001e e e and welcome to the mar March 6 2025 school board meeting I would ask everybody to please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Mrs capan is unable to make tonight so I will be happy to fill in uh Golden Apple Awards Dr Lans thank you very much turn over Mr hampa good evening everyone our first golden apple recipient is Cassandra Chapman Cassandra Chapman Chapman is a head start preschool assistant at the Early Childhood Center and the Wald Lake perah Association president she was nominated by Victoria Blake a preschool teacher at the Early Childhood Center Victoria shared that Cassandra is a passionate is a is passionate
002in her role as an educator and goes above and beyond for students families and all PA of Professionals in the district Cassandra continuously works hard to make impactful changes with a warm smile she loves to explore new and unique ways to connect with others through District events or simply reaching out by email her passion for students her program and the overall Learning Community is what sets her apart Cassandra excels at creating fun and engaging lessons for her students and is an advocate for Early Childhood students she works hard during the school day and Beyond to support her team and Achieve professional goals Sarah Davy director of Early Childhood for the district shared that Cassandra is a dedicated and loving teacher that wants every student to succeed to their fullest potential she strives to form relationships
003with families which is essential part of supporting the whole child thank you Cassandra for all you do for our early early childhood students families and parent Educators districtwide congratulations you're welcome to come on up thank you [Applause] I'll now turn it over to Mrs kohanski Mrs kohanski Mr hamka forgot the most important part is we have to make them feel uncomfortable the entire time so we need to get them up here first our next Golden Apple recipient is tamoko hirakawa tomoko would you come up please there we go yeah just right here thank you y uh tamoko is an English language development par professional at our Early Childhood Center tamoko goes above and beyond to communicate with families and share information about their children and the programs available to them in our district tamoko is
004always smiling and brings a positive attitude each day she is at work tamoko speaks Japanese but she also helps students who speak other languages as well she uses her knowledge of multilanguage Learners and supports the multilanguage learner supports and applies it to all Learners and languages she trains new multilanguage learner parapros on best practices techniques and strategies and is always willing to help a colleague no questions asked tamoko works with teachers across the program she observes and takes ideas from each classroom she's in and she implements approaches learned and observed in other rooms and situations with students she's willing to try anything and she asks for feedback from others so she can continue continue to grow and perfect her skills even though it is not required for her position tamoko asks to attend preschool professional
005development training sessions so that she can learn more about the curriculum and the resources the department goals the academic and social emotional growth and age appropriate practices tamoko thank you for for all you do for our youngest Learners and their families it is our honor to recognize you this evening next on our agenda is public commentary uh we would like to thank all individuals who have submitted a request to speak during public commentary we ask that everybody be professional Dr Lon or a member of his staff will get back to you in regards to your concerns and we will start right now with Jackie gurlin hello everyone I'm excited to be here today to share some fantastic updates from the foundation for excellence because we have some incredible things going on in the next couple
006of weeks first up today we kicked off our minig grant presentations with a visit to Keith Elementary where we gave out $1,400 to support three different classrooms but we're just getting started over the next next two weeks we'll be visiting schools across the district to surprise 70 teachers um with a total of over $51,000 in Grants this is truly the best part of the year and the whole reason that the foundation exists imagine us rolling into a classroom Publishers Clearing House style catching teachers and students completely off guard the reactions are Priceless sometimes it's just stunned silence and sometimes the teachers are literally jumping on chairs um the teachers don't worry not the students uh keep track of our Facebook page because we will be posting pictures from these visits throughout the next couple of
007weeks now speaking of making an impact my friend Liam wex here is helping me run one of our biggest fundraisers we are literally sitting out in the lobby our 50/50 tuition Expedition raffle is in full swing uh giving you a chance to win scholarship funds or a lump sum while supporting the FF the winner gets $50,000 50% of the proceeds whoa yeah wait wait back that up uh yeah which we can hold for 20 years until you're ready to use it for the last five years each Grand Prize winner has won over $10,000 um in scholarship funds so the other 50% goes to help support our mission to put more tools and resources in classrooms so we'll be out there for a little bit longer but it is a school night and I do have
008to get my sales assistant home and that's not all last week we officially opened registration for our annual golf scramble which will happen on June 16th at Edgewood Country Club I'm thrilled to announce that o construction agreed to be our first presenting sponsor and we are grateful for their continued support we hope to see many of you out at the course for a great day of fun and fundraising one more thing to watch for in early April we're launching our Superstar staff Awards this is your chance to nominate your favorite staff member whether it's a teacher a custodian a bus driver uh a parpro substitute teacher anybody into this drawing to win one of two $500 prizes they're generously sponsored by the Wald Lake Schools Federal Credit Union and the winners will be drawn and
009presented during staff appreciation week it's a great way to recognize the incredible staff members who make a difference in our district every day so yes we've been busy but we wouldn't have it any other way a huge thank you to everyone who supports the foundation for excellence through fundraisers sponsorships and donations we could not do this without you thank you Andrew castler Darren I didn't want to follow that happiness with what I've got for you but in case you don't know who I am I'm Dakota's Advocate I'm Dakota's friend and yes we are talking about a dog we're talking about Dakota over at Western and since October I've been coming here with various stories various things about Dakota um when Dakota was I used to be your Handler in the building and when she was
010taken from me uh those of you looking for evidence I have pretty strong evidence that she had Stage B heart disease um anxiety and arthritis at the time just ask me it's right here I'll be here all night going to shift gears slightly but there's a point to the end as with anything that ever happens in my class I'm going to read from the uh manual that they use the therapy dog manual under rules for Handler bullet point two all four on the floor All Paws need to stay on the floor unless you are carrying the dog toys are not allowed but do uh toys are allowed but do not pull the toy while in the dog's mouth we do not want to encourage pulling no toys for the therapy dogs while visiting classrooms I
011read that and then I ask you why I'm holding a picture of Dakota in a classroom pulling a toy with two feet off the floor okay that's Story number one story number two along these lines is okay no actually that was story number one and two combined okay I got others like this I've got videos like this that's the other point I've got lots of evidence where am I getting it well you're not going to know that now let's talk about why Dakota at the pink out basketball game during the varsity basketball game spent three corn laying on her side by the orange cooler by the boys varsity bench where students and people had to walk over her to get to their seats and here's one for you I understand wal Lake western had a
012tornado drill earlier this week like Tuesday around 8:23 is why was Dakota left in the classroom behind while this tornado drill was going on I'm curious why was Dakota Left Behind during this tornado drill okay my medical thoughts have been ignored okay I've been quoted the manual coming back to me you don't know what you're talking about I got former colleagues in that have tried to paint me as the abuser of Dakota well guess what you continue to this second please wrap up how much 10 seconds this is where she's headed boy attacked by ant's therapy dog that's your bottom line folks thank you very much thank you Peter bman good evening uh my name's Peter bman I'm a father of five kids um three of which currently attend Wixom Elementary I've had the pleasure
013of having children in the school the last um seven years my youngest will start kindergarten there next year and I can say that the teachers at Wixom Elementary that's in the first three rows here have been some of the best teachers we could ask for something's wrong at Wixom Elementary and clearly um it's been made it's been shared with Administration throughout the year that there's an issue and nothing's being done and you're going to hear a lot tonight about what's happening now the fact the matter is is when you allow such a toxic work environment to continue you have teachers that are giving up on our children and shame on everybody that's allowing that to happen that is unb unbelievably disheartening and the fact that you have three rows of teachers here when they're not
014supposed to be here at the school board meeting and you have three rows of parents here and there's still been no action from the administration to fix the issues shame on all of you that's all I have Nicole Packard that's a hard one to follow good evening my name is Nicole Packard I stand in front of you tonight as a parent of a current fourth grader at Wixom Elementary and two future Wixom wolves in the Years 2026 and 2027 however tonight I come before the board of education has a very concerned disappointed and frustrated parent and Community member with the retirement of our previous School leader we knew that it would bring change and maybe some minor challenges but we put our faith in the team of Wal Lake schools to find someone to lead
015and contribute posit positively to an already amazing diverse and warm community of teachers support staff and students at Wixom Elementary that leader should have been someone to embrace our Wixom wolves community and uphold the wal Lake Schools Mission unfortunately that new leader came in without open arms and in return has completely changed the dynamic of our safe inclusive and compassionate environment that we have all grown to trust and appreciate there have been a multitude of disappointing and unacceptable situations and experience experiences shared amongst our student body families and staff however they are not my stories to share but I do hope that they feel supported and have the courage to speak up if they have not done so already some of my biggest concerns were incidents involving the safety of our children and staff due
016to poor communication and planning there was an incident that took place earlier in the year that led to parents fighting and involved where the police had to be called and arrived at the school in order to resolve the issue this was preventable with proper communication by the leader another incident involved a lower elementary student who was released by a leader for pickup at the end of the day to the parking lot without a parent present and was later found by a group of parents wandering around the parking lot alone the security monitors in the office have been continuously off throughout the year at the leader's Direction and preference which conflicts with safety protocols as to why they are installed there in the first place on multiple occasions throughout the school year my 99-year-old son has
017come home asking why Everything feels so different at school and why is everyone so sad that does not seem to align with the mission of every child every day he deserves to understand what is happening but also should never have to feel this way it deeply saddens me that our warm culture and welcoming community that our Educators support staff and previous leaders worked so hard to create has been completely disrespected and disregarded our Wixom team deserves to 30 seconds left and heard during these challenging times and these imperative matters need to be addressed we as of this week have two teachers at medical leave of absence due to who knows what and we have another fifth grade teacher who's going to be resigning potentially please help us understand what's happening at our scho our children
018deserve better and we as a community deserve better thank you for your time thank you Cheryl Burke my name is Cheryl Burke and I stand before you tonight as a deeply concerned parent at Wixom Elementary and an active member of this community I have two children who attend this school my son is in first grade and my daughter is in fourth grade the start of this school year many parents including myself have raised series of concerns about the state of our school we are troubled by the shift in energy the growing safety issues the lack of communication and the overall well-being of both students and staff Wixom Elementary was once a place filled with excitement kindness consistency and a strong sense of community today that energy has been replaced with fear sad sadness disengagement and
019uncertainty as parents this is deeply alarming just last week I knew something was wrong when my first grader came home to me and told me Mom I had four teachers today one was my regular teacher but I don't really know the others they came and left so quickly he also told me there wasn't even an adult who could walk their class back after lunch I knew something was wrong when I stood at wolfpup pickup last Friday and saw Junior kindergarteners left outside without a staff member ensuring that they safely met their parents I knew something was wrong when I called the school multiple times and one day and not a single call was answered and I knew something was very wrong when just this past Tuesday we were informed that two beloved teachers had taken
020a sudden leave of absence one of whom I recently stood in this very room to celebrate as Wixom Elementary's teacher of the year and another who had such a profound impact on my autistic daughter that we nominated her for a shining star award last school year why were these announcements made on the same day why are teachers who adore their jobs their students colleagues and Community suddenly taking leaves of absence and even resigning rumors are swirling and they are tearing our school apart parents are heartbroken and fearful for the future of Wixom Elementary we chose this school because of the outstanding standing Educators and support staff who have made it a special place but now we are watching the foundation crumble we have followed District protocols we have voiced our concerns to teachers and administration
021many of us have written letters and made phone calls and yet we find ourselves here tonight still without answers 30 seconds so now we turn to you the Board of Education and Dr LW we are asking for an investigation into why the culture at Wixom Elementary has taken such a drastic turn for the worst we deserve transparency we deserve to understand why the school we love is changing so rapidly and negatively by the next board meeting we ask that you provide us with answers Wixom Elementary should be a safe nurturing environment where children can grow and learn not a place filled with fear sadness and disengagement thank you Derek Yul Mr chairman trustees administrators my name is Derek hulet I have two children in the uh Wixom Elementary School I come before you today because
022there's been a Dr as as all of the previous speakers have indicated there's been a drastic change in the culture at Wixom Elementary my fourth grade daughter daughter is coming home telling stories of other students on the bus talking about how everything has been turned upside down um they've had multiple teachers in a classroom they've had teachers abruptly quit they've had if you if you look at the Educators here in the first three rows the tears on their face should tell you that there's something wrong I don't know what's going on we moved into the district for the very reason to send our kids to wix Elementary I'm fearful for what's going to happen next an inquiry needs to be made tonight on the consent agenda I see that there's two resignations from our school
023I would like a diligent inquiry to find out why these reg resignations happen so abruptly and break it out of the consent agenda and bring It Up For Debate I don't have anything else constructive to add than what the other numerous people will speak to you tonight about but something is terribly wrong and an inquiry needs to be made thank you thank you I hope I get this right Alex kider hey good evening um Alex cash neider I've been a resident of Wixom for 10 years I got a daughter in first grade son in the early uh Early Intervention Program and then I'll have a I got a one-year-old that's going to be going in Wixom here in a couple years so uh I'm going to Echo everything that everybody else has said here and
024um look I I've been in leadership for uh 18 years I got you know a degree in leadership in organizational change I've overseen organizational change and I've seen it go well and I've seen it gone poorly and um you I I I'm going to just kind of echo I've seen a marked decrease in overall teacher morale communication from the staff uh at the higher echelons has been a marked decline uh disorganization I wasn't aware of some of these other complaints about um you know children not being uh properly taken care of at the school um I have some concerns about basic safety report protocols happening uh reporting protocols and uh I would say teacher anonym anonity of like reporting concerns um I've seen some I've heard rumors haven't witnessed myself you know uh preferential treatment
025and I I I don't know it's just it's been very very concerning from what I've seen and and I would say I would I would Echo that a full investigation needs to be done I would say comprehensive exit exit interviews if they're not being done um as to why these teachers are leaving and and my daughter is in in the teacher they talk about being the teacher of the year and uh the fact that you know my my daughter has been confused she's felt unsafe she's felt um let down in a lot of ways and it's like that's not the school that we're used to dealing with you know uh I'm all the positive things is why our kids go there so and um I think that's all I got something needs to change and
026I think you all know what the answer is but um we need to we need to have some changes in that school that's all I got Thank you Lisa sharp hi my name's Lisa sharp um I have been a parent at wi Elementary for eight years I can look over here and see every single one of my um child's teachers sitting here um my daughter's in middle school now at Sarah Bank and my son's in third grade um I'm an elementary educator myself I work in a neighboring District I'm a kindergarten teacher and um what I've seen this year is absolutely terrible um I I I have a new principal at my building myself um my daughter at Sarah Banks has a new principal and I don't feel the way that um my son feels
027when he comes home from school particularly it's reading month reading month month is fun and uh he came home and he said you know I don't think our new principal is going to do what Mrs Russell has done it's just not the same and that really broke my heart um that's just not something I want to hear as a teacher not something I want to hear as a parent and as an educator myself I want to support these teachers and when I look over and see their faces and see the tears on their faces it's it's absolutely devastating and it's heartbreaking as an educator it's heartbreaking as a parent and a lot of these people that have spoke I they they had children come after me and I was so excited to share with them
028how awesome Wix Elementary was and um you know they've been there for a couple of years and they don't have the same feelings that I had and that I had shared with them and frankly I don't after this year either it's just not the same thank you Zoe Lutz hi my name is Zoe Lutz I'm a second year fifth grade teacher at Wixom Elementary School when I first stepped into this role I was filled with excitement and a deep commitment to making a difference I poured my heart into this work but believing I had found a place where I could truly contribute and grow it is disappointing deeply disappointing to find myself questioning the longevity of my career I loved not because of my dedication or performance but due to the circumstances Beyond My Control
029to the incredible teachers who sit here next to me who have gone behind me who who stand behind me who've gone before me and Who Remain you are the backbone of this district and wix Elementary School your passion talent and unwavering commitment to your students are what make this community so special I am honored to work alongside you and I want to know how I want you to know how proud I am of the work you do every single day you inspire me and it pains me to see us going through this please know that I stand in solidarity with you and I will always be cheering you on the impact you have made the impact you have on the lives your students to your students remains immeasurable and no matter what challenges come our
030way I know we will continue to rise above them thank you John Smith hello John Smith uh I actually had a slightly different angle and kind of a I think a bright spot of uh some of our conversation tonight um I have two daughters at Wixom Elementary fifth grade and third Lily Smith and she was just recently nominated for a star student uh of the district and also a lot of the teachers here uh have been a a great to to support my daughter in the in her both of my daughters in their education and I wanted to petition the board um she will be attending the stem camp in July and the cost of that camp is $3,200 uh I've been doing some fundraising we've been doing a variety things and Lily's learning it's
031not an easy Road she has to work she's scooping dog poop she's collecting cans we did a GoFundMe campaign and a variety of other activity fundraising activities what I would like to petition is that Lily going to Bowling Green University in July to represent the district and the school perhaps There's an opportunity to support her in that effort and as she continues to move forward in her education and Propel herself forward that she would be a good representative of our community in our school district and perhaps there is an opportunity to have some funding support to help her get to that camp this summer thank you for your time thank you Gabby thiaga hello my name is Gabby thiaga thank you for allowing me to speak tonight I listened to last month's meeting and would
032like to highlight a few public comments a woman spoke and stated that she was a retired Board of Education member last I heard she wasn't retired she just didn't get voted in but semantics as a valued member of this community I think her Focus during public comments would be more helpful on literally anything else than the comments from another adult on Facebook she could possibly shift her comments to helping the district with our test scores or how to hire more Paras a gentleman got up and spoke of compassion I quote have some compassion I would tell him this movement of being that is being pushed to be kind and compassionate which is misguided what about being kind to our girls and having compassion for them this District no longer has the daddy daughter dance for
033our girls based on the view of being more inclusive in an effort to be more inclusive the district has become highly exclusive others spoke of President Trump's new executive orders and how they affect our children yet I failed to hear them mention keeping boys out of girls Sports and defending girls from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government are those executive orders not add as important at the last meeting I spoke on the fear-mongering Nazi ranting leftist adults I want to make something evident to everyone the statement from the gentleman was highly anti-semitic to stand at this Podium and speak about a Jewish woman who also happens to be a parent in this district for questioning a book to say to her and all of us the Nazis started with book
034Banning which led to the burning of people for this man to Dare to Compare Jewish parents and other parents to to Nazis blows my mind mind how this is allowed goes completely against everything this community should stand for but alas they allow it they thank and applaud him for his words Shaya is my friend and continues to take it in the teeth for everyone no one comes up here and stands up for her I know she doesn't need it and I would think less of myself if I didn't on February 13th a guidance memo was sent from the state of Michigan Department of Education superintendent Michael rice to all Michigan public school superintendents and directors he's advising them not to follow president Trump's orders and federal Title 9 laws they keep saying I quote all
035children no exceptions deserve safe welcoming schools all have the right to be free from bullying and discrimination to the absolute best of our ability we as Educators have the responsibility to ensure these rights for our schools but they don't mean it because they certainly don't care about the of our daughters so I ask our superintendent where does this District stand will you make a simple yes or no statement that this district will support Title 9 will any of the board members make the same statement also what is the actual point of having a title 9 coordinator if this District do 15 seconds please wrap up sounds like a waste of money to me everyone on this board ran for their spot you sit up here and do nothing but talk about whichever play is happening
036at the time three people wanted to make positive changes in this District are sitting thank you for your comments Please wrap up to represent us and you do nothing but that's time ma'am word salads and hide behind I was getting there thank you thank you Ron [Applause] lipet Ron Lepe Commerce Township my uh wife Denise and I have three daughters uh including our youngest who is a junior at wal Lake Northern uh obviously there's a lot to discuss with respect to today's news out of Lancing uh regarding school funding and budgets but I'm going to withhold comment on that until we understand the impact a little more fully instead I'd like to comment on news out of Denmark this week where Danish authorities enacted legislation Banning cell phones from public schools mind you not limiting
037their usage but removing phones entirely from school by law this came on the heels of a long- awaited statement by the well-being commission a Danish government think tank which documented the digital threat to schoolage Children similar legislation is now being considered in capitals ac across Europe along with already enacted legislation in Canada and the UK here in the US data shows a growing demand for comprehensive cell phone policy including changes to curriculums which require the use of cell phones C Sienna College in New York state as an example released data showing New Yorkers support an outright ban on cell phones in public schools by margins of 60 to 32% with only 8% being indifferent further interesting is that the data indicates broad support across the political Spectrum with Democrats and Republicans supporting cell phone bands
038with equal enthusiasm another poll last month from talker research showed that seven and 10 Americans support School uh cell phone banss in some form with concerns over their impact on education being cited as the number one factor to support a ban eight states in the US now have enacted Statewide cell phone bans in Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is calling for a bipartisan legislation to restrict cell phones in schools but not ban them entirely the mea issued a statement indicating their support for locally driven policies saying quote every school district is different and each Community requires uh local solutions that involve Frontline Educators and parents in the decision-making process unquote if Michigan is to empower local bodies such as our school board to make these decisions I have no doubt our school board this body will
039create policies which protect our students and listen to our parents uh there is changing sensitivity to the threat cell phones posed to Wal Lake schools and student health the data paints a grim picture for education so please know um you have broad support you have broad support should you choose to enact a stricter cell phone policy here in W Lake Schools thank you thank you Trisha Ziggler hi I'm Trisha Ziggler from Lon Lake Elementary and I was just coming tonight to share some positives sorry um we um we just kicked off reading month with a readers theater um we have a door decorating scavenger hunt thank you Miss Ulen um second grade is doing a March Madness book bracket which students are really in excited about we had three interns last semester and one this
040semester from Grand Valley and they're going to be great additions to the profession thank you to the grant that's offering tutoring before and after school we have a lot of students benefiting from that our PTA has been doing some great assembly searches to find new things to bring we had a Mad Science assembly that we just had and we have a brain break at assembly Academy that's coming up and we're excited so thank you to the PTA um we're enjoying our new Hands-On science curriculum thank you we've had less eyps this year as we incorporate more phonics into our reading programs and making it more than just msv um a variety show is in the works any students listening they're due Monday get your get your applications in um but yeah thank you so much
041and appreciate all thank you thank you Christine Titus good evening Christine Titus from Commerce Township a proud educator at Hickory Woods um I'd like to start by thanking you for and I'd like to offer encouragement for agenda item number 14 which is the board policy adoption on changing the language for what used to be the English language deficiency in the board policy manual the multilingual Learners we teach in this District need us to understand that we honor the languages they speak in addition to the opportunity of learning a new language English these students and adults through our evening programs are adding to the funds of knowledge they already possess and I encourage you to adopt this new and asset-based language in the board policy manual thanks to Mrs Iverson and Mrs kohanski for drafting the
042new asset-based language I'm happy to see this come hopefully come to fruition after about 18 months I also want to give a shout out to my colleagues at Hickory Woods especially our principal special education general education ancillary staff who are putting in an extraordinary amount of time to make sure all of our students needs are being met as best as they can be I witness every day and this is no exaggeration how everyone is doing their best to emulate our motto our district motto of every child every day even though the task is not always an easy one so I wanted to make sure they know and other colleagues I've worked with across the district that their work is appreciated thank you thank you Katie bardos hello my name is Katie Bardo my husband and
043I have a daughter that's FIU student in Miami sophomore and my son is a senior at Northern I am currently at all three schools on a production team as a volunteer and I love the Performing Arts recently I just went on the Love Tour which was amazing it was great to see all three high schools working together and hanging out out during the tour I was reminded of three things I wanted to remind you of one is that I was promised that at every level for the Performing Arts the teachers that we would have a teacher for Performing Arts at every level this is important because I have seen a decline of the kids in the past five years due to not having some someone at the school to build the program during the Love
044Tour kids got to come up and sing with the high schoolers the only middle school with a dedicated person had about 100 to 150 kids that came up the other three who share a teacher um did not has have as many and one had none also number two um I think that Matt Weber and his team need a truck now that they are rening U-Hauls and they have lots of um wait and there are lots of times we need things move from one school to the other and I think it would save money and honestly it would really help me and I mean me by my volunteering for all three schools including the middle schools um we are busting at the seams and getting more because more space is being taken away from the Performing
045Arts and it is harder and harder for me to find the pieces and the props and that's my job is to find um set pieces and props I really need that warehouse that I've been asking for for about six years um I think it would save us a lot of money waste and time um it also would make money for us cuz we could rent out the items and then last but not least all children need an outlet some some other than Sports not everybody is a sports person and from being here since my daughter um is like I said a sophomore and since kindergarten I've been watching all of you know from like the talent shows to everything and I see these kids growing and now that I'm at all three schools it just
046breaks my heart that we I was at um Central seconds I sat at the um desk and we only had like four kids come up that is a sign that we are missing now you'll know which school was missing for you know not having a choir there um and then also last but not least Western comes 15 at um first weekend in April and she loves me at Central second weekend in April thank you again I want to thank everybody for speaking and as stated a member of the administration uh will get back to where needed I will also say that after we do board commentary we will take a break for those of you who have other things to do this evening so if you will bear with us for a few minutes Dr
047Lon administrative commentary thank you sir uh Mr Durkin we'll start with you today oh right off the dot uh just a quick uh just a quick update I want to give some kudos to my team I have the final final final final version of our learning newsletter uh hot off the presses hopefully getting it off to the printer tomorrow I just want to give a special shout out to Pam Cole and Jason Lewis for all their work to track down these Amazing Stories going on in the classroom uh celebrating our teachers of the Year all the wonderful things you know neatly packed into eight pages so hopefully that'll be in your mailbox later this month thank you sir Mrs kensy yeah thank you Dr Lance um just wanted to make a a quick shout out
048a comment that uh it's been really exciting the last few weeks working with our administrative team uh the department in learning services and I work with them to really start to hone in on what professional development has been like this year and get a lot of feedback we take into account our teacher feedback that everyone gives when we when we do those PD times um and taking a look at you know our district goals strategic initiatives those kinds of things and uh just really really dedicating a lot of time and effort into you know refining we're always working on getting better we're always taking everybody's feedback but looking forward to putting those professional development plans in place for next year and uh so I just want to thank the the administrative teams for their hard
049work on that in the last couple of weeks thanks thanks M kinsky Mr hka thank you Dr Lon last week we had the opportunity to uh welcome 50 uh teachers for the new teacher um Mentor mentee program here 50 teachers came after school from 4:30 to 600 to learn a little more about about um uh mtss School Improvement and myip goals it was phenomenal to see everybody together learning um a recent hire shared this um Wald Lake has wonderful teachers and wonderful people there are teachers at my door nearly every day offering help I've never taught in a place that has this kind of support and another teacher shared that he has a great day nearly every day so there there's a lot of positive energy and positive things going on here I want to
050thank Dr Scout and um uh Eileen uh darowski for their support that night as well as the administrative team thank you thank you sir Miss Mir thank you Dr L um just excited to um talk about one more especially wonderful week in Walt Lake Schools we have our annual inclusion week that is happening March 17th through 21st um at all of our schools where our building leadership as well as staff and students and communities are promoting whole school engagement activities where they put um promote social inclusion for all students um activities range from youth leadership activities Spirit weeks um book reads there are often um guest speakers that come in promoting all kinds of acceptance and appreciation for all the uniqueness of all individuals um and then our high schools have unified sporting games as
051well to culminate the week so so we're just excited about this week's this year's inclusion week look forward to some of those activities and hope that others will be able to participate thank you Miss last month at the board meeting we had the opportunity to highlight the student services staff and ironically enough we have a new member of that staff that's being led by Patty hearon who has a familiar last name though during the interview process and we didn't really register um it is actually WBY Chatfield which is a former bill chatfields is his sister so it's fun to have her and she's doing a bang up job so we're glad to have her on the team the payroll team has an relatively new team again led by a seasoned veteran Sherry Davis and they're
052going through the process of kind of trying to revine very slowly the payroll process to make it better and easier it's going to be a long time again taking it slow to go fast but again it's a a work in progress so we appreciate all the work in that area the finance team of course Vicky Amore has always been doing a great job she's working on grants and trying to make sure that things are done to the tea to make sure that we don't find any audit findings I know PMR that not our audit division is in the in the audience but they always can rely on her to do a great job as well certainly we have the budget looming that's certainly a big topic of conversation both on a state level and a
053federal level we're trying to sort through all those things and trying to make sure that we get the appropriate information but knowing that it's a long process yet to come so stay tuned as I'm sure we all will be anxious to hear how things actually pan out but certainly we're monitoring those developments and finally I'd like to thank the building leaders and the support staff in the buildings um we obviously couldn't do the Daily Business of the district without them and sometimes they don't get the Kudos that they are deserved but we do appreciate all the work that they do to help us do our job properly in in this in the business office thank you Mrs ommer uh from last we met there's a couple topics that have come up in at more a
054national and some state level uh first topic is the executive orders that have been issued it's important to note that the executive orders that relate specifically to school districts are guiding federal agencies they're not related directly to what school districts need to do and so we continue to work with our attorney they continue to see what guidance comes out from the federal agencies of course we will follow that guidance and we will continue to move forward with the guidance once it is provided the second one is in this is not the first time we've heard about this but a potential government shutdown people ask well the federal government shuts down what happens to your local school district if it's a short-term shutdown the short answer is pretty much nothing it goes on business as usual
055all of you know that we receive federal funds but they lag behind real time and so as long as it's a short-term Federal Federal shutdown we'd not have any direct impact to how we operate on a daily basis as I appreciate you bringing up the the budget and what might happen with that at the state level and I I believe some other board memb members might talk about it from my perspective I just want to continue to advocate for our 31 AA funds that's grant funding that all school districts m in Michigan get that is a state Grant and that's directly related to Safety and Security and so I continue to advocate for that and ask our officials at the state level to continue to fund that fully not only for our district but for
056all of the districts and then right here at home related to what we do every day I had a chance I think two weeks ago to walk through wal Lake western we call it phase two so if you've been in W Lake western you know there's some temporary walls up or if you have kids here they'll talk about temporary walls up I had a chance to go behind the curtain so to speak and see where we are we're we're right on schedule to be ready to go at the end of the summer it's amazing how it takes it seems like nothing really happens for eight months and if you've been through construction your building the last month is just done and so we're getting pretty close at last month I'm I'm excited for a number
057of things that are happening there the new school store they also have a new uh antar auxiliary TV studio a new robotics lab and we actually created an area for Esports and so we're keeping up with the times to the best of our abilities so I appreciate all everyone working on that project and finally on a personal note I had a chance uh last week of the week before to go down to LCA and I got really good seats because it was for our unified teams and it wasn't just our unified teams there were I believe eight total unified teams from the Tri County Area we're playing it started at 11:00 and went until until about 3:00 and so I had a chance to see wal Lake Central and wal Lake western play they didn't
058play each other they played others and uh we were very successful and it's just it's amazing to be able to sit there and see that all of our students in our district have an opportunity to experience things that everyone would like to see their child experience as someone who I'm lucky enough to have five children and they were all involved in sports or banned it was great to see that on on a personal note my wife joined me and she was actually tapped to run the clock for the W Lake western game so she gets to say she got to run the Pistons clock so that was pretty cool so we we had a great month in between board meetings and I'm looking forward to updating everyone in April thank you sir thank you board
059commentary M Fernandez would you like to start sure um I thought I was just simply going to say how much I enjoy wal Lake Northerns um Joseph and the Amazing Technic color dream Club they were truly awesome and I had a chance to go with my son both of my sons were extremely involved in um the programs at Northern and so they just love seeing people even though they're pretty much aged out however um I also then um found some inspiration to make a comment about uh some of the procedural activities that we'll have before us um and in particular the consent agenda which is a consent agenda because there's generally consent and so there's no discussion that happens at the point of the consent agenda um I would hope I would like to know
060uh if it's possible whether we're able to amend a motion and the um amend the motion in the consent agenda to potentially um pull out and look separately at resignations and I think that because we have when we've heard feedback ahead of getting to the board meeting um any board member can question and ask for an item to be removed so procedurally I'm just not certain if we can ask for it here at the table hearing it just um at the point of time um but if I'm able to and somebody gives me the head nod I will plan to do that um now just because we pull something out on on of the consultant agenda for discussion means we can talk about it it still is subject to a vote which of course requires
061a majority and that is um can be a sense of frustration as well because you can pull things out that maybe should be talked about it's happened before on numerous occasions for approving or hires and um so we can make that happen and then we still are subject to the um the majority vote of the board and we serve as a single body so um if we're able that will happen and my third comment is just you know uh it's important I think for all of us the Lancing cuts and what's happening in Lancing and I would say you know in today's environment there are continuous threats of more Cuts or drastic types of changes going back and forth um versus advice and guidance from um folks that are cited as authorities um on whether
062or not to ignore or not ignore that um I particularly prefer to be a little bit conservative about that um and make sure that we're not doing anything ruthless By ignoring um advice or threats that seem to be um resulting in action in today's environment um but our guidance wholly depends on who the attorney is and who the official Authority is that's providing those those things so um you know uh I'm sure those are things that we'll get to wrestle with here in the coming months um but that's just my point of view on um some of the challenges of actually making things happen um when we act as a single body uh and getting a chance to talk about those things so thank you thank you Mrs West thank you Mr SE thank you
063Mr seagler um so I'm going to start off um I get to have an opportunity to shap around wall like Northern ban trip to Disney this past February over break and it was amazing our kids are amazing uh we had so many compliments um whether it was from flight attendance or other people out just passengers on the plane um our I was on a flight that had a six- hour layover um we are much delayed and it was a challenge you saw kids sleeping all over the floors in there airport um but these kids were absolutely phenomenal they play phenomenal down Main Street in Disney um and I'm just so glad that I had an opportunity to um just be there be some of these kids' moms you know like they're away from their parents
064it's really hard to be away from your mom and be with kids there's bickering that can go on and it's hard to be with other people that aren't your own family for that long and so to just kind of like help the guide them is just it was a honor to do that um by way was really kind of wanted to talk about tonight was um I've emailed Dr lawence a couple times about some concerns regarding staffing issues that we've had um this year uh things that I've noticed with vacancy positions that have coming up and Mrs Fernandez just touched on the Cent agenda and the resignations and I also would like to have that pulled to discuss um I'm concerned that we have so many staff members leaving during the middle of the school
065year um as an educator myself um you know just growing up I remember never seeing teachers leave in the middle of a school year as an educator I can't imagine leaving my students in the middle of a stu in the middle of a school year those kids become your kids and you love them and I want to you know we're passionate about them so I want to see what we can do to not only retain our staff but we also need to go ahead and see what we can do to reach out to potential Educators out there whether it be our teach teachers our par par Pros we need to go ahead and really figure out how we can fill these positions and keep them thank you thank you Mrs Len thank you Mr seagler
066so I wanted to start my comments today with a quote silence in the face of evil is it evil itself God will not hold us Guiltless not to speak is to speak not to to act is to act Dietrich boner my comments tonight were going to take a different form than they've ended up um but I'm I'm very concerned about silence in our district there's Silence about issues happening with staff not you guys you're separate there's Silence about concerns with staff and our special needs programs and staff being cross train to take on even more responsibilities when their plates are already full peras who we are already lacking 45 at the last count that I saw being cross trained and being asked to take on more responsibilities and nobody's talking about it our teachers being
067told that they can't speak tonight by the union last I checked this was still America and and it is nobody's right to tell anybody they can't speak to scare anybody into saying they can't speak these are private citizens as one of our community members like to remind me just a couple weeks ago you have the right to speak up and I'm proud of you for being here and doing that one of the lessons that I've learned um four years ago today I was on the steps of the capital in Lancing speaking up to save our kids and to save our schools a lot of people like to think that I don't support our kids I don't support our schools it couldn't be farther from the truth I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't I
068have better things I could be doing than volunteering for this thankless job but I'm here to advocate for everybody and that started four years ago in Lancing and it's not going to stop and I've learned that sometimes you have to go it alone and that nobody's coming to save you you have to speak up you have to save yourself and I have repeatedly asked this board to take on tough conversations to have workshops just to talk we don't talk about anything a lot of people say when will the board discuss it we won't because our board doesn't like to take on tough topics we vote on things that are brought to us we discuss the couple things that are brought to us but we really need to take on the tough things and I've said
069on my social media and I've said publicly and I'll say it again silence is not the answer and so I am requesting publicly that this board convene a closed session meeting to discuss the problems that have been brought forward to us and to stop being silent about it there are things that we can't talk about publicly there's I'm sure you understand that but there are things we must talk about privately and I've been told well that's not something for the board to worry about everything is for the board to worry about be everything matters and if we wait until it's something that somebody decides is for the board to worry about it may be too late one of the benefits of having a board of education is that we all come from diverse backgrounds we're
070not all Educators we all have our own unique not only life but professional experiences that if we were asked we may be able to lend some of that expertise to the board but we're not asked and I mean no disrespect when I say this but we have professionals on this board that can help the people on our board who or in our Administration who have not worked in these specific roles in Corporate America we have Educators who have been certified and learned and and worked in these roles but we have people with professional experience around us we have a community that knows how to handle things we need to lean on each other and we need to stop being divisive there are many people who are sitting up here on this board who ran campaigns
071based on moving forward together and I think we've forgotten that together piece and we really need to get back to that and I don't like that I'm usually the only one who's asking to have these meetings and I hope that everybody regardless of what position you're coming from will join me in wanting to have these conversations and to do the work that our community elected us to do and to really start to think about why we're sitting here it's not for the paycheck thank thank you Smith oh I wasn't done but okay thank you all for your time I'm done now do you want to speak more nope I'm good you can have it because I'm working together appreciate that uh first I want to uh because as it was discussed at our organizational meeting
072to have a brief a synopsis of what some of the work that we do in our subcommittees and uh Miss Kaplan myself Dr Lans and Miss berer uh were there u m Fernandez was absent about the uh board policy subcommittee uh we reviewed and discussed the following which I think was stated that will be on the agenda for board policy 8002 for the Ada Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act which discusses uh The Limited English proficiency uh we also did uh did review and discuss and I was caught up to speed on the board operating procedures U Mrs Kaplan provided an update to me to bring me up to speed on some of the discussions that have already taken place and what we want to do to move forward and uh we are going to
073be providing some some input on that for board policy uh 10001 and seeing where we need to go for that in the future and we are going to reconvene for our next meeting uh April 10th hopefully you can attend that one at 5:15 so we can all be there and have a wonderful discussion um I had some some basic I just I do want to start off as well is uh thank you to the Wixom Community staff uh the all of the community and the parents coming out in the um I understand how hard it is to speak up and I I do appreciate that as a fellow uh parent and board member I I do do believe and think that there uh does need to be more thought discussions on many matters U moving
074now and moving forward so again I thank you uh some of the other items that I want again it's a I want to acknowledge uh the shared sadness uh not only the Dublin Community where um I'm a part of but also the entire District at the passing of one of our beloved teachers uh Mrs Jenny Ashley uh she battled pancreatic cancer for three years and was a champion to those recently diagnosed uh she shared her wisdom and experience so that others could find hope for a future and she will be greatly missed by all of our students families and staff in her school uh I want to give a shout out to our wonderful third graders at Dublin on their successful travel fair that transformed the school for a day also to our fun staff
075volleyball game at wal Lake Northern between the Four elementary schools as was discussed um tonight uh remember March is National reading month remember to track those reading minutes and engage in thoughtful discussions about the books that you're reading I challenge everyone I am a Avid Reader myself read something new read with your child uh open yourself to a new style new genre or journey and expand your horizons with all the amazing authors that are out there uh thank you to CHS and for the whole District at large for holding inclusion week coming up for March 17th through 21st uh it really stuck to me that it says inclusion is important and it means and shows everyone that all children no matter the racial religion ethnic B background gender learning style or ability have equal access
076to educational opportunities in a learning environment where all students are equally safe valued and respected so I know my daughter at CHS is uh looking forward to that and really showing uh how inclusive we are as a district District uh I also want to congratulate and appreciate CHS for their annual Super Bowl to benefit the hospitality house food pantry uh the students and staff collected 2,391 pounds of food as well as over $1,500 in cash donations during the weeklong event I want to say uh of course have a safe and happy St Patrick's Day I know that there's going to be wonderful events at Dublin uh because our new principal is of Irish and uh background and she is going to be teaching our uh kids so they're I'm looking forward to some of their
077dancing that I believe that they're going to do um so that's wonderful so just remember again and then have a relaxing spring break at the end of the month remember to recharge and have fun and also I want to honor and acknowledge that the fact is March is also women's history month and to all of the amazing women women in our community I'm reminded of this great quote by Rosa Parks you must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right so charge forth and be the beacon that shines light on what is right in the world so finally I want to wish my son uh an early happy birthday tomorrow I don't know if he's watching but uh happy 11th birthday Andrew so that's all I have thank you Mrs Crafton
078thank you Mr seagler um in I I was absent in the February um meeting because I had a family emergency um I would have reported this then but I couldn't uh so in late January I attended the Oakland County Schoolboard Association training on um a framework called The keyw Works of school boards and it really talks about the team of eight the seven of us elected and the superintendent working together rooted in trust and that the key duty of a Schoolboard member is to find the powerful question so what is the question that needs to be asked at any moment to get the district to turn in whatever topic that we're um confronting so in strategic planning an example of a powerful question might be what does our demographics look like for jobs 20 years
079from now and then let's backward map to what do we need to be preparing our kids for now so that they're ready to be employed in our community in 20 years so that's an example of a powerful question and I am very very interested in having discussions with the board in public session private Clos session whatever about how we can Implement some of the structures that the keyw works of school boards um training employees um I I think we are hearing a lot of things in the community right now that are very very important and I agree Shaina Mrs Leven sorry um that that we do need to have meaningful Community engagement and discussion as a group um how we do that I am very open to what the right Protocols are I've only been
080an elected member of the board for a short period of time um and let's figure it out but we got to do it the community deserves it and the eight people around this table deserve it this is an unprecedented moment of challenge in education coming at us from all angles goals and we can't allow our community to be divided I'm going to change topics now that was my thought of response to today and Miss loven's comments um I also had the beautiful privilege of chaperoning the W Lake western choir field trip to New York City um it was amazing to see young people learn how to navigate with adult supervision of course um the subway how to walk with purpose across the street uh to to see um their eyes just light up when they
081saw a Broadway curtain go up um some of us got to be second row for a Broadway show um I mean these kids are truly the future and I'm so honored to get to spend time with them in an authentic and meaningful way so for all of you my commitment is to the children of this district and this the teachers that support their learning and growth so that they can be prepared productive citizens for tomorrow our future relies on them and it's our job to figure that out thank you thank you you know I want to thank both of you everybody that's been involved with shaoning because I go back many years to Maple Elementary as a chaperon for for fourth fifth and sixth graders on young astronauts and there's nothing greater than having a
082child sitting next to you who a has never been away from Mom or Dad for a night and has never flown on a plane if you think that you have challenges you have no idea uh for my colleagues at the board we have some upcoming uh reminders the N March 19th and April 16th there are classes being offered virtually uh please let Mrs bar know if you are interested in going the ocba dinner meeting which is on April 2nd is at the OTC campus in Clarkston uh it's a wonderful opportunity to see what our children and our students can do and from a manufacturing production and and Catering situation we actually have students who will be cooking the meals catering and learning table Service as well as interpers skills at the dinner uh we've already
083discussed March's reading month I look forward to that PTSA Reflections March 31st 2025 at Wald Lake Northern uh I've been really involved over the last few weeks with things going on in Lancing and trying to get a grasp of what's going on uh Mrs L you'll be happy to know that I believe the Vapes bill will be reintroduced and we can finally do some take some action on that uh as we talk about phones and smart device policies one of the things that was brought up in one of our discussions last night was a reminder that we really don't want to ban because most children and most schools do not have a payphone and even if they had a pay phone the students would not know what to do with them so it's a teaching
084opportunity uh so we want to look at that Dr Lan's already touched on $31 a a uh it's going to be challenges with the budget as we move forward and see what happens there uh for people who have no knowledge of the school budget or what we have to do our budget is due to the state by June 30th the state doesn't approve a Budget prior to September 30th so uh a lot of opportunities and there probably will be some major changes as we move forward on that uh Dr L started this morning and he didn't say anything about it but the pictures speak for themselves serving breakfast to our students uh I think the white apron would have been better but thank thank you for doing that uh today House Bill 4162 was presented
085now again this is this can this will have a lot of feedback and a lot of action over the next several weeks uh I've only gotten through about 10 of the 49 pages of from the bill but one of the things that people need to understand is what it proposed was a $5 billion cut to the school aid budget the way we see it from uh 20 million down to 15 billion the cause and effect of that to districts ours and others through the state would be devastating uh to our PTA parents that are here and PTs council members that are here uh we are not waving a flag yet but we may need you very soon for phone calls and letter writing campaigns the between the start of the day the presentation and the
086vote was only there was only 30 minutes from the introduction or the reintroduction today and the vote that was taken in the house so we will probably need to react very rapidly on all of it uh lastly again thank you to everybody who spoke tonight I can't thank you enough for letting us know and for communicating with us and with that we will take a 10minute recess for those of you who don't want to stay for the rest of the meeting thank you e e e Mrs West if I could have you back at the table thank you we will reconvene Mrs Fernandez want to make a motion with the first uh consent to General approval of minutes proposed February 6 2025 regular meeting Personnel recommendations new hires resignations Financial reports dispersements in the amount
087of 8,779 n90 balance sheet and statement of revenues and expenditures un audited and investment schedule and the Head Start director's report do I have seagler Mrs Crafton I move that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda as presented you have a second say do we have support yeah somebody need thank you Mrs Lin Mr vice president secretary for J I don't know what to call you yes Mrs fernanz I'd like to amend I'd like to suggest an amendment to that motion okay I move that the Board of Education remove item uh B2 resignations uh and approve the remainder of the consent agenda as presented support thank you Mrs Len we have a an amendment and a uh support for that all those in favor I don't think we can't discuss the consent no we
088canot discuss the consent agenda to approve the consent we have to approve it right yeah yes thank you thank you Mr Smith all those in favor I I opposed the friendly Amendment passes 6 Z I have another I would like to now make a motion to address the resignation bit that we just boot it out of there um I'd like to move that the resignations be approved as presented with the stipulation that the um Wixom Elementary resignations be investigated by the administration and reported back to the board thank you Mrs lven moved by Mrs Fernandez supported by Mrs lven all those in favor I I opposed motion passes six nothing now to go back to the original motion no we already no we we don't have to we're all set okay thank you we made
089it through that that was well done appointment appointment move management surfaces for the 2024 Bond program Dr Lans thank you sir upon successful negotiations the administration recommends to hire and appoint plant brand real point to coordinate move Management Services related for the repurposing of Geer middle school and the amount not to exceed $65,000 then that amount will come from the 2024 Bond program do I have a motion Mr seagler Mrs West Oh I thought I'm sorry Mrs Fernandez Mrs Fernandez please going well we do need to talk more right um I move that upon successful negotiations the Board of Education hire and appoint plant Moran Realo to coordinate move Management Services related to the repurposing of Geisler Middle School in an amount not to exceed $65,000 for the 2024 Bond program so thank you m
090thank you Mr Smith discussion Mr seagler Mr Lin I have a question you're here anyway might as well have you do something this time um is this are we paying for the move or for um plant Moran to coordinate it like sure to find somebody to do it so there's two parts to that I was going to let him do it I know okay go ahead Dr Dr L because it's actually a subsidiary of plant brand but to answer your question directly this is for them to coordinate the white glove service of the move so the we will then hire movers on top of it it's very similar to what we're doing right now at wal Lake Northern where a is coordinating the move but we hire another moving company to actually do the actual
091moving of the products so could you maybe explain what's involved in $65,000 worth of coordinating a move sure we'll um one of our groups not directly affiliated with uh Miss pit and myself um we'll um do all the coordination UPF front have all the meeting meetings with the teachers make sure that um you know all the move lists are generated all the walkthroughs and all the um uh called inventory prior to moves are done um everything is coordinated top down um all the rfps are issued for the move Services once the move happens we're boots on the ground making sure that that's happening over the summer and then once the moves are completed and the teachers are moved in and the administration's moved in we're making sure that everything's done correctly everything's inventoried everything's back
092into where it needs to go it's really just a turnkey approach to manage that service thank you m l could I follow up with you on that you sure can the reason why I'm recommending plant Mor handle this move versus The Wild Lake Northern move is a complexity of this move we're taking one Middle School we'll be moving furniture to two other middle schools plus two other high schools and I want to make sure that our staff have the best possible transition where Wild Lake Northern we're moving out of classroom a pretty much moving it back into classroom a it's a much simpler process Mr seagler M Fernandez I have a follow-up question it um it in the motion we said to coordinate the move Management Services will you indeed put that out to bed
093and is an RFP involved in order to select you know the right the right vendor at the right price or is it already known and it's mostly coordinating something that is already predetermined now our group will develop a comprehensive RFP for the actual Moving services um probably go out to at least three to five different firms and then obviously once we receive bids we'll recommend the lowest qualified firm to conduct that move any further discussion all those in favor I opposed motion passes six nothing thank you purchases over 50,000 Dr Lans Mrs gransky thank you Dr Lon as presented to the board last month we have a textbook recommendation for world language uh which covers our Spanish French and German classes at the middle school and high school level uh at this time our recommendation
094uh which was presented last month is for Entre culturas for Spanish and French Intercultural for German with Wayside publishing uh 2024 Edition uh $468,500 and 5 cents from the general fund do I have a motion I'll try Mr seagler Mr Smith I move that the Board of Education approve the purchase of World Language textbooks entitled inra culturals for Spanish and French and Intercultural for Deutsch German uh Wayside publishing 2024 in the amount of $468,500 5 from the general fund support thank you Mrs Crafton moved by Mr Smith supported by Mrs Crafton is there any discussion Mr Seager Mrs 11 um I'm going to be voting no on this uh curriculum and every curriculum going forward until there's a change made in how we review curriculum and this just came up this week but I was
095part of the board that approved a math curriculum um this past year that uses pronouns that don't exist and I don't support it but I approved it even after after I reviewed the curriculum I thought that I was doing a good thing and looking at everything but I missed the letter and I missed it because I trusted that our process had improved it's something I had brought up maybe a year year and a half ago that we needed to improve our curriculum review process I didn't want to support Publishers who supported things that I didn't believe in and I went back on what I had said I was going to do and I approved this curriculum and now that I think nothing's changed with the publish that we are giving our $468,000 to over and
096over and over again um and how we approach them um the only thing I can do is is vote no in case something pops up later I need to distance myself from it so um I'm hoping that how our our curriculum is reviewed will change and the Publishers that we use will be held to higher standards so that I don't have to be thinking about what letter is used in certain words which I know doesn't even happen in foreign languages but this is just the first one on the list so um I just wanted everybody to know why I'm going to be voting no on this and any curriculum going forward until I know that things have changed thank you any other comments all those in favor I'm sorry Mrs West um I just want
097to share that I also saw the math curriculum that I was shocked to see a pronoun Ed that I also don't share the belief I believe that there's are two gend um and I believe that there's plenty of families that also support that I understand there's families who do not um but I believe that that's something up to each family to decide and we should not be pushing that on to our families to determine how they want to view gender philosophy um and so you obviously we're not we're looking at languages and we're not going to be able to see if there's something that is off if it's but in a language so I also won't be able to support that today Mrs fernandz so this one breaks my heart and um it's because I
098did review the books I am probably I'm not qualified to review German but I reviewed the books before our last meeting and um I think it's it's impossible um to look closely at everything but I did feel like I was able to take a good look at the books and um maybe it's because they're foreign language books but you know there I didn't have any immediate objections to those books um I am concerned and have had issues with books in the past um and the process and different things that we've done which has been enough for me to vote no um in all cases now I'm going forward I have concerns about um the potential for risk risking you know lost funding in our district because we've approved and bought books that will be used
099for a very long time um or needing to discontinue um prematurely books and pay again to have new books so I feel like it's a serious um it's a serious concern and it is one that has come up again and again in the past um in this case I did review the books and I am one of the folks that I feel is qualified to review them I wish I could review them um a lot more in detail and I also have um fears that things come up that you can't review and everything but I am going to approve or um I am going to vote in favor of the books tonight um and um you know just hope that this board um hears the concerns that are real and need to be taken um
100seriously Beyond knowing whether there's a majority or a minority vote and actually you know taking some um action around making sure that there's a better Comfort level if for whatever reason we're concerned about um the books that we're spending good money on generally you know we want new books we want new materials but we also don't want to take on additional risks that will cause US Financial loss because of drastically changing climate or you know whatever I they just has happened over and over again so um I recognize the importance of that um given the fact that we're one man down today and I hope that our Dynamics you know don't have to continue to be um um ignore ignoring or not taking seriously when um there's a clear majority vote but taking very seriously
101the fact that these concerns are on behalf of the community and the kids as much as any other perspective about voting in favor or against something thank you very much any other comments call for the vote all those in favor I opposed motion passes 4 two thank you very much bid Awards over 50,000 continue Dr L thank you very much while they Consolidated School District solicited and received bids for procurement of districtwide network upgrades funded through Bond proceeds and matching eate Grant the bid process was facilit ated through mutual efforts of the administration PMR a construction the recommendation from the team is to award the bid to inac comp tsg the lowest responsive bidder in the amount totaling 5 3,822 and the important 91 cents just as a a point of reference this is actually
102a split so half of the money is Grant provided half of the money is matching funds so the the direct cost to the bond is about $250,000 so we're getting double the amount for half the price thank you Mr SE Mrs West you can do it um I moved that the Board of Education approved the bid award for inacom tsg to provide districtwide Network upgrades for a total amount of $3,829 funded from Bond proceeds and matching e rate Grant as recommended by the project team support thank you Mrs L supported by Mrs West or moved by Mrs West supported by Mrs levven is there any discussion Mr Smith I apologize I maybe it was in the memo uh what was the the Life Span lifetime of the uh the old system that we had like
103in order to necessitate this new network so the old system we have is actually a mixed bag so to speak so we have some that are coming offline they're they're 8 10 years old we have others that have been purchased a year ago that would be obviously year old so we're looking at at two things one out useful life and the second is as we continue to add devices to our buildings we need to continue to expand the coverage for the buildings and so we have some dead spots so we hope we can fill in with this well it won't solve the cell phone problem but maybe that won't be a problem in a little while anyway so thank you any further discussion all those in favor I oppose the motion passes 60 Dr L
104thank thank you very much sir W Lake Northern and W Lake western are getting some new furniture so w Lake Consolidated School District has listed and received bids for for the 2019 Bond program furniture package phase six the bid process was facilitated through mutual efforts of our Administration TMP PMR the bid package is being presented under budget and cost savings measured included in repurposing of nonstationary office furniture that will be acquired from gysler middle school the scope of this package is includ to W Lake Northern High School W Lake western Phase 2 the recommendation of the team is to enter into standard form of agreement with multiple vendors as presented by the team in the amount of 2,526 18439 so just a couple things to to point out here that we've already talked about phase
105two is the part I had a chance to visit and that'll be opened and ready to go when school starts for next school year and I I want to comment and and give credit to the TMP team who took time to go through the gisler furniture and to look at specifically for for what we're referencing here the northern Furniture when it comes to the office furniture and what can we switch out and not have to repurchase and that was a commitment that we made at the very beginning of our facility study and was reaffirmed when we decided to repurpose Geisler that we would be taking that furniture and using it not disposing of it and so this I appreciate the team and the cost savings that came with this bit Pack Mr oh go ahead
106you can read all the Big M last I just want to respond to Dr L and hold on hold on gota wait for discussion Sor this 11 my apologies all right rookie I moved that the Board of Education authorized the superintendent to enter into a standard form of agreement with multiple vendors as presented by the project team to provide Wald Lake Northern High School and Wald Lake Western High School Phase 2 Furnishings in an amount totaling 2,526 181143 funded by Bond proceeds support thank you mooved by Mrs Len supported by Mrs Crafton is there any discussion yes Mrs what um so I just want to say to Dr L thank you for looking at repurposing and reusing the furniture and not just disposing of it I think you know it's a good use of funds
107um and try to allocate what we can to our schools within the district so I appreciate that thank you question 11 um just a technicality because I don't want it to come back to us later does it matter that it says multiple vendors and that we're not awarding it to a specific person or no doesn't a bid pack I don't know well so it is a bid package and most of our bid packages have multiple vendors in it right the motion just doesn't say bid pack any number or anything as long as as multiple vendors we're fine okay thank you for the question any further questions all those in favor I oppose the motion passes six nothing Dr L thank you again sir wal Lake Consolidated School District and PMR request foresight design to provide
108design proposals for wal Lake Northern baseball and softball Varsity Field improvements including new Turf drainage system fencing back stops foresight has historically designed our District's athletic improvements the recommendation of the team is to enter into a standard form of agreement with foresight and assist with bid design construction documents and construction Administration totaling in the amount of $54,000 so this is the first step of the process now typically we would work with TMP and a on this but as you recall when we went into the agreement with our owners rep PMR we were looking for opportunities to do what was called design Prime and so this is kind of a half design Prime PMR is taking half of it and we're still using a for the actual construction part of it and so that is saving
109the district money and PMR continuing to follow through on what they promis the district this was a goal if we recall of the board previous to me becoming superintendent was to upgrade our fac facilities and one of the facilities we've looked at is our softball and varsity uh diamonds it's happening at wal Lake Northern this year and next year it'll be I think we're going Central next year and the year after that will'll be Western so we'll have Equity amongst our our athletic programs it just takes time to do it because it's coming out of syncing fund and we want to make sure that we maintain that fund for other projects and make them up along the school year Fernandez I move that the Board of Education approve the sup the superintendent to enter into
110a standard form of agreement with foresight design to provide athletic Design Services for the Wald Lake Northern High School ba baseball and softball Field improvements totaling $54,000 from the syncing fund as presented by the project team moved by Mrs Fernandez supported by Mrs Levan is there any further discussion Mrs Levan so I just want to say thank you to the administrative team for finally making this Ara it uh I very vividly remember when Owen Ricks and his baseball teammates stood there and asked the district to undertake this and um it took a lot of discussions about where is this going to come from how's it going to happen what's it look like and when and I remember telling Owen my goal is for this to be done before you graduate and if everything goes as
111planned that's exactly what's going to happen and so um I think the baseball meeting at Northern is tonight I don't know if they know that this is on the agenda but um uh just thank you to everybody who made this happen um Those kids deserve it both the the boys and the girls on the softball team um they bust their tails and uh they work really hard our softball team does very very well and I think they deserve the same kind of excellent facilities that we give to our football teams and and to any other facility that we put money into so thank you for recognizing that and for taking the steps needed to make this happen thank you any further discussion Mr seagler um Mrs Fernandez I'm Crafton that's the second one tonight okay
112um so uh I just wanted to thank Dr Lans for providing an answer to a question I didn't ask yet um I would have asked the question of equity across the three schools so I appreciate hearing that there's a timeline for Central and then Western to have these upgrades as well so thank you any other discussion all those in favor I motion passes 60 Bond resolution 2025 School building and site bonds Dr LS very happy to finally turn something over Mrs om happy to take it thank you uh the bond resolution authorizes the school district's Administration to proceed with the issuance of the second series of the $250 million of bonds approved by the voters at the May 7th 2024 election as planned the amount of the second series of bonds to be issued will
113be an amount not to exceed $50 M20 the resolution sets forth the term terms of the bond and authorizes all of the actions required by law in order to issue the bonds the resolution de delegates to the superintendent or the assistant superintendent of Business Services the authority to negotiate and accept an offer to purchase a bonds from the underwriter the president and secretary are authorized to sign the bonds and the superintendent and assistant superintendent of business services are authorized to sign all other closing documents it is anticipated that the closing of the bonds will occur in May of 2025 as you recall we did the same type of process last June and it's a similar type of authorization in the same amount I move that the Board of Education approved the adoption of the bond
114resolution for the 2025 School building and site bonds as presented this allows us some flexibility with our team to be able to kind of check the market obviously it's always a little bit difficult but they're certainly be looking for the most favorable market conditions going forward so it may change that timing a little bit but certainly they're aware of that and experts in the field to know the best time to to do the best that they can thank you m Fernandes yeah I'm wondering you know as we approve spending from prior years bonds usually there's mention of which series or how it is Tagg to the bond um to the bond funds of that those prior years has the bond committee identified you know what the subset of items is under each of these specific
115or under this specific um in series yes during that process in the pre-qualification application there was some generic obviously everything that was improved the pre-qualification application was tied to a different Series in the timing again that's monitored through the owner's rep through the construction manager so they kind of take a look at those things and and update us as we go on the cash flow needs based on those particular seriesand I can answer that more specifically the previous Bond issuance and this Bond issuance much of that money will go for the repurposing of gisler and for the construction development of wiom okay what I'm curious about is I believe that when we were when we were voting for the bond um after obviously the commun community voted there was some conversation about specifically the bond
116committee stepping up to be involved in Flushing out some of the details of that more than what was available at the time that we had to um submit that as part of the bond um submitt itself and um and so I I there's probably maybe a place to be directed to see with what more finality and detail we've had that but I'm hoping and I know we have some new sub commmittee updates but they're before the vote so um so I feel like um I I feel like it would be great to um really be able to keep up with that that was our intent um when we asked to establish the bond committee and so um as somebody who's not on that committee so I I'll let M that when it's the when it's
117the time for that but you will I I would recommend the look at last bulletin in that we had the presentation attached to from PMR and that may answer some of the questions there thank you yep any further questions all those in favor I opposed Mo motion passes 60 Resolution Board review of headstar program Dr Lon Mrs kensy thank you Dr Lans in accordance with the federal Head Start performance standards the wal Lake Consolidated School Board School District sorry board of education is the governing body of the district's Head Start program it's to comply with all federal contract regulations while L school's Head Start is requesting the Board review the items listed below for the 2024 2025 school year all items were approved by the Head Start policy committee uh the school board's request for
118review which was attached for the board packet was the um selection and relates to Head Start performance standards 1332.14 enrollment as it relates to the Head Start performance standards of 1332.14 recruitment policy and reimbursement policy thank you and there is no motion on that no motion correct okay board subcommittee updates uh Mr Smith you would you like to start yeah I can re uh reiterate so we met on February 24th uh and we discussed uh reviewed the policy board policy 8002 Americans with Disabilities Act Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 the committee discussed board policy 8002 and agreed to recommend the addition of language relating to service animals uh the first reading will be presented uh tonight and the committee was also in agreement with to recommend accompanying uh administrative regulations 8002a B-
119AR and then also we discussed board policy 30009 which was The Limited English proficiency and the committee discussed replacing current Antiquated language with the proposed language uh the committee agreed with the proposed language recommendations in the first reading will be presented uh tonight and then we also discuss board operating procedures um and getting caught up to speed on that and we're going to discuss next steps and uh requested some of the documentation so we can have our next meeting on April 10th at 5:15 at CHS that is all I have thank you any questions for Mr Smith Mrs Leven Bond subcommittee report thank you um I think it was Fe February 25th we met uh virtually um all three of us on the committee myself Mrs Crafton and Mr seagler were there along with Dr
120Lon and the team from PMR who disappeared good J um but um you know these meetings are good to kind of give us an overview of everything that's going on there's very detailed timelines in the um attachment that was shared with the board which I think is is a piece of transparency that you know is is so very much desired by our community so it is available and I'm assuming at some point the public will see some of this stuff um soon there will be a website um but um we talked about updates of the current Bond programs um things that are being wrapped up at Western thought processes that are going into the new ESC um we talked about um basically everything we talked about tonight that we voted on um but uh it's
121just a good update one of the things that I'm I'm enjoying learning more about and and seeing what they pull out of the meetings is the design Prime stuff the stuff that they are uh that that uh plant Maran PMR is is taking on themselves um it it'd be interesting to have like a running total of like what did that save us because that's a big number and that's probably cool um but it's always good to get get these updates and um you know the committee is is committed to the transparency that the community wants so specifically with like U moving the adult transitions program like when might that actually happen and that the fact that the ATP program is being um asked about what timeline works for them like there might be a timeline
122that the district is on but does that work with you know especially with these kids and this change is that what does that look like what works better for them um to really be engaging the the very people that are going to be affected by this I think is an important step that I think the community was very vocal about during the facilities committee meetings and stuff like that so um you know they're pretty good meetings um and uh looking forward to the next one um happy to answer questions that I can I've got the presentation pulled up if that helps m l just we do have two websites right now and we have more than that obviously but we do have a a bond website and we do have a sying fun website they
123they're not reflected of what we talked about because I want to make sure we had a conversation here first okay but Mr durk's team should have that done shortly awesome M Fern go ahead good luck sorry didn't um I am I remembering falsely I thought that that um PMR had a tool or something that was part of this that might actually you would think it would the savings and stuff right so we would hope to have that at some point in time through their tool when we sat in one of these meetings I remember saying yeah wow for the 2019 Bond like there was a really long like bigger than a legal piece of paper that it was like a project management like color coded this is going to overlap this and this and phase
124one and phase two that's all going to be digital and I think that's what Dr lws is talking about getting rolled out so that every school can know when are things happening like with the last Bond I think every school Community eventually knew like okay we're going to be part of phase whatever like Northern is the last phase of 2019 always knew that going into it because they were phase six or whatever it was so it's a cool tool and I and we've really pushed for that transparency and the nice thing about the tool is it will actually State the years instead of the year four year five year six it'll specifically State the years that we hope these projects will be achieved and it l by school building what is what is on the
125list great thank you I did dream the tool it's there it's there I apologize for any mistakes I've made this evening and we are going to adjourn at 8:57 thank you everyone e for