001e e e going to call the meeting to order if we could rise for the pledge of allegiance pleaseed of allegiance to the plag the United States of America and to theu for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you say we're going to move to public commentary and I just want to say thank you all for coming tonight for your interest and for your interest and addressing the board this is your opportunity to address the board the board will listen to your statements questions or concerns we will not have a conversation but if followup is necessary a me a member of the superintendent staff or board member will get back with you you have three minutes to address the board please keep a eye on the timer
002on the wall over there um if you come close to your time Mr seagull will let you know that your time is coming close and if you would please wrap up your comments we ask that all speakers remain professional and refin refrain goodness from personal attacks they should not have had the chocolate before we started the meeting um we are going to start with Deb Terry good evening I'm Deb Terry I am um an English teacher at w Lake Northern and I'm I'm entering my 25th year so pretty excited to get started um I want to I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the wlea and we want to welcome Dr La Lans and Mr hamka and all the new members um we're we're very excited to work with all of you um and and um
003as we move forward together with all the changes in our district um Dr Lans I want to thank you on behalf of the WLA for your um opening day um presence we uh really enjoyed your comments and what you shared and aside from um hearing over and over how tall you are the the word that stood out the most yesterday that we heard over and over is loyalty and I just want to take the time to thank you it's something that came up often is that you are loyal to Wald Lake and as you are speaking to the group um that means a lot because even as you're saying that um you know you know that there's people here who have been here um a long time and and that you listen to our voices
004and you want to you want to take our how we feel and what we think and to consider fation so thank you for that um to all the school board members want to say thank you um new and uh those who have been on the board a long time um we're looking forward to a great school year we want to say thank you to the board members who have been very visible and present both at the opening day events and all of the events at the different schools it has been noted and it's it's very appreciated uh that you are there for the kids for the staff for the families um for wal lake so thank you we want to to welcome Mr lipet and Miss Crafton um thank you newest members uh for for
005joining us and putting in your time we all know that this is not your day job and that you spend a lot of time and you're very committed and we appreciate it and um and uh I think that's it for tonight but thank you thank you Michelle black hello thank you for letting us speak um I'm Michelle black I am the ELA and social studies coordinator for Wald Lake um starting I think my 27th year um very proud wal Lake educator I wanted to take a few minutes to just brag about our teachers a little bit um summers are for lots of recharging and getting yourselves ready for the next year but we have a lot of teachers who are really dedicated to their learning over the summer and last week we had our um
006homegrown Institute this was our sixth homegrown Institute partnering with advancing literacy at Teachers College at Columbia and this year we had 75 K5 teachers um and some special ed teachers attending for four full days of their summer last week the last full week they had off they were with me um they were learning about the latest research and high leverage strategies to support their students and literacy and this year we had three strands we had a new teacher strand because last year we had an enormous number of new elementary teachers and at the new teacher strand they learned the latest research around Reading Writing Phonics spelling and grammar and how to incorporate that important work into their classrooms we had a K2 strand that was focused on writing in phonics and a 35 strand that
007was focused on writing grammar and spelling and at the unit at the sessions the teachers got a preview of the units that are actually on the consent agenda tonight um and they were very excited about the new units and the changes that are in the units about um how to really reach our kids based on Research including spelling and grammar lessons and important um shifts in the instruction that we know that we need for our students the feedback as usual for the Homegrown was incredible every teacher felt these four days of learning will make a high impact on their daily instruction and I just wanted to share some of the words that they shared with me um one teacher said I've attended homegrown for three years now and every year is better than the last
008I always leave in inspired and prepared to help my students become proficient readers and writers the updated writing units that we were able to preview incorporate new material with a much needed focus on grammar and spelling I know my students would be far more engaged in writing this year and I will be so grateful for that another teacher said homegrown was truly an incredible experience it was filled with helpful teaching tips surrounding recordkeeping small group instruction the use of Mentor text and so much more some of my greatest takeaways were simple management techniques and tricks to reach reluctant writers it was an awesome 4 days of growth in learning and I loved it a resource room teacher said as a resource program teacher hired in 2023 it was so helpful to take the new teacher
009training I'll better be able to support my students in their gened classrooms and make my specially designed instruction even more relevant for them and one more I wanted to share I've Had The Good Fortune to attend several homegrown institutes in Wald Lake I always learn new strategies based on research new content and confirming information that engages Learners and ultimately leads to literacy success for all also the collaborative nature of the Institute allows me to interact with colleagues from across the district which is always a great opportunity I just want to commend those teachers four days of your summer in August to learn and grow and to be collegial and work with your colleagues is really something to be proud of um and as usual our teachers are amazing so thank you Kathy cubic I'm Kathy
010cubic excuse me um 37 years in The District 26 working for you as a Paro in Special Ed I love the students it was wonderful the reason I again come to another Schoolboard meeting is to point out that to taxpayers hopefully you're listening taxpayers to wake them up why did you have to have in May an election for a $250 million bond that costs the district about $300,000 the clerks of the eight or nine cities that make up the district wished you had waited for one of the three other elections this year but no it had to be in may now you come for a simple little $33 million renewal it was approved in 2014 the first time but again the district wants a Ral more money it's never for students as they always claim
011a quote from Mr Lans the upcoming millage replacement is critical to maintaining the high quality education That Wall Lake Schools is known for then I my question then why do the scores not show that again the quote approval of this proposal ensures that we continue to provide our students with the resources and support they need to succeed then why aren't they revenue is you this revenue is used on operating expenses facilities maintenance and staff compensation how much is enough I never know because in Wall Lake well it's never it never does tell where the taxpayers where it is used completely uh because the they've we are now in debt over $600 million and is that just to build schools because pretty schools do not make the child a better learner um I just think that
012I I'm trying to wake up taxpayers please pay attention to what's goes on in this school district and they don't and you just keep asking for more and there's a school board member that's probably ow uh said yes to every single one that we still owe and I am just disappointed thank you they never think of taxpayers taxpayers wake up thank you thank you Nancy van LAN good evening and I would first like to wish everyone a wonderful new school year um there's always a lot of angst and anxiety and um I really truly I saw a bunch of teachers today and they were really on the road and excited to go so I'm looking forward to that um today I saw something disturbing on Facebook it was was opposed by a school board member
013a sitting School Board member um criticizing District leaders for getting political at staff meetings and criticizing board members for going to school specific events without communicating with the board um they were accusations that were hurled at the school board members without names without um backing um I find using Facebook for such accusations inappropriate I think um whatever the accusations happen to be uh that those should be dealt with privately those are not something for public display especially when it's not backed up by any facts so I found that extremely disappointing um my first intention to coming and speaking today was to talk about uh the election coming up the Schoolboard election um we obviously have two distinct groups running um one group consists of three currently sitting board members and another uh previous board member
014who is running again the other group consists of four people who have not had any kind of back uh board experience and from what I am gleaning very little districtwide experience either through um commitment or involvement in various committees and activities around the district um I really really think it's important as this election moves along that we are civil about it but also that the um the community those voting um inform themselves and learn why these people are here I felt that some of them are here for single purpose and that's not why you run for a school board you don't run because you have an agenda you run because you care about what's happening in W Lake and you care about the students and you want to do what's best for them um I
015feel that the Slate of our current board members has that um I'm not sure about those running I don't know them well enough at this point I hope to hear what their commitment is beyond a single commitment um a a vendetta or um a an anxiety or an anxiousness to get themselves involved in the man IA of the district which really is in a school board problem or uh School Board position so thank you very much have a great year everyone thank you Lisa West hello welcome welcome back and I hope you already enjoyed their summer um I am running for the four-year term and I'm excited about runting I've had plenty of experience uh with being on the rep and I was at a music board booster meeting last night and it was quite
016interesting actually having conversation with the parents and there were some current concerns that came up um some That Couldn't attend the meeting tonight so I thought I told them I'm coming anyways so I will go ahead and bring it to the board's attention so many of the high school parents I know this is doesn't really apply to elementary and middle school because they don't get the fees that we get but for the high school we get a lot of fees at the beginning of the school year the joke is bring your checkbook we get that um it happens um but there seemed to be a lot of extra links and a lot of different places we had to go to pay different things this year so rather than going into one place for E funds
017there was a link for the homecoming tickets there was a link for the homecoming shirts there was a another link for the athletic pass and just seemed like there's a lot of extras which added up to a lot of extra inconen um convenience fees or as somebody like to say inconvenience fees because nobody wants to pay those um but the the athletic pass was a particular concern for a lot of the band parents because they also have kids and many other sports and they they're excited to go and celebrate their students um unfortunately it seemed like there was an issue because there first of all you can only have up to five members in a family and we have families that have six or seven kids and so if you have or like six or
018seven people in the family well if you can a five that leads us to another issue that they have to pay extra or have to figure out how they can get extra passes for their family um there's also an issue that some of the children don't have phones yet so if you you can only get the athletic pass via a phone and it can't be shared amongst the parents phone so whichever parent happens to be bringing that child that night um they then have to figure out how they're going to go ahead and use that pass so there's an issue with transferring um a transfer of that pass um there's also a concern because people have seen this in other districts where the Wi-Fi has been down and this has not and this particular system
019has not worked so there's multiple concerns about these is this particular issue um also that it's gone up quite a bit and the convenience fee is much more than in a neighboring District of here in Valley I'm not sure what here in Val is paying right now for convenience fees or charging for convenience fees but we do pay more so I think it'd be nice to go back to just the paper passes or have the option of doing the digital pass I don't think that's a bad option everybody's most people are carrying their phones nowadays but there are days that I forget my phone at home which I kind of like um but I'd like to go ahead and consider that for the future so please go back to the way it was thank you
020thank you Becky barons good evening members of the school board Dr lws and cabinet members thank you for the privilege of addressing you this evening my name is Dr Rebecca Barons and I have lived in the school district for over two decades and have treated many residents and students in my practice as an Emergency Physician on here in Valley Hospital I have been attending Schoolboard meetings for about two years now it has been a wonderful experience for me to have many discussions with teachers students and parents in our school district it is so inspiring to talk to teachers who love kids and love the subject matter they are teaching it gives me much hope for the future to talk to kids who really love learning and are excited for what the future holds for them
021it is wonderful to see parents who are so devoted to their kids and sacrifice much for them and in order for this to continue it is important that teachers be given the support resources and the respect that they need they often supplement from their own income the additional materials they need in their classrooms in fact I read of a recent survey from the association of American Educators they stated that 97% of American teachers spend an average of $673 per school year for classroom supplies another survey from adopt a classroom said an even higher amount was spent $860 a year I talked to a young teacher recently who said she needed filing organizers but could not afford them I invited her to my home and donated them to her she was so excited to receive this
022surely there must be solutions that need to be proposed to address this to help our teachers I am concerned about teachers also struggling with classroom discipline the home is where basic values such as respect kindness courtesy the saying of please and thank you needs to be instilled in children we can't expect teachers to wave a magic wand to achieve classroom discipline they have enough to deal with I have also had conversations with parents whose kids struggle with literacy as you know literacy has been an issue I've been concerned about for some time these parents have to hire private tutors which they are struggling to afford one parent said to me and I quote her she said I questioned whether the reading curriculum was sufficient and I was made to feel like I was a bad
023person for questioning their Authority in the school district surely there are solutions to the problem of literacy and this needs to be addressed progress has been made and I appreciated by our talented Educators but I believe much more needs to be done and we need to make sure they have the resources to accomplish this now besides these issues and many others which are important to me I am running for election to the wal School Board now let me conclude with this quote a love of learning is a seed that when planted in a child grows a forest of knowledge teaching a lesson lasts but a minute instilling a love of learning lasts forever and may our students have a wonderful new school year thank you thank you and I really hope I don't mess up
024the next name but jacine so chick if you can say it when you get to the podium I'd appreciate that thank you Jacqueline SOB Che okay I am a parent at Commerce Elementary I wasn't prepared to speak tonight because I can't believe I'm here to talk about the issue but we have a classroom for fourth graders that is a third of this with 31 students it's a real problem we have we went from 21 students with three section with four sections now we're at three four or three sections so we have 30 30 and 31 students in our our fourth grade class it's also for our third graders and it's also for our fifth graders I don't know what happened we have empty classrooms we are getting a road paved in front of our building
025I don't know if it's funds I was in nor any of the parents included in what's going on I asked about class sizes in June July August because people were talking about class sizes I said it's not going to happen they're not going to put 30 students in one classroom your colletive bargaining agreement states that anything over 28 is not desirable so we went from three more than desirable class sizes to now or we went from four now to three so my student is sitting in a class classroom with a lovely teacher the teachers are amazing but she has 31 students to deal with I have a lot of these kids often at my house I don't know how she's going to do it and to have a good year and no one's giving me
026an answer why is it like this is it money do we need to pay more money that's fine too what is the answer I've emailed many of the people sitting at these at this desk at your desk and I don't have an answer I need to know why my student is with 30 my son is with 31 students he's sharing a locker he's he's sitting here she has to move books out to the CL outside of the classroom and she's bringing parents into help parents are great to help I work outside the home and I just don't understand how she's going to have a good year I know she will because all of our teachers are amazing but I need answers of why it happened this year how we can do it differently next year
027and if there's a potential of solving the issue that is in front of us so I hope that you visit Commerce Elementary and see what's going on because we have third grade fourth grade and fifth grade with three sections and 30 to 31 students and I didn't meet a parah tonight at our meet and greet I'm only sitting with our teacher who doesn't deserve this and nor does my student so that's it thank you thank you Tim saw Miller good evening Tim saw Miller Commerce Township my pronouns are he him and his I'm repeating remarks I delivered here last year regarding School libraries certain books complained about to this board may not be suitable for elementary or even Middle School readers but that does not make them porn ography these books are not categorized as
028pornography because they do not predominantly appeal to puant interests and they have serious artistic and literary value public schools are by definition public and they are secular like it or not they are a microcosm of society there's a wide variety of ethnicities religions cultures and Lifestyles out in the real world and public schools are the real world and public schools will have the same variety parents desire to raise their children as they see fit is naturally their right but that right does not ex imply a right of control to over what others see hear and do the First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and that right encompasses intellectual Freedom which includes an individual's right to receive information on a wide range of topics and from a variety
029of viewpoints libraries play an important role in facilitating that free and open access to information there is a reason that amendment is number one now I have learned that in spite of assurances from some sitting board members the wal Lake schools have not banned any books I am aware of at least 10 books possibly more that have been removed from school libraries for review I would like to know which books those are and exactly who is doing this review removing them for review has the same effect as Banning them and the so-called review has been going on for months as I understand hand it I would appreciate an answer from the administration to these questions at your earliest convenience I hesitate to start dealing with foyer requests because I don't want to become part of
030the obstruction of public education that is already being pursued by local followers of the Great Schools initiatives who are abusing the foyer process in this District that obstruction is right out of the Playbook of bombs for Liberty an organization heavily involved in developing project 2025 a blueprint with objectives aimed directly at destroying public education these people along with some sitting board members who like to talk about collaboration support a slate of Schoolboard candidates who want to fulfill those objectives I find that to be absolutely frightening and appalling I urge this board and all those listening to defend public Ed education vigorously thank you thank you Mike wise Mike Y is 23-year resident of Commerce Township Crafton lipet Sigler Smith clss remember the first letters of their last names C LSS these are the four candidates
031we want to vote for for Wall Lake School Board on November 5th there are a total of eight candidates that are running I will not mention the names of the other four again the four names we should remember and vote for are Crafton lipet Sigler Smith clss the other four are financially backed by the book banners called moms for Liberty and a billionaire in the Grand Rapids area her name is Betsy DeVos DeVos has never attended a public elementary or High School in 2019 Forbes lists her inter family at a net worth of at least $2 billion we don't want the Wall Lake Schools run and influence by billionaires like Betsy deoss and book banners like moms for Liberty again we need you to vote for CSS Crafton Lippert Sigler and Smith the four anti-public
032education candidate candidates I've not mentioned want to weaken education in Wall Lake and in Michigan in general just like similar people are trying to do in Louisiana Mississippi Texas Florida and several other other states the four anti-public education candidates are in favor of book Banning they want to rewrite US history books they want to ban student Free Speech they want to divert Wall Lake public school funding and your tax dollars to charter schools in order to fund and support already wealthy people like billionaires like Betsy DeVos they want to end Head Start in early childhood programs that give little ones a jump start on kindergarten there is a concerted effort to take over Michigan public schools specifically focusing on Wall Lake Birmingham Bloomfield Hills Farmington hon Valley Lake or Novi Rochester Troy and Waterford remember
033the four letters vote for clss Crafton lipet Ziggler Smith these four candidates are committed to ensuring every child in Wall Lake Schools receives a quality education and a safe and nurturing environment that allows them to th to thrive vote on November 5th please go to their website by Googling class the number4 wall lake.com you can also find them on Facebook at class the4 at Wall Lake please mark your calendars for the next two Wednesdays for a meet and greet with Crafton libert Ziggler and Smith Wednesday August 28th and Wednesday September 4th both meetings are from 7:00 to 8:30 at the Commerce library thank you very much thank you Christine Titus good evening and welcome back I'm Christine Titus I'm a 32-year resident of Commerce Township and I'm starting my 19th year in education at Hickory
034Woods Elementary as an instructional specialist um so I'd like to hand out some thank yous tonight first to Mrs kohanski Michelle black Ellen McDonald Kelly Iverson and the group of dedicated Educators and support staff that gave up some of their summer to support student learning through our various summer initiatives of Sunshine Academy the ESL School the summer success programs um and then there was some virtual online uh work as well um Credit Recovery all those folks that give up their time um to help support the Learners in our district um Mrs black also talked about a homegrown Institute and I was um privileged to be a part of that opportunity as well where we get some really good professional development on our current Ela curriculum so I really appreciate that opportunity um let's see and
035finally I'd like to thank Dr Lans and the organizers of yesterday's opening day event George kuros was engaging and motivating to get our year started off however I think my favorite part of opening day is the alumni panel um for a lot of us we have proud teacher moments when we hear these young people speak so eloquently and articulately about their time in Wald Lake and I I'm I'm on social media a lot of my uh friends and colleagues are those that I interact with and just to see some of those responses of being shout you know having a one of those students shout out to you is is really impactful and gives us that feeling that we really are making a difference in these kids' lives so um thank you for that um event
036it truly is a point of pride of being a teacher here in our district thank you than thank you Mike Smith good evening uh my name is Michael Smith longtime resident of White Lake Township past board member and current uh candidate for the two-year partial term I'm a proud alumni myself of the W Lake School System and a fellow uh parent to incoming Fifth and seventh graders at Dublin and CHS I wanted to take a moment to welcome back every won the school year and thank you for putting on great meet and greets I just went to Dublin's and it was wonderful and uh chs's earlier this week uh it's really goes to show you what uh what you can put forth and seeing all the excitement in the in the kids that we see
037there you know recently I read a quote that said you don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great and here we are at the start of the school year and so I want to welcome the board members new teachers season vets and new administrators and praise you for the work at this start of making it great this year welcome to the fresh face and new kindergarteners as I saw at Dublin today you saw their excitement of uh realizing that they're going to make and meet new friends there and it was just wonderful to see is now my son is the oldest there so it was a little different to see that so it was really exciting to see that uh I remind the students to make the most
038of this year step out of your comfort zone and support each other this year we are all a community here and you've got this and it's also okay to be a little nervous I know I am for my own kids as a parent so I want to say to the parents and special guardians of our students join the PTA I just did that again today reup that membership talk to your kids teachers this year make eye contact with a person helping at drop off and pick up say hi to the bus drivers janitors the par Educators and the secretaries you know you don't have to volunteer or make any promises or come to board meetings each month to be an active and caring partner in this District we all leave busy lives um and just
039because you aren't here every meeting doesn't mean you don't care or that you aren't paying attention we know appreciate see all of the work you do and can do in the schools and the ptas but what I do ask of all is as I Ask of myself is that to be a supportive member of your child's School Community you have to put forth some effort and be present and be knowledgeable on what's going on say hi to other uh fellow parents wave to the principal and show up on curriculum night and read about what's happening at these meetings and listen to the teachers it matters words matter and your presence makes a huge difference for everyone a new school year means new beginnings new adventures new friendships and new challenges the Slate is clean and
040anything can happen so give a little grace and patience to your kids and to yourselves over these next few months and weeks as we navigate the journey together so be there for each other be kind to one another may your coffee be strong and plentiful and your hearts and Minds be open this year because we know we're going to need it uh teachers staff administrators thank you for all you do day in and day out for our students and your continued dedication to this profession even with all the outside noise that we hear remember you are braver than you believe stronger than you seem and smarter than you think welcome back everyone and I hope this is truly a successful year thank you thank you going to move on to administrative commentary Dr L thank
041you madam president Mrs kohanski start with you yes thank you Dr LW um I did want to Echo uh what one of our uh public commentators mentioned and that is our summer school so we were um really fortunate to have great wal Lake Educators who were uh working with uh students from K through 12 uh this year and um if you'll give me just a moment I do have some numbers that I want to pull up and share with you um I didn't know Dr Lon was going to call on me first so um Sunshine Academy so that is for kindergarten through fifth grade students kindergarteners moving into first grade and and then fourth graders moving into fifth grade and every everybody in between um we had nearly 400 students in that program uh we
042had uh those students spread across three schools and we partnered with Prime Time care so that families could make the most of their summer school opportunities if their students were in summer care they were able to to drop their kids off at summer care the kids could attend Sunshine Academy with their teachers and then head back down for the rest of the day and the rest of the fun with uh Prime Time care folks so we really appreciate that um we were able to focus on some really uh robust learning kids researched and wrote about passion projects in elementary and I was lucky enough to get to visit those programs in all of the three buildings and uh the kids were teaching me everything that they learned about animals and what animals like to eat
043and uh really nicely uh done by our learning Services team in terms of planning for that but really highly executed um by our great staff so I just want to thank those that that were uh those programs in addition to that uh we also had our ELD summer school at those three locations and so uh I don't have the specific numbers on ELD I can get that for you but we had quite a few of our students who needed that extra support this summer to continue with their multi- language learning and becoming more proficient as English speakers so that was wonderful and also we had uh for the first time this year in a long time we had an in-person Middle School offering we haven't done that in a while oftentimes it's tough to get
044those middle schoolers once they walk out those doors in June they're they're ready to start summer and sometimes that age group finds it a little difficult to make it back through the doors but we had 120 students attending our middle school programs at all four Elementary or all four middle schools I'm sorry we had an Ela class and a math class and so the students uh were identified through kind of looking at needs and and kind of using that evidence to drive the work that we were doing with them so I want to thank them um first time in a long time going back to an inperson Middle School option we also had uh 325 students across the district that participated in Virtual learning and we love offering that flexible option many of our families
045travel in the summer and that's a great way for them to say we're up North for a week or two kids can still get their support and their tutoring from our fantastic Wild Lake teachers and so I'm excited to share that everything ended really successfully just the other week and one of the things that we're going to be doing is we're going to be taking a look at how did we do working with those students where did they end in the spring how are they how are they coming back to us this fall and we want to make sure that we continue to maintain that growth and and help them so that they're having a really successful start to the school year so I wanted to thank the program coordinators and learning Services thank you
046to the parents for being diligent about making sure your kiddos were ready every day and thank you to our great staff for supporting them uh in in those different programs also Credit Recovery sorry almost 500 kids from our three high schools I don't want to forget them working on a variety of credit options whether they were credit deficient and had to recover some credit whether they were looking to advance in some credit so we really ran the gamut of credit offerings for our high schoolers and we also had great High School staff that oversaw those and connected with families connected with kids as well as my team and learning services so thank you thank you Mr jken thank you Dr Lans I had a request for the community I wanted to Echo all of the
047good uh welcome backs and everything we've heard so far tonight but with it being the first day of school coming up we have first day of school signs uh we would certainly on the community relations team appreciate anyone on their first day either for themselves as teachers or for their classrooms kiddos on the front porch on the first day of school take those photos send them to us in community relations and we'll make sure we share them out to really make the first day of school a real celebration so just a bit of home work for everyone for coming up on Monday thank you sir Everyone likes homework before school starts Fantastic Mr scaling nothing tonight sir thank you thank you sir m m nothing tonight thank you Mr hco nothing tonight thank you this
048over I actually would like to give a shout out to our secretaries we had some training last Friday um and the people that put it on were voluntary from our offices and from HR from payroll the business office presenting to all the secretaries who were very um we appreciate appreciate them being there taking some time out of their busy schedules in the schools we also had pupil accounting that was providing some enrollment information all of those individuals that provided that training as well as the school nurse provided AED CPR training during the lunchtime it was a very gmack day um the technology department also provided some additional training too and um Kelly halbeck she put a lot of thought into the offerings and Tred to really accommodate a lot of those people that were a
049little tenuous about their technology and needed a little refresher um those individuals if you remember are working throughout the full summer trying to get things taken care of uh the people accouny people are enrolling kids as fast as they possibly can so have a little patience and for those families that aren't enrolled yet please make sure that you have your documentation ready so that we can get those students in school the first day so again a shout out to those support people people that are working hard alongside of all of our other great staff thank you Miss Homer that was a great day I had a chance to welcome everyone I I think you left out a really important part though and that is that they did a raffle for every Cabinet member will do
050a half day for this the winning secretary now that sounds like a great idea Until you realize that we don't know how to transfer phone calls so I apologize in advance to Central because it'll be a train wreck when I'm there but I'll do the very best that I can I have a few oh good iclaim I'm guessing this will be a oneand done but we'll see how it goes I'm always excited to be in the buildings I have a few topics to to share today first of all I I was remiss and not acknowledge acknowledging Miss buyer's accomplishment uh over the past year she's been taking courses through the miss Michigan school business officials and she has satisfied the requirement of the human resource specialist certification that is no easy task and that's on
051top of what she's doing for her day job and so I I want to on behalf of myself the board and our staff see congratulations for that accomplishment and I know I'll pay for this tomorrow so it was worth it though I I also want to thank the staff for opening day it was great to see everybody it was great to see the staff talking with each other it to see the morie that was there I appreciate the training that happened at Wall Lake western that Miss Mir and her team worked with Michigan Department of Education and Oakland schools it was a required training it was not training that we thought we needed to put forth immediately but because of that requirement Miss Mir adjusted and put together the very best program in working with
052mde in Oakland schools as it was their presentation so I just wanted to shout out and say thank you and to your team for working with them under what can be difficult situations and I heard it was a well attended event because it was required and so it was fantastic opening day where I was at which was at Northern uh I thought it was a fantastic day day Mrs Kaplan Mrs Cas Grande thank you for your speeches and for welcoming our staff back I know that they appreciated it I would like to acknowledge uh Dan Durkin for organizing that day on the North side and making sure that it went smooth uh Mr scaling for facilitating the round table you did a fantastic job I mean In fairness it was those were pretty easy people
053but you did a fantastic job anyway I'm not gonna take that away from you and Kathy thank you for introducing the speaker he was he was very appreciative that you'd actually seen him before and for those of you that weren't there at opening day Mrs gransy talked about how she first met him playing pingpong 10 years ago at a PD that she was at and he was presenting at so it was a nice little connection there I hope that everyone remembers the excitement from that day and continues that forward throughout the school year it's going to be a fantastic school year and I I can't wait to get started I'm so ready to have kids back in our district and see the buildings come alive no no I I am good with kids five five
054is plenty no we're District kids yes yeah that's very I gota careful you pause okay thank you madam president thank you we're going to move on to board commentary and tonight we're going to start with Mrs Len thank you I'm curious to know how many exclamation points were in your speech yesterday I only get five so zero okay but I was excited good unfortunately I wasn't able to be there I know a lot of uh board members were there but uh dealing with some family health issues um but I was able to be at Northern earlier uh this week and last week and I want to applaud the administration there for um The Well oiled machine that they have that is registration and freshman SWAT day um it was great to be back uh you
055know in the building uh my kids are happy to see their friends but I'm equally happy to see mine so um uh always a good day um I was um a little disappointed to hear some feedback from some people who were in the audience um at various staff meetings both opening day and today um where politics just kept getting introduced and um you know I don't need to get into the specifics um people can can talk to people that were there they can read my post on Facebook because it was my post that Nancy van referred to um I think that we all need to make an effort this year to really stay away from politics in our schools nobody wants it it doesn't matter who you support what you believe in it doesn't matter
056what side you're on the only side is students and we all need to do a better job of supporting our students and supporting our teachers and staying away from the politics not only is it not the right place to handle it in school school there's laws that can be broken by bringing it up and there's campaign Finance violations that can be had by bringing things up and frankly if we have time to be politicking in schools we're doing something wrong there is so much to do throughout the day throughout the week throughout the year that we really just need to focus on what is going to be best for our students and so I am committed to doing that I'm committed to you know having my opinions that doesn't make it politics but I am
057committed to while I'm here at the board table focusing on what's best for our students and so I am excited for the school year for all the teachers for all the staff for all the students for my own family um to to get going again in Wald Lake um and and I'm excited for what this new year is going to bring so thank you everybody and oh by the way W Lake western looks amazing um if you you all got to see it all the staff got to see it um yesterday but it is truly an amazing site and although yes uh you know students can learn anywhere learn in an environment that is gorgeous is uh a bonus so uh well done for that and I'm excited to see how that project wraps up
058and um I hope everybody has a great year thank you we're gon to move over to Mrs Crafton hi everyone um thanks for a great beginning to the school year and I'm really excited to um see all the smiling students um I've spent a little bit of time already at wal Lake West um and watching teachers get set up and um I'm helping a teacher get uh their classroom set up and it's a lot of work um but there's so much enthusiasm and it's really going to be a top-notch learning environment for kids um I also want to point out that um the bond committee met um the bond Committee of the board met and spent a lot of time with Dr lwn on getting more clear on the the priorities of the 2024 Bond
059program so I want to publicly thank him for producing the reports that I uh had suggested we might get one click deeper on uh and I look forward to seeing continued reports like that was very very helpful um I also spent some time uh with um Mr lipet Mr seagler and Mrs Kaplan at a three-day training of the hosted by the masb and knocked out a lot of uh three-hour sessions on um various topics like School finance and school law so I feel like I'm um entering this school year well prepared to serve the community well uh that's it for me today thank you thank you gonna move to you Mr lipet thank you madam president uh a couple quick comments uh tonight first I I do want to Echo uh walck Western if you
060guys haven't seen it yet unbelievable and one of the things I keep coming back to as I think about W Lake western I had the the opportunity to walk around and take the the tour was that last week I think it was last week we did that two weeks ago maybe um is is how professional the environment is in the sense that it can uh acclimate these these students to life outside and Beyond uh their time in wal Lake schools and I just I I think it is an absolute model for the district for the county and for the State uh I am thrilled to show this off to elected officials who are interested in seeing what's possible through our school district and through the the forethought of what we've achieved here as a board
061and as a community and it's just something to really be celebrated and and frankly I'm a little envious of the young people who now get to to benefit from that and of the teachers uh who get to teach in such an environment so um kudos to to everybody involved and I'm I'm thrilled for the district um second thing I I want to say is I I also had the unbelievable privilege to attend uh yesterday's uh opening day uh which this is my first one of those and I'm surprised Dr Lon we have gotten thus far uh into the meeting without talking about your tallest leprechaun uh at did you know I don't know if you knew that Dr Lon is the tallest leprechaun according to members of his own family so I thought that needed
062to be uh shared here publicly thank you I sincerely appreciate um it was a wonderful event and and you know I myself I uh Mrs Titus I I'm I'm very mad at you because you stole my thunder a little while ago because I myself like you uh really um Drew value from the round table that Mr scaling um put forth and uh it's it was wonderful to see um the individuality of the students who' gone through our our district and the impact that teachers had uniquely to them uh talking about individual teachers and how these people beyond the academics of learning uh what they need to learn coming out of here but the real impact the passion and the ability for these teachers to inspire uh these these young people and to help Drive their
063again their time outside uh and Beyond uh their time at Wald Lake um it makes me think of my own schooling and some of my own all of us in this room probably have our favorite teachers um and that's we probably all have that in common but what's not in common is about is why uh they inspired you um and so getting the opportunity to hear that and to recognize the the impact the teachers have not just academically but on the lives of our young people is something to behold and I want to thank everybody who was involved in that process uh that's it Madam president Mrs Fernandez hey everyone well so first of all I Echo everybody's excitement and nervousness for the start of a new school year and uh so teachers staff we
064appreciate you and um that nervous excitement we share on your behalf and there's this little bug up here which is really annoying um uh and students enjoy and embrace it uh everyone looks forward to this and if you don't look forward to it right now you will look back on it fondly and remember the butterflies in your stomach I wanted to use my commentary time today to mention a couple of things um M Crafton was um mentioned the update from the bond committee and I am so happy and thrilled that we have a bond committee that's looking at these Bond things um I am hoping that the analysis and the information that the bond committee is going through just like the policy committee will uh be shared first and foremost with the rest of the
065board members because as we all know the committee can't make any decisions they bring things forward and I am still hoping although uh many of you know we um we are uh have voted the other uh last meeting to go forward with the owner rep uh uh process without really having had any discussion about it about some of the tradeoffs and I'm still anxious for that to happen I'm rather doubtful it will since a majority of us passed that particular motion I fully expect that it'll come forward with a negotiated contract to pass or fail um but I would welcome and I would be absolutely thrilled and consider it part of my job as an elected official to this board to get a chance not only to vote Yes or sound like a party pooper
066and vote no because I'm not able to discuss anything or add any influence any convers ation um you know I I hope that your committee like ours brings things forth um we go through a couple of readings and so I'm excited that you guys did that diligence and I'm looking forward to seeing it and being able to respond to it um the other thing that I just wanted to share because uh as you go through uh tonight's agenda you'll hear four motions five spend for different subscriptions it was before Dr lon's time but we've uh heard uh promises that we would get kind of a comprehensive list of all of the subscriptions and tools and things and what their rotation is it's a lot of money tonight you will hear $350,000 worth of expenses on
067different subscriptions and I can't help when I look at those items that get passed uh with a yes or no without any uh ability to talk much about the spend on those versus the spend on other things I have a hard time not thinking about conversations that the public brings forward about uniforms and Fields about overstaffed classrooms and and we're uh I would I I long for the day when we're having a little bit more comprehensive conversation around the spend of money not in isolation On Emotion but as actually uh trade-offs like all of us have to do with our personal finances and and um so you know I guess I'm hoping that when folks see or hear things that aren't a unanimous 70 uh vote for certain items you think about what a no
068might mean a no doesn't necessarily mean I don't trust teachers to pick books or materials no and no might mean there are other there are trade-offs that haven't even been discussed and uh so um I wanted to tie that to this part instead of to any particular one item later in the agenda thank you thank you Mr seagler uh again i' I'd like to thank Mrs Crafton Mr lipet Mrs Kaplan for joining uh for being up at our Retreat our classes uh it was amazing to see and work with districts from throughout the state and learn from each other and find out that we really are to a great extent leaders of the pack in a lot of things I was fortunate enough to to besides the Kino take five classes uh I did feel
069sorry for Mr lipet Mrs Crafton because they did arrive late on Friday night or Thursday night rather and then they pulled three sessions full on Friday and I think one of the uh greatest comments that Mr lipid shared and justess was my my brain is dripping out of my ears but but that's how intense a lot of what we went through was and I really do appreciate it and hope to hope to bring some of that knowledge back to the board in the future uh the opening day event I've been to to many and Dr Lon I have to say it was wonderful uh Mr scaling the student panel is something that I really love to hear because I think we all love to hear about the successes of our students and the impact of
070a specific teacher or teachers have had on them and it's as Mr dirkman was telling me that there was a student who mentioned the teacher the teacher was there the teacher met the student afterwards in the hall and just the impact that that had on our teaching staff on our teaching Community has got to be unbelievable uh you know we we cherish our children but we cherish knowing that we've had an impact on them and thank you for doing that uh Dr Lans you know as Mr lipet said the tallest leprechaun I also will say based on the picture that was on the screen I do not want you on my volleyball or basketball team so but we we'll let the St we'll let the staff worry about that during the course of the year
071uh I've also had the opportunity of attending several uh opening events and our ice cream socials uh Mrs Archie was welcomed by her community uh last week it was phenomenal to see the relationship she has already made and the relationship she was making with her parents and students the first evening uh it it was just fun to be there and and look and listen uh today Mr hes was kind enough to invite me over to Mary Helen guest uh for the ice cream social and it was very cute because one of the new teachers came up to Mr hes and asked him a question and I couldn't help but just smile and he looked at me and he goes I don't want any comments from you and I so she looked at me and she
072said what what do you know I said well I remember Mr Hess is a third grade teacher and there are some stories I could tell you but I will wait and she cornered me later so H will be getting that one at a later date in time uh but you know we're off to a new year uh I am looking forward to the opportunities that this avails our district uh as we talk about Western I took pride in showing the video at our Retreat uh to other Schoolboard members and their first question is when are we going to host something or when can we come down so uh look forward for that information that request thank you Mrs CA Grande so one thing I wanted to mention is that we have school starting Monday and
073we need to keep uh student safety in mind so we have people getting on buses we'll have buses slowing us down going to work perhaps but please be patient please be careful around our buses careful around our Walkers careful around our bikers we don't have a lot of biking Lanes around here um we try to make it as safe as possible possible as an avid biker I know sometimes I have to go on Oakley park for a little bit to as I bike to the library um long and the short is is please um be careful keep our kids in mind keep our bus drivers in mind and our staff we also have kids who are walking and Crossing with crossing guards um again that's another thing I just want to keep safety at the
074Forefront um I was also at the tour of of Western and um one thing I wanted to mention though is that what I really appreciate when I go in our different buildings is that we're seeing Footprints of that everywhere we're seeing the upgraded Furniture the learning spaces when I was talking at opening day uh yesterday um I couldn't imagine like being at Dublin and being able to sit in one of those reading windows I mean how cool is that and and the teachers really know said the kids appreciate that but you but I don't sorry I don't why my iPad's talking to me I'll ignore it I'm not an apple person so I'll I'll try to turn that off um longer than short of it is is you go into like West like Central I
075mean Central is not uh one of our our newer schools but it's getting its upgraded Furniture right I remember walking into gisler into the media center I think that was maybe one of the first ones that got an upgraded Media Center I mean just the spaces and and having that learning environment having had um boys go through school um they they sometimes like to move they um need a little more space I'm not saying that girls don't but I had a couple that really needed to move a lot and having a wiggle chair you know is just an amazing thing that they didn't have U my my youngest would stand up spontaneously in third grade so the teacher put him in a place where he could stand up and nobody was behind him um but
076he but if he had had a wiggle chair that probably would have been really really helpful for him um I do want to talk um also a little bit about the PTSA Council breakfast the welcoming back of the ptas the leaders of our ptas and ptsas and our principles that was a wonderful day to be able to sit and and um have a little bit of breakfast but also come some com camaraderie and just um see some of our newer administrators some of our more seasoned ones a little bit nervous about oh is my school going to be ready of course you know it will be or we'll work around this or that but just a lot of energy in the room and and thank the ptas and ptsas for everything you do because uh
077we have true Partnerships there and the last thing I want to touch on is why um partially I ended up sitting on this board I started advocating for public education and for um appropriate um financing before I came to this meeting today I was reiterating the conversation that I had with my dad years ago when proposal a was coming forward and I remember the conversation really distinctly my dad said to me well you shouldn't even have a say in this you don't even own property I'm like but someday I will and when's the last time you had a reduction in in funds this drastic and how long does it take to change the system for how we fund public education and even then when I was in college um and didn't own you know a
078property I knew that there's got to be something wrong here how can we take away this much money and and and things are funded differently and and why do I bring that up so so part of the reason that we're going out for an operating millage is tied to the way that we are funding schools per proposal a so the state believes that we are getting all of that money and they take that 18 Ms and they subtract it from our per pupil allowance if we don't collect that they subtract 18 Ms it's not a bond it's an operating millage so I just wanted to say that that is what is going to be on the ballot in November and if anybody has any questions I'm happy to answer any of them but thank you
079and welcome back everybody thank you okay well it's been a very busy couple weeks since our last meeting um I first want to start with congratulating Mrs Bayer for your accomplishment that's fantastic so thank you for that um I want to say I went up to the conference this past weekend and we had our first keynote speaker was on conflict a conversation was the title of the session that we attended and coming out of that one of the references that he gave during his speech was a book I gave all the board members this book it's not a coloring book um so they all get it it's seven Blind Mice by Ed young it's a story of seven little mice that all saw the same thing and came to a different conclusion of what that
080object was until they get to the end and I don't want to ruin it for anybody but it's kind of like board work we all come in with our own opinions and our own ideas but in the end we're supposed to come together and to work on where we need to be and that was basically the understanding of the book and I thought I would share it with all the board members and thank them for being part of my seven Blind Mice including Dr Lon because it's the eight Blind Mice actually so we appreciate that um I do want to say I came to the new teacher orientation and that was very eye openening for me um I welcomed our teachers I've seen our teachers when you when you walk into a room with and
081not all of them but 22 year olds 23 year olds with big bright eyes and huge Smiles on their face and I'm sitting there going give it a week let's let let let me see if those big bright eyes and those big smiles are going to be the same but the energy and the enthusiasm just brings it all home as to why we're here why they're here and how EX exuberant and excited they are to be part of w Lake and to be stepping into a classroom and so that event in itself was fantastic and I wish all those new teachers that came through orientation a great first day on Monday I also all of our staff a great first day on Monday and I'm looking forward to it and everybody brace and let's begin
082so and before we move on to consent agenda Dr Lon wanted to add one other thing thank you and I apologize to Mrs Crafton thank you so much for the stepping in for the foundation and talking about the foundation and all the good work the foundation does at opening day it was on my notes and I missed it so I apologize thank you madam president but you're very welcome now we're going to move on to the consent agenda on our consent agenda we have the approval of minutes proposed for June 6 20124 regular meeting proposed June 10th 2024 special meeting proposed June 20th 2024 special meeting proposed July 24th 2024 special meeting proposed August 8th 2024 special meeting we've had a lot of meetings I was going to say we've had a lot of meetings
083Personnel recommendations um our new hires retirements and such our financial reports for May 2024 dispersements in the amount of 19 m991 31 balance sheet and State statement of revenues and expenditures on audited and investment schedule bid Awards Pizza bid award for Food Services special Revenue fund purchases under $50,000 art of Education University three-year renewal $ 49,4 199 from the general fund Learning Ally oneyear renewal 31,43 and 96 from the general fund Mrs kin Mrs Cas Grande I move that the Board of Education approve the consent agenda as presented support I's no discussion but item E1 it was just read wrong just wanted to go correctly into the minutes $49,999 not $499 oh I apologize thank you thank you for the correction okay we have all those in favor I opposed motion carries 70 now we
084are moving on to purchases over 50,000 Dr Lans turn over to Mr scaling thank you Dr L uh tonight we're asking that the board approve a purchase of the zero eyes fiveyear subscription in the amount of $665,000 $552,500 coming from a state Grant and 112,500 coming from the general fund Mrs camplan Mrs CAG Grande I mve at the Board of Education approved the purchase of zero I's 5year subscription for 665,000 with 112,500 from the general fund and 552 th500 from the state awarded Grant discussion we need a support oh I'm sorry I'm I'm like energized tonight okay we got a support how about discussion Mr Seer just a comment it's nice to see some award grants and acknowledge the fact that we are getting them to and Mrs Kaplan I was going to say Mrs
085oh go ahead Mrs L would it you possible either Dr Lans or Mr scaling for one of you to describe for the community so it's on record what this is Dr so I I want to be careful on how I describe it because we typically don't talk about our security measures publicly so that people can get around it what it is is a system that in its own way will help identify if fire arms are outside of our building or in certain areas within our building right so I I apologize for not going to any more detail thank you Mrs kathan Mrs CAG Grande yeah I just want I understand the sensitivity of it I just wanted to thank Dr L um for um answering my questions that I had I know we had talked
086about it before and to maybe just um say here at the board table that when the time is right I think it would be good to maybe have a session so that we could bring Mr lipid and Mrs Crafton in so they could hear some of the things that they may not have um the knowledge of that we did I know they were able to ask questions um but just wanted to kind of put that out there and and thank you for answering the questions that I had any further I think I might have a question that I didn't think to ask before now and please feel free to tell me if it's not appropriate but I'm just wondering since this is out of the state grants thank you for all the efforts to get
087that fund and the general fund is there not any money could do we have to take money out of the general fund versus out of a security Grant uh we could take it out of the security Grant the the general fund is a placeholder but all the Security fund money has been allocated currently that's why we did it out of the general fund okay and if I may follow up one thing that I'm I'm very proud of is is the work that the team did this grant that we received we received almost a third of The Total Money available for the state of Michigan and it can only be used for this program so it's it was really great work they they've been a great company to work with but we're we're very proud of
088the fact that we received the Lion Share as a proportion for our district anything else I'm just going to Echo and say you know I appreciate that from our um staff and our Administration working so hard to get that for us in this District so I appreciate that all those in favor opposed motion carries 70 Dr Lens be happy to turn over Mrs quiny thank you Dr Lans uh I would like to bring forward to the board the updated writing units of study specifically for grades three through five from the teachers College advancing literacy unit at uh Columbia one of the things that uh you heard during public commentary was that our teachers got some previews of these uh streamlined resour ources is what I'll call them and uh they were very very excited about
089the opportunity to take a look and uh have the opportunity to use those and so I bring that forward for you we are using state grants which filter through the general fund on those state grants are specifically around K through five literacy so um very restricted in terms of the use of those funds but we can use them to help support this type of of work and so I bring that forward to you yeah Mr Li beat you to it uh I move that the Board of Education approve the purchase of updated writing units of study for 7834 8 cents from state grants dispersed through the general fund support discussion 11 so I um reached out to some teachers um to ask them about this program and their thoughts and I was pleased that Mrs
090um black had acknowledged that in addition to writing there will be a well-rounded support of grammar and spelling as well so that um all of these needs are addressed um so um I'm glad that the team has done homework to kind of update things and that our upper elementary students will be able to benefit from this program as well any further discussion okay all those in favor I opposed motion carries 70 Dr l right back to Mr scanley thank you Dr L again tonight we're asking that the Board of Education approve the purchase of our Google for Education annual software license in the amount of $ 5179 75 out of the general fund Mrs Kaplan Mrs C Grandy I move that the Board of Education approve the purchase of Google for Education one-year annual software
091license renewal for $547 151.50 from the general fund discussion okay all those in favor I opposed motion carries 70 okay we're going to move on to administrative appointment Dr Lans Mr hempa good evening I'm excited to share that jinda sumaro has been selected to be the executive manager of instructional technology jenda has over 20 years in education she holds a Bachelor's of Arts in from uh albian College masters of arts from the University of Detroit Mercy and an educational specialist from Wayne State University experience in education technology curriculum design and data analysis she has a strong track record of blending logic and creativity to to drive results she possesses a proven ability to build and develop teams create multi-channel educational strategies and to manage complex problems outside of work she is an avid Runner regularly
092participating in road races up to the Marathon distance she lives in metro Detroit with her spouse Joseph Masten and their dog ma Mr seagler I move I move with the Board of Education approve the appointment of Miss jinda suara as ex executive manager of instructional technology effective September 9th 20124 support discussion all those in favor I opposed motion carries 70 congratulations now we're going to move on to resolution support of protect Michigan kids Bill package I'm going to send it over to miss Len got to take a drink before this one I got to spill my drink before this one all right that's going to stay over there all right need your glasses no I need not my glasses or I won't be able to see um I'll just read the uh the resolution first
093so whereas tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease disability and death in Michigan tobacco kills more than 16,200 michiganders annually more than AIDS alcohol car accidents illegal drugs murders and suicides combined and whereas Michigan is one of 12 states that make up tobacco Nation where the smoking prevalence is higher compared to the rest of the country tobacco costs Michigan over 5.33 billion ion doll in healthcare expenditures and 11.5 billion in Lost productivity each year and whereas flavored tobacco increases youth usage in 2023 90.3% of high school students and 87.1% of middle school students who use ecigarettes reported using flavored ecigarettes youths who Vape use the product because they come in flavors I like whereas historically cigarette companies have disproportionately marketed Menthol products in predominantly black communities by using culturally tailored advertising images and
094messages 85% of African-American adult smokers use Menthol products this is three times the rate of Menthol use among white adult smokers worsening tobacco related Health disparities and whereas Michigan state law prohibits local governments from enacting policies that regulate the sale of tobacco and nicotine products and require tobacco retailer lure preventing local community ities from protecting kids health and whereas Senate Bill 647 restores local control and repeals state law prohibiting local governments from enacting ordinances and regulations pertaining to the sale or lure of tobacco products allowing localities to pass stronger Tobacco Control measures and whereas Senate Bill 648 proposes to establish a new tax on ecigarettes and increased taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products with Revenue Genera dedicated to Tobacco prevention and cessation programs and enforcement of tax and smoke-free air laws aligning with evidence-based
095strategies to reduce tobacco use especially among youth almost done and whereas Senate bills 649 and 650 aim to prohibit the sale of flavored tobacco products including flavored ecigarettes and Menthol flavored cigarettes recognizing the significant role flavors play in driving tobacco related inequities and youth initiation and whereas Senate bills 651 and 652 establishes a Statewide tobacco retail licensing program requiring all establishments selling nicotine or tobacco products to obtain a license improving compliance with existing tobacco sales regulations and reducing youth initiation to nicotine and whereas Senate bills 653 and 654 repeal Provisions in the youth tobacco act that impose civil and criminal penalties on miners for purchasing using or possessing tobacco products now therefore be it resolved that the Wald Lake Consolidated School District Board of Education supports the protect my kids Bill package Senate bills 647
096through 654 and urges the Michigan senate committee on regulator Affairs begin hearings on these bills as soon as possible Mr SE I move that the Board of Education adopt the resolution as presented and R A discussion just one comment as I as I normally would rag on our friends in Lancing realize that this took a lot of work took a lot of a rewrite when you have eight combined resolution or Mo bills rolled into one it it took a lot of effort from a lot of people to get this done and I just want to thank those responsible Mrs Len I know I've already said a lot but these are going to be my words so um this one's important to me um I lost my own mother to cancer and anytime um we can
097do things to prevent children from going down the wrong path I think that that's very important um vaping is a huge problem I know this mostly talks about tobacco because this was a pre-written thing but we as a community need to do better to keep Vapes out of our children's hands um they're they're terrible for their health they're terrible for their Futures they're terrible literally for our school buildings right oh no teachers come and flush The Vape down the toilet and now all of a sudden we got to fix the toilet so we need to do better we need to be aware of what our kids are doing although it might be easy to give your kid your credit card and send them down to 7-Eleven to quote unquote get a Slurpee understand that they're
098buying more than Slurpees and we really need to be parents and not friends we need to make sure that this ends and what I'm really hoping follows from this is more than just a resolution but actual actions by our schools by our administrators to follow up to not just um turn the other cheek but to make sure our kids know the consequences um for repeat offenses use the legal system if we have to but that's not going to teach them the lesson to really explain why this is a problem when we were all kids or when some of us were older than kids we had the Dare program right everybody remembers what it was you know keep your brain off drugs the fried egg well keep your lungs off popcorn lung from vaping like we
099need to start a new initiative we need to communicate with our children that this is not okay and it starts with us there are a lot of adults that vape and our children you know follow our lead and so um I'm very much in support of this I'm thankful that the board finally brought this forward and that everybody uh will hopefully be in support of it here in just a moment thank you Mr seagler one one other thing as Mrs Levan did bring out is the adults are we going to have signage at our football games and outdoor activities thank you Mrs F oh sorry she beat you uh yeah I was just going to say if you have kids of the age group that are interested in these sorts of things they're also Now
100new little mints that look like they might be ice breakers and they're called sin and they're nicotine based and they give the kids a little nicotine buzz and they're just as addictive as anything else so again the wording was focused very much on Tobacco but if you weren't aware that that's the latest form of Addicting yourself to nicotine there's another one for you madam president Mr lip so I I am an enthusiastic advocate of this I'm really thrilled as I think the rest of the board members are that this has come to pass I just will say on a personal level um you know my wife being a pediatrician I hear about this literally every single day uh coming home and and what I hear about mostly is um how nefarious the marketing is how
101easy it is for people to be confused and led into uh these products and ultimately the addiction for it so uh the fact that the state now understands it the fact that our district is going to take a hard stand against this uh I think is a great first step but I think we need to move this further along uh to prevent the kinds of marketing that are um as I said nefarious so thank you thank you Grande historically uh the ptas and ptsas in the past used to bring in um speakers for parents to help them understand what might look like something when you mentioned the mint is actually something else and things to be looking for and you know in the past it might have been you know you may think that this
102glue is nothing but this is what kids are doing with it um we've seen you know uh over the- counter prescriptions go behind um the the counter and having to show ID Etc but it keeps changing so I um truly believe um and and I hope that our ptas and ptsas will continue to help to educate the parents as well um and yes sometimes our our ptas are advocating for funding sometimes our PT they're advocating for a playground but sometimes they're also educating um on on what's happening out there to help us because we can't always keep on top of it so a shout out to that but yes I I do support the resolution thank you okay all those in favor I was a loud as I all night all those opposed motion carries
10370 board approval a head start DR l Mrs kensy thank you Dr Lans uh I have for you tonight the resolution of the board approval of our Head Start program in accordance with the federal Head Start performance standards the wal Lake Consolidated School District Board of Education is the governing body of our program in order to comply with all federal contract regulations Wald Lake school's Head Start is submitting the following item for school board approval which tonight is the Head Start budget narrative for 2025 which uh accompanied your board packet this evening uh and that letter kind of outlines that budget narrative looking forward into 2025 from our early childhood director Mrs Davey Mrs Le I moved at the Board of Education approve the 2025 Wald Lake Head Start budget narrative and be granted permission
104to pursue the Early Head Start Head Start continuation application support supp discussion okay all those in favor I opposed motion carries 70 Dr Lon Mr scaling thank you sir uh in in 2022 wal Lake Central and Western High School's JB and varsity boy ski teams formed a unified team due to the low participation at wal Lake Northern and the inability of the western Central Cooperative team to fill a squad last year W Lake Northern is requesting to join this cooperative program this would create a single team representing all three high schools both the Lakes Valley Conference and the mhsaa support this Cooperative agreement without it wal Lake would likely face challenges in competing in the state tournament due due to insufficient participation numbers we ask that the administration asked that the Board of Education approve
105the Cooperative team agreement for w Lake Central W Lake Northern W Lake western boy ski team okay Mrs Len I move that the Board of Education approve the mhsaa Cooperative team team application to combine wal Lake Central Northern and Western High School boys varsity and junior varsity ski teams beginning with the 2024 25 athletic season support discussion I would like to say you know we've done this with lots of teams in the district and I think it's a fantastic way for our students and our athletes to be able to contribute um when a team may be going away because of participation so I appreciate the opportunity to allow all of our students to be able to to join as one and if you ask me it builds camaraderie throughout all of our schools and you
106know as Dr berer used to say we don't want to be a um School District we want or we don't want to be a district of schools we want to be a school district so I think that goes forth into doing that Madam president Mr Li just a quick question Mr scaling uh I didn't ask this before uh The Cooperative team what is their their nickname the team nickname that's a good question it's a great question don't know W Lake unified ski team ski team I think is what it was I don't know the unified ski thank you anybody else okay all those in favor I I opposed motion carries 70 Dr Lans just in your in the board pack you were made aware of some administrative changes with the interim positions that we have
107and moving some people around to better identify who is actually in that organizational chart thank you okay Oakland County School boards association ocba dinner meeting I'll read the motion says I move that the Board of Education approve the attendance of Mrs Kaplan Mrs Levan and Mr seagler at the Oakland County School boards association dinor meeting on Wednesday September 18th 2024 in authorized payment of the registration fee all those in favor I I opposed motion carries 70 and with that we're going to be adjourned at 8:27 thank you yeah