001Uh, press your button on your microphone. >> Yeah, you're good. >> I'd like to call for order the >> the November or the April 8th, 2026 regular order committee of the whole meeting to order at 6 and 5. Merki >> here. Morris >> present. >> Uh Shel is excused. West >> Block Fields is excused and more is here. Please rise under the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Hey, we have um some good news. We have representatives from the repair center here this evening. Blue welding here. Moy is she's right there. Kathy's here. >> No problem. >> Hello everybody. They gave me something to read and
002then we have some students that are going to come up in there actually to read as well. Um, but I just wanted to say, you know, thank you to everybody for your support all the time this year for the career center. Um, I do have a monthly newsletter that goes out every month. So, if you wanted to see that, you can see every month how awesome all our parties are doing. So, even though we just got here tonight, um, we've got a lot of really awesome things going on. So, if you wanted to check our website and maybe I just wanted to thank everybody for your support, all the great community and we just so um this is from our we have next to Fair State University within our class. These five students are going
003to be competing on May 8th for Chandris that will help them with their future endeavors. Each one have proven their mastery in each of their wing processes and have competed against all their classmates for the opportunity to proudly compete for Taylor as Taylor made. We have Melanie Romero, Candovich, Keith Dent, and Blake. Sorry. But I've been working on it and making sure I look at every little bit, study it inch by inch with every weld I make. And it opens up a new view I have on it every time, seeing what I need to adjust, how I need to adjust myself. and it's opened up this chance for me to win a scholarship for this college that I am planning to go to. Before I didn't know what I was going to do as I
004said I was thinking maybe something in construction or in computer or just uh union but I could never decide. I was always switching back and forth every month. But then this class and these competitions have opened up something more. It's opened up the chance for me to go to Fair State and get a welding engineering degree. And it's helped me learn more than many would at this age. Many would be going into these colleges with little to no experience in welding or any skill trade. But this class has taught me for the past two years every little intricate part of a weld, of how to cut, of how to assemble and fabricate all of these materials together. And without Mr. Basler, Mr. Casease taking their time to really show me and everyone else the details,
005I don't think I would have ever gotten to this place I'm at now. and it's just done more for me than I could have ever asked for. And I'm hoping to do good at Fair State, but I have trust and faith in Mr. Basler, Mr. Casease to show me the ways. Thank you. >> Good afternoon. Um, my name is Melanie Ramirez Martinez and I am a thirdyear student welder in the career center and my welding class has done tremendous amounts for me such as um get getting me ready for the industry and also um showing me that there is a lot to learn in this world and um I before didn't know what to do with my life but uh when I entered high school uh I started looking at what my career was going
006to be and how my life was going to look and I used to think that I was going to you know do cosmetology and you might say it's a big jump because you know as a women. Uh, you know, many people get in shocked if you're like, you know, do construction or welding and stuff like that, you know, cuz it's a like a male dominant job. But, uh, I got into it uh, thinking that I wasn't going to make it through, but now I'm in my third year and planning to go more. I got accepted to F State University. uh to do um welding engineering. And I love this class cuz um it brought me together with all my peers and stuff. They're more like family than friends. And I get to show um show
007them that, you know, I have the power in the world. And uh I'm I'm nervous right now cuz I'm not well um well at speaking. But um you know as I was saying to my friends that uh welding is way easier than speaking and thank you and I I thank uh Mr. Casease and Mr. Baser, which are not here for personal reasons, but um I thank them a lot because they got me through this path where I would always talk to them about what I wanted to do and stuff and they would always support me. They would always tell me no matter if I'm going to continue welding after this, um it's what I would like to do. Which that's another thing I like about this class is that, you know, not only do you
008weld, but like you could talk to everybody about like, you know, like talk to my teachers about like personal stuff. And they're like their like family. And so I always had trouble deciding in what I wanted to do, but I ended up, you know, going with um with this career and I enjoy it. I really love it. I enjoy doing it. And um alongside with um the four that are in the back of me, I've been chosen to go to u fair state competition this May. um where I have a chance to win a scholarship and go full-time, you know, ride with the whole scholarship and and I truly don't see like anything out of this career. So I I think this career has chosen me and uh I want to you know continue continue
009welding and um that's all I brought. Thank you very much for having me. >> Hi field. >> All right. So, I just wanted to say good job kids and good luck because these are our five that are going to competition for for states. So, we're very excited. >> Okay. Uh, now we have the scheduled reports. We have the partnership agreement. Uh, Miss Scott or Mrs. >> Hello. Um, I'm here to give an update on the partnership agreement. Um, Mr. Wager, myself, Miss Graham, our school improvement coordinators, um, and our principal at Meyers um, have been meeting pretty regularly with some other members of our team. Um, but I wanted to describe what it is, why we're in it, um, and its importance. So I did provide a document um about it. I think you have
010it but it's not um here on the screen. >> Okay, great. >> Um so basically the partnership agreement um is an agreement that we enter with Michigan Department of Education. Um it's a binding agreement where they identify schools and districts that are underperforming. And so every year schools are required to take mandatory state testing and then they analyze those scores. and Meyers and TBLA had been identified previously and they do not do these identifi identifications every year, but the spring of was an identification year and Meyers and TVLA had both previously been in a partnership agreement because they were identified as needing comprehensive support. Um and TVLA as you understand has a kind of an alternative nature to it by the students that enroll for um you know often are credit deficient. And so luckily
011we were able to get TVI TVLA identified properly as an alternative school and so they are not being held accountable in this um partnership agreement. It's really just focusing on Meyers Elementary. And so, um, TVLA does kind of get some of the financial support for the identification, but they're not held accountable in the partnership agreement. So, the identified schools, like I said, are Myers and TVLA. The accountability period, um, the identification was spring 2025 scores. So, this spring testing season, which has just started, is not any identification period or accountability at all. So this spring se doesn't um count. Next spring 2027 is our benchmark year and then spring 2028 is our you know supposed to be our final year. So what they've asked of us is to set goals um and they give us
012some guidance. So we get a representative from MDE and someone from Wayne Resa who work with us very closely. Um and because of TVLA's previous identification, I've also worked with these folks for a number of years. Um we have a really good working relationship. Um the folks at Wayne Resa are wonderful. They help support us as you know with lots of professional development in the district. Um and so they give us some guidance on how we should set goals. Um and so our goals have some specifics that we must follow and so we have to kind of meet their requirements of things we must follow and then we have some choice in some of them. Um and we have to also identify um what we will do if we don't meet the goals, right? So
013we have to have some accountability measures. And so we work through all of these details with um the whole team and we kind of flush it all out. we have time to work through this all. Um, in terms of goal setting for us and our team, it makes the most sense to look at the district strategic plan and our district improvement goals, right? Because we're not going to set goals for one school that are different than the goals for the entire district, right? If it's good for one school that needs it, it's good for everyone is essentially our philosophy. So these goals that we set um specifically for Meyers really are applying to the whole district um and we are required to enter um goals every district is in terms of their school improvement planning.
014So just want you to know these are all aligning with each other and the strategic plan. So, the benchmark goal um that we have for spring of 2027 is a 1% increase in math and ELA proficiency on the MSTEP and a 1% increase in IR growth. So again, we have some different metrics on our goals. So, we have one proficiency goal and one growth related goal. We also have a 1% decrease in chronically absent students as a benchmark goal. And then we have a process goal. Um, which a process goal is basically like just things that we're working on, right? And they're uh kind of they're not really measurable goals. It's just like initiatives that we're working on, training staff, um procedural things that we're trying to work on. And so we made ours around
015our MTSS process and small groupoup instruction in the classroom to support all students. >> Can I ask a question? All the you said there was additional funding attached to being in the in the bottom. Um so what what initiatives have we put in place for like at the elementary and then also at the TVLA? Um or are they already there and we're already working on them or what what initiatives have we done? Yeah, both. So, some of them are already in place and I think so, Miss Vespie and I kind of like we're both kind of discussing similar topics tonight. She's going to go over in great detail all of the grant funded programs and initiatives that are part of this. So, some of them are regional assistance grants um through uh like TVLA receives
016some of those. The attendance agents are an example of those. um some additional support staff might be examples. Um and then some are statef funded that we again work with our partner from MDE and we kind of say what we want and what we need and then she goes and makes the case for us and then they award those grants. >> So it's safe to say that some of that can be used on personnel just to reduce number of people in front of students. >> Yes. >> Okay. or number of students in front of an adult I should say. >> Yeah. And so we are always cautious you know in personnel costs because ultimately the district will be responsible for them. So we tried to be kind of creative in the things that we're requesting
017um that if they went away we wouldn't be on the hook for things that we are not necessarily willing to commit to. >> Okay. And what what is the plan if for some reason we do not meet these goals? and they they both look very achievable. Um what what is the plan if for some reason we don't or has that been fully hashed out yet? >> Yeah. So the state um they have uh and it's it's quite lengthy the list of things that could be accountability measures. So there could be um restructuring of administration. There could be forced reduction in class size. There could be uh an examination of the curriculum that we're using. Like there's a whole list of them. >> So basically the same things that they've always you know threatened to do
018but just Okay. Perfect. >> Yes. And so in our case um you know previously it we worked very hard at our goals and TVLA again is a a different structure of a school um has been increasing its graduation rate but didn't meet the threshold yet but not accountable anymore. um Meyers had been on a positive increase unfortunately in the account in the identification year took a slight dip and so that's kind of where we are in this place. Um it happened to work out that we have a new administrator at Meyers and so that was the accountability measure that we were able to choose >> at that point. >> What is a TVLA graduation rate? Um I pulled it today and the graduation rate from spring of 2025 it separated by fouryear 5year and sixyear
019cohorts and so the fouryear like the traditional one was 63 almost 64% and it had been going up every year. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the board? Thank you. >> Okay, great. Okay, I'm going to go on to the next one then. >> You're up again. Okay. I would have had to put on my glasses to figure that out, but go right ahead. Public act 146 dyslexia legislation. >> Yes. Okay. So, again, um just an update on this legislation, what we have done so far, um explaining what it is, what our plans are, how we plan to address it. Um so some general information if you can go to the next slide. This passed in 2024. Um essentially this legislation um dictates that districts are required to train all teachers explicitly in
020literacy and dyslexia. Um we have a great foundation here in the district where we have coaches that are able to help us to train um our teachers as we you know have been doing in literacy. Um and this is happening on a continuous basis. Uh a couple of weeks ago we had a training session for our K2 teachers who hadn't received a certain literacy training and then we have another session planned. So, so we're continually working on that. Um, there is a requirement for staff training on dyslexia specifically and everyone in the state is subject to this. So, Wayne Resa again as a wonderful partner, if you want to go to the next slide, they have decided to take on uh a big chunk of this which is wonderful. they're hosting a dyslexia um workshop
021for educators that allows any district who participates to meet that requirement. So, we're really excited to take advantage of that as are our partners around the county. So, that's excellent news. Um in elementary universal screening um is mandatory for students in K3 um by the 2728 school year to identify reading difficulties. Um unlike some other pieces of legislation, MDE has a specific list of screeners that are allowable. And so we are currently hoping that our current screener that we use, which is I Ready, will be approved. Um, actually, as of yesterday, they were not on the list. I I continually am checking that. >> Um, if they don't end up being on the list, and the state is continuing to take um applications and grow the list, right? So, we're hoping that they get on
022that list as of this summer is our hope. Um, if they don't, our plan is to, which we have to, pilot something else next school year to implement by the fall of 27 so that we can meet that legislation. So, we're hoping that they are, but have a contingency plan if they're not. Okay. >> I hope they are, too. >> Yeah, we all do. >> Make things a lot easier. Um uh individual reading improvement plans is something that we have already been doing. This is a common practice. Um this is required for students through our regular screening process. Our MTSS team continues to refine pro like the process for how we're identifying students, the interventions that they receive, how we track it. All of those things we are continuing to work on. That's a big
023part of what the MTSS team has spent quite a bit of time on. Um and then we are required again they have a approved list of tier one literacy curriculum. So this um our new curriculum for K5 is on that list. This is the first year of implementation of that curriculum. So we're excited to use it and get into it. We continue to train staff on it. But just know that we are using an approved curriculum from that list. Um, secondary students are not exempt and secondary staff um, also have to use some kind of screener. It is much less specific. Um, the middle schools also use the I Ready assessment, so that's great for them. There is not a uh, list for secondary schools. They just have to use some kind of screener. Um
024for high school, we also recently purchased a new literacy curriculum that contains a benchmark assessment. So that is our plan to use for high school students. There is a requirement to support students through the MTSS process. Um middle schoolers have a specific course to support them in reading and we are continuing to implement small group instruction to support all students. um at K12 really and adding to our secondary supports. Um there is not a list for secondary curriculums. Um but again we have a exciting new curriculum. This is also year one of implementation of that new curriculum. >> Any questions? >> No questions. >> No. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. And now we have state and federal grant overview. Hi kind of flows right into what I'm going through today. Um so
025I'm going to talk a little bit about our state and federal grants that we've used for this prior year and what we kind of use them on in a big global sense. There's going to be lots of words on the screen and um I'm not going to get too granular into every little thing we spend money on. And I just kind of want to go over it because it's important every year when we talk state and federal funding that we're paying attention to what's going on politically and what's going on with either federal funding between recommendations from the president's office and the senate and house along with the same with the governor and state and house within the state because our federal and state funds impact a lot of our programming here which you'll see
026throughout this. So, I just want to give the you and the public some indication to what we typically spend our grant funds on. So, as you start to see any possible reduction in funding that you have the opportunity to reach out to legislators that can help impact some of these programs. So when we talk federal funds, anything that starts with the word title, like a title 1A or title two, that's federal funds that come obviously through the federal government that get passed through the state and um through what we call the consolidated application. They all have to go through a rigorous approval process that MDE approves and then we get our funding. State funds are start with the word section. So you'll hear section 31A quite a quite a bit that helps support our at
027risk funding and those are state funds that are locally controlled amongst our state. Um little less rigorous in terms of approval for those but there it'll still have to fall under some requirements when it comes to intent and purpose. So the grant types that we typically have are our formula grants. So those are distributed like like on a per per pupil basis. So, our 31A are per pupil, our title one. We have competitive grants. I know uh Superintendent Wiggers talked about 12E, which is infrastructure grants. So, those are competitive. So, they're really based on how many people apply for them and how much money we will receive. You will see designated grants, and we did get a designated grant uh thanks to uh Senator Cameli this past year. Was it Cameli? Okay. um based on
028some work and advocacy from the superintendent again to help support some of our infrastructure needs. So we did get a designated grant and then reimbursement or direct payments. So those are things that are usually legislative requirements like benchmark assessments and we get a per pupil reimbursement for those uh state mandates. Go ahead. So when we look at our grant funds, we always have to remember they're supplemental. So, everyone, I like to use this analogy, everyone gets a cupcake. It's kind of plain. It's just the core of what you get. The supplemental, the grant funds are the extras, the frosting, the sprinkles, everything on top. So, everyone gets base funding, which is almost like our per pupil or foundation allowance. Grant funding is supplemental. It has to go above and beyond what we typically spend. So,
029if we spend general funds on something, we can't go ahead and later spend grant funds on them because that is not allowable. When we're looking at our grant funding, it always has to fall in line with our strategic plan, our goals, our school improvement, and our MTSS processes. So, when you see the review of all our grant funds today, you'll see how all of these support these initiatives as a whole to support our vision for the district. Again, a lot of them help support the MTSS process. We spend a lot on our core instruction for tier one, a lot of personnel costs for tier 2 and three intervention. And again, we always have to align them to our mykit plan. The state will go in and audit and make sure that our plan is updated
030and that our funds align to that plan within the state system. So, the first uh big pot of money we have is title one. Again, that comes from the federal uh government and the intent and purpose is to help our disadvantaged students. Uh it's determined by our census poverty. So, when we do have census years, it's very important that our community fills out their census applications uh timely and turns them in and that we have a high percentage that turn them in because that's how we get our funds. Um we have district and school allocations. We use title one primarily to support our elementary programming. Go ahead. So our district expenditures for title one are big ones in terms of personnel are partial salaries for myself and also the director of MTSS our homeless liaison.
031Um, we spend a lot of money on homeless transportation because we have to provide services for students outside the district that are homeless and they we might have to transport them to their home district or to here. We support care solace which is a referral process for students that might need extra support in terms of mental health. And then a lot of the title funds again get passed down to the elementary schools on a per pupil and at risk basis. And those basically fund our instructional coaches, our interventionists, uh we added those kids on track teachers that have been very successful, our parent engagement and other building needs like technology. Go ahead. As uh Miss Scott had said before, the title one rag is the regional money that we get to support the partnership agreement.
032So this was the amount of money that we received this year. It helps support a TVLA social worker and counselor support providers at Meyers and the professional learning that goes to support the initiatives in the partnership agreement. Title two is meant for professional learning and uh strengthening the quality of teachers that is MDE approved and it uh currently is used to um fund our high school instructional coaches. This summer, we're sending teams from every uh school in the district to reinvigorate our PLC processes uh to an institute in Grand Rapids. So, we're really excited to um start that work again and kind of continue what we started what was it probably a decade ago. We are also funding um teachers to get their pathway to administration. We know within the next couple years we have
033some administrators that will be retiring. So, we're hoping to grow our own within the district to fund some certification opportunities for our teachers. Uh, summer PD work, administrative coaching, and professional learning. Most most of our requests go through the title 2 process. Title three is meant to support our English language students. We purchase newcomer kits, software applications, family engagement. Last year, we started summer family trips. We did a trip on the Diamond Jack boat tour. We took families down there. It was a great exp. We got drenched, like thoroughly poured on, but the the families, we had them fill out a survey. They absolutely want to go back again this year, and I think we're going to add Greenville Village. So, title four is for well-rounded activities. um coming into the district. The district already
034supported PE and steam teachers at the elementary, so we continued to support those along with the materials for those classes. This year, um there was a need at the middle schools for maker space carts. Uh they had nowhere to store all the materials, so we got those. We support the link crew that links the eighth grade to the ninth grade along with some um supplies and licensing for our ruling our experiences for girls uh to support their resilience. Uh one of the things that we added this year were to really support our CTE program. Uh there were some antiquated and outdated equipment. I remember Mr. Merl came to me last year. I think he did the presentation with the the mannequin. He's like, "Can you ever get me a new one of these? There's some
035really nice updated equipment. So, we got that for him this year and he's really excited. We also the like the nursing was taking old school blood pressure. I can't even remember the last time a nurse actually pumped a cuff on me. They just smack it on now and hit a button. So, we got those for the nursing students to actually practice with. Anything else? Oh, did she leave? What? What else did we get? >> We We got um so that they can practice charting. We got some nursing. >> We got beds, wheelchairs. >> Yeah, we tried to touch a little bit, give a little bit of pot of money to all the programs there to really support that because that's a great initiative for our community. Uh go ahead into the next slide. Section 31A,
036it does come from the state. It's a large pot of money that helps our atrisisk students. Uh the goal is to reach those benchmarks. in third, eighth, and grade and college and career readiness. It's based on our free and reduced lunch count. So again, you'll see a push every year for our families to turn in their free and reduced lunch forms because that's what our funding is based on. We're required to implement K through2 MTSS to receive the funding. We do get audited for that. So um if we don't have some of these pieces in place, they do have the ability to recapture funds and we are not allowed to do any administrative costs with those funds. >> I have a quick question on the uh allocations based on the free and reduced lunch count
037>> with uh the state of Michigan currently giving free lunch to our students and breakfast. Is there any worry of under reporting on that number? >> There is absolutely wor worry with that. And when we had the COVID switch and that's when they started doing that, that was a big concern for a lot of districts and it continues to be. You also typically see a big drop off as you get to the high school level with the completion rate. Um we were doing uh p still paper forms. We're trying to move that to an electronic system working with RESA to kind of complete um increase the completion rate as part of our reenrollment process. But that's still taking a we're still working on that. >> Do you know if there's any idea at the state
038level to kind of change that formula process by any chance? >> They are starting to change that. So if you go into the current governor recommendation, there are some changes that could possibly affect the section 31A um allocation. I know in the governor's recommendation there is a new section 22E. Sorry, I can geek out for a little bit. >> Please do. um section 31A and I'll talk about section 41 in a minute. They're going to combine it into a block grant and it'll be based on what we call the opportunity index. So based on basically again poverty rates within your district, you'll get a block grant on top of your foundation uh allowance. Would you know for the Taylor school district if that would be based on the county or the the city or is
039it just a general um average of the actual school district's population for the opportunity index? >> It's based on the city the district the district the district. Now when we go back to title one that's based on the city so it's not necessarily our our district boundaries. >> Um but section 31A is based on our district boundaries. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Go ahead to the next one. I have a few. So section 31A again real high level are instructional coaches, social workers, um a portion of the school counseling salaries, credit recovery programs, uh additional kids on track teachers, and it's again a lot of it because we shifted so many funds to the elementary from title one. This helps support our atrisisk students at the uh middle school and high
040school. Go ahead. Section 41 is the state's version of title three. So, it again supports our students with English language needs. Um, there is a catch to section 41 that's coming within the next few years in order to receive the funding. It's almost like special education. Our EL students will have to receive a certain amount of minutes each week based on their WEDA score. So, we're working towards getting more uh staff their ESL endorsements to help meet those needs. So, that's where a big portion of our section 41 funds are going and we're uh right now going through the initial stages of communicating that with teachers in order to get more teachers with ESL endorsements. Uh this is new this year, the universal FAFSA challenge. a a big pot of money to help increase FAFSA
041completion rate because research shows that as students complete that they're more likely to go to college. So, uh, over the next four or five years, this pot of money will fund a FAFSA advisor, just someone that works a few times a week just dedicated to getting families and students, uh, engaged with completing that with gift card incentives, food trucks, giveaways, Chromebooks, college uh, tours. So, we're really excited about the potential for using this. And I'll say that's part of why tonight we have the second reading for the policy change uh regarding graduation requirements and FAFSA because uh we did need to update our policy to be able to maintain that grant. >> Right. And with that policy um it the state is requiring that the FAFSA completion be a graduation requirement, but there are outs
042for certain circumstances like people can sign a waiver if they're not comfortable with filling out that FAFSA information. Uh there are other grants out there like I talked about the benchmark assessment that helps fund our I Ready. CTE has their own grants along with special education. Um I didn't go over those too much because those are their own. They don't really fall in the state and federal categories that I oversee. So moving into 2627, as I alluded to before, the section 31A continues to be a big support for a lot of our programming. So, it'll be interesting to see how the governor and um the state and house shake that out. Hopefully, they do it by July 1. We got our funds very late this year. And that when we use these funds, we always
043want to be mindful of the intent and purpose to make sure that we're moving beyond just the compliance because there are a lot of compliance pieces toward them, but actually making those compliance pieces align with our MTSS and school improvement processes. any questions or feedback or input? I >> I just have two quick questions. You mentioned that uh you said there were high transportation costs for students outside the district like homeless students. How much are we looking at about >> I know I budgeted for 250,000. Uh that was based on past usage. We did switch companies and they it seems to be a lot cheaper this year. So I can definitely get that number for you. I don't think we touch or going to touch 250,000 this year. >> So our employees, our buses don't
044do this then. >> There's there's no way because it's like single single riders. So they basically use like an Uber for schools. It's called hop skip drive. >> Um and then there's another provider as well that does a similar type of service. >> How far out do we go? Do you know about how far away this is? Some of our >> We go from all the way out to Wayne Westland, Allen Park. They could Detroit all over. Okay. And one more question. Thank you. Yeah. >> So, I noticed we did not get the 31A grant this year. We chose not to. How much did we lose out by not getting that grant? Do you know? >> Was it 1.1? >> The number has changed. >> The numbers changed based on how many there's still pending
045legis or litigation on that. So, it depends on how it's that was one of the competitive ones. So, it's going to depend on how many people opted in and opted out. My my quick numbers based on what the state was about a half a million. Is that kind of close? Do you think maybe a little more than that? >> I there might be something on the internet that will tell you what the actual allocation was. >> I almost feel like when the first applications went out and districts put in before rescending, that probably sounds fairly accurate. >> Uh after the recents, I don't know what it would come to. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah, no problem. I did want to just clarify too when we you asked the question about uh transportation. Uh
046we do consult with our transportation department before we go and enter into those agreements with the other companies. Um and we do consult with our uh union, our support staff union as well and because they know that there is that possibility that they can't cover those items and they we we fully go into an agreement with them to to proceed with that. >> All right. Thank you. All right. Am I taking over this, Corey, or are you >> I can uh play secretary today. So, >> uh agenda, board and discussion items, uh revisions, approval of agenda policy 0166. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Seconded by Mr. Murdski. Uh Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shupelt is excused. Mr. Westfall. Miss Block. Miss
047Fields is excused. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Morars. >> Yes. >> That carries 50. Okay. Moving on to discussion items. Okay. The um Taylor High School athletic improvement final letter of recommendations. We have Sax and Bart Mow. Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh good evening. My name is Joe Spagnolo with Saxi Construction. I'm the project manager for the general contractor who is performing this work. Um with me I have Sam Esser from Barton Malow. Uh we wanted to present our final letter of recommendations that you guys should have a copy of in front of you. Um did want to note there is a difference from the first one we presented. There was a small clerical error where we um basically just did not calculate the final number correctly. Um it was shown on this table from
048day one when we presented it. It's just the subtotal did not include the last line there for the athletic and recreational surfacing um which includes all the turf um tennis courts and all the branding and striping for the fields. >> So what was the difference between the two then? >> It was that that number that 2,72,000 basically that number shown on there it just when I put it on Excel clear error didn't click the last cell to populate. >> So there's about a $2 million difference. Is that what you're saying? >> Correct. >> Okay. How much of that was uh potentially planned for with the contingency of like a percentage when we were initially planning for? >> Yeah, if you want to speak to that. >> Yeah. Uh working alongside uh Saxi, we investigated and
049looked into all the parameters. Uh there's about 500,000 in allowance and another 500 roughly in contingency. That's a million dollars. uh you're looking at 10% of the project cost is allowance and contingency which is industry standard especially when you're doing site work. What that means is it's not money spent now and owed but it's a set aside so that through the course of the project any unforeseen any bad soils or anything that should come to fruition that we didn't expect we have money set aside to address. Should we not have to use it goes back to the district. So our goal is to find ways to mitigate those costs to look at opportunities even with uh some of the alternates that were accepted make slight revisions to the scope of work. uh that gives you
050still a great product but you know will offset maybe some unforeseen costs that may come up as usual in construction where where we fall usually is between 5 and 10% usually when we see construction contingency expenditures uh for site work type activities. >> So we're going to have to run a pretty uh tight ship after this >> oversight. >> Yeah. and we're working in together as well as with the architect the collaborative uh to make sure that we're looking at every opportunity to find cost savings. >> Thank you. >> And I do want to clarify that um the letter recommendation that came before was at roughly 9.8 million. Um but when the previous board approved the project to go forward and to renovate the uh athletic fields, the total number that they had voted through
051approval was 11 million. And so that puts us with the contingencies, you know, we're be at 11.8, but if you don't spend through them, you'd be back under that 11. And that's what makes this an interesting spot to be in. >> Appreciate you being here to answer questions. >> So ju just to understand everyone's role here. So the architect is the collaborative, >> correct? >> And then your firm is >> Saxi Construction. >> And you are the project manager, correct? Now what is Barton Mallow then? >> In this project we are the owner's rep. When it comes to the future projects we'll be your construction manager and owner rep for uh the uh high school renovations. >> So for the high school you'll be doing both. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> But this is for
052the athletics exclusively at this moment. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Because you do have to remember when we got this set in motion at the time when we were choosing Saxi as this construction manager, we had a different owner's rep on record as well. So that's why this one is a little different than what will be on some of the other projects as well. Okay. So my question is were these all the lowest bids? Because I saw there were 62 bids come in. Uh the board never I never got to see any of those 62 bids which I find concerning. Um that's definitely not a best practice but were they all the lowest bids? because I have no idea they were kept from us. So >> for the if they qualified fully um we did go
053to the lowest bid. So for example, we had allowances and certain qualifications that each trade partner needed to meet. If they were the lowest number, but they didn't meet that, we had to go to the next lowest. So I know for example, there's a few of these the asphalt guy isn't the lowest because the lowest asphalt guy didn't have everything covered. So if you were to have everything covered, he wouldn't be the lowest. So um every number on here, as long as they're fully qualified per our requirements and the district's requirements, it is the lowest number. Yes. >> Okay. Is is that normal not to let the board see any of the bids? Don't we usually get to go through those? That's kind of unique. I I believe >> you you uh you anyone in
054the public has the right to view bid results where everyone's stacked. But to Joe's point, you do, you know, we do vet through contractors thoroughly because someone on bid day may have made errors, left out lots of things, uh, you know, within a two to 3 week uh, time period put an estimate together. People may through human error, computer error, whatever may be make a wrong assumption. Uh, they're not necessarily the responsive bidder when they come in low on bid day. So we were off by 2 million not because of the bids but you're saying because of a mathematical error. >> Correct. Unfortunately, yes, that is what happened. Um the the first letter of recommendation we we presented had all these numbers broken out as they are shown here. Um with a few discrepancies where
055we found a lower number, but um that 2 point that $2,72,000 was on that original L that we presented. It's just the subtotal was miscalculated. What was the cost differential between artificial turf versus natural grass? I have been asked that by some parents. >> Um, so I by the time we got involved in Saxi, we did not have a bid for full grass. It was always put in as turf on the infields for the baseball, softball, football is turf, and then the outfields for the baseball and softball are natural grass. So, um, I do not have that information as we did not go out to bid with an all grass option. >> Okay. Thank you. Yep. Are there any other questions or feedback at this time? >> Well, I did want to clarify as well
056that, you know, um through trainings that go on with uh MASB for schoolboard members, trainings that go on with through MASA for administrators, superintendent, you know, it's very common practice that you're hiring an owners rep. They are handling these things. Your construction manager is handling those things. And the idea is because they are the more the experts in the field than myself who has you know a degree in teaching social studies and administering a uh being principal of a school. So that's why we we hire experts and we do those things like that's that's kind of how the system is designed. >> I I think in terms of of what's shared with the board that the board certainly it's it's there for all of us and we just need to ask for it. >> Well
057actually at the last meeting I did ask for it and it is in the minutes and I never got it. And and speaking of the training, when we took that class, some of us did, I think about two weeks ago, that was definitely a best practice um for the bids to be shared with the board, all bids. And so, not only were the bids not shared, which was not a best practice, which we should probably address that in the policy, but you look at the minutes, I literally asked for the bid documents at the last meeting. I never got them. So, that's why I'm going to be voting no on this. I I you know I voted yes on the athletic field because I'm assumed it would be transparent. It is not. And now we're
058added $2 million. We're calling it a clerical error. That's a pretty big clerical error. So I've lost all faith in the process. So we'll be voting no. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> I do want to clarify that uh we don't have a motion on the table on the agenda for this tonight because we wanted to have the discussion first and have this public discussion and that motion will be coming at another meeting. Mr. Madarski, just just so you're aware. >> And can we have those bids emailed to each individual board member? >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> I can send over we have our public bid tabs all all outlined full transparency. So I will get that over to you Mike if you can to your board. >> Absolutely.
059>> All right. Thank you. >> Addendum to the contract assistant superintendent Mr. Wager. So, uh, we are bringing forward an addendum on, uh, Miss Graham's contract as assistant superintendent. Um, when we renegotiated contracts with our cabinet members, um, I think it was about a year ago roughly, uh, we included a clause in Miss Graham's contract that we would have to come forward and renegotiate on salary because we knew that when Mr. Gribble retired, we were going to be changing the workload uh significantly of what's on the assistant superintendent's uh plate. And so, as part of that, there was a clause in there that said basically within, you know, 90 days of Mr. Gribble retiring, we had to come back to the table and we had to negotiate what that salary was going to be. So,
060um this is the addendum to acknowledge and to increase the uh salary per uh what we agreed to negotiate. Okay, any questions? >> Uh, I just would like the uh the opinion of Mr. Wager um on uh Miss Graham's performance in this position as of right now. >> I will say that um she is essential to getting work done around here. like it's basically my right hand and uh it's very good for me to have a lot of insight into how the elementary world works because that is not where I'm from. that is not my lane and it has become just uh vital to have somebody who can help me and move that along. And uh I've seen how certain interactions, certain meetings, uh Miss Graham's ability to uh navigate uh some difficult conversations and
061things like that is uh pretty impressive and I'm very happy with with what I see. >> Thank you. And we're talking the the the the full 5,000 for this. That's correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. I would just like to say I would like to see uh Miss Graham. We've put um a lot on her plate in terms of working with our administrators and uh I want to see Miss Graham run into that with and I know she already is. Um so that would be my recommendation as well is for the full 5,000. Any questions? Let's move on to policy. Mrs. Block or Mr. Wagger, whichever >> I can hop in. I think I I did the last time. I'll just Yeah. >> Yeah. It's actually for the FAFSA grant that uh Miss Fes Peremy had
062brought up earlier. It's just bringing us in compliance with the requirements of that grant. Absolutely. Yeah, if we want to keep that $311,000 that Miss Vespreami mentioned, then yes, we need to to bring this in the line. >> Yeah. And I just want to point out, not only is it in compliance, it's not a bad idea because a lot of times families don't think they can get the aid, they fill out the FAFSA and they're pleasantly surprised that they can get aid. So, kind of forcing people to do something that's only good for them is not a bad idea. There's no harm in filling out the FAFSA. Maybe you get zero. You expecting zero, but you expect zero. You get 5,000. Now, that's nice. So, it's a good idea to fill out the FAFSA. So,
063I like it. Any other comments? Let's move on to um public comment. this uh this portion of the meeting is um uh restricted to sorry I'm having a hard time putting out words tonight to items that we've discussed already on the agenda. Is there anyone wishing to address the board regarding items that have been on the agenda? Mrs. Fields, it's you. I'm going to read my comment thing the whole tight. Welcome to the Taylor School District regular scheduled board meeting of April 8th, 2026. Our mission statement is to educate with purpose, engage with passion, empower the future, and our vision statement statement is that we will create a welcoming and innovative learning environment that nurtures the whole child, empowering every student to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you for being here this evening. We
064value your participation and appreciate the opportunity to hear from our community. Public comments will begin with those attending in person followed by our online participants. Inerson speakers should come to the microphone, state their name and address. Online speakers should use their raise hand feature or the QR code to register. Please be respectful, avoid personal attacks, and limit comments to three minutes so everyone has an opportunity to speak. We will provide an and assist with timekeeping so each guest will be able to monitor their own time and know when to conclude so all who wish to speak will have an equal opportunity to do so. If questions arise, Superintendent Wagger or his designate will work to provide answers in a timely manner. Please note that the comments made by individual board members do not necessarily reflect
065the position of the board of education. This portion of public comment is li limited to agenda items only. There will be another opportunity um later for general public comment. The meeting is held in accordance with the Michigan Open Meetings Act and is being re video recorded. Go ahead, Mrs. Fields. >> Good evening, Kathy Fields Wood Creek. Um I wanted to address the comments by Mr. Mowski. Uh Miss um we can't clearly understand you. I am not happy uh about seeing a an error of that size at clerical and um I would hope that if any additional monies comes out it is not coming out of our general fund or I'm sorry it's not coming out of our our bond. Uh the other thing was about the bids. Um the the bid process that's why we
066pay Bartell what we pay them is they're the the owners rent. They represent us. They're doing the bids for us. We also have our uh director Mr. Gerard who also is involved in those things. And I just did a little research and city council themselves, their purchasing agent sends out the bids and then the bids are voted on presented to the council to be voted on just like we're doing uh in our district. So is as far as seeing the bids, I I trust our director and he sits in on all of those as well. Thanks. >> Anyone else wishing to address the board online? >> Nope. Nope. Okay, we'll move on to action items. >> Okay. Uh action item one, addendum contract, assistant superintendent. It is recommended that the board of education approve the
067addendum contract for the assistant superintendent, Emily Graham, as discussed. Is there a motion? Motion >> uh motion by Miss Block. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Moore. Uh Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shufeld is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Miss Block. Mr. Fields is not here. Um Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Murdars. >> Yes. >> That carries 50. Uh pol or item two, policy revisions and updates. It is recommended the board of education approve the policy revisions and updates with Neiola as outlined above. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Block. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Moore. Uh Miss Shufeld is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Miss Block. Miss Fields is excused. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. That carries 50. Moving
068on to the uh agenda administration. Um consent agenda following policy numbers uh 0166.1 uh including the minutes from the regular board meeting of March 18th 2026 consolidated items payment of current bills certified non-certified and administrative reports outofstate overnight field trips outofstate overnight grant funded conferences is there a motion >> motion Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Second by Mr. Morarski. Uh Mr. Westfall. Miss Block. Miss Fields is excused. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is Miss Shufeld is excused. That carries 5. Now it's time for the superintendent report. >> Thank you. Um actually uh one of the things I was going to piggyback at my report was grant funding again but uh because we know that each week I keep coming out here and talking about the
069infrastructure grant uh that Miss Vespie had mentioned under uh 12E. So I'm very happy to say that we finally uh did get the application from the state of Michigan. Uh I do find it very amusing as we sat Mr. Drod uh Miss Vespreami and Mr. and Edlick and we were filling it out and putting what our needs that we wanted to ask for. We broke the state's application promptly within the first 20 minutes of us filling out the application because we put a lot of needs in there because hey, my theory is if it's a competitive grant and we know we have lots of needs in infrastructure, we might as well swing for the fence and see what we can get and see what we can land here. So, uh, thank you, Mr. premier for
070reaching back out to the state and giving having them give us some advice on how we can get that submitted without breaking their uh website this time around. So, we were able to fully get it submitted. Uh we put in quite a large ask. I do not expect to get as much money as we put in there because, you know, it's a pot statewide of about $und00 million and we put in an ask for $31 million of it. So, I know I'm not going to get that much, but again, my belief is let's see what we can do and see how we can do best to improve the buildings around here. >> Yes. Exactly. Yes. >> I will do that. >> Yeah, that's right. >> So, uh with that said, I'm just glad we're able
071to get that going and finally have that there because I've been looking for it for quite some time from the state. Uh the second part, I want to thank everybody who came out in the community to our ground breaking event before spring break. That was a great moment for our community to come together and for us to start making a difference and start delivering on the things that we have promised uh through the bond program. As I said in my speech that night, um we know it's not as what was advertised when we did this. We know it's not what we were totally hoping to deliver to this community, but our students deserve us delivering on these things. Our students deserve to have facilities that are uh the same as in other communities and and
072as our other school districts and charter schools have. So, to me, it was a big step to have that moment. It's not the last step. We have a ways to go. We have lots to still go ahead with redesigning our high school facilities, but it was a big step and I thank everybody for coming out and being a part of that that night. And that's what I have for tonight. >> Any questions for Mr. Wagger? >> Okay, we shall now move on to items scheduled for the next agenda, which is uh uh Wednesday, April 22nd. We'll have some good news and some student representatives. Now we're open to general public comment. Anybody wishing to address the board regarding any topic whatsoever? Anyone in person wishing to address the board? >> Hi, Courtney Sar 23245 North
073Line. I just had a question. I'm new to Taylor, so I don't know when the survey for the school is out. It says more than 70% of surveyed voters uh were uh supported renovating and modernizing. I don't I didn't get the survey, but I'm also a new resident, so I don't know when that might have been sent out. >> Let me get my mic on. I can answer that real quick. Um it wasn't like a survey that came from the school district. This was where we hired a polling company. So, they used polling techniques. So, when they do that, they take a sample of registered voters. It's not like it was something that went to every single citizen. Uh it was based on their sampling and polling techniques. Did they post them somewhere? >> No,
074it was done by phone. So, they it was, you know, when you get those uh all those calls during political season and they're asking all the questions, that was how the company had proceeded with uh running that bull. >> And I can add a little bit of context to that. Uh prior to me being on the board, uh I actually got that phone call. Uh and uh it was a very sad um and uh disillusioning call that we weren't able to provide what we wanted. But uh the options pretty much were uh would you rather just sit on it and do nothing? Would you try to do what you can with what you have? Um or things similar to that kind of scope of of questioning. Um and it kind of took you through all
075the scenarios and then took you back to the uh the last question. Now with all this information, now that you understand the circumstances, would you want to just keep things as is or try to make good out of a bad situation? >> All right. Thank you. >> And I want to say too that I actually got the call came on my cell phone. I almost didn't answer it, but I did. And um yeah, I have asked actually for the methodology from that because you know, I have some statistics and probability training and I immediately felt that the uh the questions were flawed. uh they did create a false impression that you pretty much had to pick one choice. It was basically a push pull like pick this choice or the world's going to blow up
076and that's why 70% of the people did. And so I have asked for that wording. I've never gotten it. I imagine the margin of error must be very high. And I think once I can actually look at the printed wording, compare it to the statistical literature, I think we'll find the poll was pretty much junk. That information was shared with every single board member of the report with its methodology and everything. >> I never got one about a year ago. >> That's when you were having your email issues. >> Oh, they could be resent to me then. >> Yep. I will do that. Yeah. >> But having having participated in the survey, just from what I remembered, I immediately said, "Wow, these questions are not accurate." Because like example, let's say you have two people
077running for president. The red, the blue, right? People know who they're going to vote for, generally speaking. So you have a good, you know, low margin of error. But then when you're asking people options, you know, one of the options was like, hey, could they change the state law? Could we ask for different bond amounts? You know, there were many options that weren't presented. So they basically said do this or else. And that's it there was just a flaw in the wording. So I consider that 70% meaningless. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else in person? Anyone online? No. Okay, we will move on to board member comments. Just >> Oh, there is someone online. >> Okay, go ahead. Do we have a name? >> Samantha Thunder. >> Thank you. >> Um, I'm here because
078I'm concerned with how my child's being disciplined at Canyon Elementary. He was made and screamed at by a lunch dad to hold his nose against the wall. and while being bullied and stopped the entire lunchroom for this process to happen. Can someone explain to me in the code of conduct where that's allowed? That punishment is humiliating. It's bullying. It's physical discipline. This isn't teaching kids better behavior. It's embarrassing them. He doesn't want to eat at lunch now. >> Yeah. I'm being hung up on by the principal when addressed and then she's disrupting my child's education by pulling him out of the classroom to tell him that I called mad. >> I could not agree with you more. Can you leave your name in what school? Um with um Mrs. Graham. >> I'd actually like to
079provide just a little bit more information. So she has already called me. she called prior to break. Um, and we are doing an investigation. I do have a little bit of information. Um, those students when they're told to line up to leave when they're allowing other classes to pass, they the direction is that the students are supposed to turn toward the wall. And there was at no point was any student required to put their nose against the wall. But that that's just a little bit. I'm absolutely planning on calling her within the next 48 hours as I conclude this investigation. >> Yep. Um so we need about another 48 hours to conclude the the investig investigation and then um I believe Mrs. Graham will get back with you but certainly that's uh putting your nose
080kids in the corner with their nose up against >> it wasn't during the lineup. He got a write write up and Mrs. Sweet even told me that his write up he got a write up for fighting and she told me on the phone that it wasn't for fighting. I'm I We can't be lied to about our kids. We have to follow the code of conduct. It's in I shouldn't be hung up on by a professional. I >> Yeah. I >> My son's now going to go another 48 hours without eating lunch. He hasn't ate lunch all week cuz he's embarrassed. >> Yeah. I it's it's difficult on a on a Zoom to first of all to hear everything that you're saying and it would be nice to be able to look at you and because
081it's you know you're you're bringing up some concerns but uh but again we need a full investigation first and then I believe that we'll sit down with you and and and go through everything and then certainly make any corrections that we need to do on our end um if that's what it what it turns out to be. Um, you know, it's difficult to hear on a Zoom on a Zoom call. So, you know, so this isn't the best forum, I don't think, for dealing with the issue. >> I know. I've tried to go through every avenue. >> Okay. Well, we'll make sure that you're followed up with. >> Thank you so much. >> I can guarantee that. Yep. Thank you. >> Anyone else? And to that parent, if you could uh email uh me, my
082email is on the on the the uh school board of education website. >> Myself as well >> and yes, the presidents as well. Uh please follow up with us. That way we can have a detailed um interpretation of the events and then we can, you know, make sure we're doing the best make sure that all of our students are feeling comfortable and welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Uh board member comments. >> Um I'll kick things off real quickly. Um I just wanted to confirm uh with the superintendent. Um one of the main reasons we picked these uh groups for our construction projects uh had to deal with a a kind of a no fault guarantee kind of situation of uh if we don't like what they're doing, we can you know get
083a lot of our money back. Could you uh touch on that a little bit? >> Yeah, I can a little bit. I don't have all the exact details in front of me, but that was one of the things when um Saxi had come in and they had bid the project of being construction manager for the athletics. They did one of the things we liked about it was they did have a guarantee in there that if there were things we were not satisfied with, it would alter the the cost uh what their costs are. So, um that is something that is on the table because uh of and one of the things we liked about their presentation was that they would own those kind of things. And could we get a copy of that uh contract
084again sent to our emails? Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'd like that, too. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other board member comments? Okay, then we shall, I believe, move into close session. >> Yep. Go ahead. >> Oh, and uh the food that the kids prepared for the groundbreaking was delicious. So, good job. Shout out to them. Uh keep up the great work. uh adjournment to close session policy 0137.2 pursuant to Michigan's open meetings act being public act 267 of 1976 and as amended I move the board convene in closed session pursuant to the material exempt pursuant to section 8e of the open meetings act. Do I have a motion >> which is a sir? >> Uh thank you litigation. >> Thank you. Uh, is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Moore. Is
085there support? >> Support by Mr. Madarski. Uh, Miss Block. Miss Field is excused. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shufelt is excused. Mr. West. That carries 50. We're going to close session at >> uh There's a clock everywhere but in front of me. >> 7:16. >> I was going to tell you. You have to level us out. >> Okay. Okay. Um, >> it's for Yeah, it's for action after close session. >> Yep. This is for an act additional action after close session. Um, it is recommended the board approve settlement authority to legal counsel as discussed in close session. Is there a >> motion? Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Support by Mr. Mardarkski. Uh, Miss Shel is excused. Uh, Mr. West. >> Yes.
086>> Miss Bluff. Miss Fields is excused. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. Morris is a yes. That carries 50. Uh back to the president for adjournment. >> Okay. Um German. Need a motion? >> Motion by Mr. Morris. Is there support? Support by Mr. Westall. Mrs. Fields is excused. Mrs. Moore is a yes. Mr. Murdki, >> yes. Uh >> Mr. Morris, >> yes. >> Miss Shupeld is excused. Mr. Westfall and Miss Flop. That passes 5 and we are adjourned at 7:43.