##VIDEO ID:8XY1TF1xhsk## and call the meeting to order this meeting is called to order at 700 p.m. good evening this is a regular meeting of the Ferndale School Board of Education being held on Monday January 27th 2025 our meeting is being video recorded and will be posted on the Ferndale schools YouTube channel all meetings in the Ferndale schools are held in public in compliance with the open meetings act printed documents discussed in tonight's meeting are available to the public upon request with the exception of any information protected by student or employee privacy rights board meeting information is posted on our website at www. Ferndale school.org if you do not have internet access and need information please contact contact the board offices at 248-5868 652 by Thursday of the week prior to the meeting and District staff will do their best to work with you item 1.1 roll call Miss shepher CR Ry here de la here art here Kaiser here mner here Turner here president dookie here thank you thank you item 1.2 approval of the agenda after review of the agenda are there any items that anyone wants to update then with without objection and with unanimous unanimous consent the agenda is approved brings us to item two Chartwells midyear presentation hello good evening everyone my name is Nella shock I'm the area director for chart wells in the Detroit area for those that don't know me this is um paig Fleming your onsite director and this is Jamie she is our production supervisor and she's a rock star so we wanted her to come and and and get some Kudos tonight for some of the things that she's been doing um so if we can move to the next slide [Music] please So today we're going to talk a little bit about where we're at and how many kids we're serving we're going to talk about um our new management team here at Ferndale and the fresh perspective that they bring we're going to look at some of the grants that we have won over the last couple years and then also um just show you guys some of the things that we've been doing and what's to come so if you look at this we have significantly increased our meal counts um year-over-year and for this year we are projected to to meet that number that you see at the bottom the 400 55,000 meals I'm thinking it's going to go a little higher than that but what this tells us is the kids are eating our food and that they're they're eating in general right we want to make sure that they're eating we want to make sure that they are nurtured enough to you know absorb all the great education that they're receiving so we're very happy about this number okay so some of the things that our new management team has brought so paage started what April M March of last year um and so the advice that I gave her when she first came on board was to just kind of learn and absorb what's already been going on right and then at the start of the school year she was free to make whatever changes she wanted to make and so we started that we had a huge food safety training with the entire team like we always do food safety trainings every year but this was like a really big one that we brought in outside people for um our regional Chef came and did a lot of um education and demos and all that kind of stuff we also added some new Concepts to the menu this year we added a deli station which think Subway we are baking our own br um so the kids are getting fresh baked bread we're doing the same thing at the pizza station so we um instead of it just being a true Pizza Station it's more of an Italian station so every day at the Pizza Station they can receive pizza or pasta and we also have fresh baked bread sticks there um and then um this is where I'm going to give Jamie some Kudos she came over to us from she's worked for us for how many years like uh going on 10th M 10 10th year she came over from Hazel Park um she was on my at hael Park and um when she came one the first thing she did was attack breakfast and so she just really looked at breakfast and tried to see where we had some improvements to make and she just added a bunch of variety and we have seen a massive increase in breakfast participation overall so thank you Jamie all right we can move [Music] on so just a little bit of some of the grants that we've won we've won a no kid hungry Grant which has brought unox ovens to all of our schools if you don't know what those are they are um a really amazing oven that does more than just bake right so they can steam they um air fry they can proof dough so when we're making our fresh baked bread we can utilize the unox Sens um so they're just a really great piece of equipment that adds a lot more value than just your normal standard two deck oven um we also added a new serving line from United Way grant that was uh put in at FHS um in the middle school and then um the 10-cent a meal program is a really great program in Michigan where we can offer a local produce and we've been doing a lot of that and just recently paig just signed up to start trying to do um dry beans here so more local Michigan produce outside of the apples and the potatoes and other things that we serve from Michigan but just trying to expand that and offer more fresh ingredients and then the Cool School points is just a really cool fun program that they have for directors when you buy a product you get a coupon and you get to put in a website and after you get so many points you can buy pieces of equipment or tools to make your team's job easier so that's what those are and so just a little bit about onsite team so this year we added an executive chef um her name is star she couldn't be here with us tonight but she's awesome um we added Jamie our produ production supervisor she was a replacement we've always had that position but she's really added a new level of value um to the program this year um and then we we've promoted bunch of people we've hired on we we use the temp agency at times and we've hired on employees from the temp agency which is awesome um so just it really really great staff that we have here at Ferndale I'm going to kick it over to Paige who's going to talk about talk about some of the surveys that we've done and some of the things that we've been doing to kind of improve what we're serving based on the results of that hello no okay um so we surveyed the students um and one of the things that we found was we could do better with communication um we do offer lots of local produce but the students aren't always aware of that and we are looking to do a better job of um educating the students on you know our local produce um we buy from a local vendor um I know you wanted to talk about the apple crunch day um so apple crunch day is a day in October where all of the schools well schools that choose to participate in Michigan they it started as them taking a bite of an Apple at the same time everyone to get the experience um but what we did was go to our local vendor and get different types of Michigan apples to serve throughout the schools um so the students could learn more about that um I'm sorry guys I cannot see that your Che thank you right here so another thing too is Paige is talking about communication one of the things she was saying is that we offer a lot of the things the students were asking for but they're not aware so we partnered with our marketing team our corporate marketing team and we are doing what we're calling a we heard you campaign so you'll start seeing more about that in the next month or so we're just in the beginning of it process of it but we're basically going to take all the results and all of the things that we have started implementing or are going to implement and we're going to just like communicate communicate it out big time using social media using signage whatever we can do and part of that will be identifying the local produce that we're serving in a way where you when you walk on the serving line You'll see that this is from Michigan um so that's one of the big efforts that we're making with the survey results and I just also wanted to point out um so we've got on here we found out that the students aren't aware of the regulations for providing a meal constitutes as a meal um so Jamie and I spoke at the PTA meeting was two weeks ago um to explain to the parents give examples um we played like a little fun game with them so they could see whether the options that we put up with that constitute as a meal or not you know so some so just so they can know they can start the kids out young cuz it was for lower and upper and then you can go to the next slide and so we also surveyed our staff um and we learned that they just do not want to eat the same meals that the kids are eating um they're some of them don't know that we even offer meal to them for them to purchase or eat with the students um so one thing that we were looking at was creating a menu for staff to order just specifically for them um we also have lots of on the go meals that we will be offering them currently we've moved into the deal to start offering meals um during lunchtime to catch teachers and staff that never come down into the cafeteria um did you want to talk about big or okay we also have started serving Big B coffee um to our staff and high school students um so that was one of the thing I think our staff are really excited about um we're just working on getting everyone to come down and experience it okay okay so you can move on to the next slide please okay so these are just some of the um Concepts that we do so this one is called Mo boost um it's focused on the lower elementaries we are um provid providing different foods that affect your mood so we have like happy alert calm strong confident and smart so we'll whenever we choose a certain concept we'll correlate certain foods that will make you feel more confident or stronger you know um and this this picture up top is our staff at low Elementary and those are just the that they served um for that week so we I want to say we did it seven weeks yeah seven weeks um and we did it both at upper and lower um unfortunately lower the only ones who wanted to take pictures for us but you can move on to the next and at FHS and UHS we've been doing the global eats concept where we bring different cultures and foods to the students so they can experience it so we have this set up um that we've also done for how long have we done that for so we started this when Lindsay was still here month so we we started it last year at the beginning of last school year we um we rolled it out for all of the state of Michigan um so this is like the second time they're seeing it around but we're always adding new recipes and we're adding new cultures so far we've done um Mexico Italy India Korea um and the Caribbean and we're we're adding like a um Mediterranean one coming up soon that's going to be called Mesa there's there's a bunch of stuff on the horizon and we partner with celebrity chefs for these so what we do is we create the menu we send them over to the celebrity chefs and then they put their stamp of approval of authenticity on them to make sure that they even though we have to follow USDA guidelines and you know we can't serve a lot of salt and we can't deep fry stuff they can at least say you're staying true to the the culture as best as you can within the guidelines okay and then next slide so we also have been doing Discovery kitchens where um we introduce even more um different types of foods and cultures to the students so um that one at the top um top left was R Alo Ros Al Hano um spices over rice so we did that one at University High School um as well as introducing we had pumpkin overnight oats um and the top right with our Chef star in Felicia um we did a back to school night at lower elementary where we just show some of the parents um some mood boost uh samples so Discovery kitchen just as a more generalized understanding is our educational program so it's how we teach students about different foods and we oftentimes send out recipes for foods that they can make at home um or give them examples and the goal of it is once they there's like a stat it's like a student has to see something like four times before they're comfortable with it right and so what we do is the the goal here is to introduce them to new flavors and new ideas and it's it's risk-free right they don't have to pick up and and use their meal for the day to try something new and and maybe not like it so the goal is to have them taste it and then when they see it on the menu they'll be like oh I remember that and that was good I don't feel like I'm risking trying something new today because I already know I like it so that's why we do Discovery kitchen it's just kind of like the educational piece of ouram program and then not pictured because Paige was actually very busy running this program with her team that she didn't get any pictures but we also do a program called student Choice um and what that is is where we put two of our Concepts up against each other and let the kids vote for them in real time and then whatever one wins shows up on the menu um the next month so do you want to say what you yeah so for December we actually did three choices um we had like a barbecue option what was the other one big city barbecue City Barbecue um I think you did chat house and then what was the other one Mac and cheeseology so um basically we I think we the sample was buffalo chicken ma um the Indian option or Choice one and we put that on the menu for this January so we've been doing that we've also just done another one and pl one which is a pretty much build your own Burger car so right so we did surveys but we're going to move to um more of a focus group route as well as we move forward and I think Paige had talked about maybe making like a subgroup from the wellness committee that's already established to do that some just something to kind of get more um intimate in front of kids to help them build the menus um we have a culinary training coming actually next Tuesday or Wednesday the fth um our regional Chef is is coming it's a pday day so we are using it for pday for us as well so um he's coming in to do a quinary training with all of the middle school and high school staff for UHS middle um FMS and FHS and then um serving line plans our shf came in and actually spoke to Felicia at the beginning of the school year he walked through an idea of what we have to kind of enhance the serving line and he's put some um drawings together that we've submitted to a company who is actually rendering those out so we can present them to you guys at a later date um but we're really excited about that project and then Felicia came to us with a a concern or a want for a sustainability program so we um she and Paige took a field trip over to Royal Oak to see what they were doing it's one of our our districts um it's a very not super affordable program right for us so we are starting with something kind of small Paige is committed to um starting next month we are going to switch one of our elementary schools to plastic reusable trays where we're going to wash and we're going to see how that goes and if that continues to work we'll continue to grow that throughout and that'll be the start of our um sustain ability project here at burndale and I think that might be it from us if you guys have any questions we're happy to hear from you I just say thank you for presenting I was also at the PTA um meeting and I think you guys did a great job and um I think that school lunches get a bad rap and I am just really impressed by all of this and um I think it's really cool and I think a lot of people would be surprised so hopefully we can keep getting getting the word out about what you guys are do absolutely and like I said we're we're going to go hard on this um we heard you campaign and we'll probably partner with Districts The District to um help us get the word out through principles or their Communications and um social media as well but we're really really excited about that and I think um it's going to bring a lot of value uh last thing I wanted to say was um at the PTA meeting and at the wellness committee um we heard that parents are not excited about the fun lunch name so we have gone in we've already changed it to change it so they'll see that on neutral now what's the new we just it's just a it just says cold Choice yeah lack of creativity on my part but it says cold Choice and then what the item is instead of fun lunch thank you yes no problem so just to clarify this may not have known about this conversation so previously the fun lunch [Music] was um like give us a an example of what a fun lunch might contain so we have one that's like a builder own pizza so the concern from parents was like the um connotation behind this is fun and and somewhat not as healthy as it could be so why is it fun and the other lunch that is more healthier is just the regular lunch and the reason why we branded it as a fun lunch and it was a corporate decision I didn't make that decision but the reason is because when you go when you're in school and you're talking to kids it's like do you want hot or cold it's like kind of boring so it's like do you want do you want um a chicken sandwich or do you want the fun lunch so that's like kind of what the idea was behind it but I totally hear your point and so it was an easy change we overrode the name and all good yeah no problem for that quick turn around yeah for sure and we did Paige did the presentation that was similar to the one at GTA during the wellness committee so we get another audience to hear how to build a reimbursable plate yeah reimb and she quizzed us too well thank you guys so much for your [Applause] time next item three building presentation cabinet good evening um can I have cabinet come up with me please good evening so um each month typically a school building will come up and do a building presentation um for the month of January we thought it would be very important to understand some of the ways that the district specifically is living in to the five pillars of Excellence so again just want to ground us in our Five Pillars of self-reflection transparency attendance collaboration and data as a flashlight not as a weapon so um beginning with uh self-reflection and this is not an all inclusive um list um but just some things that um we thought were very important to highlight specifically um I'll start off with self-reflection um so some of the ways that we are intentionally um ensuring self-reflection have happens across the district um in my world is in ensuring that I'm holding monthly one-on ones with each principal um and in those um and in those um agendas they are completely focused on all of the pillars right so we literally go down talk to me about how fuel is living into our attendance goals talk to me about how lower is really honing in on Data as a flashlight etc etc we capture it and we actually compare month over month how we are doing how we are growing and living into those um into those goals um inator reliability while interat reliability is a new requirement for the state as far as how we're doing evaluations um we do um do above and beyond what the state is requiring so instead of what the state requires that I do is go into a classroom and do an observation with the teacher that is pretty much what the legislation States we go above and beyond that and actually have a discussion and dialogue about the um observation that we witness what did we notice and I try to connect it to what is best practice in Ferndale what is quality and strong instruction look like to begin the conversations around norming what that actually looks like another area of self-reflection was the development of the working agreements which was a conversation that began at the leadership um the leadership ret treat over the summer and continued until we all as a leadership team could agree upon how we were going to work together collaboratively and what we were committing to so some of the things it drilled down to response time we as a leadership team will respond in 48 hours etc etc but just we had to reflect on what we were willing to commit to um in order to get working agreements that we all agreed upon um again going along with meetings which are embedded with the um Five Pillars our leadership meeting agenda is completely um guided with the five pillars specifically at the end one of the areas I'm most proud of is at the end of each uh leadership agenda we do talk about that particular meeting what went well what do we need to change next time what did we do very very well and we make those adjustments for the next leadership agenda and then finally um and not finally but finally for this conversation isal Reflections at the end of our leadership cabinet so um those board board members that have had one on ones with me and those of you who haven't yet they're coming um but we do do seal convers we do ask AAL question those live in each of our district level um meetings where we just connect it's important for us to connect and we make sure that we do that each and every time at the leadership and at the cabinet level so I'm going that excuse meal uh socio emotional learning thank you no acronyms um and I am going to hand it over to Da I believe for transparency or excuse me Dawn in time okay good evening everybody um so uh you know obviously all of us on our leadership team live in all five of these pillars on a daily basis but as we were talking about which ones we most live in or which ones speak most to us for us in finance and HR really transparency is is a big one for us and so uh as Don and I spoke we identified a few key points that we wanted to highlight as we talk about transparency and I'll let Don kick it off um so if you ever go to the ferndell schools.org website you'll see on the right hand side a popup and it says transparency reporting click on that the top box is unric and if you click in there there's all sorts of financial data you can find um it goes years back the um audited reports are back I think 10 years um are the contracts for the unions are posted out there there's lots of information there um that's up there then our audits is another way we're transparent we have to have an audit every single year and um the Auditors go through our books they come out in June and then they come back in August for a couple weeks and then they're usually all done by the end of October and they typically present the audit report at the November um Board of Education we've also in the last two years started a regular practice of meeting on a regular basis with our employee groups so uh for some of our groups like FEA for example I meet with our FEA Representatives once a week um just to um you know touch base with each other talk about issues that are coming up but um more so just to have General communication and ongoing communication uh the same can be said for all of our employee groups so we've done a good job of establishing those lines of communication um and that speaks to transparency because of that that that rigorous honesty that we practice in those meetings uh we're also starting over um over the next month looking um at our second year of zerob based budgeting and I'll let Don talk about that for a minute um zerob based budgeting is when we take our budget and we just kind of start from zero and then um we send it to department leaders and they can compare prior your data to what they think they're going to spend next year but they can look at like the vendor um the cost of things and kind of um just looking it a more you call that I don't know deeper level than just rolling it over and saying oh you had x amount last year you're going to have X amount this year but kind of looking at it and seeing like do we need this what are we spend it more analysis absolutely couple other key areas that we highlighted as we talked about how we're living into transparency um within our cabinet team we have several newsletters that go out on a regular basis to our employees or to our leadership groups uh and even those like teaching and learning special education have outstanding ones that uh a lot of us will kind of piggyback on so if I have something HR related I make sure I get it to Tom May so he can put it out in his teaching and learning update uh and as well as special education through Miss bird uh we mentioned open meetings just because that's what we have we have open meetings all the way from your meeting down to uh the smaller meetings that we that we have we have we have agenda set for every meeting and and uh we're very transparent about what transpires in those meetings uh we feel like the the uh interdepartmental meetings and the ongoing communication we have with each other within our central office team is very powerful uh just this morning morning our HR and our finance teams met for our weekly meeting and um they're really powerful times for us to be transparent with each other uh trade information with each other support each other through issues that we have coming up um and that's just one example um so uh those interdepartmental meetings and um the way that we uh for example prepare for negotiations prepare for board meetings that's all very collaborative and very transparent and uh fin finally um you know we uh we outlined a new process for open enrollment this year open enrollment for benefits happens in November every year um and we really revamped things this year um there were a couple of minor um there there were a couple of issues that came up but for the most part we had a great open enrollment period this year um and uh um so those are just a few examples of how we're living in transparency as a central office team I don't remember who's next I'm sorry good evening good evening well from the perspective of school community relations and pupil accounting attendance actually weaves its way through a lot of the functions that we touch um so for this presentation today we wanted to talk a little bit about what we're going to do to enhance our marketing around encouraging students to come to school scho and using some of the leverage resources from attendance works and some of the data so that parents are informed in terms of how just important it is for their kids to come to school and then finally I'll talk a little bit about what we're doing with my star our system our uh student information system or database around tracking attendance and making early interventions for those students who are chronically absent so just going by the bullet the promotion and awareness uh we've become aware of some very good resources that we can actually brand and utilize in our marketing materials we can add our branding and give these out at grade level to encourage parents uh to make sure their kids are in school and are not chronically absent and some of the key points that a parent might want to know especially in in the younger grades or in the early years is that attendance is not viewed as so important when a parent can excuse a student keep the student home but uh 177% of students just 177% of students can read at grade level after third grade if they're chronically absent in K and first grade so those young years um where students miss a lot of their school perhaps because parents because of jobs uh it's very important for them to get to school and that touches a little bit more on my department as well because we have mckenny vento and the after school Child Care Program those two programs are critical that we have early intervention with those students because we see that two and a half students or 2.5 students out of 10 of the homeless students have chronic absenteeism so we're fortunate as a district we have a resource who's intervening and we have transportation provided by transportation department to make sure those students are getting to school on time and then finally we started a a myar project where we're learning about all the different uh things that myar can do for us as a district not just with enrollment not just with data management but also on tracking interventions and so we're we're fortunate that we're starting that project as well so for attendance it's important and for the teachers and for the staff members the data shows that attendance matters for our staff in terms of behavior infractions teachers who show up even though they have the days when I let a building I would always say you have your days but your attendance matters because when you're not here there's a different culture in the room so just to say we have different spokes uh Tred to bring you down the line of what we're going to do with some visual Imaging and marketing but attendance touches and weaves through all aspects of school community relations thanks okay next well good evening I will say um I'm Alicia bird I'm the special education director I don't think I've um spoken before this group before so I wanted to introduce myself um would you like me to wait okay okay so collaboration um so when I first accepted this position um I wanted to be intentional about a few things um one was partnership with principles another was respectful communication with team members and getting all the necessary voices at the table as well as giving clear Direction on key decisions in the special education department um so one thing I Shar during my first interview um was how I communicate and collaborate with team members and always wanting to make sure the people have a clear understanding what is expected after we communicate and I said you know C clear as kind so that's kind of my been my tagline um a lot of people have reminded me um that that made an impression during my interview um so I will give you a few examples of how I'm collaborating with team members and colleagues um so when I first started I had initial meetings with each building leader um and and my Special Education team I also had initial meetings with each department director all of my cabinet team members I continue to hold biweekly meetings with time Mays of teaching and learning to make sure that special education and general education are on the same page I also have bi-weekly meetings with human resources to just make sure that we are meeting the mark where it comes to Staffing um I started monthly communities of practice for all of our ancillary groups um we have four otpt Social Work speech language and psychologist as well as our teacher Consulting Group um we have each building has we Special Education team meetings within themselves either myself or our special education supervisor we try to attend those as much as possible just so we can give on the ground in in real time advice when they have questions and concerns um I'm also doing monthly problem resolution committee meetings with the um the FEA the teacher representative for the FEA for special education I'm doing monthly staff newsletters that many of you have probably seen um we're allowing opportunities for parents to interact with staff and administrators in our department through our um parent advisory committee meeting our next meeting is tomorrow it is virtual um I also have done staff surveys to just get the voices in the room so what's working for you what concerns do you have what could I do differently for our department um and one thing that I didn't put on there but um I was invited by the Elementary PTA to their me meeting um special education did a presentation in December and then the secondary PTO um I will be meeting with that group in March or April so just trying to be present be invested be involved in the community okay is that my side that my all right good evening everyone I apologize I can't see very well with or without the glasses so um you're right um I think my work is just inherent to collaboration right I I can't do anything without um working with other departments with school leaders or even with the community right um so ultimately uh the division of uh operations we hold uh weekly meetings with our operations team specifically uh facilities and also transportation and Food Service as well um is there we problem Sol we share information we plan for the upcoming week um we're holding our Wellness committee meeting so I mentioned that page did a presentation um that was shared with the PTA she was asked to do that pree uh presentation again for the wellness committee members and we also had a really Lively discussion with respect to technology use in schools um we've also been invited as the wellness committee to the upcoming PTA um resource Fair that's the end of the month at Fe on February 26 if you don't know about that February 26 from 3: until 6:30 I believe or 6:00 to 7:30 um we I also hold the facilities planning committee I really appreciate that committee that group of people have helped to inform our bond proposal that's coming up um we've listened to their voices they're really lively bunch they provide really uh valuable feedback um to our proposals we we've been able to Pivot based on their feedback so it's been extremely valuable um teacher voice in the two in the 2020 Bond uh uh implementation so we're still working on our 2020 Bond we're still in series two of that existing bond and we invite the teachers if it impacts their area of instruction such as art or band um we invite them to the bond meeting and they give us feedback on the schematic designs and we've made changes based on their feedback and been very appreciative being brought to the table and it's and it's actually invaluable to us um also um I've H weekly excuse me monthly meetings with the principls it really is tell me your problems okay I I have the list and I'll go back and I'll take care of it outside of the work order process but it really is a good opportunity and I and I speak frequently with the principal so uh formalize it in a meeting um we also partnered with our local law enforcement and our principles on our Emergency Operations plans so if you're not aware Michigan State Police uh revised this template for our school operations plan and it was just released in September so school districts have been charged with uh revising their Emergency Operations plans immediately I sent out notice to principals and to our partners uh our school Partners School District Partners into our law local law enforcement and they were on board we've been meeting weekly um which has been phenomenal o park has been involved Ferndale has been involved uh Pleasant Ridge has been involved it really has been a true partnership in that work and we're still working um so that yeah that's it in collaboration just every day uh again the work that's done in the divisional operations requires collaboration good evening everybody Tom mace director of teaching and learning as the other cabinet members have mentioned you know these five pillars they they live in in all departments you know teaching and learning as well um just a a few bullets of how not only at the cabinet level but across the district and in the buildings we are trying to live into Data as a flashlight should have brought a flashligh or too um so one of the things that we do across the district um twice month in our weekly professional learning communities is called the student work protocol and what that is is one of the teachers on the team will bring a few examples of student work and without providing too much commentary about this is right or this is wrong or this is good or it's not so good uh teacher shares the the examples of work with the with their team and team can provide feedback on the work a lot of times it's through asking questions and the goal of the student work protocol is not to improve student work directly but to improve teaching through the lens of the work that that's been examined so again we do that twice a month uh and that happens from kindergarten through high school okay another way that we look at data is with our schoolwide data protocols um if you've been on the board for for a while you've had the thrilling exciting pleasure of watching my 282 slides um Camille wouldn't let me bring those tonight but um no so yeah we share those slides with you we share them with the principles and and we ask the principles what do you notice about the data what questions does the data pose to you what questions do you want to know more about by looking at this data and then the principles repeat that process in their buildings okay um so they do that after each of our Benchmark periods which happen fall well not in the spring but fall and winter um will do that work with the principles and the principles will do that work with their staffs okay um the student work protocol and the building wide data protocols have been the same for the past 2 and a half years we are intentional about keeping those protocols protocols the same so that we don't use bandwidth on how do I do this protocol with you know there there's comfort and there's familiarity so teachers can't dig into the data okay another way that we're looking at data is through the Michigan continuous improvement process myip couple years ago state of Michigan changed the way they did the school improvement process used to be principles who make a plan and then they' kind of put some stuff together at the end to to try and pull it together now we start with a data story so the very first step in our district Improvement plan is to look at data each Building looks at data and they create a building data story that drives the improvement process what does the data tell you what does the data tell you we need to get better at okay uh let's see data and assessment literacy um about a year ago Camille and I had some conversations about the importance of teachers and principles understanding more about um data and assessment literacy which types of assessment should generate which types of data and how should those pieces of data be used so we've uh we brought in Dr Steven Sneed from Oakland schools and he is leading our principal group through professional learning on data and assessment literacy so that's ongoing throughout the year and the last piece of of information up there my school data is a public website that houses lots and lots of data of all different types from you know any District across the the state um but it it gives us information on uh attendance rates graduation rates college success rates etc etc so that that's another way that we're looking at data and and trying to get better thanks everybody so as we wrap up I think that the headline here is that um the Five Pillars is our opportunity to model um best practice right so that is not just at just not just me telling teachers you have to focus on these areas no it's embedded in every level of the district um so just a few more key Sports and key structures um is the dynamic plan process right so we are in the middle of the dynamic plan which is absolutely could be fall under one of our Umbrellas of Five Pillars we spoke very already about our leadership meetings as well as cabinet Retreat just opportunities to kind of Norm around these five pillars so that it can be something not just a bunch of pretty words but it is something that we are living and that we really and truly believe in and are bought into so I won't go through each of these but these are also key supports within cabinet um from each of our departments um that um are supportive of the Five Pillars so again we could have absolutely skipped over January um and went to February for a building presentation but again it was really important um that the board that the community understand and see um some of the some of the ways this is just some of the ways that the Five Pillars lives in our work so thank you for your attention thank you we have a question we have a question yes I should have asked excuse me are there any questions oh do we have any schools on the index on on any schools on the on the index yes we have two schools uh we have Tri County Education Center which is labeled as a CSI comprehensive supports and intervention school and F High School is a TSI targeted supports and intervention school any other questions thank you cabinet we appreciate it thank [Applause] you all right that brings us to item four the Allen Group Hors representative presentation good evening how's everybody Happy New Year to everybody well first of all I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to present to the board today uh my name is Nicole Hunter and I'm the managing shareholder of the Allen Law Group in Detroit Michigan I'll let my colleague introduce herself and I'm Sean frell I'm a senior associate with the firm um so how did we get here um it's our understanding that you guys have currently a bond program that you're working through getting some construction work done for some of your schools and repairs and possibly some new construction uh we were asked to come and do a presentation just to talk a little bit about our experience and talk a little bit about some of your options as it relates to determining whether you want to consider taking an owner's rep on to sort of be as your liaison between your construction folks and the school district and what that looks like so we were happy to come aboard and just talk to the board about some of that we understand we're not going to take up much of your time I know it's quarter to8 and everybody's work today so uh we'll go to the first slide oh um the who we are you can go back down okay so who we are uh The Firm has been in existence for about four years it was created our principal Floy Allen as uh he had an extensive experience in labor and employment he went to work for the city of Detroit for a number of years under Coleman Young and then it was from there that he sort of spawned out because as he began to get more clients clients needed more than labor and employment so it began to grow into various areas and clients and public entities is mostly where a lot of our work is done um from there um it went into growing The Firm so it was more than just Floyd and it has expanded to what it is today I'm happy to say that I have fact been working for the firm for about 27 years I've been actually practicing for 18 years I started as a student from DPS and uh sort of grown from there and now I'm the managing shareholder of the firm so I'm very happy to be there um we located in the city of Detroit in the Midtown area right across from the Fisher Building we were in the Fisher Building for a number of years and just recently moved across the street um and so we're enjoying it there uh we have an extensive experience in construction and Real Estate Management I'm happy to say that I'm much involved in a lot of that my practice has uh it's been wide in a lot of areas but it started in commercial real estate as uh to begin um I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the projects that we've worked on some of the more noteworthy projects uh one of those being uh we worked on the demolition of the Joe Lewis Arena um in terms of we had a project management team I am a part of that project management team that was done through the Detroit building authority and I work on all of the projects that spear through there whether that be uh Lil Caesars Arena other things like that so I have my hand in some of all of those projects uh another thing that we worked on which is right down the street we worked on the construction of the new state fair Transit Center uh behind the uh Meyers down there uh so that was a couple of year project we're very proud that we completed that project um serves the public well and that was one of my noteworthy ones I also worked on the demolition of over a thousand homes in the city of Detroit when when the mayor first got into office and he was trying to get rid of a lot of the abandoned homes that were there uh we worked on that project together I worked with the contractors worked on contractor disputes worked on contractor agreements I did compliance elements of that in terms of any asbest any environmental issues that may have come up um we've done a lot of development deals in terms of there is a new wave in the state of Michigan uh there are a lot of Mental Health crisis centers that are being constructed around Wayne and Oakland County I don't know if you've noticed uh we've been involved with a lot of those projects and the construction of those buildings um I've done a lot of Investigations into uh compliance issues as it relates to use of bond funds waste of bond funds um whether there has been any fraud abuse anything like that uh I've been involved with several of those um we'll talk about my experience personally and besides the the firm's experience I've also done tons of construction contracts I've done landlord and tenant issues I've done historical landm landmark issues I've done I mean a Litany of things uh compliance related issues um in addition to having a jurist doctorate I have an MBA so I have a lot of business side experience as well well um specializing in accounting and that sort of thing in addition to that I am a certified compliance specialist um for a National Organization and I'm certified as a project manager so I can do any aspect of all of these projects I've also served as a owner rep for a couple of the projects that we've worked on and I'll talk a little bit more about that I'll let Sean give some on his experience absolutely so I work closely with Nicole in our real property and construction division at the firm um I wanted to note two projects that I'm currently working on which I think Fair on this matter the first is since the end of 2022 we've been representing Wayne County in their arpa program these were covid funds that were issued to M municipalities counties and the state for the public benefit so Wayne County received about $340 million to go towards the public as you can imagine about 90% of that went towards construction projects uh notably that's just Wayne County's contribution so all of these construction projects have other investors in well as well and so we are sort of the head legal compliance and oversight for the entire program and so we're overseeing over billions of dollars worth of construction right now across Wayne County um the other project is we represent the Detroit Housing Commission um they are a HUD funded entity that provides you know housing for low-income residents and rental assistance they have thousands of properties across Detroit um so we represent them in a variety of matters including legal compliance as you can imagine the HUD regulations are very stringent a lot like education um so we represent them we do development agreements Property Management agreements we really handle a lot of their portfolio so let's talk a little bit about um we can move to the next slide uh the difference between the owners's rep and the construction manager as you're making your decision what I did was I did two slides one one sort of talking about what an owner's rep is supposed to do and then one being what a construction manager does it's my understanding that you currently have a construction manager that's sort of managing some of your projects um what the owner's rep does it's just another layer or overlap of what the essentially what the construction manager does essentially they sort of act as the leaon administratively more so between what the construction folks are doing and what the district does what often times you find you get an owner's rep when the maybe the school district or the entity is too busy to deal with the day-to-day work that's being done by the construction folks and so you designate someone to be sort of your owner's rep can you just represent us just bring the information back to us we make decisions and then you go back and communicate that to those folks the construction manager pretty much does the same thing so they manage every aspect of the construction project they manage all of the various components under that being utilities very being you know they hire subcontractors to actually do the work so the construction manager is unless they're doing it at risks but most times they hire subcontractors and those folks are doing the actual work the construction manager is managing all aspects of that and then they come and report to someone at the district the difference here is the owner's rep is just that person that layer in between you guys and what they're doing um typically what the difference is in the most significant differences in the cost and you can go to the next slide so what I did was sort of a pros and cons list of what an owner's rep is so if you're going to get one they're good because you want one who knows construction you want one who knows project management you want to want someone to know the risk involved in terms of managing construction projects and what potentially could happen um they help the owner make informed decisions based on industry expertise and experience that's pretty much what your construction manager is being paid to do as well um but they have more so experience in the construction side than what typically you would find in an owner's rep they could have it sometimes they don't um owner rep can manage day-to-day responsibilities of the project freeing up the owner's time again if the district has tied up in other projects so is educating students they could hire an owner's rep to come in and sort of act as that person in between but again there's a cost associated with doing that and depending on whatever your budget is you could be adding an additional layer of costs that may not be necessary depending on your relationship with your construction manager um they could handle interactions with all stakeholders reducing the complexity of communication again they would go and make those Communications to the community talk about the project what are we doing and it sort of adds a layer between the board where the board may not have to answer questions the superintendent may not have to answer questions directly they're that person that does that for you um monitors costs reviews contractor invoices ensures the project stays within budget that's that's another aspect of the owner rep that they could do they could manage whatever the construction manager's budget is typically when you start the project there's a budget put in place by the CM anyway because they're getting a percentage of whatever that construction budget is there's always change orders and so that budget adjusts what the owner's rep could do could be sort of an oversight of that to make sure that the district is getting what it's paying for um evaluate to negotiat change orders and protect the owner final interest I just you know explained that um what are some of the the cons to owner's rep uh hiring an owner's rep adds to the overall project budget as their services are typically charged on an hourly monthly or Project based Bas typically in what I've seen owner reps usually run one to 2% of the total construction budget um anything more than that you would really need to see what you're paying for in terms of the the services because you're paying the construction manager a considerable amount of money to manage the construction so to add another higher percent on top of that is kind of a duplication of costs uh if the responsibilities of the owner's rep overlap with the construction manager it can lead to redundancy and confusion um again this would depend on whe what kind of relationship the board and the superintendent and this right have with their current construction manager maybe sometimes the owner's rep can come in and sort of mitigate any issues in between the district and the construction manager if there's uh issues that exist so um but it may cause confusion because then who is the person who's sort of running the project is it the owner's rep or is it the CM and that might cause conflict between the two um if overly involved the owner's rep might micromanage contractors or other team members causing tension and efficiency again this runs into the issue if an owner's rep comes in and they start micromanaging the CM and maybe the CM has more experience in the construction side of things they may feel a kind of way if someone who doesn't have as much experience comes in and dictates how the project is from uh the the owner still needs to Monitor and manage the owner rep to ensure they're performing their duties effectively again even though you hire an owner's rep someone here at the district needs to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to be doing so you're really not getting out of the business of managing you're just managing at another level so now you're managing an owner's rep you're managing a CM you're managing subcontractors as well so the district never completely gets out of it because you want to make sure that the owner's rep is doing what they're supposed to be doing as well um um you can go to the next slide sir yes yeah there we go so uh one of the questions that was posed to us is what what else is out there what else can we do that might not be at the level that you would need an owner's rep one of the things that I suggested is maybe just bringing someone in as a consultant to help with the compliance aspect of it being that that person I believe the most important parts of the project is making sure you're getting what you're paying for in terms of your scope and that you're being build what you were told you're going to be build in the budget and in the contract so you could bring someone in to sort of help with that aspect of it just help me go over these change orders just help me to make sure attend the meetings make sure that people are doing what they're supposed to be doing I don't need you to be at every aspect of what's going on but the most important the ones that is wrought with possibility of waste is rot with people going crazy with change orders four and 500 different change orders those are the things that I really want to focus on because I want to make sure we stay within the budget in terms of what we're supposed to be spending and that we're getting what we're paying for so those are you know probably the best places that you want to bring a consultant in if you need help someone with construction experience to do that so how can ALG help as I indicated at the beginning Shan and I have considerable amount of experience in a lot of different areas in terms of construction so as we said we've served as owner rep in many cases but we've also done a lot of compliance and if you feel as though you've already into the project you're already getting a lot of the work done whether you need to bring an owner's rep in at this point in the project is something that the board want to consider if you feel that you need some more over it then maybe the compliance consultant route may be better for you it certainly probably would be cheaper because they're only working in a limited scope they're not over the entire project of what you have and costing adding to your your overall budget um we can serve as legal council and look at documents if you just want us to review some documents we can do that as well given our experience in construction that's an aspect as well or Business Consultants um if you need us to just come in and give advice as it relates to how this affects you in the business side of things we can do that as well so we're open to any possibility that the district would need us in and you know I hope this information is good not even if you use us or if you use anybody that's something that you know you as the board should know as you're beginning to negotiate with whoever so we're open to any questions you might have and hopefully we didn't take up too much of your time um if you throw out like time is one of the constraints just assuming like that's not an issue I know not but um is there like a bar for like level of like whether it's complexity of project or cost of project where you sort of see like this is where it starts to just just make sense from like level that in terms of dollars I haven't seen it in terms of dollars being spent I've seen it in terms of the complexity of the project if it's something that you know maybe someone locally or in the district is it's outside of their realm and they don't feel comfortable managing the project then I've seen in those cases hey it's it's above my head I let's bring in an owner's rep to help me I I really don't want to get into this or in this in the case of if you have contention between someone at the district and the CM and you need someone to sort of be that mitigate mitigation person between the two to help us communicate better I've seen in that case but I've not seen it based on dollar amounts it's really a personal decision in ter and then uh to your knowledge and we research any other local school districts around here that have using owners rep for their bonds I just finished working with Pontiac okay they're using they have some Bond dollars and they do not have an owner trip and they're uh they have an extensive amount of repairs and things that they're doing um I believe Barton mow was originally their cm and they just replaced them with a new one again because um of the the the change order situation because you know the CM was uh working with someone in the district who may not have had the experience that they needed and so then they weren't watching what that person was doing and so that was that situation could you speak more towards how you could help or advise on the construction side on the influx of prices after Co in terms of whether it's standard or not I mean I think across the board everybody's increased and you know that that's a thing and Sean I know you've seen more of that if you could speak to some more of that yeah we've done a lot of work with um procurement and legal compliance for procurement and so when you're dealing with Public Funding it's like public Bond funding as well you have to have competitive bids and so that's really the Bedrock for trying to get the best price you can whether it's for goods or services you're going to look for a robust but compliant competitive bidding process to make sure that you're getting something that's good but you're getting it for the best best price and so we do a lot of work making sure that our clients are compliant but also helping them find the best prices okay I think we need to back up because this is not the very first presentation we had on own we had a presentation last month was it last a couple months couple months ago from another firm plant real point and so we were asked and I were ask if we knew anyone else that go buy own representation and weili with this I don't have a question but I do want to thank you for presenting and informing and educating us on um what our options are yeah and I want to thank you too for bringing another firm before us um I really think this will give us a lot more information to go on before we make a decision and decide which way to go so thank you thank you so much appreciate thank um to item five Eagle Excellence presentation good evening this is my favorite part of the agenda um where we have an opportunity to recognize some truly outstanding members of our team who embody the spirit of Excellence that drive Ferndale Public Schools uh these individuals go above and beyond every day making an extraordinary impact on our students and our community um and first I am going to call up Mr Mason Finning who was nominated and I'm going to read his Eagle Excellence nomination because I think it's very very powerful so it says I would like to nominate Mason Finning for the eagle Excellence award and recognition of his outstanding contributions as an educator Mr Finning demonstrates remarkable demonstration and hard work consistently supporting all students at fuel not just those in his class he maintains an upbeat atmosphere and encourages everyone even during challenging times Mr finning's engaging personality makes him a pleasure to be around and he is always willing to go above and beyond to enhance the school Community his passion for inspiring students and fostering positive relationships is evident in all of his Endeavors Mr Finning exemplifies excellence in every aspect of his work thank you [Applause] Mr we have something for you but we have one more person here who was also nominated and I would like to call up Elizabeth [Applause] hean so Miss Hagen goes beyond the classroom time for our students and new teacher she stays late to ensure morning routine and signin sheets are ready for our young adults with smile on her face while taking care of most challenging tasks with our technology this is Liz's second year as a job coach she worked side by side as a cooworker with our students at Henry for Hospital working in the kitchen learning new skills along with our students with an industrial dishwasher and other kitchen duties in our cbis Liz can be found at Kroger a movie theater or Starbucks ready to help other shop or place a food order when needed she is one of the factors that keep our room organized and entertained thank you so much Mrs so I just want to say um both of these individuals I personally can attest to also being e exellent so thank you we have pin for you welc thank you so [Applause] much can I say as a teacher of the food program has been awesome eight LS with my kids every day all right that brings us to item six uh public comment this is a time for public participation in the meeting the Board of Education intends for the public to have many opportunities to address the board and administration of the school district these include email phone calls face to- face meetings Community Gatherings public hearings and other public meetings we welcome individual and group input into the important issues that confront our schools as noted at the top of the agenda this is a meeting of the school board open to the public we want to provide fair and impartial guidelines for participation as required by the open meetings act and to encourage transparency and equal treatment for everyone in attendance we also recognize that an effective meeting facilitates better decisions and promotes openness by allowing more people to stay for the full length of the meeting to meet these goals please note the following we ask that you identify by yourself en list contact information on a comment sheet to help administrators follow up with you on your comment if you do not wish to do so in writing please ident identify yourself at the podium and if you need a response please provide contact information with an administrator I will call on people who have completed doc uh a comment sheet first each person will have one opportunity to address the board for up to three minutes comments or questions should be directed to the board president vice president Kaiser will raise our hand when your time is within a few seconds of expiring the period of public comment is for both non-agenda items and issues on the agenda public comments will end the close of this part of the agenda complaints about the staff should be made outside of board meetings and should follow the africal war policy please contact the superintendent's office if you have any questions regarding this item the board cannot respond to complaints about employees in public this is meant to promote fairness to the staff person and complainant theer to public school's Community acts with great civility toward one another please help us maintain that tradition during public comments so I don't have any comment sheets is there anyone here for public comment hi good evening um I've spoken before I'm Jessica pero um tonight I'm here uh as a representative of the PTA advocacy committee um we realize it's um board appreciation month so just wanted to get it on the record that we appreciate the work that you guys do um you've always acted in such a professional manner with such Poise always and that's not always the case with uh Public School Board of board of EDS so we appreciate you guys and we just want to welcome the new members too so thank you thank you thank you anyone else public comment is now closed item seven consent agenda 7.1 request to approve minutes of the special meeting Committee of the whole Monday December 2nd 2024 7.2 request to approve minutes of the regular meeting Monday December 16th 2024 7.3 request to approve minutes of the special meeting Tuesday December 17th 2024 7.4 request to approve new hires resignations and transfers 7.5 request to approve bills and accounts for December does anyone wish to remove an item from the consent agenda for questions or discussion later seeing none I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented so move moved by Jackie second seconded by Lisa roll and shepher grum Ry here Dela ver yes Hart yes Kaiser yes moner yes Turner yes president yes thank you just in case you didn't catch that David is here he did not say yes yeah I did it last week we got you GNA write big old yes a reminder with seven yes votes a motion passes and the consent agenda is approved item eight action items please note that all action items being voted on tonight were discussed in depth at the committee of the G meeting held on Monday December 13th at 6 PM we invite and encourage community members to attend our committee of the whole meetings which are also open to the public 8.1 request to approve the resolution for Budget amend budget amendment number one good evening good evening I'm here to present the First Amendment of the budget so if you scroll up a little bit the next page Sor there we go um this is the 2425 amended budget by function by revenue and the First Column is the actual 2324 the second column is the original budget 2425 and the original budget was adopted in June of 2024 and then the amended 2425 column is the um budget amendment one and then the difference column is the difference between the original budget and the amended budget so the local Revenue decreased you look in the fourth column it in the difference it decreased by $236,000 um and I will explain more about these slides a couple slides and the the first couple have a lot of numbers on them but the state revenue increased by 1.2 million the federal revenue decreased by 16,000 and the in District increased by about 84,000 which means total revenue increased by $1 million so the next slide is um the amended budget by function by expenditures and the First Column again is actual um so in instruction which is comprised of instruction added needs and adult education that is total instruction that section increased by 900 it's $177,000 the next section is support services and that section increased by $495 $5,000 which the biggest difference is were in um pupil support services and operations and maintenance and then if you flip to the next slide then yeah then this is the expenditures continued and on this slide we have community services and other financing on sources and so the total expenditures increased by $1.2 million um and so in the very first column which is actual 2324 um we we um added to our fund balance where it says excess expenditures over Revenue we added 1.5 million to our fund balance so in 23 24 our beginning fund balance was $10.2 million and since we added money the ending fund balance was 11.7 Million so if you go to the third column um you'll see that the beginning fund balance the ending fund balance is now the beginning fund balance and we are estimating that we're going to lose or we're going to use fund balance by $2 million of fund balance so our ending fund balance as of June 30th 2025 will be $9.6 million which is about 19% of fund balance and that 19% is revenues over um the fund balance oh then on this slide here I just explain kind of what I just said about the fund balance and that 11.7 represents the audited fund balance um presented the Auditors presented the audit report in November um in 23 24 it was 24% of Revenue so the audited financials can be found on the transparency section of the friend Public Schools website and the mric section okay so here are the primary changes so in the local Revenue section the um primary changes were um the decrease in 32n out of school time Grant a decrease in out of school time uh another Grant was decreased and the increase in summer Discovery Grant um in the state revenue section uh the original budget included did a foundation of 9,808 but the foundation allowance for 2425 is actually 9,608 so that was a decrease of 632,000 and we were using a blended FTE is fulltime equivalent of 3,155 students um and then the FTE was but budgeted at 3,160 but we blend them using un audited fall count in a combination of spring count so when we actually got our count um our it was three our Blended count is 3,122 FTE full-time equivalent so that was a decrease of 30 Blended FTE so that was a decrease in revenue of $294,000 um the UA is unfunded Actuarial liability um that increased $978,000 um we had an increase in the gsrp Grant $448,000 and then our at risk funding also increased um in the federal revenue section the gear we had an increase of $445,000 for the 11bb gear Grant and our Title One decreased a little bit an interdistrict um we are increased our pa8 funding which comes from Oakland schools and that was $75,000 so primary changes from the budget expenditures um there was an increase in salary expenses for the following Union groups FEA which is the teacher group Absa which is administrators and F which is the secretary group um their contracts expired as of 63024 and were renegotiated um and exempt also got a increase um new we hired some new staff a new kindergarten teacher um we hired that staff member based on enrollment numbers um we hired two new special ed teachers at FHS for 178,000 and two two new special ed PA pros and one special ed bus aid for 82,000 um the gsrp grant increased by $445,000 we had an increase in at risk funding of $628,000 um we our general liability insurance went up we are doing our Dynamic plan that's costing 57,000 and we had an increase in security um $332,000 and so when our revenues go up our expenses also go up so um so this is the um primary changes from original budget expenditure by category so if you look in the instruction line the um that increased because of the gsrp Grant in the summer Discovery Grant in the added needs section that increased because of new staff and the increase in atrisk funding the pupil Support Services decreased because in the original budget the 31aa grant which is a Safety and Security Grant was all in this category but it was redistributed to different functions in this amendment um School administration line increased due to new um contract with Absa is the administrator contract um operations and M maintenance that was due to the 31aa Grant and salary increase Transportation increase due to the due to the 31aa Grant and the community line increased because the two little Eagles classrooms moved to the instruction section we didn't have any changes after the fact um this is a 2526 budget update um the 31 n mental health Grant um is ending on June 30th that will be done the ARP Sr um CIS which is community in schools is ending on June 30th the 23g grant um back on track is ending the 310 Grant is also ending on June 30th and the 31aa grant it's not ending but we are going to get a reduction funding um 337,000 and then other changes that will happen next school year the UAW contract United Auto Workers contract is expiring December 31st and the ask me contract which is bus drivers will expire um June 30th of 26 do you have any questions Don um just just to confirm um you said that 31aa is supposed to reduce is there any for sure the 31 n o those are going away as of now as of right now okay any question I'll entertain a motion to approve item 8.1 the request to approve the resolution for budget amendment number one I'll move move by Jonathan second seconded by Aaron rman shepher discuss oh any discussion on the motion um so I just wanted to say that I appreciate the administrative cabinet team and Dawn for um being very conservative especially when we had contract negotiations last year um because we've always had a healthy fund balance there was concern especially with Esser funds going away that um we weren't quite sure where we would land so I'm really appreciative that we still have a healthy fund balance because the recommended amount is 15% and I know we were at 24% but I think it was important that we um meet our our teachers and our staff uh in a way that shows our appreciation but yet also gives us the safety net of a healthy fund balance so um I feel confident that we're in a good spot so thank you all de la ver yes har yes Kaiser yes mner yes Turner yes crom Ry yes I think I don't know why you asked the repetition thank you thank you with with seven yes votes the motion passes and the consent agenda is approved item eight uh approve item 8.1 the request to approve the resolution for budget amendment number one so David just to tell you about the way the voting happens she starts alphabetically and every time we vote whoever voted first votes last she just rotates to the list it wasn't to help it wasn't make sure I wasn't confirming my presence again I'm here uh item 8.2 the request to approve the 2025 bond proposal resolution okay so um as shared earlier um the school district is going to seek uh from the voters of burndale PE Ridge Oak Park and Royal Oak Township um approval for a new Bond on the May 6 uh ballot special election ballot um this bond proposal will allow us to uh do considerable amount of work at the fale uh middle school high school campus um it'll allow us to bring in um those 21st Century Learning spaces that we've been so intentional about um at the elementary school buildings and what we've been able to do at tcec at Tri County Educational Center excuse me as well as what we're going to be doing this summer at University High School we're also going to provide uh what we consider to be a clear distinction between the Middle School and the high school which is something that we heard uh from our committee members right um so the middle school will be concentrated on the second floor of the building the high school will be primarily on the first and third floor of the building um uh there'll be a dedicated ban room for our middle school students to have been very on that second floor and so we we cont contemplated the idea in concert with Mr Jameson he's been a part of this I want you guys to know he's come to the meetings about changing his band room so we're going to move his band room the high school band room from the back to the front and if you can Envision it if you looking at the student parking lot where the trailer for the small trailer for the band that's going to become the band room for the high school the middle school is going to take you up there and we're going to raise that ceiling um to the his specification so get what we need to project in that space um but we're it's a really ambitious plan we're also looking at uh demolishing a portion of the building in order to wide the classroom spaces uh for the Middle School obviously flooring Furniture flexible seating right for the kids um dedicated larger uh science classrooms um it's it's really going to be a beautiful campus and so uh due to co right with the 2020 Bond there were plans for this work but just due to price escalation postco we couldn't make those dollar stretch and we fored as much as we could into our new Elementary School building new lower and so this Bond would afford US the opportunity to do uh new construction on this campus on the high school Minister campus so we've received approval from the Department of Treasury and I think we shared that last committee um and so now it's just a matter of board resolution tonight to vote if it's approved then we would take that and we file it with the open County sections and we go from there with our camp I'll entertain a motion to approve item 8 point to the request to approve the 2025 bond proposal resolution so move move by Jackie second seconded by Lisa any discussion on the motion um other than to say you know thank you I'm excited I'm really looking forward to being able to get the work um done at the secondary level to continue the transition of learning from early to secondary so this will be exciting and um I look forward to hearing about the plans about the campaign we get a copy of that absolutely thank you hot off the press it'll it'll be on the website in a couple minutes soon as you natur call Sheer yes Kaiser yes mner yes Turner yes Crum Ry yes de la I'm sorry and president dookie yes thank you thank you with seven yes votes the motion passes and the and the request to approve uh item 8.2 the request to approve the 2025 bond proposal resolution is approved sorry um you're welcome brings us to item nine superintendent update I'm have to calm myself down a little bit I'm so excited after that vote um but um good good evening again um as as mentioned um B and what you saw was an example of some of the work um behind the scenes that we've been doing around bond Communications um we wanted to be ready with some very very clear um Communications um for voters to be able to see exactly what are hoping to do with the um the um with the bond dollars um so that was an exact example of what we will begin um with um sharing with the community very very large um in a in a loud way um also in addition to a dedicated space on our website um for Bond Communications um I will be beginning a tour of all of the buildings to make sure that we have informed staff members right um and more than just the middle school high school buildings um of course anything that's going on in the district is everyone's everyone needs to be aware of it um so we want to make sure that everyone is aware of what we're hoping to do um and how they can support with those efforts um so that will be a a very big push um in the month of February and things that we've been preparing for behind the scenes um we have also as we get prepared for Bond um we have been definitely focused on external Communications it is my hope that you have noticed more a increase in Social Media um as well as um external Communications we want to make sure that we are concise clear transparent um and providing regular Communications um so that has um absolutely been a focus of mind um alongside and with the support of U Mr tolber as well as Mrs Wright um as it relates to pillar goals um I mentioned at the committee of the whole meeting that um in addition to having the pillars we now have goals and um we have rolled out in our last principal meetings what those goals look like based on the feedback from the committee um the pillar committee that has been developed um so we'll be looking forward to providing updates of our progress towards those goals now that we have them um I'll talk about this also in looks like agenda item 10 um but the dynamic dynamic plan process um based on some feedback and as a result of our strategy development team um feedback we um when I say we I mean uh Mrs Wright myself um are working with Dr Peterson our Dynamic plan facilitator on the development of a strategic action plan strategic action team right so it's great great to develop the goals develop the strategy but there will have to be a very clear line of what those key actions will look like um so that team will be comprised of of course all of the leaders community members um board members and staff and students as well um so that is the biggest highlight that we have since we last met um we are also looking forward to another strategy development team meeting this week um it has been very um interesting to monitor anything related to the legislation um um so for to be without being too brief um we've been very much so um focused on earn sick time um that's definitely something we've been monitoring any changes to that and the impact to our staff um that could be impacted by any of those changes also um if you have not been aware um we are absolutely paying close attention to PA 196 which takes the work permits out of the schools and it is now a function of the state of Michigan I am I'm very concerned about that I don't want students um to have to be have any hold up when they are trying to get jobs um but every communication that we've had with legislators they continue to say that they are ready to take that on immediately um um so um that is something that is new very hot off the press um that work permits are now officially out of school buildings completely we have no no voice no anything with work permits Good Times um um also um we have been working um behind the scenes on the policy transition so moving from Neola to trun um so um while we are doing first reads at Committee of the whole we want to make sure that we come prepared um and are aware of some recommended changes uh we want to make sure that we are reviewing the TR policies and we are aware so that has definitely been um something that um with the leadership of Tom Shelton um we have been working towards behind the scenes in addition to policy transition we are also fully engaged in the roll out of our new code of conduct um what we are doing is having a very intentional Focus on making sure that the staff understands the key changes to the code of conduct with the full intention of rolling out in totality based on feedback because there after we roll it out and you know make sure that staff understand it there may be some additional feedback so we are still absolutely accepting some feedback if there's something that when we roll it out or we um provide it to the staff again they may have some thoughts of this this is not a good implementation we want to make sure that they have voice um and we can make some adjust adjustments before full roll out in the fall but again we want to make sure that we're taking time to educate our Educators with the intention of also having opport opportunities for our community members to learn a lot more about what the current um code of conduct entails so that planning has go been going on behind the scenes with February fth RPD day as a key opportunity to fully engage our staff around the code of conduct in the changes um I believe that that is it as a summary of the superintendent update all right that brings us any questions one question yes students seeking work permits are supposed to go to secretaries I will find out the exact opposite was one I had never heard of so it may a new office um but I will ensure that I have that information can we include that in absolutely absolutely thank you so much okay any other questions can I ask um because I don't know um the the code of conduct is like when do we get to see that or has it already happened it's already happened no it's already it's there it just um we went through a pretty substantial um review process last school year then it was an even more lengthy uh process to have the um legal review um so right now we're still in the midst of rolling out and making sure that the St it has been board approved but we wanted to make sure that the staff were very educated but I can give copies but it is the same um copy that is uploaded on website but I board approved but board reviewed right because we don't NE we don't have to approve yes thank you thank you for that you're right thank you any other questions uh item 10 Dynamic strategic Plan update good evening again um I um mentioned this previously in the superintendent's update but um the biggest updates is the um is that have had um some intense conversations about some um do we have the right people at the table and ensuring that we have the people at the table who are able to take the next steps towards actions hence the development of the strategy action team um I will have more details upon um um our next oneon-one or two onone pH um um super Deputy superintendent wri myself with Dr Peterson um once we get to the phase of of um who needs to be on that team it will absolutely be a discussion with the board um we want to make sure that you are as informed as possible but also have voice on who might be um the members or at least the stakeholders that need to be at the table in the part of that team we do have a strategy development team meeting this week as well um which we are very much looking forward to getting to the next phase of the data story and learning more about what our next steps might be um so after this week it will be definitely lots of updates based on those two things any of the board members who are on the Strategic plan committee have anything to add to that no it's I mean we haven't really met since the last board meeting okay because we did talk about the retreat we talked about the retreat right item 11 informational items 11.1 budget to actual report good evening good evening um this is the budget to actual report for December 31st uh 2024 the first column on this is the original budget and then which was adopted in June of 2024 the middle column is the actual uh expenses and the balance is the balance and then the the percent remaining um is either 12:31 24 or 23 um and so we at this time you can see we're we're at if you go down to the bottom at total expenditures we're about even with um last year um uh spending wise but we are up in some categories um the a the numbers to the right there um a under pupil Support Services that's um we uh there was a teacher consultant in the in the original budget that was H not hired and then we just hired a psychologist in November and um under transportation there's a variance there and that is because in Prior year we bought um we had a bus so the expense for from last year was higher because we bought a bus and in the if you look on the i in the community services line there's a variance there because last year gsrp was included in the community service line and now it's up in instruction because we converted Two Little Eagles classrooms from Community Services to gsrp so now it's in instruction C versus Community Services any questions no no thank you thank you than you item 12 consideration of any full consent agenda items we didn't have any item 13 our next Committee of the whole is Monday February 3rd um at 6: p.m. our next regular board meeting is Monday February 24th at 700 p.m. which brings us to Eagles points of Pride or comments I first only one yes one hard choice but mine's actually about tonight um it was back to the Chart Wells midyear presentation um again kudos to you guys I just want to say that from the previous presentations to seeing this one I was very Blown Away with the intentionality of student focus in this team um on the like wanting to do the focus groups getting the feedback from not only the students but the staff as well I think was a really big thing that resonated with me but also seeing all of the programs that you have that allow the students to have more of a voice in like what they're eating and having to say and also learning about what they're eating um we last year when I went to like the conference and spoke to chart Wells um I brought some of this information back so it is good to see like a lot of these things being put in place and the children actually enjoying it so just want to give a really big shout out to the entire food service thank you I'll definitely share course that is it I'll go um I want to shout out the entire Administration as a new board member outside of learning the difference between yes and here I'm realizing with all the emails I get and the updates I get I'm incredibly impressed through the weekly updates the amount of work the administrator Administration does on a daily and weekly phasis those updates are are mindblowing it's not like I did think before they did but when it's in print and you see it it's incredible all of them the amount of work they do in a weekly daily basis is just blows me away I just I just really want it was kind of ironic that it was today but you know I'm just I can't tell you how impressed I am with the administration of this District thank you I'll go next I had something for my point of Pride but after seeing the I'm going to steal yours as well after seeing the chart Wells presentation that's my point of Pride because I've seen the evolution of where we've come through the past nine years working with Chartwells and kudos to you and your team um I'm really encouraged by everything that Jonathan shared and the fact that there's an increase in students eating I would love to see how that correlates to our scores because sometimes I wonder if our students are not getting breakfast does that affect how they're testing so if there's a 15% increase in students eating breakfast I'm hopeful that there's a correlation to the test scores going up as well um and I remember years ago when we renovated the Ferndale High School cafeteria the board members had lunch in the cafeteria I would love for us to do that again that you now have a new menu I want to go on Indian day I want build the uh I'll jump jump in next uh so um Royal show hosts a really great MLK Day celebration uh you know great great line up of speakers your man just crushed it every time he got up to sing even though wasn't wasn't on but U the day was highlighted by uh our superintendent uh who did a really inspiring um keynote speech uh which I know always always tough did a great job but I also don't want to forget that ficia was also up there uh giving a really great intro as well really representing the the school district really well both both for your kids are so well thank you uh I'll keep going shine in the light on our fearless leader um for those of us who work in the schools I work for Wayne County ISD um last week was wild times there was a lot of uh lot of hard and fast news coming and uh for those of us in the schools there was a lot of uncertainty uh and there was a lot of just changes happening and things going on and um I think superintendent Hitler did a really beautiful proactive um restorative job of uh offering leadership and guidance to our community uh in the uh spirit of protecting our kids and um just offering guidance to our staff uh there was a lot of uncertainty for teachers and leaders everywhere around the whole country um and I just want to commend you for the job that you did and the Beautiful message that you put out to our community so thank you for that thank you okay it's me now um I would like to give a little announcement reminder to everybody that we have the coolest fundraiser ever here um it is the parent talent show it's coming up next Friday the uh February 7th um some have referred to it as parents gone wild um it's a really fun time it's at um it's at the loving touch um and it is a fundraiser put on by the fale elementary connections group um spoiler alert I will be performing oh so if you want to see one of your board members um come out it's called Just for kicks it is February 7th um at the love and touch what time uh doors are at seven and it starts at 8 there's bands there's last last year there was a um a mime which was hilarious there was there was standup Comics there's singing There's dancing there's sketches it's it's a really good time and it's a fantastic fundraiser so I'll go next um I'll I'll put you back on Mr ders um in that um the Martin Luther King celebration at um Tri County Educational Center um that was hosted by ro Township was absolutely phenomenal if you haven't attended please attend plan to attend next year our um our house representatives were there right um last time last year we had a same Full House we had the lieutenant governor there um it really was a good time and I'm extremely proud of superintendent Camille uh hibler I'm a crier I tell everybody that I don't look like it but I just I cry every time I think about I'm so proud of her and um the work that we're doing here in it really does mean a lot to her and also to me me okay um so um I would like to um acknowledge the board um for a board appreciation um month um I um I forgot who said it but oh miss per you you put it perfectly I sit in a lot of meetings with a lot of soups superintendents um in and out of the county and I can assure you that their boards do not function as well as this board does um this their their boards are not as supportive and um professional as you all are and just have a genuine I think that what makes this board so unique is just like the p passion that you have for our students I see it even those of you who are uh newly appointed to the board or elected to the board I see it and and I hear in everything that you say in your actions and your words and I'm just very appreciative it makes um all the world of a difference it makes my job our job so much easier um and um just so you know we are very inspired by each and every one of you and very very appreciative everything you do for our district so thank you all right I'm going to close this out I'm going to piggy back on um I'm actually GNA do two so don't shoot me one is I'm going to piggy back on Lisa uh letter that the superintendent sent out I think as a board in our role one of the things that we can do is an act policy um and so I'm going to share a uh I I think the board has is in a position where we can pass a resolution and Implement a policy that backs up the letter that um superintendent hibler put out um so that we that it's not just her guidance it's our policy so that's the first thing the second thing is just um I too work in education I have worked for a lot of boards um have had the privilege to sit at this board and I agree with Camille um many people think that boards are crazy in in some places they are um we are fortunate even in the turnover to not have a crazy board so I appreciate sitting here with all of you um and with that we are adjourned at 856