child find coordinator is there there as well so we do that offers a little bit more collaboration for us for some of our kids who are um having challenging behaviors so that's been a positive thing for us as well well um for the education piece um we did purchase new bergant

102screeners and again um we are diligently U making sure all of our children are screen being screened and monitoring that so that's from Early Head Start Head Start and the great start Readiness program um and then we have the ages and stages questionnaires um All Families fill those out during the um orientation which each family has to go through so we have the computer set up for the families to fill those out to make sure that we get that data as well so we can plan the interventions and um and an instruction as well and we can make a determination if students may need some additional support as a inter school um we continue to implement the high scope curriculum um I've already reached out to Oakland schools so we can do some schoolwide training

103at busy instead of going out to Oakland schools um so we're going to start with the core and that's um where we do the obser obervations and and collect the anecdotal notes for our students and again that um informs our instruction and assessment um our core Advantage data collection period the first one is September 5th 2023 to 1119 2023 so that'll give us some good um Baseline data as well as um continuation data to to make sure our kids are making gains um we have the um Oakland school's um Early Childhood specialist who works with our gsrp classrooms and collaborates with um our team as well to make sure that our um teachers are supported and that our kids are making gains for family engagement for the month of September we had a multiple parent

104orientation uh we had grandparents day we had grandparents come in and then our uh staff com uh completed their home visit number one so we completed many of those home visits before the um school year started and then we continue through September um and then for the communications piece um we had three people to attend the school Success School Readiness for young African-American boys we submitted an application and were chosen to be part of that um community of practice so um we had one of our assistant teachers uh Mr random mishaw and then trusty Joyce and I went to that conference and that was it was wonderful so when we talk about supporting our um our students U making sure that they get a a solid foundation we know that African-American boys are often at

105risk um they're a lot of times they're energetic and maybe misunderstood and so we're really working on um tailoring instruction that's going to support them making sure they have mentors and things like that and um planning our instructions so that they're supported and have a good foundation for when they go into kindergarten and the higher grades so we will add to our team we have our family service worker one of our family service workers who's part of the team and then we'll add a couple of parents as well um and then we had uh Mrs Maxwell our Ura manager she attended a training on child plus um the week of September 25th um so as we look at our data we want to do better with the data data in we want to make sure

106that we're not putting junk in and and and put it in the data that going to um so we can show our outcomes and things like that so we recognize at the end of the year there's some things in child plus that we weren't really we weren't utilizing the system as well as we could um so we did decide to send Mrs Maxwell and she's come back with a wealth of information so we're looking forward to being able to collect data on lots of different things our families um our staff as well um when we look at credentials and things like that and then looking at overall outcomes as the year progresses um we had two resignations we had um our assistant director of Early Childhood programs and then we had one GSR uh P

107teacher who resigned uh the current vacancies are five teachers and then five CDA or assistant teachers and as I said we just received some uh seven candidates so we should have a a a starting poll again so we can interview more candidates for the positions um and again I already mentioned about the nine uh nine of the 13 classrooms that are open so upcoming events we have um this week we have election week for policy Council um Head Start awareness week is October 16th through 20th we're going to hold a muffins for moms where we have Moms come in in the morning and in the afternoon as well um and that's in Our intention is to create um Community collaboration and we're going to going to talk a little bit about um parent links so

108how we can share the links where parents can do some activities at home and that also serves for inine and then we're going to share with them information about our parent curriculum um ready Rosie so they know how to get on to ready Rosie we've already introduced that to him to them but we're going to share some more information during that muffins for moms so Dr Thompson if I could just add um when you mention the staff vacancies I did receive an email from the staffing agency because it's important to note that these are not employees of the school district but that we work with the staffing agency for the head star program and um as noted by the agency we had someone to start on October 2nd someone starting on yesterday which was October

1099th and then someone will be starting on October 12th so we are working diligently to interview people and get those positions filled and we have um it's it's really nice because we have um substitutes from other agencies to come in and support the staff as well so it's just I I I believe our staff is supported a little bit better this year um and uh Thursday October 26th um we have our har Harvest Fest and that's an in-house fill trip so um it's going to be for busy um students as well as in Little Steps they're going to take um participate in that as well um we are hosting a building beautification project and um the tentative date which it like will be um October 28th so we'll do some painting do some building and

110things like that just to beautify our the grounds and the building we have picture day and that's October 30th and then we have a volunteer a mobile librarian who will start um meeting with classrooms classes in the media center in October this month and that's it trustees um is there any discussion I only have a I have two things for you okay um the first is for your building beautification project um I'm spoken with Dr Green at length about involving our students in community service um I think it's important that our children give back um it allows them to understand that it's not just about you um I think this is a very good opportunity for um especially our high school and middle school students whose parents are interested in getting them involved in community

111service to do so so if Poss ible and Dr Green tell me how we go about this um can we pose this to our high school um National Honor Society um University students um really anyone who's interested in giving back um so if you and when you choose a date could you please let us know um I've recently learned how to paint I trusty word ofar help me out with that um so I'm willing to come as well if you would give me um a solid date I would appreciate that definitely that's that's lovely thank you for the additional hands no problem and my my second comment was to your handbook well done oh thank I was able to go through it all that's a lot of work um but I thought it was very

112detailed and it was much needed so thank you for providing us with that good job thank you you're welcome through the chair I have a um comment is it about my painting no okay okay good um so just to kind of look at the dates that you proposed as board president was referring to the bu um building beautification project um I see that you've got listed the 21st or the 28th I do know um on the 28th there's going to be a very large and usually it's in the evening um and we are in the holiday season when little people like to go do this candy thing um so Tru treats are the thing on the weekends now and the 28th is a very large one in our community um so and I want you

113to be able to get all the support that you can so I just wanted to you know for you to keep that in mind as we are in that season of trick-or-treating okay on the functions thank you thank you for lifting that trusty Smith yes thank you so a couple things I wanted to ask um if there were any uh plans or considerations for joining with the Michigan aeyc um I think that would be an amazing organization to support um with recruitment hiring um with enrollment um a number of of uh those items that have been lifted um in your report another uh recommendation certainly I love the the muffins with moms um but something that is kind of um um evolving in education is May perhaps pastries with parents so that there is not

114an exclusion of dads um and even grandparents um who want to get involved um when you speak of a parental involvement um or if they have a a Muffins with moms maybe there's a donuts with Dad on a separate occasion so certainly not to crossover Lanes but just wanted to lift that um in this space uh for consideration and my question um as it relates to some of the slots are any of the Head Start slots part day so they're all full day all of them are full day now okay that's wonderful I was just trying to kind of brainstorm how can we get that enrollment percentage up and I thought that might be um might be a possible solution but it sounds like that is not the case um Staffing though are we making

115the program and I know that um with Head Start and uh even though gsrp has a little higher of of an income um cap but are we making the program where it's available to our staff to bring their um little Scholars so that you know they can come one place that's true um absolutely we will make sure that all staff are aware that that is available to them also okay again just thinking about outside of the box that 97% we're going to get there we are we have two more Head Start classrooms to we are we are going to get there so and I I I truly believe that we'll have the right people who want to be there I see the staff this year who are so excited every day they come in and

116they're excited to be there and they're offering when you see teachers who are congregating in the classroom and talking about their kids and the strategies and all of that people who are volunteering to do things because I know how to do this um and when you ask someone to make a copy or hey so and so needs something you know um they share it with their colleagues that's culture shift there and we welcome you to come visit busy because you will see that a lot of great things are happening there I will be I just have one more lift if I may um I was on your policy Council as a couple of the trustees were as well meeting this week last week whatever um and there was conversation about the children eating and getting

117good meals and um you mentioned um a particular um program that you have is it feeding with Freddy or whoever oh I'm Reggie rainbow Reggie the rainbow so it introduces other um yeah foods to young children and you have a menu um which is really great it's October the entire month and some of this looks so good um scrambled eggs with hash browns and buttery toast and fruit and DIC pears and apples and fresh orange juice and milk and Cinnamon French toast so I mean I get it right but I just want to live to the community and this is all offered through SF that they are taking care of our busy children and um when there are concerns please take it parents as they were brought to um to the policy council meeting please

118make sure you go through the proper channels um before information is just divulged out to the community um do some fact finding and touch bases with Dr Thomas and her team to make sure that the things that are You're Expecting are being met um before rumors are run a mu so thank you for this information I appreciate it to have a glimpse at what the young scholars are eating good thank you um Miss Freeman um the muffins for Mom um I know Dr Freeman I'm sorry it's okay um muffin saman I know um the former um principal een he had a muffin shom day and then he also had one for the fathers now I was addressing to U Miss love um truste love that they do have he did have one for the mothers

119and one for the Fathers as well we had one scheduled for the donuts for dads but that was the week that we went out of town so we have to reschedule that but I like the parents that parents for pastries I love that idea too because that can include the grandparents and the parents so thank you trust anything else for Dr Thompson thank you Dr Thompson have a good night thank you um next Dr Green you have oh we have action items it's my time oh consent agenda approval of minutes September 9th regular board meeting um and then September 26th uh special board meeting uh oh I'm looking at the wrong thing oh ah okay I see it so we do have um you said the it's September 12th September 12th I'm sorry I'm looking

120at my screen I have a different version um September 12th and September 26 trustees so moved support it's been properly moved and uh supported is there any discussion hearing none board secretary please call for the vote trusty W Deval yes myself yes trusty Joyce yes trusty Johnson yes trusty hway yes trusty Bland yes unanimous motion carried thank you report 6239 Personnel Action Report everyone received this in their packet uh let me just remind everyone that we do not call names we would address by Numbers if there are any questions regarding the Personnel Action Report trustees is there um do the cheer um I was pleased to see there were only three resonations uh we need to open um I will let everyone review it before we um put a motion out there so moved thank

121you support it's been properly moved and supported is there any other discussion regarding the Personnel Action Report board president if I may Dr Green there are actually two um resignations one is at the top is a a rehire uh back to the district and I want uh to lift for the trustees edification that there is a neighboring District who uh presently is offering $15,000 signing bonuses for individuals in a particular area so you see two today but there very well may be additional in the future for this because we simply cannot compete with that and it's outside of our collective bargaining agreement so I did want to lift that do we have any more golf carts I'm trying that would be a violation of our Michigan compile law is so I I did want to

122lift that and then you also have to factor in um the information I shared earlier with the law that was signed into um the bill that was signed into law earlier today which will afford people an opportunity to retire and come back while we can't make promises to people and that is specifically stated in the bill that you cannot make promises to individuals um you may see a lot of individuals that are currently eligible for retirement making that choice to retire because they now will have the ability to come back in a shorter period of time and receive a full salary as well as collect their retirement so you may see some changes in the very near future let me also say that um a lot of people stay where they're loved um so um

123I've been offer more money a lot of places but when I like where I'm at I stay for my sanity so um Southfield Public Schools is uh working on making sure that we um we let people know that they're valued so as we talk about resignations and retirements um I think that's something that we're striving to do um so trustees is there any other discussion around this report um I do for number two and it's not the individual it's the services attached to the individuals at the specific location do we have um we have some individuals in position to backfill that even if we have to utilize a temporary service okay because you will notice that two and six are both applicable to the same location yeah okay and both fall under that caveat of

124which I shared absolutely all right any other trust uh any other discussion trustees um I would like to say I am pleased to see um the positions of um number four I think that um as we bring in more of these and get people uh well versed and that experience hopefully they'll grow with the district so thank you for that um is there any other discussion hearing none board secretary please call for the vote trusty Bland yes you trust me yes justy word all yes she all out of order we going for her trusty Johnson yes trusty Joyce yes myself yes I blame trusty Bel for this exactly MH um motion carried thank you all our next item of business is report 6240 the jewel settlement uh agreement um we spoke about this um previously

125at other meetings um it is now on our report for Action um before we open it did you want to just give some background on this for the community do you want to open and approve and then have conversation discussion well I don't even know we need to have discussion but I will open and approve it um I just wanted to make sure people speak to this because it's going to lead into another ask this even is there um a motion on the floor to open and approve report 6240 so moved support it's been properly moved and supported so board president if I may for uh edification of our listening audience um remind everyone that several years ago we were approached by a law firm out of uh California to join a class action lawsuit

126regarding um jeel specifically who is the manufacturer of the Vape pin that many of our children were able to access over the years um the board was unanimously in support of joining this class action lawsuit along with a number of other school districts throughout the country uh they have reached a settlement agreement because there are so many individual districts involved um uh southa Public Schools is slated to receive just under $20,000 but from our vantage point every dollar that we can use to uh install Vape monitors or have additional social emotional mental health supports or whatever we can use to benefit our children it was worth the time effort and energy that we put in um into this um litigation so uh with that being said our settlement agreement is uh slightly under $20,000 believe

127177,000 um and some change but we are asking that you approve move the settlement agreement this evening and then later in the agenda you will see that we have another ask for another class action lawsuit impacting our children trustees is there any other discussion hearing none board secretary please call for the vote Rusty Alay yes trusty Joyce yes trusty Bland yes trusty Johnson yes trusty waval yes myself yes motion carried thank you B second something is real funny down there you know no what's funny is people are calling out my order we are we're trying to um we're we're trying to get the the rhythm again so we have information items um Dr Green before we move forward um are there anything on the information items that you will ask to be made actionable this

128evening if it's the pleasure of the board I would ask that 6243 be made actionable as well as the uh busy items that are separate in a part but uh that is 62 44 45 46 and 47 which is the social media litigation that I lifted um just a moment ago um the other items 6241 and 42 actually are below the contingency amounts afforded by our new governance structure so they are being brought to you for information purposes only that is something that the superintendent and CFO and or coo will sign off on understood so report 6241 report 6241 as you uh heard Mr Anderson mentioned earlier today or um TJ mention mentioned earlier today was the change in the uh pavement when we added on the curbs and the additional um work there at

129MacArthur and the University campus which was over our 10% contingency but it's still well below the $100,000 Mark um so that is for information and transparency purposes only report 6242 is our move management contract the Board of Education prior to adopting the government's structure did approve the $17,000 for them to begin the moving um of the the equipment to that of Eisenhower as well as going to the other school districts where we were able to acquire some furniture to furnish Eisenhower um this is an additional $87,400 exact to add to the continuous movement that I mentioned earlier today continuing to clear out Adler Elementary um so that again falls under the $100,000 threshold so this is for information and transparency purposes only any questions regarding those two before we move to the next item trusty

130yeah I I um wanted to question um report 6241 yes um based on the fact that we got winter coming in wouldn't it be to our uh it' be advantageous for us to go ahead on and move that up so that they can so they can um get to work on so trusty Joyce we've already taken care of this because it felt with in our scope and under the $100,000 threshold so that work has been completed so it's done that has been completed those were the photos that I forwarded um to the trustees and we're going to have those posted as well so that our community community can see the work that we did there okay that has been done and and for that very reason because the weather is changing rapidly yep okay any

131other questions regarding 6241 and 42 hearing none Dr Green report 6243 technology designer and this is one that you have asked that if we see fit we make actionable yes and as TJ joins us at the uh Podium to discuss the tech designer proposal uh let me remind all the trustees that that separate proposal was emailed to you as a supporting document last evening um and it was very uh lengthy and as the trustees reminded me last time we don't want to kill any more trees so we did not print that out understood thank you Miss TJ thank you so as we continue to um evaluate and move things uh forward in the bond technology designer uh is one of the things that we are now in the process of procuring and so we did

132send out uh for several individual or several firms to participate and provide uh proposals and uh this is all based on on their qualifications of providing the district the best service um we actually have evaluated we've received those Communications by Design uh is the firm that we are recommending uh we actually have Miss Sarah Easter here in the audience tonight from Communications by Design um the total amount is $57,000 uh $57 $18 and we would recommend that they are uh selected to be the technology designer they will work alongside the AES Barton mow um Oakland schools to provide the district with the necessary um upgrades to technology and infrastructure uh in relation to the um security as well as uh your instructional learning so if there is any questions as I said we do have

133Miss Easter here miss Easter here who can help elaborate on it or I can provide additional um I don't have a question I do want to just remind everyone when it comes to the technology um designer and Tech that piece of technology um I know we're being transparent but security is always at the Forefront of everything that we do so we try to be very cautious about um plans and um what that looks like so I just didn't want anyone to think that we're glossing over this um but I think that it's very important in the day and times that we live in especially with AI that we um keep that close to vest uh but I do appreciate that we're getting a technology designer someone who understands um how things work and hopefully we're

134uh going to be light years ahead so we're not playing catchup um that would be my biggest ass when it comes to technology um that we have someone Innovative on the cusp of what's new for 2083 so um I appreciate um this information trustees are there any questions for um TJ or Miss Easter I do SP time thank you I'm trying to understand um what services could you give um just an overview what so if what specific services will be provided board president if I may um so this firm will be responsible for coordinating all of the reports that we've received so we had the report from the security Farm we we have the instructional pieces from Oakland schools and from our instructors in the district we have the additional requests for um other security

135upgrades and so this person will not only make recommendations that coordinate all of those requests but also bring forward to the team for consideration the the better way of doing things and the most costeffective way of doing things as well um to outline what uh board president said to keep us light years ahead of um what may be forthcoming in the very near future did I miss anything I did okay okay um yes uh trusty Johnson no problem trusty momas yes you may have already said this but what fund is this coming from this comes out of the bond so this is one of the Professional Services that was originally outlined in our bond application there were um certain Professional Services that did not require us to go out for RFP but we actually solicited

136bids specifically or proposals um was that RFQ we actually did an RFP for this we did an RFP for this one okay um so this is falls under the Professional Services category okay thank you are there any other questions regarding report 6243 trustees Dr Green has asked that we make this item actionable is there a motion on the floor to do so so move support it's been properly moved and supported any other discussion regarding this hearing none board secretary when you're ready please call for the vote just getting the report numbered out don't worry I'm ready all right trusty where the B yes trusty Joyce yes myself yes trusty Bland yes trusty hallay yes trusty Johnson yes unanimous motion carried thank you congratulations next we have report 6244 again this is uh request to carry

137over dollars for the head start Grant um Dr Thompson if you'd like to come back up to the podium in the event that we have any questions you're right can we get I'm sorry point of clarity sure um can we get the accurate report number we we have two different reports so this which one do you have 6243 in the packet the handbook is 6243 on the agenda the technology designer is 6243 6243 is correct right and then 6243 here oh busy is 6243 okay corre the one in the printed is correct the one that's printed is correct the agenda is correct yes okay thank you thank you thank you that's where I was that one you sent sent earlier MH so some of the numbers changed thank you uh report 6244 and um report

1386245 are both being uh the ask is that they both be made actionable and 46 and 46 those are all bu they're all busy items um so 44 is the carryover Grant application uh does anyone have any questions for Dr Thompson regarding this as um you all may recall I um sent an email out asking everybody to go go over um The Busy information since it was quite um full this month um so I hope that everyone had the opportunity to do so if there are any questions regarding report 6244 the carryover Grant application uh Dr Thompson is at the podium hearing none on report 624 4 is there a motion to make report 6244 actionable by opening and approving it so moved it's been properly moved and supported is there any discussion hearing none

139oh are you beating me to the punch board secretary please call for the vote I thought I had a question oh okay do you have one for 6244 no okay for secretary please call for the vote no trusty wal yes myself yes trusty Joyce yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Holloway yes trusty gland yes unanimous motion carried report 6245 busy staff handbook trustees um this is uh the one that I spoke about earlier good job on um getting that out um are there any questions or discussion um regarding this if not does anybody have a motion to open and approve report 62 245 so move support it's been properly moved and supported any other discussion poor president just for the official record these items have uh gone before policy Council and were approved at policy Council

140before coming to you understood that was the question I was I'm trying to get better with reading reading your mind thank you and and the reason I pause and I'll just state to the community I never want any questions I'm asking to sound condescending we all understand the process um as I understand that Dr Thompson also understands the process but I just think sometimes it's worthwhile to make note and to lift um for information purposes and educational purposes of what these processes are so that was my pause at uh whether I had a question or not but I was going to ask if all three of these items went before the policy Council which I'm sure they they did they did hearing no further discussion board secretary please call for the vote trusty Bland yes

141trusty Holloway yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Joyce yes myself yes trusty we Devar yes unanimous motion carried and last but not least we have report 6246 the busy inter agency agreement for the 23 24 year so mooved support it's been properly moved and supported trustees is there any discussion regarding this report hearing none for secretary please call for the vote trusty W Devar yes myself yes trusty Joyce yes trusty Johnson yes trusty hway yes trusty BL yes unanimous motion carried thank you all thank you Dr Thompson thank you and now we have report 6247 social media litigation I will ask um since this is an information item Dr Green will you please give us the information um and then absolutely um similar to that of the jeel litigation uh this is a class action lawsuit

142to go after those have having uh the tech Giants having created social media platforms whereby our children are now being exposed and subject to additional social emotional and U mental um lack of mental Wellness in some regard um again as school districts uh this was something that was imposed on us and much of what happens out in social media world uh walks into our front doors every day so whatever we are able to recoup to again reinvest in those supports for social emotional well-being for our students uh we are asking that the board unanimously support a resolution to join this class action lawsuit trustees um you've heard Dr Green I think we all um know the role that social media plays um with so many of the students that come before us um if it

143is the wish of this board does anyone have a motion on the floor to make make this an actionable item so moved support it's been properly moved and supported is there any discussion around this I have a lot but I know everybody wants to go home so um I think it it speaks for itself truste Smith Thomas yes I'll just say um I'll I'll lift this um in addition to what Dr has already stated uh I think it's important for the community to know that many of the issues that are taking place um in the schools a lot of times when they come to us they have started in on some type of social media platform so it's our responsibility to make sure um that we are um not necessarily policing but that we're just

144being aware of what our youngsters are doing um when they are uh on their phones and entertaining in those spaces because a lot of that comes right back into the schools um um if not immediate uh the same day so I know we're in high technology time but um we just we have to keep our eyes open to that through the chair yes um as um trustees momas mentioned it is our due diligence to make sure that we are the governing body to work with our students through this social media platform but it's also the responsibility of our parents to make sure that they are in touch and in tune with their students on social media I know it is so hard to remove anything that is now become a digit in their hand to

145see what they are doing so I just caution you to be part of their lives ask them to put it down on an occasion and if there's a possibility for you to even be part of their device with whatever tracking or app that is then be part of it monitor who they're in connection with understand who they're talking to when they're on Sony PlayStations and they're making these connections um so I again just ask the parents to be vigilant um as we do our due diligence as well I remind my kids I pay for it that's it it's not hard for me um I pay for it it's mine um I urge you all to do the same because um I think all of us that have sat here and um had things come before

146us I will say say n out of 10 of them all say well on Instagram and they said this on Snapchat and they did this on Twitter and so many parents have stopped me and said I had no idea it was going on we talk about violence some of our violence that has happened in this District was rooted in social media beef so let's remember that uh you pay the bill that's yours mhm everything in your house is yours and quite frankly when the police come knocking it's you they're coming for you that's your Verizon bill so you know I know that sometimes um we we do want to be our kids friends but first and foremost you're their oversight you're their parent um so I would just urge everyone to to take that piece

147back because it can become very dangerous I I call people internet gangsters all the time and that's what it's become um so I I am very pleased that we have this before us and um and thank you Trustees for your comments regarding this the other thing uh board president if I may lift we as a district don't pay legal counsel unless they reach a up so I I want to let the community know that we're also being fiscally responsible and we're not incurring any legal cost to join these class action lawsuits we only um pay the legal fees if they obtain a settlement thank you for that I did I have a question as it relates to the social media and our internet services um do we have the parameters in place that blocks M

148here in the district so we have firewalls however we have some very very very very very bright students so since Miss Easter is here tonight we I'm glad that she's hearing this conversation so that she can begin working on ways to um Elevate our firewalls and and help us in this endeavor because it it is a constant battle and we have a public server and then we have the the uh private server and depending on what they're on and then um as board president mentioned many parents have invested in phones that have data planned so they can go off of our servers and go on their own hotpots and and do a variety of things so we are constantly looking at ways to improve the safety of our children all right a struggle thank you

149trustees is there any other discussion regarding 6247 hearing none board secretary please call for the vote you plan yes trusty Hy yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Joyce yes myself yes trusty waval yes unanimous motion carried thank you trustees um we have um I will be passing this down for everyone to sign as well um we have the financial report and the monthly bill dispersement um everyone received this in your packets are there any questions specific to it uh I would like to say the detail is once again great um it allows us to really take a look at our spending what we're doing and the itemization is um on point so thank you for that Dr Green thanks to Mr Ingram and his team for always doing an amazing job the Auditors are in our

150district as we speak we are trying to finalize all of that and uh get it to the state for for their final approval trustees any questions regarding um financial report or monthly bill dispersement sure um based on U the trip I took with uh his start and uh and uh some of the uh discussions we had and when I took that uh trip uh uh we it was it was required of us to uh watch the uh documentary black boy and uh and so on this trip one of the discussions we had was what was deed and what do we need to do to reach the black child or black boys and and one of the uh uh discussions we had was a really deep discussion was uh reaching out and tutoring by tutoring by

151tutoring the students and so looking at Financial reports or monthly bill dis dispersement what can we do as a district to increase our tutoring in our in in our in our in our district uh and I and I mean tutoring across the board from from from his start to to 12th grade uh what is it that we can do to to reach our children or or what you guys start to say now Scholars starting so poor president if I may um so the one thing that we can definitely do a better job is working with our parents because our parents are our primary Educators at home um that being said the way in which we teach math today is a lot different than what it was some years ago so working with our parents in

152equipping them on how to work with our youngsters our young scholars at home um is is a step in the right direction we have budgeted significant amount of money by way of our Title One by way of our Esser dollars every school in our district has money for after school tutorial every District I mean every school in our district um Miss Rogers and her team did a great job in being Equitable with those funds that being said it's hard to find people that work all day teaching that want to come back in the evening and teach again so we're hopeful now that this bill has passed and and people are able to come back and earn some money you know perhaps a person doesn't want to work all day but they want to come back

153and do the tutorial after school they can do that and earn up to that $155,000 if if they're still within that six Monon time period and then of course if they want to work more hours they can they can um come back after the 6 months and and earn a full salary so we're looking at other ways but the parent University we have to retool that we have to make sure that um the items are there we know that all of our students at the K8 level have the I ready Pathways that families can log on to those are customized to the individual students um so families can utilize those tools at home um over on the counter there are some math tools for uh family engagement and having those curriculum nights at schools are

154extremely important our families have been coming out but now that the schools are open again um we welcome the families to come in there our Civic or organizations that have adopted some of our schools um fraternities and sororities that come in and and work with our young people you heard the ask of our booster club this evening for our Scholars uh scholar athletes specifically um we welcome individuals that want to work with our students so again if anyone in earshot of this U message wishes to work with our young people they will have to pass background checks because we are very protective of our our young scholars but uh we welcome them to contact us and we will connect them with the right individuals and I say great information that you just shared thank you

155and the reason why I say that is because there's a lot of folks out in the community that think that we just sitting on money and doing nothing no and so to share that with this with our community is it's a it's a great share because uh uh I get that question all the time from a lot of folks is you know what are they doing with it why we don't have this why didn't we have that and you just shared it's there to be used but it's hard to get folks to to come back in and and and and tutor absolutely we we've even gone as far as um sending home packets for families specifically with the re by grade three we have a lot of things um that we put in the hands

156of our Scholars to take home and work with their families at home as well great thank you so much thank you trustees any other discussion regarding the financial report and monthly bills disbursement hearing none oh sorry I just wanted to ask if the finance committee has had an opportunity to um review have a sit down dig deep if there were any questions or concerns that came from the finance committee I do have a report out if you want me to give it now or during for the good of the order sure okay um so we didn't dive into the bill dispersements at our meeting but give me one second so uh the finance committee did meet on September 20th 2023 here at jwe trusty Johnson myself trusty Joyce Mark Ingram and Jesse Sutton were present

157Mr Ingram St started by giving us a brief overview of What bond work occurred over the summer um at the time of our meeting there were not yet any expenses tied to Adler because much of the work there has been architectural in nature and actual construction hasn't started yet at the time that we had this meeting um next we reviewed modified and approved a dra updated travel and reimbursement policy for the board which we are excited to share with you all at an upcoming study session and lastly we discussed lobbying our state representatives um our state legislators to include funding in next year's budget for projects in our school district so state representatives have the ability to fund projects in local communities during the budget season so for example state representative Natalie price who represents

158a small portion of Southfield um secured $6.5 million for Coleman Young Elementary School in Detroit 5 million for the flick School in Detroit and 2 million for the Oak Park outdoor recreation space um and then 380k for the Berkeley Community Center um so and these were all improvements in this last budget season so our preliminary idea SL plan is to identify a project in each of our Estate House districts um to propose to our three state reps next year during budget season in addition to uing an additional project through the school aid budget thank you for that any other questions I'm going to um interrupt our agenda really quick because I believe in giving people their flowers while they're here and thank you to Vice President we Deval for the reminder um Celestine Sanders is

159here and she probably is not expecting this at all but we would like to congratulate you on becoming a member of the board of directors for the Michigan PTA that is awesome um for those of you who don't know um Miss Sanders is just a servant leader I don't know any other way to describe you um from the moment I got on this board the first thing you said was anything I can do to help you didn't ask me for anything um you've always supported us you support MacArthur you support the district um and you show up and you show out um we ask you to do something and next thing we know we getting three emails well we going to do this on this date and I got eight people to go be here

160so congratulations it's well deserved um they're lucky to have you so thank you again for all of your support thank you um public participation did oh did I miss something no no one else had okay what happened it's getting a little late I don't know I it comes after public particip yeah not looking at yall agend we we just moved off of a bill dispersement I I moved off a bill dispersement because I didn't want to forget um to recognize that it was on our social media page as well um and uh Miss Sanders was here so I wanted to just say thank you so for president before you uh move to public participation just a couple lifts um our amazing administrators are are at home and they're watching the live streaming so they're texting

161me throughout the meeting so if ever people see me go to my phone a couple other lifts um Aon Marshall wanted to remind us that C2 pipeline has been an amazing partner with the tutorial piece um also aladine wanted us to know that uh the fire department is coming to speak with the Adler Eagles uh this Friday so if I missed any additional pings that came through I know that Tanya Hickman put on our calendar that uh it's girls day on Thursday of the girl Tom so all of our our our administrators ping me throughout the meeting so I want to make sure that I I lift their information as well appreciate you um just a reminder for the good of the order does come after public participation yes um board president um through the

162chair y Dr Green if if you could can you have it clarified um what C2 pipeline well I'm familiar with what C2 pipeline is however um I believe there's a misconception that C2 pipeline is only for southfi entt and not University athletes no so C2 pipeline is a partnership with the district so any student that um attends the Southfield Public School High School uh can participate in the C2 pipeline they meet at Southfield ENT but it is not exclusive just to ENT students it is open it will accommodate their um schedules their their athletic schedu it'll it'll accommodate when they arrive even if they arrive later correct and I figured that's where you were going because I've had people ask me about that and I'm not well versed in it so thanks for that as

163Community you have your answer yeah cuz it they've asked me and I've been like you know what and I forget so that's a great ass it's not just it's not just that's not true anybody else public participation part du if you wish to address the board regarding a school related issue that has not yet been resolved by School administration please submit a comment card immediately comments are limited to 3 minutes per individual as a matter of fairness speakers with complaints against individuals are not asked to mention any persons by name complaints concerning employees pursuance board policy 9130 should be brought to the attention of School principles or other administrators before coming to the Board of Education your cooperation is appreciated Miss PG before you start my three minutes Madam president I love the way you

164facilitate over these meetings oh thank [Music] [Applause] you one of the trustees talked about proposal one and two let me just give you a little bit more information for the three minutes that I have Southville is the only city in Oakland County that still elects a Treasurer and a clerk this past election cycle for the primary we spent $95,000 for One race to eliminate one person now we talk about being physically responsible and do green mentioned that so is that responsible when we could have taken that $95,000 and remodeled the two bathrooms right by the city council Auditorium go into some of these other cities and look at how their bathrooms are remodeled lead certified near their Auditorium now it was mentioned about the Southfield lri dim Club the chairman of that group was appointed

165that same chairman accepted the responsibility of being the chair of the Oakland County Black Caucus I turned the position down he took it he was appointed that same person was appointed to the Oakland County Democratic party Executive Club as well as the Democratic party State Central the chair the city clerk that we had previously when she was in Pontiac she was appointed we have a Supreme Court Justice that I mentored Justice Kyra Harris Balden she did not win the race but she was appointed now a lot of people talked about the fact that she wasn't quite ready for that position because she did not have the courtroom experience so I'm just going to say that it was mentioned that we should whoever the clerk is elected if I heard correctly that they should automatically get

166this appointment if this proposal passes that's not the way it goes but we talk about people being responsible and what we're showing our kids I'm going to try to get an initiative pass that if you are an elected official and you have not paid Oakland County their campaign money for your errors and omissions and you you have a balance withstanding with the county if you don't pay your bill in 90 days you can't serve on what you're elected to that's a part of being responsible in terms of your money we're teaching our kids that when you have bills you have to pay your bills and I watch I look at everybody's campaign Finance report thank you Gail bigam is Gil bam here miss bam the podium hello good evening um my name is Gail bigam

167and I was just coming because I needed to see Dr Green about a matter and I've been calling and calling no answer and I think she's aware of what it's about and I don't understand why I'm not returning I'm not getting a return phone call from her I've also talked with Dr Freeman and I can't go into personal matters from what I understand but it's a very serious matter and I have had no contact from you at all I even came here Friday to see you you weren't here but miss Gardner was I talked to her in length and she never gave me a resolve and I've never heard from you so so that's I'm just miss B yes I'm going to stop you for one second because our um we ask as a matter

168of fairness that speakers do not call People by name you are welcome to address the administration but as a matter of fair to the district um we would ask that you don't call I didn't um call I heard Dr Green and Dr Freeman um they're both employees of the district um so I'm just going to ask that you um refrain from doing so but you may finish okay well I think I said what I need to say I I even came here and not getting a a response understood and I know she not that the so-called person the persons know about this and I'm trying I I I just said what I had to say to every one of them and nothing's changed nothing's changed I don't know what I mean she's a superintendent this

169matter I told I was told needs to be addressed I've done it and I've not I'm not getting any return phone calls and I that's all I just wanted to let her know that I I mean I was led to come come here because I can't understand why cuz what's involved with this is a is a little person a little person everybody's talk about transparency this that and the other but you know some people you have to let them know what's what so I just wanted to let her know I know that and I was told that you know about what's what's what and I just can't understand why no phone call why this is a little person okay A little youngster that's all kind of messed up at the hand of a teacher and

170a principal and you're the one responsible for them so I came here they say people can run but they can't hide I mean it's taking a drastic measure this is really taking a toll on me because I'm a grandmother my daughter is right there she's tired she's she's on strike for General Motors this is wearing us down but that's what I was told is intended to do but I'm not one that gives up quickly on my grandchildren that's it that's all I got to say thank you thank you uh for the good of the order um so I have a couple of things that um I'm going to make the community aware of um it was probably almost a year ago um we were in a board meeting and Michigan First Credit Union approached us

171um Dr Green brought it forth um they asked if they could build a parking lot if you all recall um I was um asked by Dr Green um that the president of Michigan First Credit Union um wanted to speak with me um and so I gave this this woman a call um and you know it's only fear that I let the trustees in the community know that her ask was that she build a parking lot for her employees on Bernie's campus um let me be honest with y'all I couldn't I don't have the words and that's what I told her I didn't have the words um she has a there's a behemoth of a credit union on the corner of 11 M Evergreen um I know the history of it very well because my parents

172live in that neighborhood and they tore down four families homes bought them out in cash um to do so um they said that they were not going to pollute us with noise and light pollution past a certain hour the city of Lether Village had to call them out on that um her ask of me was to consider them building a parking lot I said Well ma'am what why why do you need this oh our employees really need a oh I'm very familiar with Bernie is what she told me I said well you can't be familiar with the amount of traffic that takes place there to Dr Green's credit um she spoke with her on our behalf um just to refresh your memories this board shot that down a while ago um and and kudos to

173them because that's a safety issue right um and and I want the community to hear it from me first um because I wasn't nice um I wasn't nice I felt insulted and quite frankly disrespected um the traffic on that corner is crazy at best from 7 in the morning until about 9:30 you have buses you have parents you have McIntyre Bernie Stevenson University and MacArthur within a 2 Mile radius of that intersection and you want to build a parking lot um I told her uh no very directly um she was not happy um to hear that but I think it's important because I Bank there um we have a credit union Money Matters where our kids open their first account there um um be cognizant of who's in your backyard I asked her would she

174approach West Bloomfield Birmingham Beverly Hills Farmington or Northville with any of that and she told me oh that's not what this is about but it is um so I just want to be honest with everyone about my conversation with the president of Michigan Credit First Union um Credit Union as long as I'm here the answer will be no um I know the people I'm sitting here with the answer was no um so I just want the community to know what we face behind the scenes we aren't pliable we can't be bought I was asked what could they do for us um nothing that would impede on the safety of our people and this community so I just wanted to be honest with everyone about that conversation I rather you hear from me than anyone else

175um I want to thank Dr Green because she's still calling her Dr Green's not going to say it I will she's still calling and the fact that she thinks she can change our mind is is very interesting to me so as you bank and as you choose where to bank remember where you put your money um cuz I'm considering where I take my money out of now um so I appreciate everybody um for making that call um it is the day of the girl tomorrow Stevenson is having an event tomorrow and I believe is it principal month it is it national principal month so everybody go out and do something nice for your principal um we have some great building administrators and I I want to say to them job well done I know this

176is not easy um I walk in those buildings sometimes and I I want to walk back out um because it is a lot but I see many of our building leaders doing it with Grace and they just have a vigilance to be there and to serve so thank you to all of our principles and assistant principles we appreciate you and I really appreciate this community for all that you do and that is my for the good of the order anyone else me um the I just want to bring to the awareness about the Oakland Ace early college program um the and perhaps I'll just let Dr green kind of speak more to it um but we're at the we're uh what is it the application the application window is open it's it's the equivalent of

177a dual enrollment program whereby students attend classes at uh OCC um the Oakland Ridge Campus and they have a 13th year of school uh they graduate with their high school diploma as well as up to 60 college credits paid for by the district absolutely so again the window is open so reach out to your building um counselors and actually our district Le aison is aisee call Von we'll make sure that that information gets out um you may recall that last year we had a student board rep that could not serve on Tuesdays because uh that individual was actually attending classes at OCC as part of the Oakland Ace Program yeah absolutely all right thanks board president I'm um if I may um another one of our principles uh pinged me and reminded me that I

178didn't mention that they have an entire student population taking a field trip um on uh Thursday of this week they're going to three seaters Farm I know that field trips had come up in one of our prior conversations so uh that is principal uh Eubanks at vandenbberg elementary who wanted you to know that the other thing that I wanted to lift and and I know that the trustees know it but um trusty Smith Thomas when you mentioned that sometimes people don't understand organizational systems and how things work and we hear certain things and and and it's very one-sided so not to respond directly um there's one superintendent in every school district one person addressing a lot of matters tomorrow morning I'll be in Lancing addressing many of the issues that I lifted earlier today um

179as mentioned on Friday I was fighting fires and as the trustees know I send you a plethora of emails updating you as to all of the investigations that we are launching so while everyone wants to speak with me directly that is why we have a team in place and the members of the team are actively engaging every phone call email and or individual that comes across our path so we are not ignoring anyone that is in need of our services unfortunately again being one individual I am not able to be the person to speak with everyone so I just wanted to lift that any other Trustees for the good of the order hearing none future meetings October 24th we have a special meeting study session at 6:00 November 14th regular board meeting at 700 p.m.

180just a note we did move our regular board meeting because of election day so everybody get out there and vote don't come here go to the Post State of the district oh we have the state of the district um on the 18th it's taking place at University it's taking at University High School Academy on um November October October 18th I apologize I'm reading November and I'm okay um at 6 o'cl yes at 6 o'cl so please attend if you can um we also have on November 28th our special meeting study session at 6:00 p.m. did I miss anything yes it's on the 18th did I miss anything else not that I'm aware of but okay we'll populate it on the calendar appreciate you this meeting is adjourned at 9:4 at 9:45 s we don't have

181close session mm no we don't have close session today we just had those minutes since the separate minutes from yes yes yes yes