001We're running a few minutes late, but we're going to call the meeting to order. If we could please rise for the pledge of allegiance. And I didn't get to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation indivisibley andice for all. >> Well, thank you all. We're going to start with our golden apples. So, Dr. Lens. >> Thank you, Madam President. I'm happy to turn over to Dr. Hamco. >> Good evening. At this time, can I please um have Mrs. Anna Mansour, come to the front of the of the room, please. Anna Mansour. >> Right. Right there. Perfect. >> Okay. >> Anna is our first Golden Apple Award recipient. Uh she is the confidential assistant to the assistant superintendent of human resources. Anna was nominated by Haley Treor because she
002is always positive and willing to help those around her. Employees across the district share have shared that Anna is truly the light of the district. Some have shared that she is the angel of the district. Maybe the light angel of the district. I'm not sure. In any event, her knowledge of the district is incredible. From processes and procedures to people and programs, Anna is a trusted resource who consistently goes above and beyond to ensure others feel supported, informed, and valued. What truly sets Anna apart is her commitment to continuous improvement. She is always thinking about how we can do things better, how we can streamline processes, enhance communication, and better serve our staff across the district. Anna, thank you for being such a vital part of our team. Your positivity, knowledge, dedication do not go
003unnoticed and we are incredibly grateful grateful for all that you do. It is an honor to recognize you this mo this evening. Thank you. I would say I work with district. That's it. Thank you. >> It is my pleasure to ask Allison Link to come up. Allison, >> our next Golden Apple Award recipient is Allison Link, elementary server and PTA president at Keith Elementary School. Do you feel uncomfortable now? >> Perfect. Allison was nominated by Lori Agenba, a PAR educator at Keith. Allison is known for treating everyone with care, warmth, and respect. She is especially patient, kind, and attentive with students with unique needs, creating a calm, supportive, and welcoming environment each and every day. Allison goes above and beyond to make every student feel seen and feel valued. She knows students by name, greets
004them with a smile, and celebrates birthdays with a special sticker at her register. These small gestures that leave a lasting impression. Just one example is how she made sure to find a student who missed the breakfast line just to wish her a happy birthday and give her the birthday sticker. Moments like these truly capture the heart that she brings to her work. Beyond the cafeteria, Allison serves as Keith's PTA president, giving her time and energy to support staff, students, and school events in countless ways. Her dedication, generosity, and school spirit makes a meaningful difference throughout the entire Keith community. On a personal note, I had a great opportunity to work with Allison last year, and I can tell you she is very patient. I was trying to serve breakfast, and she yelled at me once,
005which was fantastic. I appreciate that. So Allison, thank you for being the heart of Keith Elementary. It is our honor to recognize you this evening. >> You're welcome to say a word if you like. >> It's your world. >> It is an honor to work in the food service for Wald Lake. I love working at Keith Elementary and my parents always that if you find something that you love, you will never work a day in your life. So, thank you so much. This is an honor. I appreciate you. >> Thank you. We're moving on to middle school web presentation. Dr. Lans, >> thank you very much. It's my pleasure to turn over to Mr. Scaling. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Uh, also my pleasure to turn over to Mr. Btari and two of our web
006sponsors from the district who are going to come and share a little bit about our web mentorship program at our middle schools. Hey, good evening everyone. My name is Ntar, the proud principal of CHS Middle School. Uh we're here to share with all of you one of the initiatives we are especially proud of this year at the middle school level and that is our implementation of web where everybody belongs. This program is designed to help support our incoming sixth grade students as they transition to middle school by connecting them with eighth with trained eighth grade student leaders who served as mentors and role models. The goal is simple but powerful to create a school environment where every student feels welcomed, supported, and that they truly belong. Our eighth grade leaders and web teacher leaders have
007done an outstanding job helping younger students navigate the academic, social, and emotional adjustments that come with entering middle school. Uh, programs like this strengthen school culture, build student leadership, and reinforce the idea that our schools are communities where students look out for one another. At this time, I'd like to introduce two of the web teacher leaders who played a key role in bringing this program to life in our middle schools. Uh please join me in welcome Jessica Golab from CHS Middle School and Casey Stassy from Sarah Banks Middle School and they're going to share more details about the program and its impact had on our students and school communities. We also have Nathan Bruce just is hanging out but is also one of our all can say he's also one of our web leaders and
008we're excited he's able to join us today too. >> Thank you very much. >> I think Jessica's gonna take the lead on this. Amazing. All right, so we're here to share a little bit of information about web. This is our first year implementing it. It's been really exciting and there's a lot of really cool things to share with you about how it's gone so far. Um, so web was started by the boomerang project and they have a couple of different versions of this program. There's the link crew through the high school. Um, I don't believe we have that in our district, but Web is the middle school version of this transition program. And it helps provide a structure for sixth graders coming into middle school. That's a huge, super stressful transition. Everything is changing for
009them. They have six classes that they have to organize. There's a lot going on. It's a really stressful time. And so this is to help give them some structure and give them some eighth grade mentors that are going to lead them um through the show them the ropes and help get them acclimated. Um so web stands for where everybody belongs. Um I mentioned it's a transition program and it really helps these students feel supported, welcome and excited to come to middle school. And we have trained eighth grade web leaders who act as their role models and mentors. Um they work in small groups. They work very closely with the sixth graders to already give them a support system before the first day of school even starts. So the goal of web is really to help
010provide schools with a structure that helps these students make real connections with these eighth grade mentors but also with the other sixth graders going through the program. Um we've found and studies have found I think from the web program and from boomerang project um this can help with increasing school safety. This helps with reducing incidents of bullying. Um, and students learn that people at school really care about them. The adults from the web program care about them. Their eighth grade mentors really care about them. Um, this can increase student achievement and it helps kind of enhance their character development. Um, it also helps to create an anti-bullying environment. When there's more support, hopefully that bullying goes down. Um, and it helps to set them on a course of academic success. They're starting middle school on
011a positive note. These are our middle school web coordinators. So, there's a group of eight of us from all of the middle schools who were brought together to help implement web. And we went through a big training process and we all kind of went through this together to bring it um to life year one. So, there's Nathan and I from SMARTT um Amanda, uh Alex, and myself from Sarah Banks. >> And then there's Rosemary, Mark, and from Walnut Creek, >> of course. Okay. Um, so we did have to go through quite an extensive training program in order to become web coordinators. It was a three-day program where we got to experience what the summer orientation looks like for sixth graders. So, it starts off with us acting like we're sixth graders experiencing web for the
012first time. And that helps us get an idea of what the sixth graders are going to feel um once they're at orientation. Um this included a full training manual, online training materials. We also have database database access as well that we can use every year um throughout the training process or the orientation process. Um there's ongoing phone support and we also get this really cool follow-up handbook that has a lot of lessons like follow-up lessons we can do with the students and that the eighth graders can do with the sixth graders. And there's other supporting materials too. Um fun fact at the bottom, 94% of All attendees rate the web basic training as the best professional development they've ever experienced. I I'm one of the 94%. It was the coolest experience. I I can't even
013put it into words. It took a group of >> It was like camp. I would say it was like camp and they fed us really good. We all >> And it was great because it took this group of eight people. I hadn't met most of them before. I hadn't known them. And it took this group of eight people and brought us really close together where it was sad to have to leave training. Um, people from all over the country. There was somebody from Saudi Arabia. Like we we became like a really close-knit family almost for those three days, which is really cool to experience. So, in order to get eighth grade web leaders, there is a bit of a training process. In seventh grade in the spring, they will formally apply. Um, and these applications,
014they're physical paper applications that have a lot of questions geared towards, you know, how can you help students? How do you support others? Um, it has questions that kind of like figure out what their character is, um, what is their involvement involvement in and out of school and what personal experiences do they have with being a leader. This uh, process is also supported with teacher feedback, uh, interviews and then the applications. Um, all of these things factor into how we figure out who's going to be a web leader. And I know for us at SMART, one thing that we did to help with um, getting applications is we asked the staff members, hey, if you notice that somebody is demonstrating leadership, just give them an application. We'll take care of the rest, but just give
015them this application, put it on their radar. And we were able to get a lot of incoming eighth graders that were interested in being web leaders, which was really, really cool. And then this is a copy of what the application looks like. This is the Walnut Creek application. There's also one for Smart and one for Sarah Banks. Um that all are very similar together. And I'm going to hop in here really quick. I'm going to mention a couple things and if I say them later, just ignore me. But a couple of things about what's cool about the web program is that uh the students it they don't have to be a students. They don't have to be JHS kids, they can be they're your leaders. They're your everyday people who want to make a difference,
016but maybe, you know, academics isn't their strong suit. So, this is a time for those eighth graders to shine. Um, so once they put in their applications and we've gone through them, we've talked to the other teachers, they like, "Yes, this kid, he's reliable, she's reliable, they'd be awesome for it." Um then the first thing that we do is they're they're actually seventh graders on this day, but they're going to be eighth graders in the fall. So it's called the web leader spring day of play. And it's a team building exercise where they get to start playing with all of the like this draw game and all the things that they're going to do with their sixth graders. As eighth graders, they do it together kind of like we did in training. They get to
017do that at the spring day. Um then the training process. This is a bit more intense and this is in the application. So, they know going into this that they're going to have some summer training. This is when eighth graders spend two days, their five hour days. So, they're long days. They spend two days preparing for the sixth grade orientation. They make activity bags. They receive their web partners. Um they are working in teams on in team building activities and they make posters and um just to script again the web partners. A lot of we actually look into it. We're we're doing things behind the scenes where we might have a student who's like really into sports as an eighth grader and one that's like really into like gaming or arts or something. So, we
018put those web leaders together so that no matter who's in their group, hopefully the kids can connect to one of those leaders. Then is this is when the eighth graders shine. This is a big day. It's the eighth grade orientation. So, it's when the incoming sixth graders uh right before school starts, before the first day of school, the sixth graders are invited to come to the school for orientation. It starts with this huge group building activity like this balloon pop, the top pitcher. They get so into it. They're screaming. They're clapping for everybody. We're like, "We're not overstimulated. This is fun." and um and but they're like getting excited and comfortable in the school. So students are introduced to staff, they get to connect to new friends as well as old friends from their elementary
019school. Um then they break up into the groups. So those partners, those two partners of eighth graders, they take they're assigned groups of students who are mixed between all the different elementary schools because we want them to connect with other kids. So the sixth graders are brought into classrooms for small group team building activities um like balloon bounce one left the straw challenge and these are all the things from the spring day of play and they end their time with the web leaders giving the sixth graders a tour of the building and they'll give them like the inside scoop like okay you got to come on Wednesdays because that's when we have Marco's pizza so you want to show up right right here in line okay so it's it's really cool and if you can
020see too in the picture on the left I thought this was really there's a girl, Lily, she's an eighth grader and there was a boy with a broken leg and we they didn't have a key so or like he was getting tired so she's like just get on my back it's fine and it was so cute then they became instant friends script is there a volume because it's kind of We didn't have that much. >> So, these are the eighth graders talking about why they love it. Can't hear. older kids. school about it. I love how >> as it was Now we're going to watch. So do pop it. Are you good? >> No, I don't have to. But >> okay. So um so the web no problem web events this year the eighth graders
021they have connected with the sixth graders in some fashion such as at lunch for catchup conversations. The eighth graders love this because they get to miss some school some of their class. Uh they're welcome they welcomed our new students at a new student breakfast. They created positive posts and decorated the sixth grade hallway. There were social follow-ups at school events and they assisted at parent teacher conferences at banks. NJHS uh wasn't able to help this year. So at banks they uh web leaders even were there to help with the class helping the students manage the hallways and their schedules. >> We're hoping to have next year's web >> looking at the police. Is that okay? out there yet. Just >> um we also want to make sure that there are quarterly web events. Uh web
022leaders should be part of the sixth grade events such as Day of Awesome. They should sit with them at assemblies, after school events like cheering them on in their sports or the sixth graders coming to cheer them on. Uh other options for web happenings. Uh these this is fun because all of these options they were just brainstormed by the current eighth graders. That was pretty cool. So a scavenger hunt, a full school scavenger hunt, a fall field day, board game day, a web Olympics. They're very adventurous. Uh positives posts. >> So this was already done at one of the schools with eighth graders decorating sixth grade hallways with positive art. >> Can I interrupt you guys for one second? Will you guys do me a favor and just move to the microphone? People at home
023are having a harder time hearing. We can all hear you, but they're having a harder time hearing. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes. >> That's it. >> Thank you. >> I do have one thing that I want to add going off of the um activities for a second. Um web, it's easy to believe that web is just an orientation, but it's really a full-on transition program. Um, and so the goal is not just to have orientation, but to have all of these follow-up activities, all of these additional opportunities for the eighth graders and sixth graders to meet together. You don't just want it to be a one-time thing and then it's done. You want it to be um, you know, continued connection, continued support. So, that's where these ideas are going to be helpful, helping
024us figure out how we can get the sixth graders and eighth graders continuing to connect and continuing to support each other. >> Yeah. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Oh, yes. Sorry. Questions, questions. >> One question. Um, so every sixth grader gets paired up when they come in. You know, it's not a choice. They're paired up and they're in the program and they're going through the program. >> Yes. Every single sixth grader, whether they attend orientation or not, they're still assigned a web leader. So, you know, there are students that aren't going to show up at orientation, and there are students that show up and they didn't even sign up to come to the school, and they just show up at orientation. and we figure out a leader to put them with and they stay
025with that leader that year. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Smith. >> Yeah, Mr. Smith. >> Mr. Kaplan, um I'm qu wondering if if there's any events tailored around inclusion week, if you guys are going to be doing anything with the upcoming >> That's a good idea. >> That's a really good idea. We We haven't got to that point. We haven't discussed that. I mean, >> I know it's a couple weeks away, but >> yeah, we that idea of pushing forward with we discussed it when we all met a couple months a month ago or so and trying to formulate ideas and we're all picking brains like we teach leadership the leadership encore class now and we're picking brains on kids with that kind of stuff and it's really student driven >> you know I mean
026they have so much better ideas than all of us anyway so you know and that's something we can really talk about you know and and see what else we can do that would be great absolutely >> that's a great idea I think it's worth asking the students about >> very specific My my last burning question because you and I, Mr. Bruce, had this class together. >> Could this bring back that link crew really struck it. Is it similar to what we experienced at Central and PPI? >> I I would say it is that positive peer influence that we took 20 something years ago. Yeah. 30 20. Um, yeah. I I would say it is because it's it's literally Yeah. 25 26. It's building student leadership and it it is it is the school saying we
027want these kids to be leaders and be seen that way. and you know the training that we give them, the interactions that they have and then the ongoing you know uh learning that they have from it they are definitely into those roles. Um I we've already connected with the leadership team with John Sharp at at um Wald Lake Northern and we were big we helped out with their gift drive. I mean the connection is there. So I I think that that is definitely something that would be awesome. Okay. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> If you're asking my opinion >> any other questions? Well, thank you guys. It sounds amazing. We appreciate you. >> Thank you for your time. >> Okay, we're going to move on to public commentary. >> Waiting for some lights. >> They're coming.
028Well, thank you all for coming tonight and for your interest in addressing the board. This is your opportunity to address the board. The board will listen to your states, questions, or concerns. We're not going to have a conversation. If follow-up is necessary, a member of the superintendent staff or a board member will get back with you. You have three minutes to address the board. Please keep a t an eye on the timer on the wall. If you come close to your time, Mr. Lipit will give you a warning that you're coming close and for you to begin wrapping up your comments. We ask that all speakers remain professional and refrain from any personal attacks. Thank you very much. And with that, we're going to start with Tim Smiller. Good evening. Tim Smiller, Commerce Township, using
029pronouns he, him, and his. I realize I'm preaching to the choir as far as this board and administration is concerned. But for everyone else listening, no funds from school bond issues cannot be used to pay teacher salaries or other general operating costs. They are specifically designated for capital projects like building construction and renovations. This means that while bonds can help improve facilities, they do not directly support teacher compensation. Michigan's public school funding has seen significant changes over the years, particularly in relation to inflation. While there have been increases in funding, the overall purchasing power and classroom dollars have not kept pace with inflation. Over the past decade, Michigan has increased K12 school funding by more than 20%. Michigan is in the middle or slightly into the top half of states for education funding. Despite these
030increases, inflation adjusted funding has not fully recovered to the levels seen in the early 2000s. This is true nationally. A report indicates that per pupil revenues have actually declined by over 20% when adjusted for inflation since that peak. The Headley amendment passed in 1978 limits property tax increases in Michigan. It requires voter approval for new taxes or tax increases and rolls back millage rates when property values rise faster than inflation. This was designed to protect taxpayers from excessive tax burdens. However, the Headley amendment restricts how much revenue schools can collect. If property values increase significantly, the millage rate must be reduced, which can lead to lower funding for schools. Schools rely on operational millages to cover expenses like salaries and supplies. If these millages are rolled back, schools may face budget constraints impacting their ability
031to maintain programs and staff. To counteract funding losses, districts can seek Henley overrides to ask voters for permission to high levy higher rates. However, these requests can be politically challenging and not all districts succeed in securing the necessary necessary approvals. Many districts report facing budget shortfalls due to the limitations imposed by the Headley amendment. This can lead to difficult decisions regarding staffing and program cuts, and schools may lose good teachers. If we want teachers to be paid what they deserve, we taxpayers may need to step up. So, if the board ends up asking for a millage increase to pay for good teachers, support that effort. In the meantime, contact your state senator, Jim Runstat, and your state legislator, Matt Maddock, and tell them to stop messing around and fund our public schools as they used
032to be funded, like back before Republicans started cutting taxes to benefit the rich and diverting funds to charter schools. Thank you. >> Thank you, Bill. Sorry, I've, you know, just not not going down the last name route. >> So, uh, yeah, I wanted to start, uh, first, Dr. Laws, uh, and his staff were very kind to meet with me today and discuss some of the nuances, some of the very particulars, uh, the unique challenges and, uh, distinctiveness that makes up Walt Lake and had a lot of clarity. And I I have to apologize. Sometimes I've been a little obtuse in some of the statements and math. It's been a very contentious six to 12 months, we'll say in some. Um but you know, with that being said, it's been very positive. I will say uh
033how much I can say, but nonetheless, I'm glad that it seems like this may be coming to a head. So that's great to hear. Um however, I do have to kind of say, you know, we've been advocating for this for quite some time. It's been a long road. and due to that length and such, you know, and hearing about it, whatever the final figures do come out feel like we're going to be facing the same thing here in 12 months, 24 months. Uh, a lot of the fundamental issues that we've been talking about really don't seem like they've been addressed to maybe the level that we need for the district. Now, like I said, it's all hearsay items like that, but um, when's the best time to plant a tree? was 10 years ago. Next,
034best time now. Today, right now. So, in 12 months, the problems that we've been talking about are still going to be there. There we're still going to have problems with teacher retention. We're still going to have oddities in our district that may be challenges going forward for quite some time, possibly all hypothetical. But changing gears on just a slight subject. I've always been talking about budgets numbers and let's uh I got to focus this one in internally on parents ourselves. It's not just money. It's not just the boards. It's not just policies. It's about what parents do to help the education system along. Taking a little time machine here. This is the the 90s. I'm dating myself now here. I remember in sixth grade I I got a little piece of paper that said perfect
035attendance on it, right? you know, moment of pride, youthful pride, we'll say in that sense. Um, as I look through some of the data, I I see some fundamental sea changes happening. Um, it was always faux paw to send your kids sick to school. You know, you don't you're not supposed to come to the office sick either, but we do. You know, it's those little sins in life. Um, the numbers are pointing something far more systemic. We used to be as high as 97% rate in Wald Lake Consolidated School Districts. We're now reaching 92 and change in some cases. That's effectively 10 days more that are just poof out of the mandated 180 days for education. Now, attitudes may have changed in Baron. You know, the the the Fibby movement or YOLO, whatever it may
036be, those have soft impacts on our educators. They have to keep they have to catch those kids up. They have to create alternative education packets. Just more and more absorption of resources that we've already said are constrained. So I'm guilty of that myself. There have been many times wi since co >> Oh, don't worry honey. We'll we'll keep Liam out an extra day and we'll go to Florida a little early. >> So I'd really like parents to try to maybe take internalize and really prioritize education as much as we say we do. Thank you for the time everyone. >> Thank you. Peter Beerman. >> Good evening. Uh Peter Barman. Uh I have five kids in this school district. Uh two at Sarah Banks and three at Wixom Elementary. Um I'm here tonight as an elected
037official. Um I'm in my seventh year on city council for the city of Wixom. You all should have received a letter from us this week. We as a city have some serious concerns with the uh new school being developed and myself and Jason Kennedy from uh the council are here this evening to at least make you aware of our concerns and and bring attention to the letter that we uh provided you with. Uh we've uh noticed out a public hearing to our residents uh for Tuesday at 7 o'clock and it's already getting a lot of traction. I've already had people text me even throughout the meeting this evening. I would encourage the school district to make sure you guys have some representation there so you can hear what the residents of the city of Wixom
038uh are concerned about. My concerns are safety. Um, I mean I the parking, the landscaping, the lights, whatever. I I you guys are going to do what you want to do there. And from a city perspective, I'm not really sure that that's I have an opinion on that. I do have an opinion on safety. Coming here, driving down Maple Road tonight, passing the bus yard turnin, there there's uh deceleration and acceleration lanes on both sides of the street. If a bus is looking to turn left, traffic can still go around. At the new Wixom Elementary School, you're not proposing to do anything. Despite putting in your bond packet that you're going to spend 550 $550,000 on improvements to the rideway and traffic, you're looking to do nothing. There's about a thousand residents that live past
039the new Wixom Elementary. If cars are looking to turn left into the school in the morning and they're backed up, that's a thousand people that can't get to their homes because you guys won't put in a passing lane. That's very easy. The second thing, and I think the most fascinating thing in my own mind, is not putting a sidewalk in front of a new elementary school. We have gone above and beyond in the city of Wixom to add sidewalks and paths throughout the entire community. And you guys are looking to build a brand new elementary school without a sidewalk in front of it. >> 30 seconds. >> We as a city are committed to making sure that that sidewalk that you put in front of the school be will be connected. But you guys have
040to plan for a sidewalk because otherwise every all those kids are going to be walking in in the parking lot. Someone's going to get hit. That's a safety concern. So, I think you really need to look at the street and I think you really need to look at the sidewalk and make sure the kids and the community are safe. Thank you. >> Thank you. That' be Jason Kennedy. >> Good evening. My name is Jason Kennedy. I'm first year on city council at Wixom. Uh just coming to say some concerns I had about the city or the the new school going in in Wixom. First off, excited to have a new school being built. Um understand that state law means that we can do almost nothing in regards to what you guys want to do with
041putting in the school, but I wanted to echo the concerns that Mr. Burman had about there. There's no sidewalk, there's no deceleration or acceleration lanes, there's not even a lefthand turn lane to alleviate any traffic that might be coming out of this. it's going to run into the same problems that the other schools have in the area. Um, I'll make mine pretty quick here. We invited the public to come down for um, comments in a public hearing on the 10th, 7 p.m. next Tuesday. I was really hoping representation from the board could come and hear what the public has to say. There were a lot of comments talking about the safety issues. They had concerns with the traffic. They had concerns with people parking outside of their homes in the communities around the school. Just
042hoping to get some kind of conversation going about this so we can work something out with it. As Peter said, uh, city has put in sidewalks all over the place. Very committed to making it a walkable community. Sure, we'd be able to connect that up to the sidewalks we have existing of a sidewalk in front of the school. Thank you. >> Thank you, Corey Hensley. >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to share a few moments about an upcoming special services pack sponsored event that truly reflects who we are as a district and what we value inclusion, appreciation, and community. We are excited to invite our teachers, all staff and their families to an upcoming inclusion appreciation event on March 26 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Waldick Central designed to honor their incredible
043work and create meaningful learning experiences while celebrating together. This event will feature educational and appreciation focused stations that support our ongoing commitment to inclusive practices, accessibility, and understanding students of all abilities. These stations are intended to be engaging, relevant, and practical, giving staff tools and insights that they can take back to their classrooms and roles. At the same time, we want this to be fun and uplifting. Attendees will have the opportunity to enjoy a unified basketball game featuring our high schoolers and uh versus admin and board. A powerful demonstration of inclusion and action. Unified sports remind us that when students of all abilities come together, barriers fade and communities grow. It's not just a game. It's a statement about belonging. This event is also our way of saying thank you. Our teachers and staff give
044us so much every day, often beyond what anyone else sees. This is a chance to recognize their dedication, celebrate teamwork, and come together outside of our usual routines. Thanks to the generosity of our community partner donors, we will have gifts and giveaways for our staff as a small token of appreciation for their incredible dedication to they show our students every day. We encourage board members and cabinet to help us spread the word and personally invite staff, any staff member to attend. Your support sends a strong message that inclusion is inclusion is not an initiative. It's a part of our culture. Together, through events like this, we continue building a district where every student matters, every educator is valued, and everyone belongs. Thank you for your time and support. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we're going
045to move on to administrative commentary. Dr. Lens, >> thank you, Madam President. Dr. Hamco. >> Well, as she was saying about the unified uh event, I'm excited to be the DJ there. So, I am pumped. It's going to be a great experience and the music is going to be >> Did you give him parameters of the music that he can play? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Well, okay. We'll see if I follow those parameters. >> Thank you, Miss Mir. >> Thank you, Dr. LS. Um, I would just like to take a moment to um recognize that this week is National School Social Worker Week. um where we recognize and celebrate our dedicated Wald Lake Consolidated School social workers for their work supporting our students, families, and staff. Um our social workers really serve a critical
046role in our schools and our school community because they address the needs of the whole child. They link students and families to critical resources and remove barriers to learning. Um and so we just want to say thank you for the work that they do each and every day. Also to piggy back, um March is National um developmental disabilities awareness month and also our disability awareness month where we do our inclusion week um that's upcoming. And it's wonderful to see um this week it this year it's March 23rd to 27th where all of our school buildings from early childhood through high school do inclusion events with their staff and student communities um that entire week. And so it's just wonderful to see how we practice those um meaningful engagement strategies um schoolwide around inclusion and acceptance
047for all students. >> Thank you, Mr. Scaling. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Just want to uh uh wish our athletes and coaches uh good luck for their spring sports as the the season kicks off on Monday. Uh, and in a month from now also, as the weather turns nice, so do our fifth graders return to our fifth grade camp at our outdoor education center. So, we just want to wish Carrie Martin and her staff good luck as they prepare for that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Homer. >> Thanks, Just talking again regarding the initiatives in the business office. Always looking for efficiencies and and hopefully making it easier out in the buildings in terms of uh particular processes and procedures. We've actually done full implementation electronic time sheets and I'd like to thank the
048staff and the buildings for their support in that and certainly the payroll staff and HR as they've worked through any particular issues that have come up and trying to assist in making sure everyone is educated on how to use the new system. And then as we're moving forward into the year, we're looking at the final budget revision will be upcoming as the board entertains the first budget revision for this year. And then certainly we're keeping an eye on Lancing relative to the upcoming budget developments for 2627. So thank you. >> Thank you Miss Cransky. >> Thank you Dr. Lance. Um just want to make a quick announcement. It's March is reading month. We should be reading every day every month but March is reading month. A time where we focus on that. And so I
049know a lot of uh our administrators, a lot of uh cabinet members folks are going to be going out and and reading in the schools. And so I really look forward to that and and celebrating that reading uh not just in our schools but at home too. So encouraging parents to take time to sit down with a great book. I was fortunate as a child I had three older siblings and and parents at home that took time to read to me every night and uh um gave me a great appreciation for reading and and where that plays in life. So um make it a priority. Uh also I'm looking forward to the unified basketball game coming up March 26th. I'm an announcer, so I'm going to try to bring my uh I would say Ernie
050Harwell because I listened to him growing up calling out Tigers games, but I think I'm going to go a little more Dan Miller. I might get a little excited. Um for those of you that listen to him calling the Lions games, I love when he gets all fired up in the booth, you know. So, um I'm looking forward to calling the game and and that's going to be a lot of fun. Uh and lastly, just uh as uh I'll I'll prepare some information for the board too, but we do have a Cogna accreditation review coming up at the end of March. Um that's an internal process where we're going to be talking about all of the school improvement and district improvement work that we've been doing for the last few years. that data that I
051share with the board on an ongoing basis with regard to how we're doing with our vocabulary and comprehension scores. Also that implementation of our MTSS process to help students and so this is this accreditation process is the outside reviewer Cognia um visits with us. Uh this time it's a virtual visit. I've been doing this long enough back in the day it was an in-person visit where you'd have to drive three or four people around the district for three days. and so we don't have to worry about hosting them in that way, but they will be visiting with us uh virtually um looking at all of our artifacts and documentation and data on how we're doing with that improvement process. So, uh Dr. Stout in the learning services team and I were looking really forward to
052um putting that together and and virtually hosting our review and uh looking forward to feedback from them on our processes and how we're doing. Thank you. >> Thank you. As a follow to March's reading month, if any board member is interested in coming in and read, you have schools that you work with, feel free to reach out to the administrators if they have not already contacted you. Uh, one more item for me. I had the opportunity to serve breakfast at Metobrook this week. And so, it was a lot of fun to see the kids there. And I was told that that was the most amount of breakfast that they had served this year. So, clearly I'm the variable. And so it was it was great to see everybody and and to connect with kids differently.
053Madam President, >> thank you. Board commentary. We're going to start with you, Mr. Smith. Of course. >> Of course. Uh first, uh Dr. L I was wondering if you could uh before I go into some of my other stuff if because the public is curious and I know you've provided some details to us, but if you could just state uh I've already asked you about Wildlife Central, but the stuff that we've seen in the public and where we're at and inspections and looking at and fixing. >> Sure. The that is an area of the roof that has not been replaced yet. Okay. And so they've been here three of the last seven school days fixing an area and then the leak moves. So then they fix a new area and the leak moves. So we're
054aware of it. And the wall was uh cleaned yesterday and was going to be painted unfortunately with the rain that we received last night. There's pooling water. So we're going we'll continue to clean it, but we will not uh re repaint it until the repair is complete. >> Thank you for that. I just wanted the public to to know. >> No problem. Also, uh I just want to say uh thank you to the district and the staff uh for all the hard work of putting on the event for welcoming future high schoolers as a parent of an eighth grader. Uh it was kind of a a check there to be like, "Oh my gosh, my daughter is going to be at high school next year." Uh thank you for putting that on. It was very
055fun and informative to walk around and be ready and to meet teachers uh for my future high schooler at Wald Northern. Uh it was very different. So just to do that, thank you. Thank you to the Dublin PTA for their work uh to officially I don't know if some people saw it but that's one of my schools uh that we officially have Shammy the mascot now uh which was debuted at the uh annual volleyball game between the four elementary schools which was pretty amazing. I want to say congrats to Glad and Gary for winning the annual volleyball game. It was a lot of fun very loud but uh it was well attended event by parents community members and it was it was a lot of fun to watch that. Uh kudos to the CHS uh
056boys of course uh basketball team and the girls basketball teams. Uh on the girls side, both the sixth, seventh grade, and the eighth grade teams have played their hearts out. It was fun to uh witness that this uh season. Uh shout out to my daughter Natalie for the uh for a great season, her first season that she's uh tried out for basketball and I think she's going to continue maybe at Northern. So that's exciting. And I believe this I Mr. McTar already left, but I think the sixth and seventh graders are on to the playoffs. I'm not sure if my daughter's team I think we're waiting for other stuff, but congrats to a great season. Uh kudos to the CHS middle school band with the amazing work of Mr. York. Uh the students put on
057an amazing show uh this week. It's been a busy week for my family, but my son Andrew is a trumpeter in the the band. And it was a wonderful experience to see the the nuance of the sixth graders, the seventh graders, and the eighth graders and what we provide uh in their level of just amazing things that our uh performing arts and orchestra and band students uh actually do. So, want to say that kudos to the Wald Lake Wild Girls hockey team for making the playoffs. I believe that there was a great season. and I think they lost in overtime, but I just wanted to say good job to those girls. Um, kudos to uh it's been a long time, so that's why to the Wald Lake. I like to give kudos uh to the
058Wald Lake Middle School and Northern Dance teams. I think this was back in February where they made the nationals. Um, and it was just really great to see all their hard work come to fruition and to be able to be down at the nationals in Florida. And of course, uh, we just experienced last month the Olympians. I think everyone knows, and it was wonderful to see the sign out front that we have a Michigan native among many of the other teams, but one of our own from Wald Northern Graduate, and I think it's wonderful that whoever did the sign by design, whatever company did the the yard thing was wonderful to see that. Maybe we could do more. I saw his picture up in the hallway. My kids even saw it. Oh my gosh, he's
059a northern. To see that on the stage then as an Olympian. That's pretty amazing. So, I mean, there's ways, you know, maybe naming of streets, you know, who knows? Just throwing that out there. A nice recognition you could do a special street. I don't know. Uh, and then, yes, uh, I think I owe probably a call to one of your fellow board, uh, council members. Uh, I think I come from local government. I've worked in local government my entire life, uh, for the last gosh, 20 plus years now. So, I understand I actually worked with Mr. Benson in a prior job. So, I know Drew quite well when I saw his name in there. Uh I will I plan on intending I know we can only have so many there because it's a quorum for
060us but I do I also in my day job I work for the road commission so I have a twofold approach to this that I'm very interested in the intersection at at Wixam Maple from road commission perspective. Problem is as you know you have a cemetery and you have a historic building. So there's a lot of nuances with that area but I plan on attending just observing. I enjoy those kind of things. I've been in local government for many years. So, thank you for attending this evening. We want to have a great partnership, I'm sure, with the with the city and uh my thing is I like to always say which month is we've heard so many things are going on in March. I want to uh pay tribute to it's women's history month. So,
061women's history month honors the successes and sacrifices of US women. I said from Harry Tubman, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Gloria Steinum, Marie Curry, Rosalyn Franklin, Maya Angelou, Melia Hehart, and beyond. I thank you for the contributions to our society from the suffrage movement to scientific discoveries, entertainment, the arts and world exploration. I salute you in this month and many other every other day. Uh all the grandmothers, mothers, sisters, aunts, spouses, friends, mentors. Thank you. All the teachers, my fellow administration and board members here, I appreciate you. It's one month, but it should be it's every day. So uh I did participate in MASB training on labor relations uh just a couple weeks ago I think up in Lancing. It was a wonderful time. We as board members you know we did
062need to have continuing education and it was a great opportunity to meet with other board members from across the state uh and learn about how we work through labor relations and you know what our role is as a board member and I think it was great that I was able to attend that. And I just want to acknowledge also inclusion spirit week that was already mentioned uh week before it starts with reflections and each school have wonderful themes. I just enjoy it every time every year that there's just amazing themes and how much we really focus on inclusion because it is about creating spaces where people feel safe uh respected and free to be themselves. So I look forward to all the learning and the experiences that the the students and the staff will will
063be doing that during that week. Uh finally just again in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday as well that happened on March 2nd and reading month. I as well want to remind everyone to please read like read an actual book. I get it. We got you know tablets and you can do stuff. There's nothing like just actually sitting down and reading. I just finished another book and I had to go to the commerce library because it was just you know I just want to keep on getting to a next story. So just please read not just during this month but every day. And I would like to just end it on his famous quote. So from the Lorax uh unless someone likes like like you cares a whole awful lot nothing is going to get better
064it's not. So thank you to the teachers paras administrators staff parents and students who are there every day carrying a whole awful lot. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Zelmer. >> I don't want to go after Mr. Smith anymore. They're so good. Um, I also want to give a shout out to some sports teams. Uh, Wald Lake Northern boys ski went to states and, uh, I got to go to the ski banquet last night and celebrate all of our excellent skiers, maybe future Olympians. You never know. Um, and so it was a really bittersweet moment to I'm in that season of last sports banquetss for myself and looking forward to freezing during spring sports um for my last time probably uh doing statistics for the lacrosse team. So hopefully I'll get to do a couple
065rounds of that. Uh also want to echo March is reading month. There are a lot of uh research that uh base outcomes that we know from what happens when we sit and read together with our young children, the way that they understand text, the belonging that happens when a a child is read to. And it even works for grown-ups. Um, and I want to remind everyone that it doesn't matter if you're reading with this of your five senses or with this of your five senses or with this of your five senses is all the same because there is something so magical about stepping into those stories. So, I just wanted to to name that. And um I think that's all I have tonight. So, hopefully someone will have me as a mystery reader. I'm going
066to put my name in the hat and maybe I will get chosen. We'll see. Cross your fingers. Thank you, Mr. Lipet. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh Mr. Smith, I also was at the CHS uh band concert. I'm sorry I didn't see you there. Uh special shout out to uh uh Grant Prader uh and the jazz uh ensemble that he had out there. Um I don't know if you guys know this, but we have a superstar amongst us in Grant Prader. And I'm thrilled that he is part of our community doing the things he does for our music and band uh groups. So, uh, I was gone last month, so I want to make sure I I created just a short list of things to talk about here. So, I I will try to be
067brief. Uh, first is that that, um, Oakland County is ridiculous right now with flu and, uh, COVID and RSV and norovirus. Noro virus. Shout out to my daughter, Amelia. I hope you are drinking your fluids tonight, Amelia. Um, I ask uh, the community to please continue to take precautions. Um, do not go to school if you have symptoms, especially the neurovirus symptoms. Uh, but anytime you feel sick, please do not. Uh, if you're a parent, send your kids to school. And if you're a kid watching this, which I hope you are, uh, if you feel sick, it's not the right time to come to school. Wald Northern right now is inundated with sickness. And I know Western is too. So, uh, please be careful and remember, wash your hands thoroughly, frequently, carefully, uh, and, uh,
068you know, be a good, uh, citizen in that regard. Um, second, a few weeks ago, uh, many of you know this made a lot of news. Governor Whitmer signed the cell phone ban into law, which uh, as as you may know, I have uh, been a big advocate of. I've spoken of publicly quite a bit. I I do expect this to have an immediate impact um not just here in Wall Lake schools but across the state in terms of uh the measurability of it both in scores and also some of the other uh less um I'll say more subtle impacts to having people focused on what they're doing in the classroom. I do want to remind folks that this is an instruction only law as it stands right now. So in other words uh this
069is a ban while instruction is happening. Um, however, Wald schools along with other school districts around the state are going to have the ability to make changes to it beyond um the way the cell phone ban is is written right now. So, we can create even more uh restrictions to the way cell phones uh are are um used and I guess I should say brought into our our buildings. There of course will always be exemptions uh exceptions exemptions uh based on medical needs and other things like that. But this is something I just want you to know um from a board standpoint, I'm excited about the impact that this is likely to have here in Wald Lake schools. Uh third, uh I am like many of you, I am saddened by what we're all seeing
070on the news lately. Um it's not fun to talk to our students, our kids about what's happening uh in Iran. Um, but a question has been brought to me and it's a question that's been made public in at the Michigan Association of School Boards and just in general about is it responsible and right for uh teachers and staff to talk about this war uh with our students and speaking only for myself um my perspective is absolutely it's correct. It is correct to do because think of it in reverse uh the lack of it the lack of our ability to have open honest appropriate discussions with our students. Uh the lack of it creates more anxiety, more fear. Um and among all the other things, mental health and otherwise that we now uh have settled upon
071us here in Wic schools and other places in the state of Michigan, um this war is creating even more anxiety amongst our students and our staff. So, uh I just want to point out that I think it is reasonable uh for uh our families to expect some interaction about this and that that's okay so long as it's appropriate and uh I would also reiterate and um I think we should make available to folks who need it um the resources that are available here in Wallig schools if there are uh heightened levels of anxiety or fear. Uh, and I always, as um, as you might expect any of us at the board level, but as a parent as well, if you see people that are um, exhibiting symptoms of extreme anxiety, I think that's something that
072we need to be incredibly careful about right now. So, uh, and that's all I will say about that. And lastly, I I wanted to write this one down because this is important to me. Um, now that the tenative agreement has tenative agreement with our teachers has been approved and uh me and my fellow board members can speak uh more openly uh without fear of an unfair labor practices lawsuit. Uh I want to express how difficult uh this process has been for all of us up here as I'm sure it has been for our teachers uh and staff uh in the district. As uh many of you know, I come from a family of teachers. I understand all too well the impact uh that teachers have in our community, on our community, and I've said consistently
073that teachers and first responders uh could be paid double or even triple their incomes. Uh and you wouldn't hear arguments from me or my family because uh I understand all too well how the right teacher at the right moment changes lives. uh not being able to speak during this contract negotiation period was uh painful say it that way. So, while I am pleased now that the the contract is in place, uh one which will carry us through next year, please know uh that myself and perhaps other board members, I won't speak for others, uh but perhaps other board members uh must ensure uh that the district uses this moment to to reinforce our commitment to our teachers uh and to our staff and to be bold uh courageous in getting front of uh the issues
074financial or otherwise uh which erode our our district's uh potential. Uh for me, you have my commitment to do what's necessary to strengthen uh the district's impact on our students potential. Uh to all my teacher friends out there, uh allow me to express profound love and respect uh for what you do. Uh thank you from my from my family. Uh and I'm glad we're now in a place where we can speak more openly uh about the future together. Thank you. >> Well, before we move on, I just want to address what Mr. Lipid just said. We have not voted on the contract as of yet. So, we cannot speak about the contract until this board has accepted it or not accepted it. That is on our agenda this evening. So, I just want to put
075that out there. Mrs. Craftton. >> Hi, everyone. Um, first I wanted to um share that I am a proud member of the foundation for excellence board and they have um a program running right now called the tuition expedition raffle. Um, and tickets are $20 um or three for 50. Um, and Jackie Gerwin does a wonderful job um, disseminating the dollars raised um, from all of the FF's fundraisers to support um, grants um, for more innovation in our classrooms. Um, I think they handed out something like 80 grants last year um, totaling almost $60,000. Uh, the drawing is on March 23rd. Uh so we still have a couple of weeks to buy tickets. Uh so I encourage you to reach out to Jackie Gerwin if you would like to get involved in that program. Second, the
076Outdoor Education Center is um one of my adopted schools and I got to see a um photo yesterday of some elementary students getting to see a bald eagle with their own eyes at our outdoor education center. and it warmed my heart to um know that our young people are experiencing nature in a meaningful way with that staff and probably made core memories for them. So, thank you to the outdoor education center both for this staff um and for seizing that opportunity for um probably a rare in your lifetime sort of experience. Um, I want to give a shout out personally to Anna Mansour, our one of our Golden Apple award winners who I got to graduate with from Wald Lake Western many years ago. So, not only is she a great uh staff member for
077the district, but um a Wald Lake Western alum. So, go Warriors. Um, finally, um, there is a wonderful familyfriendly musical this weekend, uh, at Wald Lake Western called You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. It is so fun and uplifting and a moment of joy in what is, at least for me, a really hard time to um, operate in this world. So come. Tickets are between8 and $11 depending on your age and how you're affiliated with the district, but it's going to give you two hours of just smiles and feel good. Um, totally appropriate for little kids. So, elementary families, please come out and enjoy the show. Um, we toured at a couple of elementary schools, uh, Hickory Woods and Wixom. and to uh see the joy on these elementary students faces as they saw Charlie
078Brown and Snoopy. Um it was like they were seeing magic. Um so I really encourage you to to en come and enjoy that show. Lastly um building a little bit on what um Mr. Lipit was talking about. I just wanted to say to the teachers, the social workers, the counselors, um the administrators in our buildings that this is a hard time for kids. And I see you and I support you in helping to support the mental health and the anxiety of the students that are worried about the world that we currently live in. Um and so thank you. It's I know it's hard on your own mental health. um to be holding space for kids who are really worried and scared um as you know and and I appreciate you. So, thank you for all
079that you do. That's it. Thank you. I'm just going to talk about reflections. We have reflections on the 23rd. It's at Wald Lake Western. It begins at 6:30 and I encourage you to come watch the program. Um it's absolutely amazing to see how talented all of our kids from kindergarten all the way through high school, you know, are. Um it's just a very uplifting situation and an uplifting program that, you know, everyone I encourage everyone to come to Reflections and watch and see the talent um that we have in our community. I'm also very excited for the inclusion game on the 26th. I can't wait. It's so much fun. Um, I am not playing basketball. Just saying. But but I will be there. Don't laugh. I am not playing basketball. Um, but please come. Please
080come to Central to watch the inclusion activities and participate. It's just something that the district should all embrace and love that. Now, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. So we have the approval of the minutes, the proposed February 5th special meeting and the regular meeting. We have personnel recommendations, financial reports from January 2026, dispers dispersements in the amount of $18, million89,972. We have a balance sheet and statement of revenues and expenditures unudited and investment schedule. We have math intervention licenses, Agile Mind, Inc. for $44,730, a 31A grant through general fund, and we have the director's or the Head Start director's report. >> Madam President, >> Mr. Lipet, >> I move that the board of education approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Support. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion
081carries. 50. Moving on to purchases over 50,000. Dr. Lens. >> Thank you, Madam President. Purchase of maintenance vehicles from Gno Ford for $128,452 from general fund. Administration has obtained consortium pricing for the purchase of maintenance vehicles and recommends the purchase of two replacement maintenance vehicles from Galo Ford totaling $128,42. This purchase will be funded from general fund. It's part of our white fleet is the category this is under. And about two years ago, we started to allocate a portion of our general fund as a budgetary item. Many of our vehicles in this fleet are older than eight years and have well beyond their useful life as far as miles go. So, thank you to the maintenance department for keeping the vehicles running to this point, but these are needed for replacement. Mr. Smith, >> I
082move that the board of education authorize the purchase of two maintenance vehicles from Gorno Ford in the amount of $128,452 from the general fund. >> Support. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. 50. Dr. Lones. >> Thank you. Our -ate package for the new Wixom Elementary School is what I'm recommending for purchase and approval today. Wald Consolidated School District solicited and received bids for procurement of telecommunications, internet access, and related equipment for the new Wixom Elementary School funded through BR bond proceeds. The bid process was facilitated through the mutual efforts of our administration PMR a construction basically our bond project team. The recommendation from the team is to award the trade contracts as presented in the amount totaling $496,815.75. >> Madam President, >> Mr. Lipid. >> No one
083else is going to >> say. >> Uh I move that the board of education approve the trade contracts as presented to provide telecommunications, internet access, and related equipment for the new Wixom Elementary School for a total amount of $496,815.75 funded from the 2024 bond proceeds as recommended by the project team. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I I >> opposed. Motion carries. 50. Dr. Loans. >> This is the -ate package for the Gsler Educational Services Center. Wald Consolidated School District solicited bids for the procurement of telecommunications, internet access, and related equipment to the Giser Educational Services Center funded through bond proceeds. The bid process was facilitated through the project team. The recommendation from the team is to award trade contracts as presented in the amount totaling 3 15,921.90. >> Dr. Zelner, >> Mrs.
084Kaplan, I move that the board of education approve the trade contracts as presented to provide telecommunications, internet access, and related equipment for the Gesler Educational Service Centers for a total amount of $315,000 921 and 90s funded from 2024 bond proceeds as recommended by the project team. support. >> Support >> any discussion. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. 5-0. >> Dr. Lens. >> Our next topic is districtwide switch upgrade. Bald Lake Consolidated District has received bids and and is recommending procurement of district-wide switch upgrades funded through our bond proceeds. The bid process was facilitated by the bond team. The recommendation from the team is to award trade contract as presented in the amount totaling $329,1625. >> Mrs. Kaplan, >> Mrs. Crafted. >> I move that the board of education approve
085the trade contract as presented to provide district-wide switch upgrades for a total amount of $329,1625 funded from 2024 bond proceeds as recommended by the project team. >> Any discussion? >> Um Dr. Lans, I wondered if you might just um briefly give a sentence on what a switch is. >> Sure. So, what a switch is this is really important. No, >> it's not a Nintendo Switch. >> No, it's not. What what it is is it helps route our technology throughout the district. It'll be uh replacing some of the switches in the head room along with every building has its own switch. So, it's basically a traffic cop to move information from one area to another area. >> Thank you. >> But we could do Nintendo Switch not through bond proceeds, >> right? Any other? Okay. All
086those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. 5-0. Dr. Lens. >> Yes, ma'am. Administration recommends to continue to use plant manoran reelpoint to coordinate additional move management services related to the GIS educational service center and the amount not to exceed $51,000 for the 2024 bond program. The scope of additional services have have been presented. So, two things on this. We used Plantman Real Point to help move everyone out last summer and they actually came in and refunded us over $10,000. So, I appreciate the efficiency and their ethics to do that. So, I I'm honored to present this and now we have the opportunity to move people back in. So, that's why we're asking Plant Rand to help us again. >> Mr. Smith, >> I move Excuse me. I move that the board of education approve
087plant man Real Point to coordinate additional move management services related to the Gistler Educational Services Center in an amount not to exceed $51,000 for the 2024 bond program for the scope of additional services as presented. >> Support discussion all those in favor >> I opposed motion carries 5 Dr. Lens >> I'm happy to turn this over to Mrs. over. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Again, this is a very short statement for a documents that encompass a lot of changes throughout the year since the June amendments for those budgets took place by the board. As you recall, we didn't have a actual formalized budget from the state until October. We certainly worked through that process along with the team to make sure that we made every adjustment that we needed to and presented you with additional
088information beyond just this statement tonight. So hopefully those answered some of those kinds of questions about the changes that have taken place since June until this particular budget resolution these resolutions. So administration has evaluated the budget line items and adjustments have been made to reflect the 202526 revenue and expenditures more accurately. Administration recommends the 2526 budget amendment resolutions as as presented to be adopted by the board. Madam President, if I may add on to that, this budget amendment does not include the additional costs that the district will will have based on the tenative agreement. The reason why it does not include that is because it has not been passed by the board yet. Our next budget amendment, which is more towards the end of the year, will reflect that. >> Thank you, Dr. Lens. >>
089Dr. Zelner. >> I move that the board of education adopt the resolutions to amend the 2526 budgets as presented. >> Support >> discussion. >> Mrs. Omar, I just want to say thank you it with all the budget issues that we have in the state and working through everything. It's up and down and really appreciate all your work with going with the flow and making us solidable. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. Anybody else? >> Mrs. Kaplan, >> Mrs. Grafton, >> I just wanted to also thank you, Mrs. OMR, for how clearly you present the information in a way that people who aren't looking at school budgets every day can really understand. That's true. >> So, thank you. >> That is true. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I
090I >> opposed. Motion carries. 5 Dr. L you're doing such a great job. Let's keep going. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Appreciate that. The bond resolution authorizes the school district's administration to proceed with the issuance of the third series of the $250 million of bonds approved by the voters at the May 7th, 2024 election. As planned, the amount of the third series of bonds to be issued will be an amount not to exceed $85,765,000. The resolution sets forth the terms of the bonds and authorizes all of the actions required by law in order to issue the bonds. The resolution delegates to the superintendent or the assistant superintendent of business services the authority to negotiate and accept an offer to purchase the bonds from the aud underwriter. The president and the secretary are authorized to sign
091the bonds and the superintendent and assistant superintendent of business services are authorized to sign all of the other closing documents. It is anticipated that the closing of the bonds will occur in June of 2026. This will allow us to continue on with our bond projects as planned. >> Mrs. um I just lost my place. I move that the board of education approve the adoption of the bond resolution for the 2026 school building and site bonds as presented. >> Support. >> Discussion. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. 50. Dr. Lans. >> Dr. Hipco. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. The district is proud to present this two-year ratified agreement with the Wald Lake Educational Association. This contract represents a significant and strategic investment in our educators and positions the district to remain highly
092competitive within Oakland County while maintaining our commitment to delivering exceptional educational experiences for our students and families. Key highlights of this agreement include this is a two-year agreement running from August 16, 2025 through August 13, 2027, providing stability and clarity for staff and the district. The agreement includes significant salary increases for all teachers, strengthening our ability to attract and retain highly qualified educators. The contract also establishes three additional years of school calendars from 2027 28 202728 2028 29 202930 allowing for long-term planning and predictability. As for salary adjustments, in year one, all eligible teachers received a step advancement. Steps one through three will receive substantial onschedule increase, averaging 14% on step one, 8% on step two, and 5% on step three. Steps 4 through 12 will receive a 2.5% onschedule increase. Step 13 will receive
093a $4,700 onschedu increase and a 2,000 off-schedule payment. For year two, all eligible teachers will receive an a a step advancement. Steps 1 through 12 will receive a 1.25% on schedule increase. Step 13 will receive a 1.75% on schedule increase and a 22 $2,250 off schedule payment. Overall, this agreement balances meaningful compensation growth with fiscal responsibility. It strengthens our competitive position and reinforces our commitment to support and retain outstanding educators. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to read this one. I move that the board of education approve the ratified agreement between the Wild Lake Consolidated School District Board of Education and the Wildlake Education Association as presented. >> Support. >> Discussion. Well, I'm gonna I was gonna say well, I'm gonna say, you know, it's been a very long, arduous process, but I
094appreciate all the hard work on both sides with the district and with the teachers. Um, we all see you. As Mr. Lipid had said, we appreciate everything that you all do. We are here to do the best that we can for all of the educators in the district and we appreciate, you know, all of your hard work. And so thank you. Thank you for being part of the Wald Lake family. >> Anybody else? >> Mr. Smith, go ahead. >> Mrs. Kaplan, uh, I'm so happy to know that this is before us to uh, approve this evening. I know that there were frustrations from all parties, myself included, like um, Mr. Lip it stated that there were many times I have many friends and uh neighbors and things that are in the district and it's it
095was a frustrating time, but I appreciate the negotiating team how much work it took to get to this point and uh it's great that it's a two-year and yes, that's all I have to say. What is uh I guess if the vote occurs and whatnot, what is the timing of uh will it be on the website? >> Will it be on available on the website? >> We do not post it. Okay, so that was my last question. Thank you. Thank you again to all the hard work and to the teachers and staff and everyone out there and the families. Thank you. >> I should clarify though that once the contract is updated, the contract is available on the website, but the TA itself is not published separately. >> Y so I would say assuming it
096passes tonight, certainly by the end of March it would be available. >> Any other comments? Okay. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Okay, we passed five to zero. Thank you. Moving on to the board policy subcommittee. It's going to give you a brief overview. The policy committee has met once again. We have provided the board with a whole bunch. It's probably about this big um of policy updates and enhancements to our current policies. They're all recommendations from the state and requirements as to law. Um, so we're just catching up. We we've been behind the times a little bit here with regards to the policy um approvals. So for the purposes of right now, the board gets to read them. They have 30 days and then at our next meeting, well, it's probably not going
097to be 30 days because of when the next meeting is. Um but we will vote on the adaption of the policies at that point and have more discussion. So I just want to share with you that policy and procedure. Um and with that being said, we are adjourned at 8:23. Everyone be safe out there and have a great weekend. Go see Charlie Brown.