001Can we rise for the pledge of allegiance, please? >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Trying to get all set here. Okay. Thank you. So, we're going to start with a presentation on special education. Dr. Lans. >> Thank you, Madam President. Towards the end of last year, the board asked for a presentation on special education specifically related to uh discipline options that we have for special education students. So I asked Miss Mir to contact the attorney that we use for special education. Miss Mir, would you like to introduce our speaker? >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. I'd like to introduce Miss Vicky Co, attorney with Clark Hill and Associates, who does a
002lot of work for us and advises us on special education and 504 issues. Welcome. >> Why thank you. I'm happy to be here to talk about an issue that's near and dear to my heart and one that is something that many districts are struggling with with regards to balancing um keeping schools safe and what seems to be an escalation in in behaviors and how do we grapple with making sure that we are protecting the rights of students with disabilities while doing everything else that we're supposed to do with regards to all students within our school environment. And so for our purposes today, special education discipline is a presentation that could go all day. Obviously, we don't have all day. We have a short period of time. So, we will kind of do more of a
003a broad overview of things. Um, but I I think we'll get to the gist of where we need to be. I don't know if this is kind of a Q&A thing, but I prefer Q&A because I don't like to talk at people for long periods of time, but I'm a lawyer and I can do it all day, every day, so it it is okay. Um, I guess our general counsel says I must say this. This is not here to give you specific legal advice, but I always feel like people get legal advice, but I'm not here to do that. Um, I again, I'm happy to answer any questions, but I always say value my law license with me. Okay. Um, the law is very much black and white in many respects, but it's gray in
004most your questions live in the gray zone. And um, I know that we don't have sufficient time, so no one can really challenge me. But there sometimes the qu the answer to question has to be it depends. It's not because I don't know the answer. It's because it requires more facts. the more gray we get, the more we have to get into where um what has the US Department of Ed said, how courts interpret it. And this is why I always say people that have Google law degrees, their degree is not worth the paper that it's not written on. Um but just say that. So, let's just talk about general um student discipline and legal context. Obviously, we have various different uh statutes that we look at that we refer to with regards to discipline.
005Our biggest one at least from a state law standpoint is the revised school code and those are the very specific sections that we partic uh uh look at. Obviously section 1311 talks about those mandatory expulsions. But as we know in 2017 when the legislature did away with zero tolerance with with respect to all revised school code infractions except for possession of a firearm, right? Um we know that we don't have zero tolerance. So, there is no mandatory specifically if we're looking at those seven factors in the way that we're supposed to. Um, there may be times where a kid possesses a weapon, but we're not going to expel them because if we're following what we're supposed to do by law, we shouldn't be doing it. Um, corporal punishment statutes, dangerous weapon. Obviously, there's a definition
006of that within the revised school code, but when we get into some of the federal aspect of things, we have definition of dangerous weapon under the IDEIDA that differs from your definition of a dangerous weapon under revised school code and probably even under your codes of conduct because a lot of times under codes of conduct, we have lookalike weapons. Those are not weapons as defined under the revised school code and it definitely would not meet the definition of a weapon under the IDEIDA. And when we're talking about specific provisions that we can do to potentially remove kids, whether the conduct is a manifestation of disability or not, we have to make sure we're looking at the right definitions. Obviously, um the Gun-Free Schools Act and our constitutional safeguards with regards to uh due process. Yes.
007remind us of laws because although I know >> yeah so IDA we're acronym happy and special ed land so that's the individuals with disabilities education act and section 504 section 504 the rehab rehabilitation act of 1973 when we talk about the hierarchy of laws federal law is always going to trump state law period Um there are some nuances with that, but that is generally the gist of it. Um so when we're talking about providing protections and when we're talking about disciplining students, especially students with disabilities, we always have to take into account what the feds have said we're supposed to do by way of disciplining students with disabilities. We have to take into account the protections that they are afforded under the IDA, under section 504. Um there's some state laws that are not referenced
008here. So the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act, which kind of mirrors in some ways uh section 504 to some degree and some Elliot Larson that mirrors Title 9, right? So we we have all of these other underlying laws that are not necessarily specific to discipline, but there can be some intersection depending on what the potential claims are. But federal law, then comes state law, then comes your uh code of uh codes of conduct and things of that nature. And then to the extent that guidance guidance is not law, guidance helps inform how we interpret the law, but it's not necessarily legally binding except when you get to the agency that has developed that guidance and they will tell you that it's legally binding. Yes. >> Is there a document help the service of
009federal law superseding state law. >> No, that is a a a legal principle. Um it's in eons and eons of cases out there when you talk about um federal um usurping or preempting, federal preeemption is what it's called um with regards to state law. But there's I mean it's well settled in our juristp prudence. >> Yes. >> It it doesn't vary by age. Correct. >> It does not. >> Thank you. >> No. As long as it's applicable, which it would be, especially in the K12 standpoint, it it's going to it's going to trump. All right. In terms of what due process protections we have for all students regardless of disability status, obviously we're supposed to let everybody know what our rules are. We're supposed to give notice. We typically do that through our student codes
010of conduct, right? That we give out yearly. We should be re revising those to some degree. Sometimes I find there's a disconnect sometimes between what's in our policies and what's in our code of conduct. I don't think that's with your district and I hope not, but we're supposed to give notice of rules. Um, when we are seeking to do a disciplinary infraction, um, they are given an opportunity to be heard. That's something that we get actually from case law. Gossi Lopez is the case that that comes from, right? And what that means is going to vary depending on the length of the recommended out of school uh, discipline for the child. And at the at its essence, it's basically giving the child a right to give their side of the story. All right. Um, we're
011supposed to make sure we're having fair, uniform, disciplinary consequences for everybody, right? Regardless of disability status. Um, that's something that everybody's afforded to mention that Gossip Lopez case and that's where we basically get what our, uh, GenEd, as we call it, uh, disciplinary protections are. And the US Supreme Court in that case said that if we're going to remove a kid for more than 10 days out of school, we can't do that unless we're giving them a right to an evidentiary hearing. Okay? And that's why you all have in your codes of conduct that a principal or whoever cannot suspend a kid for more than 10 days. If they're going to look at something that's more than that, it's a recommendation and that recommendation goes to the next level. if they are a student with
012a disability and we're recommending a removal that constitutes what we call a change in placement under the IDA. And we'll talk about what that means a little bit later in the presentation. They get additional rights and those additional rights depending on the outcome of those will prevent them from going to an evidentiary hearing because that's what Congress says they're entitled to. And that's what happened when I I believe that Congress added the um manifestation of termination review process to the IDEIDA in 19 with the 1997 revisions to the IDEIDA and and and that's kind of the the impetus for that. And maybe I'll not preempt what I was going. Let's stay with the slides. Okay. I'm not very good at that. And so when I come to these presentations, I have to be less than
013who I am in terms of like my gregariousness. Anyway, all right. So, what are the consequences to the district if we fail to comply with our obligations for general um due process protections afforded to all kids regardless of disability status? Well, we may have a court that tells us we have to bring the kid back. or if you've talked to your lawyer and they tell you you got a gened discipline problem, we're telling you you probably shouldn't move forward in that process because you are exposing the district to potential 1988 claims, right? Um 1983 claims. And when I say those claims, those are claims where people come after you for your money. They come after you not only from as an entity for liability, but they also go after individuals, right? And obviously we know
014as a school district or governmental entity we have governmental immunity but it can be pierced under certain circumstances. And so we don't want to expose ourselves to these big what I call ch-qing ching money damages type situations. And so it's very very very important that we are complying with not just the general uh protections that are afforded to all students but also kids with disabilities can come after us as well. Section 504 um the ADA Americans with Disabilities Act also has a monetary damage component that's there as well and those would be above and beyond what might be available under 1983 or 1988 claims. And so it is very very very important that we are minding our uh crossing our tees and dotting our eyes with regards to things. Um our building responsibilities obviously we
015need to notify students the rules generally don't have a problem with that. Um we do have issues sometimes with not making sure that we are providing that information to people who um English is a second language. Um we need to assist. I do know that there has been some recent federal movement with regards to removing uh certain things with regards to English language learners, but um title six still exists and title 7 still exists and all these other laws still exist. And so we we need to make sure that we are doing things to um make sure we are getting that information to people that have English as a second language or have um hearing impairments, need interpreters, things of that nature. we're getting that information to them in a way in which they understand
016because without notice without appropriate notice we cannot move forward appropriately without violating a law. Okay. Um please please please pay attention to mandatory expulsion rules. Even though we know that we did away with mandatory expulsion for everything in 2017, there are still districts that still try to move towards that and um we are not appropriately doing what we're supposed to do under state law as well as federal law with regards to that. Okay. And then we have to make sure we're giving that due process before we suspend or recommend expulsions unless um basically we can't kick the kid out and say you can't come out, can't come back without giving them that general process that they're entitled to. Um we don't do that too much except for those situations where we feel like the kid
017might be a danger and if we will allow them back in school immediately that that's going to be a problem. But I have seen situations where not here, let me just say that I ain't seen it here. Um but I have seen it elsewhere where we get very lax on those rules in terms of making sure that we're following the appropriate um process. Okay. As I mentioned before that students with disabilities get additional protections, right? And those protections stem from the IDA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Yes. >> Question. >> Oh, sorry. I was like this and he was like, you need to be more assertive. >> Oh, so I got tonal vision. Sorry. So my question is, is there case law or definitions on unduly disruptive?
018It's like it's like the unicorn. You know it when you see it. No one there. So there are many tenants within the law where court where we have these words or phrases and courts are reluctant. Agencies are reluctant to give us a definition because it removes your ability to be able to judge a situation based on the specific facts. So no, there's not. What will happen is someone's going to Monday morning quarterback you based on whether or not it actually happened. And so in those situations, what I I typically like to tell people to do is don't worry about what it's defined. Let's look at what's happening and let's make sure we show our work. If we feel like it's unduly disruptive, why is it unduly disruptive? Why was this necessary? Why did we need
019to take that action? And we document it appropriately and then we let the chips fall where they may afterwards. Correct me if I'm wrong though. This is specifically related to due process. >> That is correct. >> This is just due process. >> It's very rare for a student. >> I don't believe any That is correct. We just have to make sure that we have a process in place to get the information that we need. Yes. >> Go ahead. >> So, does this apply to both Jen and those with ADA? Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. >> And when we when we talk about mandatory expulsion, basically it's null and void at certain points, isn't it? >> Yes. Yes, it really is. It really is. Well, well, let me modify this. So, when the legislature amended
020the revised school code to get rid of mandatory or zero tolerance, they were talking about those infractions that were specifically identified within the revised school code. There are infractions that you all have as part of your code of conduct. And what we lawyers say, is that a code of conduct violation or is that a revised school code violation? most districts to simplify things because why are we going to is this one where we have to consider the seven factors? Is this another? You know, they just adopted it across the board. That way, we were consistent. We didn't have someone that didn't understand when they should apply it and when they shouldn't apply it. And because many districts were consistent and said, "We're going to do that no matter what." Yes, there are no more mandatory
021expulsions. >> As a practice, all of our administrators in our practice. >> Okay, two questions. Uh, first question for Dr. Lance. Sorry. Yeah. >> Uh, do we have a process in place when when there are questions about due process that we're not sure about? >> Do we have clarity on when we go to the lawyers to to discuss it or is it just kind of a when you deem it appropriate? >> So, we're pretty fortunate that due process is pretty cut and dry. It's very rare that we have a question about due process because due process at at its most basic terms as you'd mentioned is making sure that we hear the other side of this of the situation. That's a basic level of general due process we need to provide. Fortunately, between Mr. Scaling
022and myself who usually are working with the principles, I think we have 185 years of experience. I have about 150 of those. He's much younger than I am. So, so we have seen a lot and we have experienced a lot. But we have no problem and I I talked with cabinet about this that the best professional development we get is speaking with our attorneys. And so when whenever there's a question we're going to heir on the side of calling our attorney to make sure that we're following the right process because in the end I would hate for Miss Co or any of the attorneys that we use to go, "Wow, you really screwed that up. I don't want any part of this." Right. And so we'll never put ourselves in that situation. >> Got it.
023Got it. Thank you. And then just quick question for Miss Co. Um, in your experience, what's the most classic example of a government body like this being pierced to the individual level? What what would be a classic example of that? >> There are no classic examples. >> Um, I think it very rarely makes its way up to the board level. It's generally in the administrative level, right? and and that may be scenarios where um we just had an egregious failure to comply with the proced with the due process. Um ways I I think that we don't do things sometimes appropriately is um where we think we have sufficient information to prove a code of conduct violation and then we don't do extra things. and um we expel a kid. We when I say extra things,
024we never asked the kid their side of the story. We didn't really conduct any additional investigations. It was kind of we caught you red-handed. Well, that's not enough. >> That's not enough from a due process standpoint. And if we depending on what happens to the kid following that, that can be a scenario. There's all kinds of things that can happen like when drugs and all that stuff are involved caught red-handed. remember um kids get hurt, other people get hurt. That is a problem. >> Got it. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um and then in I've mentioned in terms of our extra protections for our students with disabilities and lastly we get those protections from the Michigan Administrative Rules for Special Education and those kind of emanate or from Michigan mandatory special education law,
025right? and um and then they mirror very much what we have in the IDEIDA um in terms of our MARS rules. Okay. So, in terms of framing where we're at and what the US Department of Education um position is with regards to disciplining students with disabilities, I feel it's important to kind of give you some information from the Office of Civil Rights. So they collect data from all school districts around the country. They're always very much behind with reporting this data. Um you see this report was issued in January of this year. However, it is referring to the 2020 2021 school year. Okay. And based on the data that they collected during that reporting period, nationally students with disabilities make up 17% of students served by public school districts. Our IDEIDA eligible students uh represented
02614% of K12 student enrollment but accounted for 28% of students who have been mechanically restrained, 76% of students who have been physically restrained and 68% of students who have been secluded. You know, in Michigan we have a restraint and seclusion statute. Um we also have a reporting requirement. I will tell you based on my experience that we don't do a good job of accurately reporting what is happening in school districts with regards to restraint and seclusion and I guarantee you those numbers um or that issue is not gerine to Michigan and those numbers are probably much higher if we think about it. Um I also want to put this into context. This is during the COVID period where schools were shut down. And so that puts this data into a greater context for you, right?
027Um out of four out of 1.4 million students enrolled in preschools, 2700 public preschool children received one or more out of school suspensions and approximately 370 preschool children were expelled. These are our babies under five. Okay. IDA eligible preschool children with disabilities represented 23% of preschool enrollment, but 41% of preschool children who receive one or more out of school suspensions and 74% of preschool children who were expelled. Students with disabilities represented uh 17% of K12 enrollment, but 27% of students who received one or more inschool suspensions, 29% of those who received one or more out of school suspensions, and 24% of those who received expulsions. These numbers only seem to increase as the years progress. And again, I want to highlight this is during the COVID period. All right? And I think you need to
028keep these numbers in mind because it's against this backdrop that we must view the legal requirements of the IDEIDA section 504 and the Michigan laws as well as the guidance that has come out from the US Department of Education in term uh office of special education programs which is the branch that is charged with enforcing and interpreting the IDEIDA and the office of civil rights which is the branch that's charged with enforcing and interpreting title uh section 504. for and the ADA in the K12 standpoint, right? Um, so and MDE, they do their stuff, too, but they're they don't have any um let me keep that to myself. They they do the same thing that the feds do. Yes. Um so being that this is during 2020 2021 and we know that um students with
029disabilities don't always react well to routine. I mean it's hard enough for you know general general population if we're out of routine to you know change course. Um do you think that these numbers have increased significantly because of that or would it be like and it's kind of leveled back out possibly? >> I don't think it's leveled back out. >> No. Um I do believe that um lack of structure in in what happened during that time period was um problematic and we're still living through that, right? Because a lot of times many of those students did not receive the intensity of the interventions that they could have received if they were in school all day, right? Um but I think that we have what we call a little bit of a perfect storm here. not
030perfect in terms of good perfect but you know we have staff shortages we have um which creates a lot of problems there. We have staff that don't have the level of training that they should have in terms of being having the tools to support kids. We have what we consider to be this siloed mentality, which is that's special ed. This is gened. And if I'm a gened teacher, I don't do special ed. That's that's where that's where they got to go to the place. They got to go to the place over there to get those services or those supports. And that's not my responsibility. We have lost for reasons that I'm not aware of. We have lost our belief that it takes a village to educate a kid and that that kid is all of
031our kid and we are all supposed to roll up our sleeves and we're all supposed to do what we need to do. And if I lack the skills, I'm going to get the skills. We have it. My name is in it, I ain't Bennett, I ain't in it type mentality. And I think the sha staffing shortages, COVID, all manner of things, it's just it's created this recipe that has caused problems for us as districts. Okay, don't shoot the messenger. All right, so the feds and the Michigan Department of Education obviously have responded to these growing discipline numbers, right? or they call it exclusionary discipline and um they discipline not just the students with disabilities has been a huge focus right we're talking about significant disproportionality all of those things they want to know what's happening
032right um but in recent years the US department of education and Michigan department of education has focused in on laser focused in on what has been happening with our students with disabilities because they are seeing an uptick in them being excluded, especially ones with certain disability labels, right? And if we think about why the IDA, why section 504 were created, they were created because especially the IDEIDA, we had students with certain disability labels, whether they were medically fragile, whether they had significant emotional issues or other types of things. They were excluded from school just by nature of their disability. they were um if they were in schools, some of them were put into substandard environments and things of that nature and Congress said it has to stop and it has to stop and they created
033the IDA in section 504 as a mechanism to prevent that from happening. Well, what we're seeing, or at least what the data seems to suggest, is that that pendulum is shifting back and we're not necessarily giving the protections that we're supposed to give because we're not thinking about it in the way that we should be thinking about it. We're looking at the behavior but not trying to figure out why the kid is engaging in the behavior and putting in place the services and supports that the student needs to help them be able to be in an environment. Right? because if it is disability related behavior on some level that's something that they can't control and that's the reason why Congress put in the manifestation or termination review process in 1997 because they didn't want kids
034with disabilities who were engaging in behavior that was a manifestation of their disability to be excluded from school. They wanted them to get the services and supports that they were supposed to get so that they could overcome that issue and be part of the school environment where everybody's safe. Okay. um this 2016 uh letter from OSERS which is the officer special office for special education rehabilitation services is what that stands for is I I say in the context of discipline that is the Bible for Michigan Department of Education. It is the Bible. Um if you read that letter in many ways it will um it will shock you. it will anger you, but then when you take a step back and think about what they're trying to say, then you will say, "Okay, I get
035it, even though I don't necessarily agree with everything that's in there." And what this letter, give you the cliffnotes version, is basically saying where you have a kid with a disability that is engaging in a pattern of behavior that we are concerned about and and we say, well, we're doing everything that we can do. The question is, are you really are you really? There are many times where um I will go and you know in defending school districts and I will ask to see the data and sometimes the data doesn't really tell what the people are telling me exists. That's a problem. Okay. Um there are times where you find that staff really don't have the training that they should have. That's a problem. There will people that will say yes I'm doing that with
036fidelity. And then you ask them, "What does fidelity mean to you?" Well, I tried it one time and the kid's behavior got worse. That's not fidelity if you stop. And what this letter says and what people who know more about behavior than I do will say, and for those of you that are parents of kids who did the sneaky stuff, you know, when you have a kid or an adult for that matter, that has engaged in a pattern of behavior that has gotten them exactly what they want and then you start putting in place measures that takes away the power that they have earned through that bad behavior. logic will tell you that what they're going to do is they're going to start to up the ante because they don't want the parameters that you
037have put in place. They don't want that structure. They're going to see is there a way to get around it. If there's a way to get around it, then they're never going to learn to do something different because all they've learned is the workaround. What this 2016 letter says, we have to stop giving them the keys to the workaround. We need to look at are we not doing something correct? Do we not have the appropriate supports and services in place? Do we not have the appropriately trained staff? And if we are the problem, then we need to fix it. Stop saying, "Kid, you fit into our square box." Don't do that because that's not what the kid can do. We need to conform, put in place the appropriate services and supports, and then we're going
038to start to see change. But we also have to recognize it's not something that's going to happen overnight. The kid didn't learn that maladaptive behavior overnight. They didn't learn that's the way that they're going to get overnight. So, we cannot expect that they're going to change their behavior overnight. We need to make sure that people understand that so that they are putting in place those interventions and doing them with fidelity. And you know what? When the kid tries to up the auntie, we say, "You know what? We got you. Not today, kid. Not today." Right. Um I try not to do all these stories, but you know, I working with a district at one time, you know, we had a kid that would come in and say, "I want what do I need to do
039to get suspended? What do I need to do?" The kid has already told you. Many kids don't tell you that that's their goal. But this kid told you that that was their goal. If you give them their goal, what are you teaching them? Nothing. So these other two letters that came out in 2022 from the Office of Special Education Programs, again, IDEIDA dealing with uh disciplinary protections. It kind of piggybacks on the information that we got in the 2016 letters, but it goes a little bit deeper as well and it starts talking about the fact that even though discipline is a tool in our tool box, we have to remember what that tool is for. If discip if we're going to suspend that is meant to change behavior. If it's not changing the behavior, then
040the intervention is not working and you need to look at something else. So that's kind of the gist. It talks about all kinds of disciplinary protections and gives questions and answers, but that's the gist of what they're doing with those letters. Yes. Uh I'm wondering you may not have this in your database of your brain but do is there any data that you're aware of around the outcomes for students who are suspended or expelled in relation to their future prospects or relationship with the criminal justice system in any way? >> I well look everyone is familiar with the school to prison pipeline and that's where that data exists. I mean um most of the kids who have been excluded from school um a lot of time are illiterate can't do basic things um and right
041wrong or indifferent some people once you've been labeled a troublemaker and that's all that people see that you can do that's what they're going to do um so that data exists I don't have >> so there's consequences beyond just the suspension for the community as a whole >> absolutely >> when they're not allowed in school >> for sure. Yes. >> With special ed students and talking about discipline and suspension and removal and so forth, how do we weigh um whose rights supersede whose rights? Say you have a student that's acting out in a classroom, a special ed student, and that students, does that behaviors get more protections than the rest of the students in the class that are daily having to deal with those behaviors? >> The short answer to that question is the special
042ed kid student has more rights because if that conduct is disability related, we have obligations that we have to comply with. And as part of those obligations, we have to ensure that we're educating kids in the least restrictive environment where we're providing them a free appropriate public education. And there are things that we can do to move a kid that violates those components. And so if we move a kid solely based on the behavior that they're engaging in and say, "Hey, you got to go over there with the special ed kids." And I always have a problem with that because the perception is is that the special ed kids can be exposed to that but not the neurotypically developing kids, right? And so, um, what Congress would say, what the Michigan Department of Education would
043say is they have more rights. And those rights are for you to ensure that you're doing what you're supposed to do by putting in place appropriate supports, services before you talk about removing that kid from that setting because they're entitled to be in that genet environment just as much as the other kid that's not misbehaving. All right. Um I won't go so much into 504. Um 504 obviously there are disciplinary protections under um section 504 for those kids that are eligible there. They largely mirror um the protections that we have under the IDEIDA because you know OCR stole them from the IDEA because they're not specifically articulated within the section 504 regulations. There there are some nuances. I don't know if I'll go over them today, but um there there are some nuances in terms
044of what the Office of Civil Rights says that we should be doing by way of disciplinary protections for our 504 eligible kids. Um the IDA discipline requirements that MDE put out in 2022, they basically took or they stole or they plagiarized, whatever you want to call it, what was in the guidance from the feds from 2022. The shortened school day guidance that they revised I think is really important because especially um shortened school day seems to be in virtual schools. Sending kids to virtual environments or uh distance learning or whatever seems to be a pattern when we have kids that are behaviorally disregulated. That's where we want to put them. And um the shortened school day guidance very much cautions against that because you know the law jealously guards a full school day. Whether you
045have a disability or not, whether you are behaviorally disregulated or not, you have a legal right to a full school day just like your neurotypically well-behaved kid has. And if we're going to put a kid on a shortened school day, according to the MDE guidance, we need to make sure that we're doing it because it's necessary for that kid's disability, not necessary to give relief to the staff who feel, you know, battered or worn or or the parents who are complaining about this kid or that kid. That's not the reason why we would put a kid on a shortened school day. It has to be necessary for their disability. It needs to be something that's shortterm in nature. And we have to develop a plan to bring the kid back to school for a full
046school day. I always say that plan is where school districts fall down because they want to put in place plans that says the kid's going to be perfect before they can come back to school. There's not a perfect human being in this world. Everybody on every given day does something that violates some law. One mile over the speed limit. You might not get pulled over, but it does violate the law. >> Right. >> Exactly. And there's not a single person in here that says that they haven't done that. So there's no one that is doing everything perfectly every day. And if the kid if you're if you're really putting the kid on a shortened school day for the appropriate reasons because it's necessary for their disability, now you're punishing them for something that they can't
047control by telling them they have to be perfect and it's a standard they'll never be able to ascribe to. So we have to be very careful about what that plan looks like. Um, and then there's guidance from MDE with regards to responding to and counting disciplinary removals. Um, I think the thing that you want to take away from that is that MDE suggests that when we're counting days of removal, which is really important for us in terms of uh, special ed discipline um, is that you're counting them accurately. And MDE suggests that you do them by attendance. How you do attendance? I don't like that rule because we had a difficulty counting to 10 when we were saying a partial day equals a full day. And in the 15 plus years that I've been practicing
048special education law, I've never seen an attendance record that's been correct. I don't like absolutes, but I ain't seen one. And if that's the way that you're using it and you know that you have attendance, your practices are not on the up and up. You got to make sure you get them correct if that's the way you're going to use counting days of removal for kids. All right. Make sure there's no questions. Okay. Um I already talked about doing away with the zero tolerance laws. I think the most important thing is based on what Dr. Lawn says is our practice here in the district. We have to make sure that when we're doing those disciplinary removals or we're considering discipline, right? Because under the revised school code, it says a removal for more than 10
049days is presumed inappropriate. Shouldn't do it unless consider these and it's something that you need to do, right? Um this is why when we're doing this, especially for districts that have done this, it's very hard for me to figure out why a 5-year-old is expelled from a school district. It's very hard when you think about the people's age, disciplinary history. Um, I'm thinking if they're five years old and they're getting ready to be expelled, they better darn well have been evaluated for a disability. Um, because that's atypical. It's atypical. Come on. Right? There there has to be even under section 504 the lower standard of physical and mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Right? So, we we just have to think about those things, right? And thinking about whether there's a lesser
050intervention that would properly address the behavior. Um, yeah, I'm going to stay off my soap box. Did you have a question? >> You know, when we talk about violation, violation, threat safety, any pupil or staff member, how is that defined? How is that interpreted? >> You know what? There's there hasn't been any case law that I'm aware of specifically because this is state law, right? And most times when people are uh making claims with regards to discipline, they go off to federal court. They don't care about this. They care about the harm that's been caused um to the student. So, they're not getting into the nitty-gritty of there. But, I mean, threaten if we use what our ordinary terms are, right, in in safety. If someone doesn't if someone's not safe, if they're in danger
051of being hit or beat up every day, that threatens the safety of that pupil or staff member. That is a component. But you see, it's only one of the factors. And this is, you know, a lot of times they say, but sometimes it doesn't always come out to play that, you know, grammar matters. And we're looking at all. It's not an or proposition. It needs to be we consider all of those things. And I don't want to say every time because are there times when kids are legitimately expelled? Absolutely. Fant for sure. Long-term suspended for sure. I don't know what it is. It's one of those things where you know it when you see it. You got to show your work. But my thing is I think the more you focus in on that one
052factor as the reason why to the exclusion of the other ones, the more you put your district in danger. >> Mr. particularly as a practice when there's a threat made at school we go through our threat assessment protocols and that is not to usurp any of the seven is to give more information about that particular bullet point and the level of threat that we we've determined after going through our process through cag >> because as we know a child could be verbalizing something but not doing anything >> correct and there's also and we talk about this with our principles there's a difference between a six-year-old saying something and a 16-year-old saying something. And so that's part of how we're trained is to look at not only the the words that were used, the circumstance, the
053what led up to that circumstance, the witnesses that heard it. So we do take the students age as part of the training in account when we're looking at a threat. >> Yeah. Disability status would come into account there as well. Sometimes you have kids, especially ones with those pragmatic language deficits and and things of that nature that don't they just say things that could be construed as threatening, but they're not like it's a latent threat, right? Doesn't it's not going to go anywhere. >> And that's also one of the reasons why oftentimes our social workers are part of or our school psychologists are part of the team that evaluates the threat that the student has made or the perceived threat the student has made. You had a question? Yeah. The the first four bullets are
054more demographic. Yes. No, or a fact. Right. >> Yeah. >> The fifth the sorry the the seriousness of the violation is starts to be gray. >> Um the fifth bullet is past tense. So was someone threatened? >> But then the last two bullet bullets seem to be written in future tense. Is that intentional? And can you explain why? >> You asked me to explain what a legislature does. No. Um I can give you a theory. I think the last two bullets in terms of looking prospective. It is really trying to get you to think about is this something is discipline something that needs to be done? Do we have to do it? Is there an alternative that we can look at that is going to address the violation that's there? Little Johnny hit Suzie. Suzie's
055upset. Suz's afraid. Can we do a restorative practice circle with them to help them understand to help Johnny understand what he did and how Susie feels? And does that help Susie feel more calm? Can we do some other things? Do we have to say, "Johnny, you're out of here because you engaged in that physically violent behavior." Right. So, or can we do a lunch detention or can we do inschool suspension or something something that prevents the exclusion of them from out of school is is is the goal and intent behind what I believe the legislature was trying to do with the zero tolerance. The disciplinary history piece of it, I do think, however, um, requires you to look more qualitatively and and so if the kid made a sorry, if they have a history of
056saying violent things, do they have a history and their discipline of actually making good on those violent threats or is this a situation where they just say it? I tell my kids when they were younger, I would stab them if they did something wrong. I would never stab them and they know it. But they know that. But it sounds like I threatened them. I kind of did, but um but they also know I would never do it. Um and they're 28 and 26 and I have not stabbed him yet. Okay. So just just know that um their officer. >> So um that that's my best guess as to why they did. >> Very helpful. Thank you. >> And Mrs. Craft related to restorative practices. One of the tenants of it is that if it's a
057if you and I have had a disagreement, we want to use restorative practices, we both have to be a party agreeing to it. So, you couldn't put that in there's no other tense because we don't know if you're going to agree to it or not. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, so students, eligible students with disabilities are entitled to procedural safeguards which include that manifestation or termination review meeting if the school district seeks to remove the student from the educational environment and that removal will constitute a change in placement. Notice I use removal and not suspend. A lot of times people get hung up on the word suspension or expulsion. There are different ways you guys code things, right? And so what Congress said, we don't care what you call it. If it walks like
058a duck, sound like a duck, it's a duck, right? And so we care about are you removing that kid from the educational environment for disciplinary reasons. If you are doing that, you need to count that. And once you get up to enough removals, then you need to hold a manifestation determination review meeting. Now, the purpose of that MDR meeting is to determine whether the conduct for which a student is subject to discipline is a manifestation of their disability or not. And with limited exceptions, if the conduct is determined to be a manifestation of the kid's disability, the school district is prohibited from further disciplining that student for that disciplinary infraction. So, take for example, a kid brings a weapon onto school grounds that is not a firearm. Well, even if it's a firearm, still have
059to hold MDR. But, um, let's just say it's a firearm. Let's leave the other thing out the way. And for whatever reason, the manifestation determination review team determines that that kid's possession of the firearm on school um, the weapon, not fire, the weapon on school grounds was a manifestation of the kid's disability. They never come see you. They can't. Congress said they can't come to the board. It doesn't matter that they possess the weapon on school grounds because by federal law, they are entitled to return back to the placement for which we removed them from. Period. And so if you expelled the kid anyway, despite what the MDR team decided, that's going to subject you to the 1983 claims, 1998 1988 claims. That's going to get the board implicated because they're going to say you
060should have known better and all of those things, right? And so we it's it's a big deal when when we find that conduct is a manifestation of the kid's disability. All right. If the conduct is determined not to be a manifestation of the kids's disability, then you can discipline them in accordance with your uh disciplinary processes and procedures. However, you have to make sure you're not discriminating against the kid. There will be many times because there is a perception. And it's an incorrect perception, but there is a perception that we got to get out a discipline free card if you have a disability. That's not true. But sometimes we decide we're going to throw the book at the kid because we finally got them. We finally got them. That one time they did something and
061it's not a manifestation and we're looking to punish them more harshly. If we do that, that is discrimination potentially on the basis of disability and vi potentially violate section 504. and um the ADA. Yes. >> Uh and I'm sorry, uh how quickly does that determination make? >> It must be held within 10 school days of the date of the decision to that constitutes a change in removal. So or what should be happening if we're doing this as a welloiled oiled machine because we know if we are looking for a long-term suspension or expulsion, we have to go to that hearing process. And if we're following Gossip Lopez, that also has to occur within 10 school days, right? So, we are making sure hopefully we hold the MDR process before we ever get to the board
062level or here, however you do it in your district, because in my experience, boards don't like to be overturned. So if a child with a a disability brings a weapon to school, >> we as a system have to wait up to 10 days for the determination of whether that is a manifestation of their disability. >> You don't have to wait. You have only 10 days to make that decision and you have only 10 days to get them to the board hearing if the conduct is determined not to be a manifestation. So there's a lot that's happening within that 10day period. Got it. >> The MDR, making that determination, trying to get board hearings scheduled and and things of that nature. >> So, just as a point of reference for our community, the policies that we
063have, the hearings take place at the deputy superintendent level. The board does not hear expulsions >> and the deputy superintendent's decision is final. There's no appeal of that decision. >> Okay. Yes. >> Okay. So, a child brings a weapon to school. It's a manifestation of their disability. How do we protect the rest of our students? Like what can we what kind of things can we put in place if they are allowed to stay within the school? >> Okay. >> Protect our rest of our students. >> So, okay, that that's a great question. So, under the IDA, not under section 504, but under the IDEIDA, if you have a student with a disability that bring that possesses a weapon, a dangerous weapon, it has to be defined as a dangerous weapon as is defined under the
064IDEIDA. Then a school district can unilaterally, meaning they don't have to get parent input or parent agreement, they can unilaterally remove that student for up to 45 school days to a different setting. And while they're in that different setting, you still have to provide fake to them. and you're looking at what are we going to do to help shore up things so when they come back and I notice I said when they come back um we can help to ensure that we're protecting the safety of everybody as well as that kid but you know um if you have very limited options if the conduct is determined to be a manifestation of the kid's disability um and it's in terms of that unilateral removal for up to 45 school days it is limit limited to weapons,
065drugs, serious bodily injury. That's it. Um, if a kid engages in some other conduct that doesn't meet those definitions and we still have a concern about safety, either their safety or the safety of others, we still have avenues available to us. One would be what we call a Hanik injunction. That's something that you can go off to court and say, "Hey, we think this kid's a danger to self or others. we need you to issue a an order that temporarily has the kid out of school for up to 45 days. Um, you also have a pathway through the Michigan Department of Education, specifically within the IDEIDA, we call that an expedited due process hearing. Um, that same thing, you're asking an administrative law judge to remove the student for up to 45 school days. Now,
066again, it's only 45 school days. they will come back unless the parent and the district agree otherwise. Um, if there's a determination at some other point that the placement it no longer provides the kid a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment, you can look at changing placements and doing some things there. But it takes some work. It takes effort. And sometimes where we might think the kid shouldn't be here, we still may have to keep them here because there are all kinds of circumstances in place that we have to shore up in order to make sure that we've done what we need to do to support that kid in an appropriate way. >> I think two things to to follow up on that is the the two last two options mentioned going
067to court and going through administrative law judge. Our standard to prove our case is incredibly high and it's relatively if not extremely rare that a court will step in and go and go beyond what our team has decided. Would that be a fair >> It is. I mean there there there are times when courts have found that I'm not going to say they don't. Right. Um but there are many many many cases more cases than not where the court says, "Yeah, we see the kids engaging in behaviors. Those behaviors are not good. Yes, they're putting people at risk to some degree. However, the reason that the kids doing that is because you haven't put in place the supports. You haven't put in place the services. And that's a really horrible place to be, right? Because
068at that point, there's you're under court order. you can't remove the kid and you are not where you're not stuck because that's just not a a right way to say it, but you are um prevented from being able to do anything other than get your house in order. And that's and and that that's essentially it because you when you go to a court to say the kids are dangerous to self or others, you bear the burden of proof. Parent can walk in there and they got to do nothing. You have to tell the judge that you've done everything right. So, you're going to bust out your data and your data should support what you're saying. And if your data doesn't support what you're saying, what I say, you're bankrupt, right? So, if you're bankrupt and
069you don't have appropriately trained staff, you are going to have spent roughly $10,000 only to be told you got to bring the kid back. And that's $10,000 that you could have spent over here shoring up staff training, getting the supports and the resources in place for the student. And so you have to balance where do you where is your money better spent. It's not about whether this kid's safety is worth this money. It's about we got to balance the rights of everybody, but we have to do what's right. And if we're not doing what's right by this kid, then we need to do what's right because someone's going to tell us we have to do it. And and where do we want to devote our resources in doing what's right now or doing it after
070the fact where it's going to cost you double to do what you should have done in the first place? So it it it's rare. I don't really take a when clients call and ask, should we go there? It's it's very rare that I would say, yeah, I think you you got it. It's rare. >> And in the situation you described, two things would be happening somewhat simultaneously. The IEP team would be getting together to revise the plan and of supplemental aids and supports. And in conjunction with that, not not exclusive to that, we would also be working on a safety plan specific towards the concerns we have for that particular student. >> Would a um like going are you allowed to legally go through their backpack and their things to make sure that they don't
071have any weapons on them when they come back? And so that way we know that it's safe for them to come back to school for the whole community. >> That is an option that we can utilize within a safety plan. Yes. >> Yeah. >> And just so my colleagues understand, for years everything that we're talking about used to come before the board and it has become so involved and with so many legal entities there. I think it was probably about better part of 15 years ago, we decided administration can handle this and bring it to us after the fact or notify us because there is so much involved and so much gray area for that uh we would trip over our own tongues. And as we talked about with the 2020 data, certainly when we
072look at the last three years of data, we we have had an increase and this is not special education related. This is student related of behaviors that have made it to when I was deputy superintendent with Dr. Delgado before me and now Mr. Scaling compared to where we were 15 years ago. That that's just it's a fact. So do with it what you want, but it would bog down this entity if we were to go through that. And remember, it has to happen within 10 days. >> So that means we we could potentially be having three or four meetings within six school days, >> right? And so it the process that we use, I think, is is better for not only the people at this table, but better for the family, too, because they're now
073having a situation that isn't disclosed publicly. we're able to really find out different ways of supporting the families. And our goal, of course, is to bring the students back when it's appropriate and to have support not only when they come back, but develop support along the way. And I'm I'm happy to discuss that with anyone individually or as the board if you want to talk more about that. But it's just not it's not the days of you screwed up, we'll see you in a year, good luck, right? That's that's long gone, right? There's a lot of supports that we put in place if a student has to be long-term suspended or expelled. Yeah. Well, part of that, at least for our students with disabilities, is because we still have an obligation to provide them with
074a free appropriate public education whether we suspend or even when we expel them. And a lot of districts don't realize that and forget that they still have to provide access to the general education curriculum, access to their uh services and supports so that they can make progress on their goals and objectives. We still have to educate our students with disabilities that are idea eligible. Not true for 504 unless you do that for all kids. But for our IDEIDA eligible students, we still have that obligation unless they leave us and go someplace else. Okay. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Sorry, one more question for you. H how do we go ahead and educate those students when they have to be removed from the district for up to 45 days? What are our practices for that? >> So,
075I'll speak in generalities. Typically, a student is enrolled into one of our online programs. We we had our own teachers doing online education during that time. We also would give it an opportunity for graduation alliance which we partnered with or egeneuity is another company that we partner with. A parent always has the option of choosing their own educational choice if they choose to do so. And so for a general educ all students are general education students first. So for a student that does not have a manifestation an MDR finding those are that's typically how we approach it. Yep. All right. >> How'd I do navigating that one? >> You did perfect. >> Okay. >> I I mentioned the the unilateral removal piece of it in terms of what Congress has said we can do for
076weapons, drugs or serious bodily injury. Again, those um federal definitions apply and I think I have a slide on them. So, um I've already talked about kind of that judicial intervention, the Hanik injunction or expedited due process hearing. So, I don't need to go through that. All right. um serious bodily injury. This is one where um many people don't realize how high the standard is, right? And um the IDA adopts that definition of serious bodily injury from the US criminal code, right? In the way that it defines it as as bodily injury which involves substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member organ or mentally faculty. Right? So here are some court cases that found that a broken nose is not
077serious bodily injury. It hurt. They bled. No one's disputing that they were injured, but it's not serious bodily injury. Um, a case where a principal uh got a swollen knee based on an interaction with a kid had to uh he should have sought medical attention, but he did not. Court said, "Well, if it was serious bodily injury, you went to the doctor and you didn't." Same would be true of where people ignore their doctor's advice, right? And and they're going to say they're going to look at all of these facts, right? because we're looking for that extreme physical pain. Well, if you were in extreme physical pain, you would not ignored your medical advice. Even if it's going to be something that you are going to be in discomfort or dis or pain or whatever
078for a long period of time, they're not going to get it to where it needs to be within this definition of serious bodily injury. Um, contusions, concussions, um, in and of itself has not necessarily been found to be serious bodily injury. Okay. Um, we have seen some court cases that said if someone had a severe concussion, which included intense headaches, nausea, and miss work, I will say if you missed a day of work, it probably is not going to climb the mountain. Okay, we're looking at something that is a little bit more long-term than that, right? But this is again, it's it's very fluid. the specific facts of the circumstances are going to be very important, but this is where we're at. Um, if you if the staff member or the kid um had medical
079treatment where two drugs failed to provide pain relief and was characterized as the worst pain in her life, that was actually a case that came out of Michigan. um that when I remember when that case was decided because one of my colleagues handled that case for the school district that was one that was kind of rare and when when it was characterized as the worst pain in that particular staff member's life it was couched in terms of the things that they were able to do before the injury, what they couldn't do after the injury, and what was going to be the long-term impact on their ability to be able to do those things that they used to do prospectively, right? So, it got more into that um protracted loss or impairment piece is how they
080got there. I I I illustrate those just to show you can be hurt, you can be injured, it's not enough. It has to be something more than that. um weapon. I don't have the definition of weapon here, but what I will tell you the for the def definition of weapon, it has to be an an an object or something that is readily capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. All right. So most courts have said that ordinary objects in the school environment do not constitute a dangerous weapon as defined under the IDEIDA. There's cases about scissors where you know the kid picked up scissors and the and the court's like, "Wait a minute. So you're telling me that you give your staff scissors that are weapons and things of that nature?" And so brooms,
081uh, computer stuff, they don't typically say that those are going to constitute a dangerous weapon as defined on the IDEIDA. Now, a lot of times it is going to depend on the age of the kid and whether they're a puny or scrawny kid or whether they're a strong kid, right? The more puny kid, the younger the kid, the less likely them wielding the the broom and threatening people is going to be considered a dangerous weapon. Can it hurt them? Absolutely. Is it going to re realistically cause them death if they hit them with the broom? No. Is it going to potentially cause serious bodily injury? I guess it could, but they don't live in the land of possibilities. They want to know if it's a realistic thing. And if it's not realistic, they're not going
082to say it's serious bodily injury. That's why age matters. Strength of kid matters when you're looking at and evaluating whether or not you have a dangerous weapon. Right? talked about the shortened school day, so I'm not going to go there again. Um, virtual distance learning can be an option to educate students with disabilities, but um, please make sure that those decisions are made by the IEP team. Um, we cannot as an administration unilaterally place a kid due to behavior on a virtual learning or a distance learning platform. We can't do that. That violates the law. It must be done as part of an IEP team process. and the IEP team has to determine that it is uh the student's least restrictive environment and can provide them with fate. Okay. All right. I didn't realize how
083quickly I got done. Any questions? Further questions, concerns? Yes. One more back to the um what if is it looking at the lens of a singular day or is it a consistent measure where the student might like mental faculty where a kid is maybe it's a constant knock them down they get a contusion one day the next day it's the same thing it's a consistent consistency or is it just through the lens of the one one action or is it collective >> it depends because there can be times where uh the injury can be exasperated by additional conduct, right? and and and and depending on the level level of impact of that subsequent harm on the initial harm, it could it could I have seen situations where someone has suffered multiple um concussions and it
084wasn't the one concussion, it was kind of the series of concussions that led to having that long-term longlasting impact and that got you there. Um but it it was just that cumulative effect of things. >> One more question. Have you seen >> Have you seen any examples of mental injury, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress that have penetrated to serious injury? >> I haven't seen any um not any case law in Michigan. I think uh like maybe a year and a half ago, there was a teacher in a different state that raised that type of um issue or concern in connection with litigation. And I believe the court did determine that what happened to her constitutes serious bodily injury. >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, thank you very much for having me. I appreciate >> Well,
085then one more. I just have a question for Thank you so much for that. Will this be available on our website? Anything showing this presentation? >> Are you Are you okay with that? >> Is this public? Thank you. >> So, we can Dan, you and I can talk about where we'll put that. >> And can we get a larger copy of this next board meeting? Because even though it's on, you know, it's available, the eyesight isn't as good as it used to be. >> My tri focals struggle with it too. >> Miss Co. Thank you very much for your coming. >> Thank you. Thank you very very much. >> Before we move forward, I just want to thank all of our staff because I I do believe that all of our staff are committed to
086all of our students and they work very hard to make sure that all students are cared for and supported in the appropriate manner. So, I just want that to be on the record. I know I speak for everyone at the table here that we appreciate what they bring to the table every day because our the job is challenging and we're very fortunate to have such a great Walt Lake family to take care of our students. >> Thank you, Madam President. I absolutely concur with that 100%. Okay, we're going to move on to public commentary. Um, I'm not going to read my little spiel because you guys all know what you're supposed to do. So, we're just gonna we're going to start and I'm going to start with Monica House. >> Hi, I'm Monica House. I'm
087one of the resource program teachers at Guest Elementary. Um, I'd like to thank the district for our welcome back yesterday and the speaker that we had. Um, I think it was, and I put this in my feedback survey, but I feel like it meant more because it was coming from his heart and not just speaking about something that he's researched and learned, but what he's actually lived. I know we had to punt and go to Central, but I will say it was the easiest welcome back celebration to get out of the parking lot that I've had in my years working here. And I really appreciated that I didn't feel like I was at a concert trying to take half an hour or more to get out of the parking lot. So, just as a side
088note, that that worked out. Um, as you know, we had our welcome back with the students, the meet and greet. I think that went really well at our school. um very good turnout and then we also did popsicles with the principal and that it was just fun seeing the kids all coming back and excited to be in the school and you know see who their teachers were all their friends and I think it's a great way to kick off the school year and I'm really excited. Thank you. >> Thank you Christine Titus. Hi, Christine Titus. Starting my 21st year in this district as an educator. Um, so welcome back. And I always like to when I started my class it was happy new year. I know we celebrate it in January, but for me the
089new year starts now. Um, Monica stole my thunder a little bit, but um, I wanted to also thank you for yesterday's opening day. It was inspiring, engaging. It just left us, I think, a lot of us with super great feelings. Um, one of the the pieces that I've enjoyed that's a more recent addition is that student panel. Um, I it means a lot to us as teachers to hear what what we do impacts the students and the relationships that we've built with them and contributes to their current and their future success. So, that's super impactful and I got a shout out the first year you did it. So it it meant a lot. Um, one of the things that the speaker uh that Mr. Honeyut impressed upon me, I like to take little blips and
090write them down. And one of the things, number one, he reminded me of Robin Williams, okay? He had that and I' I've had the opportunity I had the opportunity to see Robin Williams in person and he just had that vibe of the way he worked the stage and everything. So, it was it was very appealing and and kept you on your toes, so to speak. But he talked about um the positive gossip and how we have to ou headline the naysayers. And I guess that's what I've been personally trying to do when I come to the meetings and hope to continue to do moving forward because there have been a lot of naysayers over the last several years and it's it's time to change that. Um so I would also like to welcome our newest
091slashreing board members. Thank you for our your service to our students, the staff, and the community of Wald Lake schools. And then, this is totally off topic, but I have a wondering um at the middle school and high school, they have 1:1 Chromebooks, and I'm wondering if that is on the horizon for elementary students. having been in elementary now for starting my 10th year. My start of my whole thing was in elementary, but is that going to be coming to elementary at some point? So, it's a wondering I have. But again, thank you and uh happy new year. >> Thank you, Miss Nancy Vanluen. >> Well, some of my thunder was stolen, too. I just wanted to uh congratulate our newest board members. Um and best of luck. What I'm looking forward to is is
092a board that doesn't have personal vendettas that's here for all of us, all of our students, all the staff and as of today with no experience with you that's the case. So let's continue. I also um wanted to comment on the fact that I know we have a variety of substitute principles and I think that that or assistant principles that speaks highly of Wald Lake because the people that are returning to fill those interim positions, some just retired last June and they're returning. Um, others are coming back several times to various positions and I think it speaks not only to our central administration but it speaks to what Wald Lake is as a whole. They are committed to this district and are willing to sacrifice their retirement to some degree um their free time, their
093ability to do other things to come in here and work for us. And I think that's a real tribute to the district. Um, I also did was not present but watched the video of the the six former students that spoke at the uh meetings the yesterday. And one of the one of the things that comes to me as they're reminiscing about their years in school is not that they passed the test. Is not that they succeeded in some artificial standard that was established by the Michigan Department of Education or the federal government or somebody out there. It was something that a teacher in a classroom did with them that impacted their lives all the way to the future. And I I think that um all of us have had that experience. There's somebody that you
094dealt with in your experience as a student. And I think those are the memories that we have. And I think we need to highlight them. I think we need our staff to know that they're appreciated for that kind of work, for their interaction with the students, for their caring about the students. It's not did they master every single thing on that test. It's not fully the data is Wald Lake number one in everything. It's are our students appre appreciated, respected, and I think in Wald Lake they are. So, thank you. Here's to a good year. >> Thank you. We're going to move on to administrative commentary. Dr. Lans. >> Thank you, Madam President. We'll start with Mrs. Kohansky. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. It's been a really busy couple of weeks as we've been getting
095prepared for all of the great things that have taken place over the last few days here in the district. Um just really wanted to highlight thanking the staff that did a lot of um volunteering of their time to participate in professional learning over the last few weeks. Um those are staff that I just highly regarding going above and beyond in order to, you know, enrich their learning and be more prepared for our learners when they come back. uh next week and uh we had a really successful new teacher orientation. I'm sure Dr. Hamco will talk about that. But uh also our homegrown institute uh I've done new principal orientation with some of our new admin that are with us and it's just been a real pleasure and I can tell that everybody's you know looking
096forward to seeing students and welcoming everyone back next week. So thank you. Thank you very much, Miss Mir. >> And similarly, so we were really excited um earlier this week to have um two days of professional learning with our transportation staff as well as our pair professional staff and just to see the level of dedication that those professionals have with our students each and every day and the excitement about acquiring new skills and making sure that they're really prepared um for students as they come back. So, we're looking forward to an exciting new year and I think they're appreciative of the time that was spent with them. >> Thank you, Mr. Dr. Hamco. >> Thank you. Last week we had Thank you, Miss Wensky. Last week, we had our new teacher orientation. We hired around
09740 teachers um many new teachers right out of college. Some teachers um from different experiences and backgrounds, some from other states. So, um specifically, um looking to come to Walt Lake. So, it's it was a great experience and they learned a lot about Walt Lake, our systems and our structures and um they're ready to to take off on Monday. They're great. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Mrs. O. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Um again, as we've already mentioned, there's no budget for his data date. Not surprising, unfortunately, because I was looking back at some comments and that was kind of a prediction that we wouldn't have them by June 30th back in May. And unfortunately, it doesn't look like we're going to have that by October 1. So, not great news. On a better
098note, um we are doing some initiatives in payroll. We're working on an electronic time sheet. We're looking to do a pilot program which we have started with our food service staff, our early childhood, and our prime time staff in an effort to help them report their time, but also help us become a little bit more efficient. Uh we'll be looking to do a pilot program with three of our schools eventually. Um, but we're looking to do some training because we want to make sure that it's successful as we move forward with those types of initiatives. And kudos to the payroll staff in conjunction with assistance from the HR to try to get that rolling and working through those processes to make us more efficient. And that's all led by Sheri Davis and an amazing team
099that we have in payroll that is really cranking through trying to get people paid on a daily basis or on for upcoming for the new year as well. The other initiatives are good news, bad news. if you will. Our student services certainly is working like crazy to enroll students. The bad news of that is that there's a lot of late enroles this time around. I'm not sure exactly what's happening. There's a couple of theories out there and we'll test that. But in the last three days, we've had over over 70 new enroles and that's on top of 200 that are still in the portal. So, they're working very diligently led by Patty Harin. I appreciate the staff that's doing that um to get them in the school by next Monday, but it makes it a
100little bit more challenging. So, we appreciate all the hard work that they're going through. So, and we'll keep doing that and make sure we'll see what happens for our October count. So, looking forward to the start of school and getting those kids in into the classrooms and having a great year ahead. So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Elmer. Mr. Durkin, he threw you off there, didn't he? Thank you, Dr. Lans. Um, it's, as we talked about, you know, school year starting next week. We had a lot of amazing things happening this summer. So, appreciate everyone who shared their summer activities with us. All the kids who participated in our summer camps, excuse me. Um, so I just want to give a shout out to Jason and Pam for all their work encapsulating everything and
101social media and for everyone who engaged in that content. Our back- tochool learning should be out in your mailboxes by excuse me, by now. No idea what's happening with my voice there. And I do have a bit of homework. I know we have three people in the audience, but hopefully from people watching at home, I do get the pleasure of giving the first homework assignment of the school year. And that is our back to our first day of school picture signs or signs for pictures. So, please feel free to print those off. We have some here in our board office. Should have some out at the schools as well. And um we look forward to a great year. >> Thank you, sir. Mr. Scan. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Uh just uh would like to
102thank our technology team who spent many hours this week and in previous weeks getting our students uh the devices, making sure their loginins were working and making sure they're prepared for Monday. They spent a lot of time making sure that uh registration was completed online for families who were there and needed to do that. So I want to thank them for donating a lot of their time and and really working to make sure things go as seamless as possible when students come back on Monday. also wanted to uh wish congratulations and good luck to our uh athletic teams who began practices last week and uh other activities and they'll begin competitions if they haven't already very shortly. So, good luck to them and I want to thank all of the coaches and our administrative team
103and Mr. Swinhard for all their hard work and getting the season up and running smoothly. >> Thank you, sir. Uh a few things I'd like to highlight. Uh opening day I thought was fantastic at Central. So, thank you to the central staff for accommodating the last minute switch. it. Nothing would have made people a little bit more grumpy than being at Northern and with the temperature in the auditorium there being about 150 degrees. So, I'm glad we had another option that we could use and it was a it was a fantastic place to hold an event. Thank you to Mrs. Kohansk and her team for the PD for our teachers from what I've heard and I'm looking forward to the feedback. So, please anyone listening, please make sure you fill out the feedback. We do
104that take that very seriously and we do adjust opening day based on the feedback that we receive. So, I'm excited to continue to see that feedback. I did have one of our fantastic pair of professionals stop me and say how happy they were with the uh PD that they received earlier the week that you alluded to. So, thank you to you and your team, Miss Mir, for putting together a fantastic event for our pair of professionals. Our staff officially came in yesterday and today although I'm confident that many of our staff other than at Northern because they weren't allowed in the building, not because they weren't dedicated, have been in for not only days before this, but weeks before this, making sure that our students are ready to go and ready to be welcomed on
105on Monday. And interesting, I I thought this is a great story that talks a lot about the the tradition that Wald Lake has and the Wald Lake family. And I I don't use that as a trit phrase. All of you know me well enough that I don't blow smoke. If I believe something, I say what it is. And this really to me exemplified that family feel that we have. I was walking out of Central to go to my car and I think she was maybe 13 because she was a new student teacher and at least that's how how old she looked to me at my age. And she was so excited to be at Wald Central and she was so excited to share her story with me. It's fantastic. Like those are the things that
106that get me pumped up is when I have a a young adult adult sharing just how excited they are to do what they want to do to to show talk to me about their craft. And she ended up sharing that she was from Wald Lake Central. She graduated from Wald Lake Central and that she worked very hard to be placed back in Wald Lake. She would have preferred Wald Lake Central, but she wanted to be back in Wald Lake. And that's that's a testament to what all 1400 of our staff do every day is that they come so committed to our school community. Not only just our students, not only the parents, but to each other. And students can feel that, parents can feel that, our staff can feel that. And that there are other
107opportunities out there to teach and to work. Right? We're not the only game in business. But as someone who's worked in many different districts, I can say that for a district our size to have the level of family feel that we have and the level of commitment to want to work in Wald Lake. And I know that Dr. Ham has had many stories like that. I certainly had that when I was hiring people that they were just so excited to be back here. And those are are people that we've hired that have stayed here. Like they could have gone other places, but they haven't. and they've stayed here because of the family feel that we have starting with the building administration and working all the way through all of our buildings. So that was just
108great and I I love her gumption where she said and if you want to see some great teaching feel free to stop by anytime. I'm like that I like you that that's fantastic. Let's go. So thank you Madam President. >> Thank you. We're going to start with you Mr. Libbit. >> Right into the fire. Thank you Madam President. Uh yes. Uh so first I want to thank uh the members of our board for their trust and support uh during the interview process. I can speak for myself and Mr. Smith and Mrs. Grafton, Mrs. West, and now uh Dr. Zelner. Uh it is not easy sitting at that table. Uh it is it is I've done it twice now. It's it's not fun. Um but we do it because we all want to advocate for this
109district, for our community, for the students, the parents, everyone who touches uh this uh community and this then this board. And so I I feel it a privilege uh to be be part of this. I will honor uh this uh this appointment by being a good comrade to you all and I I'm looking forward to working with you each. So thank you uh very much for your trust. Um second, I did want to talk about opening day, but everyone stole all my thunder. So, I'm just going to say um this first off uh the production was fantastic. I know it was kind of on the fly because of Wald Central and all that stuff, but I once again is this I've had the privilege now of doing two of these. Um it was fantastic. It
110had if the desired effect was to inspire and get people excited and to have people roll out of there thrilled to begin this year, it did that job extremely well. I agree with you, Dr. that um I think one of the things I I loved most was seeing the young teachers um people that with their shining eyes and their their exuberant spirits so excited to be part of this process and to get that opportunity to to sit with their peers and learn from the experience and get a chance to meet people uh like uh Mr. Honeyut and and others. It was a tremendous opportunity. Um I will say on a side note, didn't realize you were a typing teacher. Uh I uh I I could have used that keyboarding now. I still do the four
111what do they call it? Four-finger pecking or whatever whatever they call it. So uh that would would have been uh helpful for me. Uh and I also want to echo what uh some of our public speakers said that um we all can think of teachers who have inspired us in our lives. Uh and at the end of the day uh we will not remember the content that is learned in Wald schools as great as we are as an educational uh system. It's the teachers uh who inspire us, who teach us uh to think beyond uh the classroom. And I I just want to say uh it it was thrilling to hear uh stories from the alumni. Uh kudos to you, Mr. Scaling, for once again um making that uh so powerful for everybody who who
112witnessed it. So uh so thank you for that. Um lastly, uh some of you may recall a couple years ago, Wald Lake Schools adopted a gunsafe resolution here for the the district and we were all thrilled um for those of us who are um gun owners or part of the uh gun community, we were thrilled to see that. Um, some of you might also know that state of Michigan also passed uh its safe storage law uh this past year uh which now requires gun owners uh to safely store their firearms in any home uh where there is likely to be children. Um and then uh it's important that we also understand that next week uh is uh smart week uh which is built on the BS smart uh framework of secure gun storage. uh and
113it uh it kind of reinforces the notion we should all be recommitting ourselves uh to safe gun storage. If you don't understand what that means or how you can be better steward of health and safety through gun ownership and gun safety, uh I encourage you and those in the audience and those are watching on TV uh to go to uh be smartforkids.org. Uh thank you very much, >> Mr. Smith. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh first I want to start off by saying thank you to all the teachers and staff and uh getting all the rooms ready for everything for the first day. Uh we know there's many emotions uh to this first day that is coming up. I I just I looked at the timeline and I know I have some friends and this
114is as we've been probably seeing it shared around but there are many babies uh that were born that they were this is their first time the co uh kindergarteners are going to be starting. So, it's going to be an interesting time with some of that as well as uh my son is one of them. The co kindergarters are now starting middle school. So, it's it's it's these different dynamics, these different emotions that you're kind of doing. There's a lot of first going on. We're going to have a lot of new teachers, wonderful out there that were coming in here and even teachers maybe moving up, changing within their K through five, whatever their experience in there's just going to be a lot. You're going to have a lot of new kids that are coming to
115middle school, uh going to high school. some of I think among you I think uh some seniors that it's their first last year. So that's going to be another cherished time and very bittersweet I think. So enjoy those moments I guess just as a parent as both my kids are finally at middle school together finally at the same school for one year. So it'll be enjoyful. Uh just give each other grace and kindness and thoughtfulness and help each other out. I I tell my own children, you know, they're going to be kids who are extremely so many emotions, uh, anxiety, apprehension, joy, excitement, whatever you want to think about, just going through not only the first day, but kind of coming back to a new school setting. We have some, you know, specifically at SMART,
116we have some Glengary kids that are now coming there. It's a whole new atmosphere, uh, trying to build within that culture. So, there's going to be a lot of changes and I think it's really we as parents, we as community members, board members, you know, we are our our kids, we imprint on our children. So, what I'm saying is have that grace out there. Give some kindness, give some joy, give some high fives, whatever you need. I appreciate all the teachers and everything that they do. And of course, be safe. There's going to be some new drivers out there. And uh from my my professional life, I will say there are detours, so be aware of traffic. Uh specifically on Wise and Union Lake, uh was extended, so busing is most likely going to be
117late. We'll just say that. we we probably know that's going to happen. So, be aware. Take more time in the mornings. Uh and I'm sure as my daughter's bus I think is always late to CHS that first week coming up Union Lake. So, just be aware of that. I want to thank you to my fellow board members. Again, welcome Mr. Lipet once again and Dr. Zelner. Uh I hope to have a great year working together collaboratively and uh really working on a lot of the things. Hopefully, we get a budget at some point. We'll see. uh push those legislators I know to do their job. Again, it's funny because professional life, school board, I have a road funding that I'm important. I have school funding. They're fight anyways. I have both sides. Um and I
118just want to give a special shout out uh to my daughter and all of her friends. Uh they're they're going out for uh volleyball uh next week. So, I wanted she's probably watching. And also to my son and their their the inaugural season of the White Lake Wolves. Uh their first game is on Sunday. So hopefully my son and his team does well. Just want to get those shouts out. Thanks. >> Thank you. This is Grafton. >> Hi everyone. Um I first want to share the enthusiasm for the beginning of the school year. Um, I've had the opportunity to interact with a handful of teachers and um, you know, I know that they appreciated having some relaxation in the summer and they are busting their tails to get ready for this school year. So, I'm
119just so appreciative for the teachers, the paras, the um principles, the HR department who's been um killing it in hiring and um you know, vacancies that came up in the summer that we weren't planning for and you ran beautiful processes from what I've heard and I'm excited for the new teachers that we have joining the team. Um, I also want to give a um pat on the back to our former Geyser teachers that are returning to new buildings and um I've seen um in social media their enthusiasm moving into new classrooms and new teaching assignments. I also want to remind everyone at the middle schools that Geysesler, former Geysesler students are joining new communities and so give some grace, give some patience, a smile, a welcome. Um I know there's a lot of middle schoolers
120that are nervous and um all of us adults can provide that um safe and welcoming environment for them. Um building on uh Dr. Lonz's theme of Wald Lake is family. I wanted to share with our family here in Wald Lake that in the middle of July, I received a cancer diagnosis and I'm going to fight like heck to serve with you all for the six-year term that I was elected for. Um, I'm going to be very as open as people will allow me to be because, um, it was a regular routine colonoscopy with no symptoms that caught this. So, early detection is key. Prep isn't fun, but do it because a colonoscopy isn't glamorous, but cancer is um the tradeoff sometimes. So, get your colonoscopy if you haven't already. Um, you might see me in
121the next board meeting or two with some uh ADA sort of related um accommodations. Uh, I'm God willing I will be at all these meetings. Um, but um just wanted to let folks know um what we're dealing with and that I um will continue to be committed to our district throughout this entire process. Um, on a final note, um, I would appreciate a little bit of grace from our friends and the community if I'm a little slower to respond to an email or a text or a phone call, but I will be here for the students and the staff of Wald Lake as long as I can be. So, thank you all and um, I think that's it for today. >> Thank you, Dr. Zelner. That was exciting. Hi everyone. Um it's hard to go
122after that because uh we wish you all the best of luck in your treatment and I know I speak for the other cancer survivors like myself that I know the road is hard uh and you can do it and uh yes I also benefited from early detection myself. So I I definitely appreciate that. Also, uh, every year I say, boy, does it take a lot of energy to launch a school year. It just takes a lot of energy. I was so sad I couldn't be with everyone at this. I have serious FOMO. But I was at someone else's opening day because I am also an educator. I'm I don't even want to say how 20 something years I've been in this uh in this game. And um you know I'm just my heart is with
123all of you and I just echo everything everyone has said. I also want to thank the board for letting me sit in front of you and babble and then um allowing me to come join you. I have always wanted to know what the school board does behind closed doors. And now I know um there's not as many jokes as I expected but we can change that. Um, also I've been talking to a lot of the little kindergarteners who are starting kindergarten on Monday for the very first time and asking them what they're looking forward to for this school year. And they're so excited to meet their teachers and to be in the buildings. And um, I just their infectious enthusiasm for school just reminds us what we're all doing here. I also got to get
124the other end of that experience by joining Wald Lake Central. Shout out Vikings 30th reunion on Friday. Um, shout out to all my classmates. Uh, we're still coming together, which I think says a lot to echo some of our public comments. Uh, we are definitely a community that cares for one another. And uh, as I am going to be at the senior sunrise with two dozen bagels for my first laugh. You almost made me cry. Um, so if I'm crying a little bit this year, it's all those first laughs. So again, thanks to everyone for all their hard work and for already doing a bangup job um, bringing everything together. The last thing I'll say is I really appreciated that um, presentation we had because I always think about Judy Hume. Judy Humeman was a
125polio survivor and when she showed up for kindergarten, her principal told her, "You're a fire hazard and you can't be here." And I know she said Congress passed IDA and the ADA and section 504, but they did it because of disability advocates like Judy Hume. She was also the first wheelchair using teacher in the state of New York and she lied about what she wanted to do for her job so that she could be in front of kids and join this amazing profession. And that is why we do that because that happened in the 70s which for some of us is when we were born. It's not that long ago. It's not that long ago and that's why we have to be proactive. What I heard in that presentation was not what if what if
126what if. It was we are doing the right things for kids with disabilities and we are going to make sure that when a flower doesn't bloom we adjust the environment in which it grows and not the flower and that we can do that here and we can do it together and I know we can because of all the talent in this district. >> Thank you Mrs. West. >> Um welcome back to everybody. I hope everybody's excited for the D school year. I know I am um anxious to get back to the classroom with my four-year-olds. Um so um it's nice to not be on the other end of the senior year this year. So good luck to you with that one. Um I really enjoyed going to Glen Gary's meet and greet today. Um it
127was really nice to see all the excited faces, both staff and students. Um, I think it's really wonderful that we're doing this because it helps I think it helps putting those faces to the names and kind of puts an edge to that anxiety that kids get and even the teachers frankly. Um, just knowing who you're who's coming in and so that's a really nice thing. Um, for those who may be anxious about maybe a reputation that you've heard of regarding both a staff member or a child, just try to put that aside. I know from my own experience, I remember um as a teenage girl, there was a I remember getting a teacher that I really did not want because of a reputation this person had. And I remember going to class that first day
128after begging my mom to please call the counselor and please change my change my schedule. And I cried and cried and we argued. But I went to class and I remember thinking, she's not so bad. And I went the second day. I was like, I don't know what everybody's talking about. She ended up being my favorite teacher. She came to my wedding. I want you just please give somebody the respect that they deserve and give them a chance because you never know. So, shout out to Mrs. McGrath. Um, many years ago, but you know, like those people, they like you said, they still stay in our hearts and you know, we bring them them back to us. So, um, I wish everybody the very best first day and a wonderful school year. >> Mr. Zagler,
129>> as Mr. Smith was alluding to with the roads and with our buses, uh, I think one of the things that we we might want to remind our community is yellow actually means red. As we move into this school year, uh I think a lot of parents are still not aware of the change in the laws and if if we could possibly get something out to them, I think it would be beneficial. Uh I've spent a lot of time the last o over the summer trying to uh make some headway on the budget and as Mrs. R said, probably isn't going to happen. And the key words I'm hearing are impass, stalemate, roads, and shutdown. Uh if we are fortunate, I think we might see a budget in October, but there is no guarantee on
130that at all. Uh I would like to thank my colleagues. I have taken upon myself to to be the uh shareer of news coming out of Lancing or that would affect us within our state. Uh I will continue to do that over the course of this year. Uh fortunately for me, I've been elected chair of the MASB government relations committee. So I will be getting I wake up every morning with probably 10 to 15 messages from different parts of the state. And I look forward to sharing that with with everybody here because I think it will help us as a board grow and move forward. Uh and if I overdo it, please let me know. Opening day was probably one of the best I have ever attended. Uh the enthusiasm of the staff, uh the
131enthusiasm of the teachers. I did have an opportunity also and to interface with a new teacher who said I'm supposed to be meeting somebody here and I asked her who and she said and I said I know who you're looking for and I said did you set up a meeting spot and she said well we set up a meeting spot for northern but we didn't do anything for central so I said okay let's go outside and when I see her I'll flag her down and I think I have a new friend for life. Uh but you know when I was listening to to the speaker relate his life challenges and what he gained through the process of his challenges in life. I think it was something that every person on our staff could identify at
132every level. Uh, and he did it with such empathy and feeling and a little bit of Robin Williams and Joe Peshy in there uh that I can't wait to see him again in the future. I actually recommended that uh to the MA masb that they might try to make him a keynote for next year or the year after because I think he was that good. In regard to the student panel, um it just shows you how we as a community, and I'm going to go back on my wall community school district kick, uh can develop and have developed s such well-rounded, eloquent contributors to society and in some instances our community still as they are back here as parents or as teachers. And as Mrs. as Dr. Zner and I were having coffee one day
133and she said something about, "Yeah, I graduated from Central." And I and I sat there and I chuckled for a minute. I said, "I'm probably the only school board member in the state of Michigan who was sitting with four school board members that he had actually signed their diplomas." So, it gave me pause for a second. Uh but I I really look forward to the year. I think we as a board are already growing together. I think our initiatives of going of trying to get back out into the building and into the district will be beneficial. Uh you know, we're not going to hear everything all the good news. We're going to hear the bad news, too. But that's our job to be out there to listen and then, you know, help our community grow
134and understand and help our administration know if there are any concerns within the community. So, I really look forward to the school year. I look forward to opening day. Uh, I can't wait. >> Okay, I'm going to make this quick since, you know, we're all saying the same things. Um, welcome back. I'm very excited to start our new school year. Um, our staff, I'm thrilled that you're all back with smiles. Yesterday, I didn't see anything but smiling faces all morning and all afternoon. Um, our keynote yesterday was fantastic. He was very energizing and very um empathetic to what's happening in our culture and in our schools and with our students. And I think that played a big part in how our staff walked out of those first day experiences yesterday. Um they were all talking
135about it. They were all exuberant about um what he said. They were all very excited to talk with him and share some of their personal stories afterwards. And it was just a feel-good, feel great, get going first day. Um so thank you for all of that because it was great. And I do want to shout out to all of our staff performers yesterday. You all did a great job and very impressed with your skills. So, keep that up. Um, excuse me. I'm losing my voice. And we're just going to move on from there. But welcome back. Congratulations to all of our students, all of our new staff, and first day here we come. >> Okay, we're moving on to the consent agenda. Extend agenda. We have the approval of minutes for proposed for June 19th
136special meeting. July 7th board special committee workshop July 8th special meeting our personal recommendations of new hires retirements resignations leave of absence. Financial reports from May 2025 dispersements in the amount of 19,47 I'm sorry 19,47481 with balance sheet and statement of revenue and expenditures unodudited and investment schedule. You all hoped it was 19,000, right? um purchases under 50,000 employee evaluation management in Danielson 2011 2013 rubric frontline education one-year renewal of 36,27141 cents from the general fund hold got to turn the page class link staff and student online access management system logisoft one year annual software license renewal of 46,150 from the general fund. Mr. >> Mr. Seagler, >> I move that the board of education approve the consent agenda as presented. >> Support. >> Thank you. We're moving on to purchases over 50,000. Dr. Lans.
137>> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Hello. Hello. Yes. First day jitters. >> All >> those in favor? >> Hi. I. >> All those opposed? Motion carries 70. Thank you. Keep me on track. Now purchases over 50,000. Dr. Lans. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Scaling. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Microsoft 365 offers a range of tools and features that significantly benefit Wald Lake Consolidated School District. M365 includes essential apps like Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams, which facilitate seamless collaboration and communication. It provides robust security features, cloud storage, and collaboration tools. All of these features collectively support staff in maintaining high productivity while ensuring security. We recommend the approval of the renewal of the purchase of Microsoft 365 faculty one-year subscription in the amount of $114,750.70 from the general fund. >> Madam President, >> Mr. Libbit.
138>> Uh, I move that the board of education approve the renewal purchase of Microsoft 365 A3A5 faculty one-year subscription incom TSG for14,7507.70 from the general fund. >> Support >> discussion. Okay, let's vote. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries 70. Dr. Lans, >> Mr. Scaling. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Google Workspace for Education Plus is the most compreh comprehensive edition of our Google's education suite designed to support large-scale digital learning environments with advanced tools for teaching, learning, and administration. Additionally, provide storage Google Classroom and centralized management console. We recommend the approval of the purchase of the Google Workspace for Education Plus annual size annual software license renewal for two of year 2 agreement in the amount of $54,751.50 from the general fund. Can I get a motion? >> Mrs. West. >> Um,
139I move that the board of education approve the purchase of Google Workspace for Education Plus annual software license renewal year two of two-year agreement for $54,751.50 from the general fund >> support >> discussion. Okay. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries 70. Dr. land. >> Mr. Scan will give you one more opportunity. >> Just one more >> just for now. >> Okay, >> here you go. >> Uh MDE reopened the 97 seaside assessment grant and expanded the language to include the assessments of athletic facilities and other gathering/event locations. The grant allows for $2,000 per facility and is non-competitive. Wildlake was awarded $62,000 to have site assessments made on 31 sites. These assessments will take place in August and September. uh secure and environment consultants who performed previous site assessments for the district will
140conduct real-time on-site evaluation of athletic fields, facilities, and event spaces. Their report will provide feedback and recommendations that will help us continue to provide the safest environments for our school communities that we can. We recommend the approval of the Secure Environmental Consultants to conduct facility assessments districtwide for a total cost of $62,000 funded through the 97C grant. >> Mr. C. >> Mr. Ziggler. >> I move that the board of education approve the Secure Environment Consultants to conduct facilities assessments districtwide for a total cost of $62,000 funded through a 97C grant. >> Discussion Mr. Seagler. >> Just a So this is basically just a pass through fund, right? >> It is a pass through. Correct. >> Okay. >> Any other discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I opposed. >> Motion carries. 70. Dr. Lans, >> Mrs.
141Kwansky. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Uh, on the agenda today is our partner school contract renewal. Wald Lake applied and was selected in 2022 23 to join Teachers College in their partner school work, which is a school-based professional development for teachers over the course of the year with staff developers who model, demonstrate, and coach staff in the use of our units of study in reading, writing, and phonics. It's an honor to be selected for this advanced professional learning coaching work and this model is a wonderful our teachers have loved partner school support and provided really strong feedback about this. The four schools participating are Wixom, Oakley Park, Hickory Woods and Wald Lake L and they're excited to work as a partner school with Advancing Literacy Group from T Teachers College. We appreciate Teachers College support
142of implementing our units of study across K5, but we also appreciate that they bring a fresh new perspective to literacy work from new and updated research in the field. Teachers College is a strong institution of higher learning for teachers for over 150 years and it's our recommendation from the learning services team. This work continue at the four schools selected. Uh the amount for the teachers college advancing literacy partner school work is $118,800 which is paid for by the 35J literacy grant through the state of Michigan. >> A motion. >> Mrs. Kapl >> Mr. Seagler. >> I move that the board of education approve the teacher college advancing literacy partner school work for $118,800 from the 35J grant. >> Support discussion. I have a question. >> Go ahead. >> Um I just curious how the schools
143were chosen that had the opportunity to receive this uh grant money. >> I believe it was reverse alphabetical order. >> No, I'm just kidding. >> Really? >> You never know. >> Actually, that would make it a lot simpler. Um and so the teachers college advancing literacy actually looks for schools that are kind of primed and ready to take that on. So we work directly with the principles as well as surveying their staff. We have everybody wants it but it's one of those things that to manage it becomes really tricky. So what we're doing is we're really looking at an implementation and rotation of this. So two of the schools uh Wixom and Oakley Park have been uh partner schools. Well, we took a year hiatus, uh, if you'll remember as a board. Um, but they've
144been partner schools, uh, now and receiving this, um, this coaching and modeling and support since 2022 23. Um, we're going to be looking at moving and rotating those supports around to our other schools. So um we look at uh teacher willingness to participate, principal willingness to support it because it does um uh take a little bit of um structure and scheduling to have those teachers college staff developers come in model. They're setting up in classrooms working with the teachers and modeling with the students and things. So it's not a it's not an easy thing. They don't just show up. It takes a lot of pre-planning. So, um, we're excited to offer that to the four schools again this year, and then next year we'll be looking at adding a few a few others. So, like
145I said, everybody wants it, but we're we have to spread that around as as our systems capacity to support it is is only so much. >> Thank you. Also, can I just can you repeat which schools are receiving? So, you said Wix and Oakley Park, >> Wixom, Oakley Park, Wald Lake L, and Hickory Woods. >> Thank you. You bet. >> Dr. L. >> Yes, sir. Uh do we expect this uh opportunity with this grant money to to impact ready scores? >> Oh, absolutely. It's directly tried tied to the curriculum that we're using to help advance our learners. >> Okay. So, this is I'm I'm it's an opportunity, I think, to talk more about this. I think I think we should be talking more about this. >> This is if I if I may say this
146is the number one concern of our entire district. We should be talking about this. >> Absolutely. One of the things I can share is that uh after several year several years of implementation, we want to be looking at growth scores in our schools where partner schools has been implemented. Um in terms of that that partnership, uh one of the nice things is and we just started this last year is that uh we've added on an additional uh day when the partner school teacher uh staff developers come in uh where they work with literacy leaders from all the other schools too. So even though the school you know all 12 elementary schools aren't hosting these staff developers they will spend a day and we have literacy leaders from the other elementaryaries the eight other elementaryaries coming
147to participate in a day of training and staff development looks a little bit different than the embedded partner school coaching in the classroom but it's similar. So and we are going to be looking at data outcomes for that. So thank you Mr. Lip. We find it really critical too. Yeah. And I just would I would invite the district to publicize this to talk talk more about it so the community is aware of it. That's all. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> I have one question. Is there a plan to have those teachers then work with the teachers in other schools because they're becoming leaders themselves or is that part of the model? >> Miss Gransky? >> Yep. Actually, that's a that's a scaleup model that we're working on. So those literacy leaders that are attending
148from all the schools are part of our building leadership teams and we're really honing in on that work around small groupoup instruction to meet the needs of all learners within the classroom and building those skills. So absolutely we're building teacher leaders but they're going back to implement um change across their system at the building level. So we're excited about that. >> I agree with Mr. lipid that it should be publicized and I would love to hear from the teachers what's happening in their classrooms too. >> So I I think there's a couple things to add on here. One is is that this is one part of the teacher leadership that we work through. Galileo is another and they're not mutually exclusive. And we also have the for maybe three years now, maybe four. We have
149instructional specialists at all of our elementaryaries where not every school district does that. And typically around half of their day is spent specifically helping our teachers be better and honing their craft in this particular area. So this is something that we've been dedicated to and we continue to be dedicated to. we for the staffs to participate in in this program, we do provide survey feedback for them so that again we can take that feedback and see how we can better support our staffs and use this program more effectively. >> Thank you. Anything Mrs. West? >> Um is this more for just K through two like the lower elementary or are we doing it broadly across the whole board of elementary school? >> Miss Gretzky. >> Yeah, thank you Mrs. West. It is K5. >> Okay.
150So we have K5 staff developers. They'll come and do a day of K2 work. Then they'll come and do a day of 35 work and then they'll come for a day where they work with those literacy leaders from the all the other elementaryaries um at every grade level. So we have wide and broad representation of folks learning and taking that learning back and then implementing change at the building level with their building leadership teams and their principles. >> Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. 70. Dr. Lans. >> Miss Gransky. Let's keep it going. >> You bet. Back to me. Uh, you also have on the agenda tonight the renewal of I Ready Curriculum Associates. Uh, Wald Lake has over a decade of partnership with using Curriculum Associates I
151Ready as a diagnostic of reading assessment and math assessment for students in grades K through eight. This tool has helped our district closely monitor student learning and growth. And it's also a valuable tool that our system uses to look at trends over time, making curricular and instructional adjustments as necessary all the way down to the classroom level. So we have support in helping teachers learn how to use that. The data collected is also a really valuable use for our multi-tered system of supports as well as an integral measure of our progress on our district improvement goals, our MYIP goals. And I share those with the board annually, too. Each summer, Ire is used in our summer school programs and it's also used at home for continued practice for students. So, it does have the capabilities
152of being used as uh in the home setting. I Ready is an adaptive assessment. So, that means it can quickly determine foundational skills and other missing skills that students need to gain proficiency in reading and math. Um, in August of 21, the state of Michigan has legislated districts are required to give a benchmark assessment with approved assessment vendors. Curriculum Associates is one of those approved vendors by the state. Um, and public act 48 is the one that that has governed that that legislative change. The annual renewal cost for I Ready Curriculum Associates is $382,78.50, which says comes out of the general fund, but there is a blend of some grants and also some state reimbursement for that cost, which also offsets it. So, Thank you. A motion, >> Madame President. Hi, >> Craftton. >> I
153move that the board of education approve the renewal purchase of the I Ready Diagnostic tool for $382,78.50 from the general fund and the blended funding model that Mansky just described. >> Support >> discussion. Mrs. Approximately how much are we getting out of grants and state funding to kind of offset the um general fund? >> I'm not sure if we have the exact number, but we might have an estimate. >> Ballpark it. >> If you can ballpark it for us. >> Yes, I can ballpark it. So, it's around $100,000 in the state reimbursement. So, that would drop that down to around 282. And then we also offset a portion of this cost with at risk funding. So a po portion of the student population in K8 that qualifies for free and reduced lunch and other forms
154of at risk um factors. Uh roughly around 38% of the kids. So another 38% I I'd have to do a little bit of of factoring there. I can get you the numbers specifically. Um but it it knocks it down. Um I don't know, Mrs. Omar. >> Let's say around 180 give or take, >> you know. So it it does bring it down. So it it's it's not the full amount, but um but there is offsets in there and and we doize those and take advantage of them. >> 50% of the cost. >> Thank you. I just was curious especially with the g the state funding and everything going on right now that want to make sure that we're benefiting as much as possible. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Smith, did you have a question? >>
155Yes, Mr. Kaplan. Um I did provide these questions to Dr. Lans. Don't expect an answer today, but I kind of wanted to just the public just for for food for thought. I guess it's just my question is is I have about eight questions for this. Uh is I ready the only education software? You did state that you kind of alluded to multiple and Dr. Lonzo stated that. I'm just kind of curious the other ones like what other surrounding districts use maybe why they chose those. Uh have we investigated the return on investment? How many years have we been utilizing it? I know we need to we need to have years so we can have data, but I'm kind of curious if it if the model is working for our district. Maybe, you know, investigate that.
156It's not going to determine my vote today or anything. It's just looking ahead to next year. Um, how do we measure growth and achievement while utilizing I Ready uh when we know that some kids uh I can tell you probably numerous cases of in my own personal life where we have kids with test anxiety and other issues of trying to maintain that and sit in front of a a computer. Is this the best use of the time? I'm sure all these can have all different studies, data, and things like that. I'm just kind of curious about that. Um, how does the system help under and overachievers? I know you said it's adaptive and I I've sat down with my own children going through it and there's been a lot of frustration uh with different things
157and maybe they were put into the wrong level and they weren't quite ready and just, you know, curiosity. uh are we using you know I guess I I look at it's weird you know I guess sometimes I I joke that you know I'm of I guess I'm a millennial I don't know what age I am but uh sometimes uh that zenial whatever age I am uh that sometimes I feel like I'm the old my my kids will probably say like the boomer style that we're using tech too much so I'm just wondering like if we're putting forth this technology too soon in front of children uh and is this utilizing these computers and just all of a sudden screen green screen and I'm just kind of curious again it's just curiosity about these things um
158how early do they start >> um like we said and how do educators view it that's my last question is uh how do all the educators in the system that are implementing it that are seeing their their children I know from a parental side when I see my kids uh and their uh my daughter is has explicitly told me to ask you to get rid of I ready just kid and she will tell that to everyone um so just kind some of those questions just to get going Again, I'm supportive and everything. It's just thinking throughout the year and and I'm sure you're going to have those benchmarks, those assessments, that data that's going to feed into that. So, again, no answer today. Just kind of those are unless you have >> Well, no, we
159we appreciate the questions and we'll get the answers back to you. I I would be relatively convinced that as your children get older and get into high school that they'll be asking you to ask me to get rid of final exams, too. >> I'll wait for that conversation. >> Dr. Lans, could I just could I just jump in there for one thing? So, I I appreciate that, Mr. Smith, about the the time that the kids are in front of it. Um, I can tell you that uh and I'll get I'll get back to you on all those answers and things that of that nature. I know we're all concerned as as um teachers too about time in front of screens. I think there's a little bit of a um maybe a a wondering if there's
160an over reliance on technology in the classroom versus the the human connection that we know that's really important. And I can tell you that in a lot of the the AI stuff that's coming out and a lot of AI work, we've had a PD on that very specific to some um AI tools and platforms. It's really about changing the way our teachers interface with our students. So it doesn't replace a teacher. We're not looking for technology to be a teacher. Um, what we're looking for is we're looking to help teachers be more effective in maintaining and creating those those connections with students using tools on the side to help us um in the way we're crafting our our instruction. And with regard to I Ready, I did a quick little math thing before the meeting
161tonight just to kind of look and see like, oh, like what percentage are we? We recommend about 15 minutes of time on an I Ready practice lesson every day. And if we spend I know we're in school around seven hours, but let's say six hours. We'll give everybody time for lunch and recess and passing in hallways and running to the bathroom and those kinds of things. Um it's about 4% of their day if they did 15 minutes a day on I Ready. and not all of our teachers hold fast to that. But if we did that, it would be about 4% of their day in front of an I Ready screen about hoping me hoping 96% of their day is in human connections with their teachers. So I just wanted to kind of clear that
162one up um as far as that reliance piece and I know you have a bunch of other questions and I talked to Dr. Lens. I'm happy to get those for you um soon. >> Mr. Lipet. >> Yeah, Mr. Smith pretty much clobbered all my questions. So, thank you for that. I I just I would like to say that um I'm a big fan of benchmarking and best practices. So, I would love to know within the context of the highest performing public school districts in the state what their tools are, not just with I Ready, but other tools at their disposal. I would love to have access to that as well. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anybody up Dr. Zelner? >> Yeah, I had I had already sent this question and got an answer about it,
163but I think to piggyback off what Mr. Smith said uh was about some of the supplemental online professional learning that I is charging the district for and what the return is on that investment, how the teachers are viewing that professional learning and if that's something that should be continued or not depending on how they're taking that up because it it wasn't nothing. It's not the whole contract but it's not nothing. >> Thank you. Any other questions, discussion? Okay. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carries 70. Moving on to bid awards. Dr. Lans, >> as I said with uniforms, I would love to be able to read this one, but Mrs. did the work. You get the credit. >> Not at a problem. Um, I have before you a musical instrument purchase uh involving
164multiple vendors, and you did get a chance to see that in a recent board bulletin. Lots of uh musical instrument vendors. I really um I'm happy to read it because it's very exciting. But I do have to give uh props to our um our our music department uh chaired by uh Kristen Dzinski. She did a lot of work with our music department inventorying equipment and and instruments and seeing what's working, what's not working. Um really I asked her to build like a like a a um a scale of of critical to workable, you know, and all of those in between. And while we know that this doesn't fix everything, but it's a really great opportunity for us to provide those supports and we know um that it's much needed. So the 2024 bond proposal that
165in included a provision for replacement of some band instruments since this was an identified need during the exploratory process for that uh particular bond. To follow through with fulfilling the portion of the need, the administration has worked with the instrumental music department and constructed a comprehensive bid document. The results of the bids were reviewed with the intent to identify instruments that were identified as being critical for replacement and not exceeding the established budget of $100,000. I also want to thank Vicky Amorei in the business office who worked really closely with Kristen to make sure that the bid process was adhered to very closely. Um and after an extensive review of those bids and utilizing the criteria that we outlined above, um we are asking you to consider approving the following instrument package for your approval
166that was shared with you in a prior board bulletin. Um and that would be in the amount of we got as close as we could to without going over $99,48856 coming out of the 2024 bond. >> Mrs. list. Go ahead. >> I move that the board of education approve the bid package and authorize the purchase of musical instruments from multiple vendors as presented totaling $99,48856 from the 2024 bond funds. >> Support >> discussion >> just Oh, I'm sorry, Madam President. >> Mr. >> uh just real just real quick. As a father of three self-prescribed orc dorks, uh I I can tell you firsthand that that's what they call themselves. by the way, that's not my word. Uh it's this is a really important spend piece of spend and um it's not just about having the
167right instruments to to produce the outcomes we want for these classes. It's also about attracting um this next generation of young people into into music. And uh as we know, elementary school is where it begins and uh it builds momentum from there. If you start too late, it's too late. So uh I just want to um reinforce how important this is and thank you Anybody else? >> Yes. >> Mrs. West. >> Um, I just want to say thank you. You know, the board votes this in, um, I know just from being in the band room and helping with the band over at Wall Lake Northern and how banged up some of these instruments are and they're practically not playable. So, thank you to the community for, you know, approving the bond to do this because
168it's so meaningful to some of these students. This is sometimes it's the only outlet they have. So, it's really important to them. Um, but I also just on a side note with Gesler closing some of those instruments that were over at Geyseser did get dispersed to other schools and I was there on I don't know Tuesday or Wednesday night during band practice and the instruments were there in the classroom and Miss Hullberger was so excited about it and she's like, "Oh, these are my new instruments that were came from Geyser." So, thank you to everybody for doing this. So, I appreciate it. >> Welcome. Anybody else? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. 70. Dr. Loun. >> Thank you, Madam President. Almost as exciting as man instruments. >> The pool
169never is. >> The the water at Wald Lake Western's pool has been a little chilly recently and that is because the heat exchanger unfortunately has failed. And when the bond was looked at in 2019, we believed that that would remain operable. But given that that was what I don't know how many years ago is that a while ago it has now gotten to the point where it was end of life and the cost to maintain it fix it and move forward was not worth what a new heat exchanger would give us. Fortunately we have been able to put a bandaid on it. So the the pool right now is being heated typically and a piece of equipment like this is anywhere from six weeks to six months out. So that we had to do a
170stop gap. So, we're confident that that as confident as we are today that that band-aid will stay strong until we get the new heat exchanger. So, I'm asking the board to approve Wild Lake Western emergency change order pool boiler heat exchanger in the amount of 159,476 from the 2019 bond fund that is coming out of our contingency fund. >> Mrs. Kaplan, >> Mr. Seagler. >> I move that the board of education approve the emergency change order for the pool boiler and heat exchanger required at Wall Lake Western High School in the amount of $159,476 from the 2019 bond fund. >> Support discussion >> Mr. Smith. >> Sorry to put you on the spot here. >> Oh, you're really going to test me because this is my area of strength boilers. >> Uh I guess I'm
171sure it has through the U Mrs. Cap. Sorry. Um, are the other pools, the heat exchangers hitting their end of life? Were they all are we is this going to be a thing? I'm just curious. >> So, yeah, you're really testing my knowledge. So, >> rather than rather than speak out of turn, I'm going to ask to phone a friend and get back to you on that because I can give you a really solid answer that might be 100% wrong. >> No problem. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Mr. Seagler, >> I just want to thank Dr. Lance for bringing this up because there you know as we are doing construction in the district we have change orders some of them we never even worry about or see because it is up to Dr.
172Lans to approve them and uh go forward you know some of the larger ones I I'm very happy that we do know about them uh because also it validates what we are doing as a board and what we are doing as an administration and how we are watching over the funds for the bond. Thank you, >> Mrs. Kaplan. Miss >> Craftton, >> building on that. I appreciate you, Dr. Lans, because this is exactly what we asked for in the bond oversight committee. So, thank you for being responsive. Um, this is exactly what I was hoping we would see. >> Happy to. Thank you. >> Anybody else? All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries. 70. >> Okay. Resolution for board approval of Head Start program. Dr. Lens. Thank you very much, Mrs. Gransky.
173You've done such a great job. I'd like to give you one more opportunity tonight. >> Thank you, Dr. Lans. Uh, this is my annual spiel. I do this every year. Uh, in accordance with the federal Head Start performance standards, the Wald Lake Consolidated School District Board of Education is the governing body of the program. So, to comply with all federal contract regulations, Wald Lake Schools Head Start is submitting the following items for board approval. Those items were shared with you uh by Mrs. Davyy uh via one of the board bulletins recently. So you should have those items in front of you. >> Miss Kappa, >> Mr. Smith, >> I move that the board of education approve the 2025 Wald Lake Head Start budget narrative and be granted permission to pursue the early Head Start Head
174Start continuation application. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion carries 70. Okay. Resolution for MHSA cooperative team application gymnastics. Dr. Lens. >> Thank you, Madam President. Mrs. Homer, I'm just kidding. I just want to It's been a little bit since we called on you. So, >> did you have this name? >> I kind of >> Mr. Scaling. How about you give this a shot? >> I'd be happy to. As long as I don't ever have to talk about the budget, that's over the past several years, participation in a high school gymnastics programs has steadily declined. The number of gymnasts at Central and Western fall below the minimum needed to support a viable competitive program to ensure that all interested students in our district have the opportunity to train,
175compete, and represent Wald Lake schools and gymnastics. We recommend approving cooperative team model that brings together athletes from all three high schools. This model not only maximizes the opportunity for student participation but also aligns with the structure of other existing Wald Lake co-op teams. Our application for the cooperative gymnastics team has been approved by the MHSAA. >> Madam President, if I may add on to that, it's important to note that this is not the first cooperative that we've done. It probably won't be the last with not only with shrinking enrollment, but we've seen since co shrinking participation in athletics in general. So this is a great opportunity for us to continue to serve the needs of our students by still having a gymnastics program. Thank you, Madam President. >> Mrs. Kaplan, >> Mrs. Grafton, >>
176I move that the board of education approve the MHSAA cooperative team application to combine Wald Lake Central Northern and Western High School girls junior varsity and varsity gymnastics teams beginning with the 202526 athletic season. discussion. >> As a former gymnast that competed for Wald Lake Western, and so did my sister. She used to be on the wall at Wald Lake Western. Uh I love seeing the opportunity to keep this sport going. >> Anybody else? Okay. All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed. Motion carries 70. Okay. Next, we have board meeting date change. Um, the 202526 board meeting dates were publicized following the January 9th, 2025 special organizational board meeting. To better accommodate board member schedules, the board will consider moving the December 4th, 2025 regular meeting to December 18th, 2025. >> Make a
177motion. >> Okay, I'll make the motion. I'll continue. I move that the board of education move the December 4th, 2025 regular board meeting to December 18th, 2025. President Kaplan. >> Yeah, >> I just wanted to mention that that's our backup date. So, it it still falls within the dates that have been published and we're just using that as our special board meeting date would now become the regular board meeting date. So, this was well publicized in January. >> Okay. Did do we get a support? >> I did interrupt. I apologize. >> I jumped. >> You jumped. You jumped in. >> It's the same thing as the first one. Any discussion, >> Madam President? Um, I mean, I'm going to support this regardless. Just just as an FYI, it is the collage concert for Wildlife Central,
178just so you know. Um, just throwing that out there. So, >> okay. Anybody else? >> I think that the clash concert is for Northern on the 4th also. So, I mean, either way, it's going to be messing with school events. >> We're using appropriate words at the board table. >> Northern has two dates. I know that for sure. >> Um, okay. >> May I ask, is this due to holidays? I'm just curious or I don't know if >> I think it was lack of attendance. >> I I think it was being asked by board members that couldn't be there on the 4th if we could move it. >> Okay. I just was curious. was surprised that like that many board members couldn't attend already, you know, come December. So, thank you. >> No problem. >>
179Any other discussion? >> Okay. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Okay. Motion carries. 70. >> No. >> Policy regulation update. >> Dr. Lans. >> Thank you very much. As mentioned earlier, we have a number of interims serving with us and we're very excited to have their experience and their energy in those positions and it's just an update of those particular reg or ARS. >> Thank you. Before we adjourn, I just want to say good luck Mrs. Craftton next week. >> We are all with you. >> Um and hugs to you. >> Thank you. >> And everyone have a great beginning of the year and we are adjourned at 9:25. I don't even