Board of Education - Regular Meeting

I now call this meeting of the Ann Arbor Board of Education to order. I would like to remind everyone that some of our meeting presenters may participate via Zoom. Ms. Olszewski, may we have, or sorry, Mr. Cooley, may we have a roll call, please?

President Feaster? Present. Trustee Wilkes?

Present.

Trustee Schmidt?

Present.

Trustee Baskett? Yes. Trustee Norton? Present. Trustee Muhammad?

Here.

And Trustee Wilkins?

Here.

We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. I would now like to introduce the non-voting member at the table, Jazz Parks, Superintendent of Schools.

Thank you, President Pisto.

All right, it looks like that brings us to 1.4. That is a moment of silence in memory of Jade Browning. Did you want to say anything, Commissioner Perks?

Yes. Thank you, President Feaster. It is with deep sadness that I share the news of the sudden passing of Jade Browning, a rising seventh grade student at Clayton Middle School. Jade was a beloved member of the AAPS school community who also attended Logan Elementary School and Westerman Preschool and Family Center. Jade was a bright light, always showing up with a smiling face. She had a strong group of friends and was always there to support them. Jade was on the cheerleading team and could be spotted doing TikToks after dismissal with her friends. Her beautiful spirit will surely be missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Jade's family, friends, teachers, and all who knew and loved her.

Thank you, Superintendent Parks. We'll now have a moment of silence.

Thank you.

That brings us down to 1.5, which is our Land Acknowledgement Statement. And I will ask the Trustee, any Trustee, if they would like to read the Land Acknowledgement Statement. I know Vice President Wilks often does it. All right. Take your time.

We acknowledge that the Ann Arbor Public School District occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabe, Three Fires Confederacy, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Botawatomi. The taking of this land was formalized in a process alien to native cultures by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807. The Ann Arbor Public Schools recognizes that many other native peoples lived on this land at different times, including the Fox, Sault, Shawnee, Kickapoo, Miami, Muscatine, and Cherokee, many of whom were forcibly removed from their homelands. Acknowledgement by itself is a small gesture and does not exist in the past or solely in a historical context. Colonialism is a current ongoing process and we understand our responsibility in educating students about our participation. We further recognize the ongoing relationship and dependence upon and respect for all living beings of earth, sky, and water. It is our responsibility to care for this land,

and we honor with our deepest gratitude the native people who have and will continue to steward it for generations thank you vice president wilkes i believe that brings us down to approval of the the agenda trustees you have been provided with the agenda in advance are there any changes or additions needed seeing none I believe we need to add the close the the the the the settlement agreement to the agenda. Where should we put that?

I thought that was under 12.

Under what?

I'm sorry.

I didn't hear you the settlement agreement. Oh the settlement.

Oh, yes So 12 so we'll add a 12.2. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you All right. If there's no other changes I'd entertain a motion to accept the agenda as amended so move and second That was supported by vice president a move by vice president Wilkes and supported by trustee Schmidt any discussion? I

Do we, I'm sorry, do we have something to look at for that?

I believe we were told we had a resolution. Is that in diligence or somewhere? In diligence, yes. Okay, thank you.

All right, if there's no other questions, Mr. Cooley, please.

Trustee Norton? Yes. Trustee Wilkes?

Yes.

Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

Trustee Wilkins?

Yes.

President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

Motion passes seven to nothing.

Thank you, Mr. Kluwer. That brings us down to public commentary. The Board would like to remind everyone the individuals who have signed up for public commentary will have their name called and will be given an opportunity to speak. Commenters will receive up to four minutes, and the public commentary period will be limited to 45 minutes. When your name is called, please come forward and speak at the microphone. To help manage your time, a clock will be placed on the screen in front of you. We would like to remind everyone that public comments generally pertain to Ann Arbor Public School District matters. Comments about any individual or individuals are expressly prohibited. Also, please understand that board members do not respond to public comments, but we will listen carefully and we'll follow up as appropriate. Mr. Kluge, how many do we have signed up for this evening?

We have seven signed up this evening, so each will get four minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Kluge.

First up is Ray Smith.

Hello. Hello. Hello. My name is Ray Smith. I'm a real estate broker that manages and sells property around here. I live in Ipsy Township and I worked for Ann Arbor Public Schools as a wrestling coach for over a decade, about a decade or more. at Tappan, Huron, and Pioneer. The first national champion I ever coached came from Tappan. The pride I held over me and Coach Wright with Ray Von Foley and teaching him the fundamentals gave me great joy. Ann Arbor Public Schools used to be the crown jewel of the Michigan public education system. Now every time I see the school in the news, every time I hear from students, teachers and parents, I'm disgusted with the behavior that is coming from this administration. We have a finance department and a comptroller that couldn't properly do math and missed millions of dollars. Yet I see no one is fired, disgusting. The kids in Skyline have told me that an elevator in the high school is broken and the classrooms may have to be moved around for students that have disabilities. You can't even keep an elevator running, pathetic. I've had parents and students tell me that their child was pulled from the district because of how badly the buildings were falling apart. Yet I see an over budget administration who has underperformed in every measurable metric possible. You live in one of the most educated cities in America, and yet you are one of the lower paying districts for teachers in the area. The stories I've heard and witnessed with how teachers, coaches, and other support staff boils my blood. These people are your frontline workers, they are the people that spend the most time with the children, and yet you throw them to the wolves, you put these people in positions where they cannot win, and then you chastise them for being in the very position you are responsible for. This administration may have fumbled its way into a historic failure. Ann Arbor Public Schools may be the fourth district in the state of Michigan to have a teacher strike. Ann Arbor can now join the ranks of Flint, Detroit, and Grosse Pointe when it comes to educational management. This is my next point. I created a legal tool as a means to expose and correct behavior. When crimes are legal.com hosted by Anchorman Ray, I want to interview teachers, parents, and even students with their parents present on the absolute terrible state you guys have left this district in. I want to bring national shame to the plight that you have put these students through. If teachers who are not under contract are forced to go on strike, the damage to the district could be permanent, but clearly the damage that you are inflicting to the district is also permanent. This damage that is inflicted on the district, either to incompetence or someone profiting off of the careless mismanagement of the properties that have been bestowed to you by the people of Ann Arbor, Your Anchorman Ray here intends to do an investigation and find out what the administration's malfunction is. Quite a few contractors are getting rich off your garbage tier behavior. We have parents, teachers, and students that deserve better work than clearly any of you can provide. I work with many people who handle more money than any people in your finance department. And after reading what your finance department has done, clearly they are terrible at math. Why do we have a failed comptroller from Detroit coming here? The problem with our society is people like you are given power over others. Instead of suffering consequences for bad behavior, you are rewarded with pension and payment. That has to end. Each and every one of you that fails this district needs to leave. Each and every one of you that failed these students need to leave. And I'm giving each one of you an opportunity to leave before the public shaming begins. You are public servants, and you will be made to serve the public. There's an easy way and a hard way. AND PERSONALLY I WANT SOME OF YOU TO BE AN EXAMPLE BECAUSE I GAVE SO MUCH TO THIS DISTRICT. I LOVE THESE KIDS. AND WHAT YOU'VE DONE, IT'S BEYOND THE PALE.

NEXT IS AMY VALE.

So thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. I'm Amy Vail. I've been teaching at Pioneer High School for almost 30 years. I'm also a parent of two rising juniors at Pioneer as well as a 2023 graduate. So my comments today regard central administration's proposed cell phone policy in the high school for next year. My understanding is that the current proposal is for a classroom-only ban, and this is the cell phone policy I've been following in my classroom since the pandemic, and last year was the semi-official policy at Pioneer. Districts in neighboring communities and across the country adopting policies for phones to be off and away all day, not just classroom bands. And many states are making this the law, including states like Ohio and Indiana that used to support classroom only bands. So why does this trend exist? And it is because classroom only bands are better than nothing, but they just do not work well. And this is why I and many teachers in the district support off and away all day policies. You may hear that teachers were asked for their input and that they support this classroom-only ban. The call for this input was on a Google form that gave us only the opportunity to comment on the current classroom-only ban. In order for me to endorse the off and away all day policy, I had to basically commandeer a question and go off script. And so it was not really an opportunity to get legitimate feedback from teachers. The NEA did, however, survey teachers nationally, and 83% of teachers support cell phone policies that cover the entire school day. So we don't have survey data for AAPS teachers specifically, but I'd like to offer just a few reasons based on my years of experience why often away all day is a better plan than the classroom-only ban. So here are just some of the problems that I've personally encountered over the years. So classroom-only bans use up the finite resource of teacher energy. Because students are using phones in between classes, teacher must every day, every hour, with almost every student, and force phones to be away. It can be done. I've been doing it. It's exhausting. As any parent who's tried to limit their kids' screen time knows, and now multiply that by 150. Classroom-only bands dip into another essential and finite resource, relationship capital. So every day I'm standing at the door, instead of saying, how was your basketball game? Your new haircut is really cute. I'm saying, stow your phone, stow your phone, stow your phone. And it can be routinized. But trust me, you ease up for even a couple of days, and you're right back to doing serious enforcement. And so it's no surprise that many teachers, especially young and inexperienced teachers, give up. When I walk through classroom halls at Pioneer and I look into classrooms because I'm nosy, I see kids on their phones. Classroom-only bans lead to exponentially more enforcement points and more gray areas, which leads to inconsistent enforcement across classrooms and even within classrooms and allows an opportunity for inequitable enforcement due to cognitive bias. Classroom-only bans mean a loss of instruction time, both in the beginning of class, when you're enforcing and pulling kids out of their cell phone-induced brain fog, and at the end of classes. And I wish you could just all watch students stampede toward their cell phones at the end of class, and you'll see how much cognitive space, just the presence of their phones and the possibility of being reunited, inflicts on our kids. Classroom-only bands mean that more students are roaming the halls for opportunities to be on their phones. I asked one of our community assistants how many of the students in the class during class time in the halls are on their phones, and they said nearly all of them. But perhaps most importantly, in between classes and during lunch, the vast majority of students are either solely on their phones or they're connecting to their peers via their phones. So we're going to be sharing today some other teacher comments, but those are mine. Thank you for listening.

Thank you. Mary Beth's son, Sarah.

Good evening. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to speak. I'm Marybeth Sincera. I've been a teacher for 17 years, teacher in Ann Arbor for seven years, also a mother to a four-year-old. We don't live in this community, but as a teacher, I have that opportunity to send my child here, and the use of cell phones and technology in class is a major factor in whether or not I choose to send my kid here. I echo a lot of the same sentiments that Amy mentioned. I don't believe that the Google survey that was sent out truly reflects and gave an opportunity for teachers to speak to their experiences. I personally know that every single teacher I've spoken to, the cell phones are a huge problem and probably the greatest problem that we're facing. There are some comments here that I'd like to read verbatim from AAPS teachers. Even with building wide policies and classroom rules, phones are still being used and are a huge distraction. It is taking a lot of my teaching time to enforce the phone rule every day. where I stand by my door and check every day students' names with their phone slots. They still lie and tell me they don't have their phones, or they wait for me to get distracted and get them. It is simply not feasible to enforce a truly phone-free classroom in a way that lets me teach and not babysit the phone all class. I am an AAPS teacher and I believe that phones have no place in our classrooms. We currently have a rule to keep them in lockers. Many students do not. Phones are in pockets where staff can see them, yet students refuse to hand them over. Imagine if in the 90s, schools permitted students to carry a cart with working telephone, camcorder, radio, Walkman, VHS player, walkie-talkie, chat rooms, magazines, et cetera, that has unlimited access to wide variety of materials and media including those labeled as inappropriate. This is what we are permitting. Smartphones and watches are being used to bully, keep drama going throughout the day. Kids can no longer leave social issues at school and are a major distraction that cannot be monitored. I have witnessed firsthand how damaging cell phones are in the educational environment. Some students simply don't relinquish their phones, though they are asked to do so at the beginning of every period. I have repeatedly watched teachers pause their instruction to remind kids to put their phones away or to confiscate them themselves. This kind of policing in the classroom is not only disruptive to the learning of everyone, it creates moments of confrontation that I believe are slowly chipping away at the positive relationships students have with their teachers and their peers. There are many more comments that I invite you to read. I know that personally speaking, some of the worst experiences that I've had teaching in Ann Arbor public schools have been from phones in the hallways. I'm just asking you as a pleading, as a tired mother and teacher, to please do something that we know is best for students and will support our teaching staff, especially without having a contract to stand up and do what is best for students and families. Thank you.

Thank you.

Kristen Glazner.

Hi, good evening. Thanks so much for allowing me the opportunity to speak. I'm Kristen Glasner. I'm the mom of two kids in AAPS. My daughter, Elliot, is a rising first grader at King Elementary, and I have an almost three-year-old at home. I'm also the co-lead of ScreenWise Ann Arbor. This evening, I'm here to discuss the cell phone policy proposed by AAPS leadership, and I want to acknowledge what the proposed policy got right. The recommendation that elementary and middle school students keep their phones off and away all day is a meaningful and important step, and we thank you for that. We urge the Board to consider that it be backed with an enforcement plan that actually works in practice, because we've heard from many teachers that the current backpack strategy isn't working in keeping phones out of the classroom. I also want to highlight that where the policy falls short is in our high schools. Under the draft, high school students still need to put their phones away during class, but during lunch and passing periods, phones are allowed. You've heard from teachers tonight about why that doesn't work for the classroom, and I want to also share why it doesn't work for families. as a parent i've committed to delaying smartphones and social social media for my children until at least high school i've signed a parent pact here in ann arbor similar to the national wait till eighth campaign and we're actively working to help other aaps families make the same commitment school by school grade by grade so that no family has to say not yet alone this fall we're launching a parent pact across all of aaps with parent captains already in place. But this only works if the school district is working with us. We've heard some school board members ask why the district should have stricter cell phone policy when it's the parents who are buying smartphones for their kids. Isn't it really the parents' responsibility? We agree that it is. Parents have an important role to play, and that's exactly why we've created a parent pact. But this is a collective action problem that no family can solve alone. Parents and schools have to be on the same side. And for this to work, parents need to be part of the conversation about what this policy looks like, not just teachers, staff, and students, but the families who are navigating screens at home every single day. The proposed policy gives elementary and middle school families a clear, consistent message that smoke farms are not a part of the school day. But the moment kids reach high school, that message changes. Parents who have held the line for years and delayed smartphones all of a sudden hear their kids say, Mom, everyone else at school has a phone. What about me? And I don't want my daughter to be the only one in the lunchroom without a cell phone. Now imagine off and away all day, from kindergarten all the way through graduation. The pact and cell phone policy reinforce each other. Parents who have committed to delaying smartphones can actually follow through on their commitment, and kids have an opportunity to build real friendships without phones mediating every single interaction. That's the community we're trying to build. We've heard from the Governance Committee that this policy is largely what schools have already been doing in AAPS. If that were working, then there wouldn't be so many parents and teachers here this evening and throughout the last year who have come to speak with you on behalf of this issue. We're asking you to extend off and away all day through high school, much like many other districts across the state who have chosen to take a stronger stance on cell phone policy and make sure that enforcement at every level has real teeth, that is equitable and clear, will work for teachers and students alike. Parents are ready to take responsibility and we're asking you to meet us halfway. Thank you.

Emil Handelsman.

Good evening. My name is Amiel Handelsman. My younger son is a rising freshman at Huron. He's out there playing soccer at Huron right now. If you can put a good word in for him, he's trying out for the team. I'm also the founder and co-lead of ScreenWise Ann Arbor with Kristen. Thanks for this chance to speak about the proposed policy in personal digital devices. First, I want to thank you for how hard all of you work and for your good intentions. These are thankless jobs. And they're also very complex issues. And I like to say that we're working together, learning together, and also working together. So here's my quick take on the proposed policy, similar to Kristin, with a slight difference. So for elementary schools, offer silenced all-day-in-backpacks, which national experts give a B grade. My take is it's a really good start, but I think we could do a little bit better. So we're hearing that cell phones really are a problem in schools, unlike what we heard at the governance committee meeting the other day. Students will reach into their backpacks and act like they're looking for something else and then actually get onto their phones in their backpacks. We also hear that fifth graders, particularly at Title I schools, are orchestrating and recording fights on their cell phones. Why is there such a big gap between what teachers report and what you are telling us? I'm curious. Also, have you considered something we asked for in the fall, which is bell-to-bell with secure device storage, which experts give an A grade, in which elementary students give up access to their devices for the full day using folders or pencil envelopes? Middle schools, Kristen mentioned this, this is a good choice for now. With the teacher contract situation, it's not a great time to introduce locked pouches, which takes some training. But we hope that when the climate changes, you'll upgrade the policy to something that is more significant. High school silenced and put away during instructional time. National experts give this a C grade. They gave Michigan a C grade. My hope is that our district can earn more than that for the high school level. So what we've asked you to do is off and away all day for now, and then once teachers have a contract, move to secure device storage. So let me ask you some questions about this. Did you consider off and away all day for high schools? Did you ask teachers what they thought about it? At least two of them said no. Enrollment. AAPS is in competition with other districts and private schools for students. We've heard from parents who are fed up with the district's approach to cell phones and technology overall, and are moving their kids elsewhere. We have testimonials and names. What does your policy do to keep these parents and their dollars here? Physical and psychological safety. Luncheon passing periods, as we know, are exactly when we see the most cyberbullying, rumor spreading, social exclusion, sexting, online porn, and recorded fights. One high school principal told me that cell phones are responsible for 99% of what hits their desk. It's likely one reason this board, and I thank you for this, voted to sue social media companies. The classroom ban leaves this high risk window wide open. What will you do about this? Equity. All that social media harm I just mentioned, research shows that people most vulnerable to it are LGBTQ plus students and those with mental health conditions. As for fights, more fights means more discipline, and we know the data on disparate discipline for black students. How will you address this? And finally, real life social interaction. Lunch and passing periods are when high school students can socialize. You have a choice. Do we want students as they are doing now to look down at their phones together but alone or laughing and socializing together? I would love to hear you discuss these in tonight's meeting. And thank you. Chelsea Cox.

Good evening, thank you for the opportunity to share my perspective on what I see as a critical turning point for AAPS technology policies. We're entrusting you with a decision that can help improve, I believe, mental health and academic achievement for thousands of students and children, and can potentially improve teaching conditions for hundreds of educators in AAPS. So tonight, as my friends and colleagues in ScreenWise mentioned, we asked the board to approve an off and away all day policy with confiscation consequences across all grade levels and all schools until a stronger bell to bell ban policy is feasible. My name is Chelsea Cox. I have a background in high school special education, social work, and a doctorate in health behavior and health equity from U of M. I'm also an AAPS parent of an incoming kindergartner and a rising second grader. Since starting at AAPS, I've had concerns about the imbalance of intentional tech use I'm trying to teach at home versus the lagging district policies to ensure intentional and safe tech use at school. because of this my family has strongly considered leaving aaps this year we've toured other local schools that already have off and away and bell-to-bell policies in place and have for years it's time for aaps to keep up with the evidence and back parent and teacher efforts to provide the most positive academic and social environment possible for its students if you don't families who have the option to leave will do so and teachers. And it's the district's responsibility to do the right thing for families who don't have that option. At Ba Elementary, we're grateful to have a collaborative community of administrators, teachers, and parents who are learning and working together to become more intentional about tech use. This past year, we worked with ScreenWise Ann Arbor to pilot a parent pact with our first and fourth grade families at BAH. You may have heard of the wait until eighth movement. Similarly, the parent pact that's gaining momentum in Ann Arbor is a pledge that families make together to delay smartphone and social media use until at least high school. This spring, BAH parents and teachers worked together to communicate about the parent pact to first and fourth grade families. And within days, we had 50 families sign the pledge. This fall, ScreenWise Ann Arbor plans to expand the pact to the rest of BA and all of AAPS schools based on the pilot's success. Parents are quickly gaining awareness of the negative implications of smartphones and social media use among our children, and we're doing something about it, taking collective action. We need your partnership to ensure the boundaries we're setting at home are being met with the responsible and clear boundaries being set at school. Kids don't need phones during the school day and they deserve a safe and inclusive academic environment where they can focus on learning and building relationships. For now, an off and away all day policy starting in elementary school and especially through high school will help facilitate this and support efforts being made at home by families already. Our family has decided to stick with AAPS for this next school year because of the partnership we have felt with ScreenWise and our BAH community. And because we remain hopeful that the district will do the right thing to back our efforts and serve the best interests of our children and teachers. We're taking our share of the responsibility and respectfully ask the board and the school district to take its share. Together, we can help all AAPS children learn and develop socially without the distraction of personal and peer devices. Thank you.

Thank you.

Jennifer Oldham.

Hello, trustees and Superintendent Parks. It will not surprise you in the least bit that I am here also to advocate for a bell-to-bell cell phone policy. Before I do, I want to thank you for your service. The work of being an advocate on behalf of specific policies is pretty straightforward. The work of governance, the work of making a public entity, a school system work in Michigan's restrictive school finance system is hard and heartbreaking. I know we're decades into cuts to the school system And I thank you for taking on such a big role. And I know that most of you have come into the role of being on the board and taking this level of leadership only in the past few years. Stepping into the kind of crises that this district has experienced, particularly in the past three years, is a lot, and I am very grateful to you for doing so. The value that leads me to be here to talk about cell phones is that we, as adults, need to protect our children, our children and our teenagers. No single direction was given to me more often by my K-12 teachers than pay attention. Quality attention is what cell phones, social media, and other notifications take from all of us. Again and again, I read research that says the quality of human interaction increases the farther removed from our phones we are. That the most satisfying way to spend time with people you care about is without your phone. For 25 years, software developers have used strategies taken from casinos to increase engagement with their platforms. They have taken strategies tied to gambling addiction and built them into the software in our devices. Variable reinforcement schedules, repeated cycles of uncertainty, anticipation and feedback. Adults struggle with cell phone and social media addiction. Children and teenagers suffer more. I've watched my own teen's friends be distracted by their phones during precious in-person hangout time. When my teen asked her friends to leave their phones in their coats, they shrugged, okay, it's your house. Getting ready to leave, three hours later, they agreed, you know, your mom is on to something. A friend accompanied an international high school music trip here, and they said no phones all day. They took the phones away, they gave them back for a little bit of time at night, but they were phone free all day. At the end of the week, they asked the kids, you know, what was the best part of this international music trip for you? The answer? Interacting with each other without phones. Horvath's The Digital Delusion is the best summary of the research on cell phones in school that I know of. His recommendation is bell to bell, no phones, preferably with dedicated storage or locked pouches. Strictly enforced bell to bell, off and away is the next best and arguably easier to begin with policy. School is a carefully engineered community and environment for learning. AAPS should join the many forward-thinking schools in protecting student attention and learning by banning cell phones from the first bell to the last bell. Thank you very much.

That concludes public commentary.

Thank you, Mr. Kalula. We appreciate hearing from our community. The board would like to thank everyone who spoke and shared their comments tonight. Miss Parks, are there any points of clarification?

Yes, obviously we will be discussing the first briefing on cell phone policy this evening addressing many of the comments today. One that I do want to clarify was I believe our first commenter about the financial state of the district and failed comptroller. The district doesn't have a comptroller and we don't have anyone in the department who fits that description um and when the budget crisis became apparent several years ago it was independently investigated as trustees know in the community too because that that report is public and it was found that the root cause of our financial uh difficulties began many years ago, predating our current CFO, our current finance staff, myself. And so, I do want to clarify that important detail. Again, we had that, as you know, at your direction that the budget crisis independently investigated. And so, I thought it important to just share and remind the community that that has OCCURRED SEVERAL YEARS AGO AND THAT REPORT IS OUT THERE PUBLICLY.

THANK YOU, SUPERINTENDENT PARKS. I BELIEVE THAT BRINGS US DOWN TO COMMUNITY FEEDBACK. TRUSTEES, I'D LIKE TO CALL YOUR ATTENTION TO THE COMMUNITY FEEDBACK FOR THIS MEETING. AND THAT BRINGS US DOWN TO REPORTS OF ASSOCIATION. MR. CLOOLEY, DO WE HAVE ANYONE HERE FROM AAEA? IF NOT, I DO SEE MS. ARTHURS HERE FROM OUR OTHER UNION.

I'm not seeing anyone from the AEA, so.

Ms. Robinson, please.

Apologies.

Hi, everyone. Greetings, Trustees, Superintendent Parks, APS staff, and families and community watching at home. We continue to stand in solidarity with the teachers and office professionals in our shared collective struggle. Our AEAP members are wrapping up their final week of summer school. They report seeing fewer familiar-faced colleagues than usual. Otherwise, they're enjoying supporting Ann Arbor students as phenomenally in the summer as they do during the regular school year. We bargained with the district on June 25th. It was an overall very positive bargaining session. We felt heard in several areas and real productive progress happened. Thank you to the district team for hearing us and working with us on future potential compromises. We still have significant work to do and are still not ready to finalize a new tentative agreement to bring to our members. We are next scheduled to bargain with the district August 6th. We recently had a collaborative council in July. We received information in particular on how folks in our unit can become a registered behavior technician. This is huge and we greatly appreciate it. This is something we've been waiting for for a while and it's a big deal. We're still waiting on answers as to how many contracted RBTs, how much RBTs are paid, as well as a chart describing when a student needs an RBT versus a teaching assistant. As a reminder, in previous Collaborative Council sessions, the head of the Office of Special Education explicitly explained to us that often all EDU staff substitutes, certified nursing assistants, and RBTs are often used to do TA work when their other responsibilities are done. staffing update we have had one additional resignation from aap summer school ends this week i anticipate further members leaving after this there have been zero new full-time aeap members hired since last report housekeeping we're grateful that the district has asked for feedback from the staff and the ann arbor community ann arbor community This is your time. This is a public service announcement. We only have until this Friday, July 31st, to fill out your community voice survey. It's in your email from the district. Please do it. They want your input. Please give it to them. Don't miss your opportunity to use your voice in deciding the district's priorities. I want to thank those of you who have signed the Education Support Professionals Bill of Rights. I have flyers with me if anyone would like one. As a reminder, over 55,000 education support professionals across the state of Michigan need your help. You can learn more about the campaign and increased saving standards, raising minimum wages, and more at mea.org slash bor dash endorsement. One goal I want to make sure you guys know about, sorry, of the ESP Bill of Rights is a need to work to respect the work that we do through compensation, reflecting the importance of the work we do daily with children in public schools. We're asking to be respected, not just in a way of kind words, but in pay that reflects the reality of our work. The cumulative inflation rate in Michigan over the last 10 years, mid-2016 to 2026, is approximately 33.4%. ESPs are long overdue for more than just a minimal cost of living allowance. A living wage is needed for families to thrive. That means that typically the inflation averaged 3 to 4% per year, while most raises were kept under 3% or significantly less per year over a 10-year period. This keeps retirements low, pensions low, all of those things. In Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor did an incredibly large percentage increase of our entire salary table in 22-23. Other than that, all of the increases have been 2% or less each year. Because a percentage is very little and it's a little hard to picture, I wanted to share a couple of statistics. Salary schedules can be confusing. It's easy to look at ours and think that most of us make $36,000 a year. However, while we're still waiting on updated reports on MEA's end, not on AAVS, I believe about 35 out of our highest, are in our highest pay group. And of those, not everybody works an eight hour day. So there are very few that are making that top number. The majority of our unit, about 200 people, make closer of the full time, make 23 to $24,000 a year. MIT's cost of living calculator for the city of Ann Arbor shows the living wage for one adult with zero children to be $25.30. For one adult with one child, it is $42.69 an hour, and it just goes up the more children you have. These changes, if you're in a home with two adults working, but still has anyone with children needing to earn a minimum of 24.31 per hour. Our hourly wages in the lowest pay group, where most of us are, they started like this. Here's my visual aid, because some of us are visual learners, and that's helpful. In 2016, 2017, we made our lowest pay group. So this doesn't mean... A lot of our union goals focused on giving step increases to higher steps. And they increased a lot of pay rate to people who had been here a long amount of time. So I'm not saying other things did not happen. I'm just trying to show you the starting wage of our lowest pay employees, which are the teaching assistants that were in this huge staffing shortage right now. So that's why. But I don't want to minimize that there are a lot of other things that occurred during negotiations. I don't want to minimize that at all. Okay, 16-17, we earned 14.15 an hour. We then got a 1% raise. 17-18, we made 14.29 an hour due to our 1% raise. We then earned a 1.68% salary increase. bringing us to $14.36 an hour. At this point, again, other steps were increased. Other things happened. Don't misunderstand me. I'm just talking about getting people in the door to work these jobs. Hey, do you want to be a TA? Come join us. So then after that, in 19-20, we had a 0% increase on the starting wage of lowest pay. So we were still at $14.36. HIGHER LEVELS WERE COMPENSATED EVEN MORE IN 2020 TO 2021, BUT LOWEST LEVELS REMAINED, ENTRY LEVEL AT 1436. 21-22, OUR INTEREST OR OUR RATE WAS 1436. SELF-CONTAINED TAs AT THIS TIME WERE GIVEN A LUMP SUM OF $1500 TO UNDERSTAND THAT THAT POSITION REQUIRED A LITTLE BIT MORE PHYSICAL EMOTIONAL LABOR AND JUST A LOT. 2022-23, so this is a big deal. This is where our lowest pay group got a 14.90% increase, and the other pay groups got a 10.35% increase. Again, the self-contained TAs got a $1,500 lump sum in the fall. Our rate was now $1,650 for entry-level position. 23-24, after a 2% raise, our rate was now 16.83. Again, other things happened in the contract. Don't misunderstand me. Higher levels were increased. And in particular, an MOA was created to fill critical needs positions in self-contained classrooms and with one-on-one students. those employees were bumped from the lowest pay category to the highest pay group, which is why their rate actually went from 1650 to 1964 that year. Later that year, unfortunately, despite public outcry to not cancel the, the memorandum expired, so it's not, nobody canceled anything, please, I'm sorry. But it expired and a lot of us begged and said, please, please, please don't let it expire, we're gonna lose so many staff. And that choice was made due to a union that I wasn't part of leadership of and the district together. And that memorandum went away, which meant that those people that were at 1964 were now at 1708. A lot of them had pay taken retroactively from their paychecks in the spring. We did get a 1.5% increase on the salary table, bringing you to $1,708. Last year, as you know, we had steps for some of our members. Not everyone received a step, but we had a 0% raise. We were at $1,708. And that's where we stand right now going into next year. So I just wanted to make sure you guys, not as much you guys, I don't mean it in that way. I feel like the board knows this information. I wanted to make sure the public understood this information and I was hoping that a visual was helpful as a way to show that. Paraeducators are, as a reminder, while we're at 1708, the MIT levels for today state that there should be a minimum of 24 to 42.69 dollars per hour to be able to get by in Ann Arbor, depending on how many adults and children are needed at home. Paraeducators play a significant part of AAPS's central nervous system that keep our schools running smoothly. Students' needs have increased, placing more demands on us, while our staffing levels have decreased. Member morale remains quite low. last fall give me one second there we go last fall we had 15 out of 21 or 71 percent of elementary schools start short ta positions 71 percent of our elementary schools were down ta positions i wonder how many will be short staffed this year and i worry for the safety and well-being of both students and staff in those buildings again Last year we started with around 40-ish positions vacant. We ended with around 40-ish positions vacant. We've since lost 11. I anticipate us losing 15 or 20 more. So there's a potential that we could be starting next fall 70 positions vacant. This year was hard. This year was really hard. So doing this year with even less resources sounds terrible to me personally. It was exciting to recently be invited to a solidarity rally with several unionized groups within Ann Arbor. We all met to share our struggles, goals, collective strength. It was inspiring to hear other stories. We shared about the same cost of living struggles, inflation, and that the salaries have just not gone up in a way remotely comparable. This part I've already ad-libbed and told you about the 70%. These 70 positions could be helping better serve kids with special needs, students who are at high risk, and generally as a team with their colleagues to offset any potential class increases with additional adult support in the classroom. This year, many of our members reflected that it was very hard and they're worried about the future. Our unit has always been one of the best word of mouth advertisements for the district. I remember when I was hired after subbing in a building and several other teaching assistants said that I would really like this job and I do. Sadly, none of us are saying that right now and our students deserve better. Finally, Ann Arbor residents, I just desperately please urge you to vote yes to renew the sinking fund millage. Not doing so will lead this board to have to draw funds from the general funds for other projects. This will ultimately lead to less money for any potential raises or investment in staffing. And staffing conditions, as you know, are a reflection of our student conditions. We want to retain staff. I think everybody wants to do that. So please vote yes to renew the sinking fund millage. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your time today. I continue to be on track to earn $25,904 after I work here for 25 years. I'm not confused as to why the district can't attract and retain staff to support your most at-risk students. You all have the power to do that, to affect this change, and I hope that you do so. If anyone's interested in learning about the ESP Bill of Rights and getting a flyer, please see me afterwards. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Ms. Arseth. Mr clearly, do we have any group signed up for this evening?

We do not.

Thank you believe that brings it down to board committee reports. It looks like the governance committee is 1st on the agenda. The governance committee. met on monday sorry there we go met on monday july 27th around 12 p.m we discussed the cell phone policy that we will be reviewing that our our staff took a lot of time putting together and we thank them for that we also We also discussed our meeting for today and set the agenda for today. And we also had some brief conversations and set meetings for August 3rd and August the 17th to set future agendas. Any questions, trustees? Seeing none, I believe that brings us down to the finance and planning. And I believe that is still Trustee Baskett.

Thank you, President Feaster. The Finance and Planning Committee met on June 22nd. You will see the first briefing items that we covered.

trustees anything else you want to add thank you sir thank you trustee basket and i believe that brings us down to number eight information and the superintendent update and i will turn it over to superintendent parks and ask her for her update please thank you president feaster just a brief update this evening um here at the end of the july we continue to do our typical um approaching the end of summer tasks in preparation for the return of our leaders at the beginning of August and then after that our staff and our students. We are in the midst of interviewing and hiring. We've got about 25 pending job offers out there and many more interviews taking place. So we're excited to welcome new folks to the district as we continue to fill those positions. Additionally, I want to congratulate the students, advisors, and staff from Ann Arbor Public Schools on their success in the 2026 Health Occupation Students of America International Leadership Conference last month. This event is the pinnacle HOSA experience, uniting more than 15,000 global participants in a multi-day conference and competition filled with learning, leadership, and celebration. Michigan students earned 70 top 10 finishes with two AAPS students among the finishers. Ana He, rising senior at Huron, finished in first place for health informatics, and Thomas Wang, rising senior at Skyline, placed ninth for the research poster event. Michigan HOSA helps students explore healthcare careers, develop leadership skills, and gain real-world experiences that prepare them for future success. We are proud of the accomplishments of our students for their hard work and exceptional finishes on the global stage. Lastly, on July 20th, the Historic District Commission for the City of Ann Arbor presented an award for the erection of the historic marker commemorating the significance of Jones School from 1922 to 1965, when it was a primary elementary school in the black community of Ann Arbor. The event was accompanied by a film titled There Goes the Neighborhood, which interviewed many who attended the school and lived in the neighborhood at that time. Since 1972, the Jones School has been community high school. The marker was a project shepherded by Jocelyn Hunter-Young and other staff members at community high school. Ms. Hunter-Young emphasizes that this was a team effort that involved alums and other interested community members who worked to raise funds for the marker. It can be seen along Detroit Street behind the community high school parking lot.

encourage everyone to visit the marker and learn more about the significance of jones school and that completes the updates today thank you superintendent parks no questions that moves us down to first briefing and we're at 9.1 new policy 5900 student personal electronic device cell phone policy and i'll invite the team to come up and introduce the policy that they've that they've drafted for our consideration

Thank you very much, President Feaster. As Dr. Hayward and Ms. Alston come forward and get ready and get their slides up, we'll just kind of briefly touch on the fact that we've been working on this cell phone policy, which is a start for the board's consideration. We anticipate your healthy discussion and feedback this evening, which the team and I will take back. make any adjustments at that time based on your feedback, but this work is reflective of our administrators' engagement with their staffs and their students, which both Ms. Austin and Mr., I'm sorry, Dr. Hayward will talk about more. I've made her a mister. Dr. Hayward will talk about more, so I'll turn it over to the two of them at this time.

Thank you, Superintendent Parks. Good evening, Trustee. Good evening. Mr. Cooley will be sharing the slide deck shortly with you, and we will go through these slides and answer any questions that you all have. The policy is a recommendation, and it's based on our current practices in our schools that currently exist. and tonight we're just going to be presenting the district-wide policy on cell phone and personal device use, developed with input, as Superintendent Park said, with input from our principals, staff, and students. And so on this slide we have the law, this is the why, And so the Michigan House Bill 4141. And our goal is to codify the language with board policy as required by this law. This isn't discretionary. It's something that we have to do. I want to explain plainly that starting with the 26-27 school year that the law requires us to put this in place. And our interpretation of the law is that during instructional time is during classroom time. And so we'll go over to the next slide. Here's our purpose, and our purpose is really to set a clear, consistent expectation for personal devices, including cell phones, during the school day across all of AAPS campuses. Our rationale is that we know that unmanaged devices, they can get in the way of student learning, right? It can pull the focus away from classroom instruction. It can disrupt student learning. It raises safety concerns. And so those are things that we want to avoid in our schools. So our recommendation is to continue with current practices in our schools that have not been found to be problematic. To ensure consistency and follow through, however, we want to introduce the policy that we're sharing with you tonight.

Next slide, please.

And I'm gonna turn it over to Ms. Austin.

So can everyone hear me okay? And so this slide really depicts that we were intentional around the expectations for cell phone and personal device use, and it's divided up by levels, elementary, middle school, and high school. And I'll speak to the elementary ones. So in thinking about elementary, it was important that we highlighted that the devices or personal cell phones were often silenced in backpacks Teachers and staff and principals considered additional pouches or bins or containers to keep devices in the classroom to monitor as an additional duty. However, that would create some additional duties and potential workload for our teachers to monitor those items inside the classroom. And so it was decided to have cell phone devices or personal devices in backpacks. Also keeping in mind that not all of our elementary schools have lockers to put items in.

For middle school, the recommendation is devices are powered off or silenced. They are stored in students' lockers and or backpacks, that they are not visible during the school day at any period of the school day. and they may be used prior to the first bell or after school so that students can arrange transportation, connect with their parents if they're going over a friend's house, et cetera. For high school, we did consider the away all day, but we know that our high school students are older, there comes more responsibility with them, many of them have jobs, they communicate with their employer, their parents throughout the day, especially if they're responsible for their younger siblings and picking up younger siblings, there could be changes, but what we came up with, our recommendation is that they're silenced and put away during instructional time, and that teachers may authorize use for educational purposes, but they are permitted to use devices during non-instructional time, which is passing and lunchtime. Next slide, we will talk about the engagement process.

All right, so it was important for us to engage with our teachers, our staff, our principals, our leaders and our students. And this engagement process was active through various input methods and multiple channels. And so when we speak about staff engagement, there was conversations, there were surveys and structures discussions at our staff meetings, which included teachers as well as itinerant staff members. And the focus in those conversations was around instructional impact, and hearing staff raise concerns about safety, distraction, and also equity. Our Roberta, or Dr. Hayward and I, we also met with our principal leaders on multiple occasions during our level council meetings, where our principal leaders brought the feedback back to us that they were able to receive from their students, and also from their staff, which also guided the recommendation that we have before you today. I'm gonna touch on our student engagement from a wide range of K to 12, thinking about what was most developmentally appropriate. Some of our schools engaged our students in surveys. Also, our principal leaders met with their student council teams or their student leadership teams or their student equity teams or focus groups. And we also heard from our students that their concern was also around focus on safety and fairness. Go to the next slide, please. The other area we want to highlight is the ongoing principal engagement, which was just not top-down, as I shared before. It really did involve multiple voices, staff, teachers, and students. And so, as I said before on the previous slide, the engagement process was continual, and the information was brought back to us, given the recommendation that we're making to you today.

So here is the board recommendation, and you have a copy of this slide deck. If you click on the actual white space, it will take you to the board education policy recommendation that we are recommending to you all tonight. But we are recommending that the Board of Education adopt policy 5900 for student personal electronic devices. If you go to the next slide, we'll get into some of the key revisions. And so when you think about instructional use, high schools, again, use during non-instructional times, halls, lunchrooms, et cetera, elementary and middle schools devices are put away all day. Privacy and recording, no recording of students or staff without permission strictly prohibited in locker rooms, restrooms, offices, nursing areas, counseling spaces, et cetera. accommodations, expectation students with documented accommodations, where it's outlined in their IEP 504 or health plan. Of course, we will make sure that they are using the devices that they need as learning tools. Safety in emergencies, administrators may authorize or restrict device use during emergency, times of emergency. Parent caregivers are always encouraged to contact the school office for urgent communication, but we know and we've heard from principals that oftentimes parents, especially in our high school, are not contacting the school office. They contact their students. They do not call the school for the most part. Confiscation, secured by staff, returned at the end of the day, and it's progressive discipline. All of it is in the documents that you have. The policy is explicit in terms of a graduated plan in terms of confiscation. We want to make sure that the first time a student have a cell phone out, that we give them a warning, right? Because we believe in our students, we know that students make mistakes, and we don't want to go to a consequence right away, if you will. We want to give them the benefit of the doubt, right? We forget as adults sometimes, and so it's obviously our students are going to forget. It would also take more time if we The first time we saw the phone, we took it away. That's gonna take more time for any staff, right, because then you're gonna get into a match with the student. I didn't mean to have it out as a whole conversation. Well, really, it can just be a warning. Put your phone away, right, for the first time. So it's graduated, and so it's a progressive discipline model that we have here. Verbal warning, confiscation, parent guardian notification, loss of privileges if we get to that point. Next slide, we'll talk about implementation steps in a timeline.

All right, so I'm gonna walk you through this timeline that you also have in front of you. So July, August, we are here to provide this recommendation for policy 5900 to address cell phone use and personal device use. August of 2026, having the policy in place should the Board decide for this policy to come forward, We will communicate that with students, staff, and our families and our teachers. The first day of school is right around the corner, August 31st. And so we will have a full implementation of 5900 policy. And then we plan to do an annual review to get more feedback and to continue in the engagement process. And so we will do an annual review of how the policy is working. or not working in our buildings. And the next slide will just show you a draft example of what the flyer could potentially look like that we put in all of our buildings. We will certainly translate the materials in other languages, but they will be posted throughout. And we will have multiple modes of communication like we do with any other communication. Communication around the policy would come in the back to school communication plans, curriculum, capsule nights, the superintendent's message, our Facebook page, our website, all the things that we do to over communicate, particularly because this would be a new policy in place, and so we will over communicate it, over communicate it, over communicate it. And the next slide is the final slide. And so I think at your tables, you have an example of the flyer. Can we print those? No, okay. Well, we will get you one if you want to see it up in close and personal. But it's just a draft, you know, we welcome your feedback as we present this recommendation to you. There's also a copy in DILIGENT.

Thank you all so very much for the presentation. We greatly appreciate your hard work on the draft policy, and thank you for it. Trustees, before we allow them to sit down, do we have any questions to them about their draft policy? Vice President Wilkes.

Thank you. Thank you, President Feaster. First of all, thank you, Dr. Hayward and Ms. Alston, for the presentation on this draft. So I just wanted to, first of all, say a little bit, and then I'm going to ask you. Well, I want to ask It's been suggested that passing time and lunch time are considered instructional time. Can you address that? Because, again, it has been suggested that it is instructional time, and I just want to clarify.

PASSING TIME IS CONSIDERED INSTRUCTIONAL TIME FOR THE PURPOSE OF STUDENT ACCOUNTING AND THAT'S IN THE STATE STUDENT ACCOUNTING HANDBOOK MANUAL. BASED ON OUR RESEARCH, FOR THE PURPOSE OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME IN THE LAW, IT DOES NOT INCLUDE PASSING TIME.

THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Yeah, thank you for putting this together, and I'm sorry I missed the governance committee meeting on Monday. I was going through procedures, so I have my questions for today. So I try to look at the data. So I know you presented how there was some surveys, focus groups, questions. Is there anything to report out? Is there data from the surveys that was provided that the teachers filled out? Was there a written report about what these focus groups and discussions? Because I know this is based on, but I'm not seeing the information.

So we didn't put together a report. Our principals, through the course of a few of our level councils, and level councils is when we as EDs meet with all of our principals. So they come here, we have a meeting. And so we were giving them, Ms. Austin and I, we were discussing cell phone policy, we were giving them some to-dos, and so they were going back, talking to their staff at staff meeting. Some of them sent out surveys, some of them met with focus groups, et cetera. We have that information, so we can put together a report with feedback from individual buildings, but we did not do that, though. The goal was that they would get that information, elicit that information from their team, and then when they came back to us for those couple of months after that, they worked in groups. So each level worked in their group and revised, made revisions based on the information that they got from their stakeholders. So, yes.

It would just help to see like how much support, especially when it comes to our teachers having to be the first and the first people to see these cell phones and how they feel about kind of the stepwise approach of The actions when they see a cell phone, do they prefer to just take the cell phones away immediately or do they want to do a warning? It just would help just to see where or even if you can describe like overall, do you see support or were there any issues that came up during these discussions?

Sure, so the reason why we didn't do a report is because it wouldn't have been consistent. We didn't prescribe them information to go back and share with their staff and their students. They went back and they did it in a myriad of ways, right, in terms of collecting that qualitative data. If we would have came up with one survey and then said now disseminate that, then we could share that with you, but we did not do that. I can tell you just based on looking at the three comprehensive high schools, some of the comments were students are generally compliant, many students do a great job with the policy, the phone isn't a distraction anymore, and this is staff, I'm sorry. Distraction moved from phone to computer. Most comply. A student using cell phones during class is definitely down. Students are more present. When students comply, it works. Not all students comply. Kids are much more focused, it's working well. Those kind of comments. But principals asked a few questions.

Did you hear more about like, because the concern is during lunch and passing time, What I've been hearing, especially from parents, kids and stuff, is the concern with cyberbullying, bullying, fights being recorded. I mean, has that stuff have come up, especially in our high schools?

So I can tell you that in the high school, I think I spoke with the principal one time this school year about a fight being recorded. That is not the norm. Now, what does happen and it doesn't happen often is we know that students utilize their social media accounts outside of the school day. Sometimes that can come and interrupt the learning during the school day. When principals and teachers are aware of that, principals investigate it because we don't want to have those issues. Do they occur? Yes, but it's not to the point where it's problematic. There's some one offs where there's a fight. I think it was in a middle school and it was recorded. But that is not the norm.

I also want to speak a little bit to your question, Trustee Muhammad, about warning versus kind of immediately taking the phone. We did have some discussion about that. And one of the things that we talked about as we talked about that component in particular was we don't want to put our staff in a position of getting into power struggles with students, right, and a warning as opposed to, oh, I see it, immediately take it, no questions asked. We felt set up. power struggles between adults and students, and we want to negate that. It gives both parties an off-ramp to avoid a power dynamic struggle. Additionally, we are, which you'll hear more about when we bring forward the student advisory report that we didn't get to in the spring and that we'll bring next month, you'll hear more about it then. We also are systemically across all of our levels, we've launched restorative practices. And we felt like a warning was in line with the restorative practices approach that we're trying to make sure that we are consistently doing at all levels. And we didn't wanna move to just the punitive consequence right away, take the phone, perhaps have power struggle between teacher and student, when there are ways to avoid that. So we did discuss that piece that you brought up.

in some some specificity in detail and landed on the warning trustee that's good thank you um good work ladies I do appreciate it cook two questions well maybe three first of all we are pre-k district why did you not include pre-k I mean yeah it may sound amazing that a four-year-old would have a phone but why did you not include pre-k

Well, the law is specifically for kindergarten through 12th grade, so it does not include our GSRP or Head Start programs.

But will we not have the same expectation should a phone show up in a Head Start program? We have never, knock on wood, at this point, had a young learner bring a cell phone. And I hope that never happens, but should we not be prepared, I guess, is my question. Sure, yes, absolutely. So that's number one. For sure. Then second question, um, the, I saw in the previous draft, how are we treating our K pre K eight program? Um, our, I know we have, um, you know, we don't have many middle schoolers in the pre K to eight program, but what is your anticipation?

So the K-8, and I know Dr. Hayward oversees our K-8, they would simply fall into the categories of elementary K-5 and then the middle school portion 6-8. So they will follow those expectations and guidelines.

And as I understand it, the middle schoolers are away from the younger grades. for the most part when i think of the buildings yeah okay yeah just wanted to clarify that and then you know we're talking about qualitative feedback what i've heard from from high schoolers is i'm 17 you shouldn't teach treat me as a six-year-old at the same time my seven-year-old brother shouldn't have the same privileges as i have at 16. so i do appreciate the age appropriateness I think it is, you know, it's a good compromise. And while we do appreciate the fine parents who have been advocating soundly for their proposals, we have to recognize there are other parents who feel totally opposite but would be intimidated to coming to a meeting like this to, you know, offer their opinion as well. Having sat on the Government Relationships Committee for the MASB, have heard from other board members and districts who did wanted nothing to do with this so again I think what the legislators did was a compromise whether we like it or not I appreciate this as a compromise and again welcoming to all of our parents regardless of your parenting style and how you deal with your cell phone devices I think the only way to assure that a student does not have his or her phone in school is for parents to take it or not give them one. So again, we can't deal with that again. What parents do is their responsibility or option. But again, I think this is a sound policy and a nice compromise. So thank you, ladies.

Thank you.

I see Norton. Thank you both for your report and for the materials. Pardon me. I have to admit that I, based on my kids' experience, which is now several years old, am sympathetic with some of the teachers who spoke earlier, particularly Ms. Vale, who was one of my daughter's teachers, about the struggle of having to go and correct students and ask them to put things away and constantly doing that. And I can understand the desire for flexibility, I guess one question would be, is that better than having the responsibility for, I think you mentioned, locked pouches or something during the classroom? Aren't they both an increase in responsibility on the classroom teachers and taking away from instructional time?

So, I think the, thank you for your question. I think that, and I don't know enough about the locked pouches, but I can tell you that in talking and engaging with the principals, they were really concerned about having locked pouches. One, you have to, students put their phone in a locked pouch, those pouches have to go somewhere. Who's responsible for the pouches? Who's responsible if the phones come up missing? Because we're not talking about just one or two phones that a teacher or a principal may confiscate, we're talking about all the phones in the building. And so that was a problem. That was an area of concern, I should say, for principals.

And an additional concern was with our current climate in the district, you know, the degree to which we would ask staff to be responsible for that level of detail regarding monitoring and managing student devices was a concern that came up as well. get teacher support, staff support, staff buy-in to help be a part of managing those pouches.

I would also add, at least for elementary, kindergartners are learning how to put away their boots, their materials, so to add one more thing to their list does not developmentally make sense.

I'd like to add one more thing regarding the pouches. I've just been doing some research on districts that have actually adopted the pouches and have now decided to get rid of them because it's been causing some sort of backlog when it comes to trying to lock them and then unlocking them. That has been sort of a logistical nightmare or an issue. So that's, you know, for those folks who are considering pouches, Um, that's something to definitely keep in mind. And again, teachers would be involved having to, um, you know, be involved in directing all of that.

Trustee Muhammad.

You have a response to that, Trustee Norton? A follow up. Yes. I wasn't necessarily intending to advocate the pouches, but I was trying to indicate the fact that one way or another, at least at the high school level, we're asking classroom teachers to take on significant responsibility and I was wondering if we're reluctant for I mean a number of good reasons not to do that sort of storage or the sort of thing they do at the county courthouse where you have tiny little individual lockers which you know I can see would be problematic but aren't our Is our instructional staff really comfortable with having this kind of interaction with kids, asking them to put phones away? I know that you said that the response in the survey was that generally kids were accepting of this. I know that from my own kids' experience, I know they had a hard time accepting those kinds of things. And I can understand why, as a classroom teacher, having to do that every time, multiple times a day, especially when you have new groups of kids and you're not just in one classroom, that that could be really burdensome. And I'm just wanting to make sure that, in terms of conditions of work and everything else, is this a net improvement, especially at the secondary level?

So I have a high schooler. I'm about to have two. And so just want to say, at least for the high school that they're at, which is a comprehensive high school, it's very manageable in terms of what he's expected to do. There are pouches in the classroom. They put their pouch inside the classroom when they come in. And then when they leave, they take their phone out the pouch, and that's how it's monitored. Haven't had any issues with my student, but it seems to work for him, and for the majority of students after consulting with our principal leaders around the current practices they have in place.

Her son does attend Ann Arbor Public Schools as well, so. I don't, yes. So I don't know if that answers your question. Teachers are currently, are currently doing it.

I was just about to say, maybe it's a clarification that this is the current practice. Yes. So this isn't, the policy recommendations aren't new things that we are asking teachers to do or staff to do in our schools or students to do at the high school level specifically.

I was just wondering if this was an opportunity to remove friction that is causing, you know, that might reasonably cause some discontent Trustee Muhammad, then Trustee Wilkins.

So about the verbal warning, first of all, how is that being documented and enforced? Because like is that and then how is everything going to be tracked? So is that so if someone gives them a verbal warning for a student, is that going to be documented in the records that they know? OK, now. So what's the process of how this is going to get escalated and documented? And my second question is how that annual review is going to look like and hopefully it's data driven. Do we see like a decrease or, you know what I mean?

So I'll speak on elementary. So a verbal warning is a verbal warning for our learners. It's an opportunity to correct a behavior. And so it's not tracked because we don't want to track verbal warnings with our youngest learners who are still learning how to do school, whether they're in kindergarten or fifth grade. So no, we're not going to ask teachers to track a verbal warning. Again, that's a potential workload. We're given an opportunity to learn. We might kneel down. have a conversation with them, whatever it might look like in the moment. Now, if it becomes a pattern, so maybe two or three times or a third time, then it can be documented by the teacher to communicate that back home. If it's even more excessive, it's an opportunity for the teacher to talk to the administrator, to involve the administrator. And so it will be a case by case example in terms of what it looks like. But again, we don't wanna make this punitive. We wanna make it a learning opportunity for our students.

and i'm sure dr hayward will talk more but even at secondary verbal warnings and unless it becomes a pattern or something that we note every single time we talk with a student about behavior or whatever the case may be but if it becomes a pattern we do but i don't know if you have more to add no you know um we are we are engaging with students right and their youth um and so we don't document verbal warnings we look at it as um

lessons learned, right, and we want to teach them, and not consequence them initially. Patterns of behavior, that's different, and so we have office discipline referral forms. If teachers are confiscating the phones, they would turn it over to an administrator. Parent phone calls, et cetera, when we get to that level, then we're documenting those things in PowerSchool, but initially, no, we wouldn't.

I think that's where my concern is, is that it's not consistent. And now you're putting everything on the teachers to decide, okay, how many verbal warnings are we going to give this one student when they see? And then we do know that there are sometimes inequities of how discipline, I mean, we're seeing that even within our data. Um, so that's why, I'm just trying to think of how do we not put everything on the teachers to decide well how many warnings are we going to give this one student but then this student they had one warning and now we're going to compensate you know take back there so that's what I'm trying to figure out is how do we take that

empower the teachers to be like this is the process and apply it consistently throughout I agree that's our I was just gonna say I agree because that's our eternal struggle about a great many things not just cell phones right um and so cell phone would be but but one of those areas where you know how do we ensure that consistently consistency so we we agree

and in the draft recommendation it does says it says a verbal warning so now it doesn't say if that's per teacher right if i'm a teacher and i give a student a verbal warning right and then they get another verbal warning in another classroom that's up to that teacher right we want consistency If they came back in my class the next day with the cell phone out, then according to the draft recommendation, the phone would be confiscated. So while it's been up to the teacher, if you will, in the past, again, codifying the language will bring consistency, we hope.

So trustee basket yes on this issue. Yes. Okay.

I was just going to say, I think it's a, um, a matter of understanding what the ground rules are. Period. Um, teachers and staff take corrective action with students all the time. And as parents, we know some kids are knuckleheads and it takes a little more than, than other students. And I think while we are, should be concerned regarding inequities of applying discipline, we also have to allow some flexibility. Again, some, some teachers can tell a student once and it's resolved and some teachers have to do it in different ways in order to get that corrective action and that learning to happen. And I think we just need to acknowledge that.

That's something trustee Wilkins.

yeah i had a couple of questions thanks for dealing with all of our questions here um i i want to visit the i have a question about the discipline part of it but or consequences part of it but first i want to um add to what trustee norton is saying about the Limited discussions that I've had with teachers have all the overwhelming, all of them have said it's a chore. High school teachers have said it's using up instructional time to police these phones. It's something that they'd rather not have to do. So again, if we can develop this policy in a way that takes some of that from the teachers off their backs to give them their instructional time back, give them less policing to do so they can actually teach and do the fun stuff about teaching and less of the less fun stuff. And I'm wondering if, I mean, every high schooler has a locker. I know they don't ever use them, but they do have a locker that locks. And I'm wondering if, It was discussed or if it could be discussed if the policy includes putting it in the locker During non-instructional time so then it makes it harder for them, right? So if they do know that they need to check in with their parents at lunchtime Then yeah, they're gonna have to go to their locker and get their phone during lunch and check it during lunchtime But it puts one more kind of barrier in there like oh I'll just go to lunch and talk to my friends because none of them are gonna go take the time to go get their phone either. So it just kind of makes it a little harder for them. It's not us spending any time on pouches or, and it takes, again, it would be less burdensome. So you're still going to have kids trying to sneak their phones into classrooms, but you're going to have that anyway, but hopefully it would be fewer of them, right? Because they're not, they're going to have to go all the way to the second floor to get their phone if they have to or whatever, that kind of thing. I'm hoping or I'm wondering if any of that was thought about, if there was anything given to that idea.

In terms of, just so I understand you, having high school students place their phones in a locker versus on their person? Yes. So we talked about that in some of the student feedback. I saw students were saying that, you know, for middle school students don't really put their phone in their backpacks or their locker. They keep it on them. And I think that would be the same for high school. We don't obviously know that it's on them because it's turned off or it's on silent and it's put away. But students themselves were saying most students don't do that. They keep their phone on them, right? And I think that would be the case at the high school, principals think that it would be the case at the high school. And even if they went to their locker to retrieve their phone during passing time, who's to say they're gonna keep it in the locker?

But I think, if I understand, I was hearing you say, Trustee Wilkins, is that something that we could talk about, go back and talk about? If we, and explore the possibility of that specifically, even with the feedback that we've gotten. Yeah, we can do that.

I mean, middle school, it looks like it's already the lockers are going to be the expectation. So could we also have that expectation for the high schoolers? If we're not, you know, it's a different kind of compromise. So it's not bell to bell. So I hear you about the reason the reason to not do bell-to-bell for those older students is also to give them some responsibility, like Trustee Baskett was saying, to trust them with more responsibility, just like we do with our teenagers versus our younger kids, right? But again, if they're gonna keep it on their person and just keep it silenced, Yes, that may pose a situation with the teacher where the teacher's gonna have to confiscate or give that verbal warning and go according to that thing, but hopefully there'd be less of it. And it would show that we're trying to, Support our teachers. We're trying to make it easier for them to teach and not giving them one more thing that they have to Deal with every day or yeah, we can work with them one less thing if they're already doing Yeah Yeah, we can certainly go back and talk with our School teams about that.

Yeah for sure.

Yeah, it's our trustee Schmidt. Then that's our trustee Norton and basket.

I so logistically um having taught middle school and high school uh the idea that high schoolers let me just i'm trying to understand your suggestion i'm just trying to put it into how that would work so students would come in in the high school we would ask them to the policy says though not during instructional time and teachers have caddies in their rooms right or not our three comprehensive high schools they all have pocket charts in their rooms okay ask students to so if those caddies are there they're not putting them in their lockers and it's crazy that they don't use their lockers right i see at the middle school they drag all their stuff around with them even though we say you can't have a big backpack and your coat and all this um because um they would have to go into school go put it in their locker then go to class and then run to their locker to go to lunchroom. And I don't know, I, I'm, It's a hassle for teachers. It's a hassle and it's a hassle when we don't all work together. To me, that's one of the biggest things is that if I don't have my colleagues all on the same page with me, then I look like the mean teacher and everybody wants to, you know, have a good relationship with their students. So we get, you know, we make a safe feeling classroom where students learn. So implementation is everything. I really lean towards a bell to bell to just have them out of sight. You're still going to have arguments. I don't care if we do only instructional time. If we do bell to bell, if we don't all do this together, it's not going to work. And I am so pleased with the parents here that are trying to educate out in the community. do the packs, all these things so that parents understand they're part of this, right? But then I also have a great example this week, a phone call with a parent that basically said, I don't really care what your kid's going to be. My kid's going to bring a bad, what do they call those phones, you know, one that doesn't work? Burner phone. Burner phone to put in the pocket because he's going to carry his phone. I mean, it's just like, you know, oh, my God, you know, work with us here. So, I mean, I don't want to deal with it as a teacher every stinking hour where they have to put it in the pocket. And I've had friends that are in schools like that. So, I lean towards as much as we can just completely say, we don't see phones. Is it not fair? Is it not equitable? You can always go into the office, maybe even go into a teacher's room and say, you know, I really need to contact my parent. Do I have your permission to do that? I'm not feeling real great about the policy instruction, what the state requires, because we're doing the minimal, what the state requires. The other thing I would say is no matter what we decide here, we're going to vote not today but at our next meeting. I had a really great conversation with a gentleman who's working with Angela Duckworth, who's doing national work on this, right? You guys have probably read about her. Brian Jacob, he's at the Ford School of Public Policy. It was very interesting to talk to him because we talked about the patches and he goes, you know, we just right now we don't have evidence that those really improve achievement and some of the things people are hoping for but we're trying to gather more information and he said hey whatever you guys pass if there's any way i can help because i have trouble bringing in data for our studies because they too want to find out what the best thing is we should remember he's across the street and he's willing to say yeah be great we'll run focus groups for you because that gives us more data so whatever we decide I think we need to continue to really look at it what's working what isn't working and let's lean on these people that this is their wheelhouse I mean, we don't have enough staff to do everything, and if we can use the experts to help us fine-tune this, but I, you know, I lean towards the whole day on each, just the same thing at the middle school, at the high school. That's where I stand on it. But I appreciate all your work that you've done. It's just that that's where I'm at.

So we're going to go Norton basket Wilkes. Then I have something I want to say, so so let's do it that way.

Thank you Mr President. I don't mean to hassle you guys. I'm coming at this with my first real exposure to stuff being the program that was announced by the American Federation of Teachers, Devices Down, Eyes Up, Hands On, and Randy Weingarten, the president's speech on this, which I thought was really engaging. But you both mentioned equity considerations of students who needed to have access to their phones sometime during the school day in order to make arrangements for work and various other things i'm wondering if you could tell us more about that and what kinds of um if if those needs could be served in some intermediate way without necessarily uh in other words could we have could we have students not necessarily hand them out but still have access to that kind of thing i don't know i don't know what the intermediate But could you talk more about those needs and how we might address it?

Sure. With the high school group, as we discussed the possibility of having the phones away all day, these are things that they came up with in terms of, but wait a minute, what about the students who have to care for their younger siblings, right, and the parents or the ARE CONTACTING THEM THROUGHOUT THE DAY TO SAY CHANGE UP HERE OR YOU HAVE TO PICK UP SUCH AND SUCH FROM SCHOOL BECAUSE THEY HAVE FALLEN ILL, ET CETERA. WHAT ABOUT THE STUDENTS WHO ARE DUAL ENROLLED, RIGHT? I'M HEARING FROM PRINCIPALS THAT THEY GET COMMUNICATION FROM THE SCHOOLS WHETHER IT'S U OF M, EASTERN, Community, they're getting communication from those institutions. What about the students who work, right? And their employer is reaching out to them to see if they can come in early or we don't need you today. So they're saying that there are parts of the day where students at the high school level, because they're older and they have a lot more responsibilities, should have access to their phone. And that's why they agreed overwhelmingly that in high school it should not be all day away.

I mean, I can certainly understand, just from my daughter's experience at Pioneer, that going to and from her locker, which was somewhere in the distant whatevers, that that could be problematic. But it would be interesting to see if there's some midway point. Or maybe it will work to have, if there's a district-wide policy, that is announced and employed in the same in every classroom. It could be that maybe this wouldn't become as burdensome, especially as students who are coming up through the system who have been already functioning under the rules for elementary and middle. I hope that that's the case. It's sort of a question of how do we balance these things. But thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Baskett, please.

Thank you, sir. I think what I want to remind our colleagues is although we have the staff, the school district has been dealing with cell phones for a few years now. We are coming to a point and it may be that we're on the forefront of codifying expectations and let's see where we are. We may have to do a change. We may want to do a change or not want to do a change. I think that's what the whole annual review thing is about. With our larger comprehensive schools, what I will remind my colleagues is our schools are physically large. And I remember as a student, I had a locker D wing. I can't tell you how disappointed I was because my classes were all up on the second floor of C wing. And so when I got to school again, I prepared for an all day, you know, because I had, you know, band and the one wing. And so I may not see my locker until the end of day. Um, so that did require me to carry all that stuff, but that's the way it was. And I don't know how I ended up with D wing, but let me tell you, I was not a happy camper. Um, but that was reality. So, I mean, logistically again, we're just throwing out some ideas, but I know as a student, um, we just got to think too about their time. And I, I don't know what we did. I can't remember what we did for passing time, but there was never enough time to get from. one side of the building to the other and still be in class on time. So just a consideration there. And I appreciate the conversation, trustees.

I was just going to say to your point, Trustee Baskett, we will have to think about the enforceability of the policy as well. And when you think about these huge high schools that we have, passing time, if we said you can't have your phones during passing time, how would you enforce that? You would meet bodies in every hallway, every corner of the school to ensure that no one has their phone out.

Absolutely. And I think we have to remember, too, communications have changed. I mean, I often hear, you know, we talk about families wanting to connect with students. Well, sometimes it's the coach or the private tutor or the music lesson after school. So unfortunately or fortunately, it is a mode of communication that we as a culture now have adopted. I mean, I'm reminded that, you know, people don't do emails anymore because I do. That's my preferred method. But, you know, again, we're all kind of learning this together as a community. And again, I do appreciate, you know, Screenwise taking, you know, their pro-action. But as Trustee Schmidt said, there are some parents who aren't going to budge on this. So we have to, again, try to figure out a good compromise.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you. So I have a quick comment. So, you know, as we consider a cell phone policy, I just think it's important that we have a policy that's practical and not too difficult to enforce. Most teachers currently have some sort of cell phone plan in place. Also, a policy that is fair and equitable, which we've been addressing. And the policy must benefit student learning and achievement. We've checked all of those boxes, so I just wanted to point that out. So a question. So when we drafted this policy, I think it's important that student voice is represented, and I'm glad students were included in the process. So I'm just curious, how many students actually participated in putting together this draft policy? How were students selected, and did student participation fully reflect and represent the diversity of our district?

That's a great question. I know for some of our high schools, they sent out a survey. And so any student wanted to respond. I think one school got a 430 students response. Middle schools, they met with their student leadership group. So it was either student council, student leadership team, focus group, et cetera. We did not ask them to quantify how many student responses they received. So we will have to get that information from principals.

Okay, and one more thing. I'm hearing that smartwatches are more of an issue than cell phones, especially in the elementary schools. Can you address that? So you can.

Yes, so for elementary feedback varied like middle schools, so student council or student leadership groups or student equity. And with smartwatches, yes, that's why it was important for teachers and our staff that reported back to principals that they wanted to make sure that smartwatches were a part of the policy, that they are not allowed in school.

Okay, great, thank you. I have a question and then I have a comment. All right, so my question is, you made the policy different for K through eight than for high school. where middle school is set up more similar to high school in terms of changing classes and passing times and things of that nature. Did you consider doing the middle school policy similar to the high school policy and why did you choose to offer a different recommendation for them than for high schools?

So that was based on the feedback that the principals, they got from the students, from the staff and what they brought back and they worked collectively together. And it's also something that they currently do. Currently, at the middle school, you can use it before school, you can use it after school. So it's current practice as well.

While the structure of middle school and high school is similar in terms of changing classes, the developmental levels are different. where they are in their development. Have you been in a middle school? I have, I have. They're different.

But I guess to that point, I'm in a middle school once a month for the dining dashes and all those things, and I see the kids at the lunchtime, And they seem to be pleasant, throwing the football around, talking to their friends. Sometimes I see phones and I don't see a problem that they're having. And so I guess I'm curious if it's not a problem. then why would the policy need to be different? And to that point, I know middle schoolers who are taxed with raising their little sister, their little brother, and they have a single mom at home or a single dad at home, and they have to get that text from mom and check it throughout the day to find out where they're going after school, what student they have to help accommodate. those parents aren't going to call the office and say send this message to my child all the time. So in my community, I see that as an issue that could be a problem as a result of this kind of policy. And so I'm just wondering if those kind of considerations have been thought of and, you know, when i see when you all see that child violating that policy because they're going to violate it how do we make sure that that discipline doesn't doesn't hurt that child's ability to learn uh moving forward and so that's a concern that i have okay yeah

I think by and large, for the middle school students, as a former middle school principal, and we had device concerns. When I was at the middle school, I think you would see more students, if it was allowed during passing and lunchtime, you would have more students. Not all, the majority will follow the expectations, but you would have more students. Because of their developmental stage, violate that and take it into classrooms.

All right. And you all can stand if you want, but I have kind of a statement to my colleagues that I want to kind of offer. And so this is my thought, and maybe it's my legal training or my political science background, but I was taught when I was going through school, the idea when you passed a law or a policy was to find out what the problem is. and then address the law to resolve the issue. To date, our administration has said there is no problem. They have said this has not been a concern. It has not been a huge problem. It has not been an issue. What they have in place now has been working just fine. And so that's an issue. Secondly, our union leadership has indicated that this is not a problem. They have told me directly that they have a formal mechanism by which teachers can complain and notify them of issues they want them to address with the district. And no one has brought up cell phones up to this point. So when we decide we're going to make a law or a policy or anything of that nature, and I know Governor Whitmer and our senators and representatives have determined we have to make some kind of policy. But what issue, and no one's been able to answer this for me, what specific issue are we having that we are trying to address? Because when you make policies and laws that don't address particular issues, then you have collateral consequences that can also become a problem. And you don't want to make a problem where there isn't a problem. And so that's a concern that I have. And yes, I know we have a loud parent group advocating for certain things. But you have to acknowledge that we have parents who can't keep their hands off the cell phones while they're driving down the road despite there being a law saying you cannot touch your cell phones. But we're gonna expect our children to not touch their cell phones throughout the entire eight hour day because we don't have a reason just because there needs to be a policy. And so to me that's a concern that needs to be addressed. And I saw Muhammad Wilkinson and Schmidt.

So, um, so just looking at this, so first there's a lot of, and I understand there's a lot of different situations where, yeah, you're part of a, you know, single family house, you know, and you're taking care of your little siblings. Um, there's going to be kind of one off situations where we have to accommodate those. So I don't see that really other than like if there was any special educational needs, but are there other scenarios where if they need to have a cell phone, can we give them some leeway? I'm supportive because I do see that there is evidence that shows that cell phones, especially when they have social media on it, when they're always on their screens, especially in younger kids and definitely middle schoolers that It is impacting their mental health. I've seen it personally with my kid. There is bullying and cyber bullying happening. So I would say that I would think that the legislators are pushing something because there is evidence to show that there's some harm. But how do we fix it? I think that's why the state legislators put a something in law that's like a little bit more flexible for us. So I'm all about, you know, I try to avoid as long as I can for my kids' cell phones. But sometimes it's hard, especially if, like, you need them to call you when they're off the bus, but they're in fifth grade and, you know, you want to make sure that they're home or, you know, so many different scenarios. I support a bell-to-bell all day. I do see that in high school, I have a high schooler, well, now it's going to be two, two high schoolers, but I had a middle schooler and high schoolers. I see the distraction even at high school. Maybe this is, you know, maybe a first step in high school to at least have them put them away, you know, in the backpacks. I mean, I prefer... it to be consistent throughout all the schools. But my biggest concern is how do we, because I'm looking at the policy, how are we implementing, like where is this, especially in how I'm reading the policy, what's the stepwise approach? So for discipline, you know, first warning, and that's why I was asking, is it being documented? If they're constantly, you know, and you know, you have all these classes, especially in middle school, you have all these kids, and how do you keep track? Who did you warn first? And did they have another warning? Is the next step, do they, because I've seen other policies in other schools, like is the next step, you take away the cell phone and then the student picks it up is the following step after that if they do it again it's on i think it's it's on one of the slides yeah it's presented to us yeah it's on slide seven on slide seven yeah consequences progressive discipline verbal warning confiscation parent caregiver notification loss of privileges caregiver conference device management plan so i'm looking at the policy itself

You were just addressing the discipline issue and that's what I was responding to.

So I'm seeing.

So if you look at the policy on page four, item nine, it says consequences for misuse.

Yes. So I'm seeing the violation of this policy may result in progressive disciplinary action including, but not limited to. So that's kind of opening it up to, so it says verbal warning, redirection, so I guess the wording isn't, because it says it's also not limited to. So what is that, like how is this being, like for example with the verbal warning, how is that being tracked? I guess it's not, I've seen it in other schools where the policy is very clear, this is step one, step two, because it says not including, but not limited to. So you change the bullets to numbers?

i think the answer is that it's not being tracked i think they've already said that it's not being tracked as of right now the verbal warning part but it's also including but it says including but not limited to so what does that mean they can do worse they can do more

may I just okay trusty Mohammed okay you know I think even if we didn't have a warning as a teacher in a classroom warnings are gonna happen right so whether you put it in there doesn't really matter because we're trying to and I love the expression that superintendent parks say you try to find an off-ramp because you don't want to have a power struggle nothing worse than saying okay I need your phone No. Okay, what do I do now? No, I understand. So it's going to happen whether it's written, but the fact that it's written may make it so that some kids will feel like, oh, if I forget or, you know, I'm not going to get in such huge trouble. Because some kids just forget.

Setting expectations.

So is this a stepwise? Because how I'm reading it, it doesn't feel stepwise. So there's a verbal warning, redirection, or, so now you're giving two options, redirection or taking away the device. Then parent guardian notification is the third step. And then temporary loss of device privileges. What does that even mean? So I'm trying to think, if I was a teacher and I'm reading this, it's not i've seen it at other policies where it's like very clear first do you have suggestions it seems to give teachers discretion uh as to how they want to do things a little bit and if you're saying you don't like the discretion that's then that's the fair you know that's my concern is that i feel like again because we have seen it in our disciplinary data that there is inequities and i i before you impose cell phone wait and see what happens next We already have it without this. So I would rather my, my recommendation is having it very clear and consistent instead of providing discretion. Cause then you're going to put the teacher also in a position where they're like, Yes, like, well, do I do I redirect or do I take away the device? So that's I'm just trying to make it as as I know, not not everything's black and white. I know there's special circumstances, but I worry when it's not. as clear and you're leaving it to the discretion of the teacher that's in the middle of trying to do something with the device.

Thank you. Trustee Wilkins?

To that point, I think it's less of a power struggle the more clear these steps are. So I would be in favor of... numbering them or making them more you know this and then this and that kind of thing just no one's going to be walking around with the whole policy 5900 and you know middle schoolers aren't going to be looking at whatever right but that's what we're going to have in our policy um to that end i would like to see wording that says suspensions will in no way be used as a consequence

We discussed that, and they said in the governance meeting that suspensions are not going to be a penalty for this. I don't know that it was written in the policy, but that's not a bad idea to have it written.

I don't see it here, so that's great.

oh i've had to your um comment president feaster with all due respect we are hearing that this is a problem from our staff we are here i don't just i don't doubt that but anytime you say we're thinking about changing something people are going to come with all the problems when this when it's not on the table and then people are coming forward saying we need to address this that gives me more faith that this really a problem Rather than, okay, we're going to change something. What do you think?

We've been hearing before.

The district has not been hearing. The teachers union has not been hearing. There's no data. School board members have been hearing it. There's no data that shows that from what I've been told. There's no data. So it's anecdotal at best.

Yes, but also, I mean, we heard that the survey didn't really address, like, would you like a bell-to-bell? Fair. You know, so that's...

But I guess my point is this. We can ask teachers, you know, how's the temperature in the building, and then everybody will come out and tell you the temperature should be 75. But no one's complaining about temperature right now. So when you put something on the table, you're going to get pushback and you're going to get, you know, comments. When you get it before it's on the table, that's when you know it's really an issue. That's the point I make.

And I'm saying it is really, from what I've heard, and again, you're right, it's anecdotal. It's not an official survey of everyone involved.

Right.

BUT IT'S A PRETTY BIG POOL AT THIS POINT OF FOLKS THAT IT IS A PROBLEM. AND WE ARE HEARING, AS TRUSTEE MOHAMMED SAID, THAT THE OTHER PROBLEM IS THE MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES OF OUR STUDENTS THAT DIDN'T USE TO BE A PROBLEM BEFORE THESE, DIDN'T USE TO BE AS MUCH OF A PROBLEM BEFORE THESE CELL PHONES.

SO YOU'RE SAYING THAT'S THE REASON FOR A POLICY, IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SUGGESTING? A GOOD REASON FOR A POLICY, YEAH. BUT CAN'T THOSE PARENTS JUST NOT GET THEIR CHILDREN CELL PHONES?

I don't think we should, I think we, it's an and.

I mean, we don't have to, if they have a problem.

It's not an and or thing.

If they have a problem and the cell phones, they believe it's the issue, then why do their children have a cell phone?

I don't think it's.

It shouldn't be on the district to do the parenting job.

It's a partnership with the parents.

There's nothing to partner if the child doesn't have a cell phone.

Okay. Trustee Schmidt has a question.

Well, Norton was first and then it was Schmidt.

Sort of on this but Related we have an opportunity and I'm going off trustee Schmitz earlier comment Brian Jacob was a professor of mine at the Ford School and I was a non traditionally student um what one of the things they do is evaluate public policy and Trying to find ways valid ways of finding out what the problem is. Is there a problem? Is this answering the problem what the effect is and And given that you're about to implement a formal policy, even though it, in general, mostly reflects current practice, this could be an opportunity to actually answer some of these questions with some help from folks who can do that kind or students that are working with faculty members. who can do that kind of analysis. Maybe that's one of the questions. Are we having problems? Are we not having problems with it? We don't have answers to those questions because there's been no systematic way of finding out, and maybe this is an opportunity. The other thing I was just going to point out is that just knowing how things work in Lansing, I would really love to have a really authoritative interpretation that passing time, 30 minutes that we're allowed to count as instructional time, will not be counted against us if funds can be used in passing time. It would be really good to make sure that that's hardcore.

If we're wrong, I'm sure they'll let us know. Trustee Smith.

Um, it's clear to me it's a problem. I saw it when I was in the classroom. I haven't been out that long. I spent time at Scarlet this last year going in week about every two weeks working with a specific teacher. It's a problem. Um, I had a principal say to me we need teeth we need the administration to help us on this one because this is such a pain and so when we hopefully the state has now codified this and we're codifying it in our policies hopefully this will be the thing that gives teachers the ability to say hey it's a district-wide law you know rule that's the policy everybody can now lean on that they don't have to be the bad guy or whatever So hopefully that will make it happen. To me, I see the problem so clearly. I see it with the parents of the students I have. I see it with the students that I have had at school and now. A speaker said earlier, I think it was Jennifer Oldham, she made the comment that the model or the algorithms they use, they use looking at gambling equipment. you know we're all we know what this is you just get on the reels and you start scrolling i mean it's like a dopamine hit that's just what it is and it's an issue and kids just tune you out as a teacher and tune the rest of the world out instead of being part of it and being present so to me it's a clear problem and i hope whatever we decide here today we'll have something in policy so that we can start moving forward evaluating it as we go and then improving it you know to help kids and help teachers so that the end game is you know we have better well-being for kids a better teaching environment for the teachers and also many headaches and um better achievement that's what we're going for

can i speak to that real quick and the end game is that we're raising humans who can sit at a stoplight without checking their phone so hopefully we're teaching them better practices i don't think we're going back don't think that's going to happen but it would be nice did you have something uh vice president wilkes oh no okay

All right. If there's no other questions. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

We're on the hot seat here for a long time. Thank you so much, Dr. Hayward and Ms. Alston. Thank you.

All right, I believe that brings us down to 9.2 and 2286, New Dickin Audiovisual and Low Voltage Trades Rebid Contract Recommendation.

We have Mr. Bing and Mr. Rice and team coming forward to present this item, the New Dickin Audiovisual Low Voltage Trades Rebid. So I'm sure they'll specify. Good evening, gentlemen. About the rebid there. Go ahead.

All right. Thank you, Superintendent Parks, and good evening, trustees.

Good evening.

We appreciate the opportunity to bring forward some timely infrastructure and new construction project items for consideration this evening, addressing some immediate needs related to projects planned for work at the new Dickin Elementary School and Forsyth Middle School. So as typical with all of our investments through the capital program, we try to maintain a focus on creating and maintaining healthy, high-performance learning environments for our students and staff. So our first item tonight, as Superintendent Parks mentioned, is Annex number 2286, New Dickin Audio, Visual, and Low Voltage Trades Rebid Contract Recommendation. This is an audio, visual, and low voltage scope of work to support the construction of the new Dickin Elementary School, and is a repackaged, re-bid scope of work previously awarded by the board. So additional scope is needed and was added to this category in this contract, and a rebate allowed us to be sure we were getting the best price for the district. So the scope of work now includes raceways and cable trays for AV systems, fiber optic cabling, CAT 6A cabling, audio visual equipment, which includes speakers, microphones, signage, video display monitors, racks, cameras, et cetera. Installation of AAPS provided equipment, which would include interactive displays or overhead projectors, as an example, and security and access controls. The new scope included the work of licensed electricians, and this work created some particular challenges and concerns for the originally awarded vendor. So the CM helped us facilitate procurement and we received two new bids. The apparent low though was disqualified as they did not bid a complete scope. They had only bid the AV portion of the bid and not the security portion. So when looking though at the two quotes or two bids together, the low bidder, their AV quote was approximately 3% higher than the recommended contractor and this low percentage indicates a good competitive bid on those two vendors. And so the lowest qualified bidder who accounted for all scope items and can meet project schedule commitments was Decima LLC of Detroit, Michigan. So the district recommends to approve the audio-visual and low-voltage contract for the new Dickin Elementary School to Decima LLC of Detroit, Michigan in the amount of $1,153,937 plus a 5% contingency of $57,696 for a total award of $1,211,634 to be paid for from the capital program funds. And I'm happy to answer questions on this item.

So I have a quick question. So I just want to make sure I'm following this correctly. So we initially approved Division 27 LLC and they did not provide the pricing for the additional scope. So they were just.

So, what happens in some of these large projects is after our vendors dig in to their, so originally this vendor bid on a set of contract documents. We put together a set of blueprints and construction plans. A vendor provides prices based on the construction plans and the specifications that are provided at the time of procurement. Once vendors dig in further, sometimes they ask questions. And they ask these questions to our architects and engineers. And so they submit through a formal process, a request for information. That request for information then leads to the architects issuing a bulletin, a clarification. So they modify the contract documents to reflect these changes to clarify the question. When they did that, that's when this the original vendor had concerns about how they clarified the question, and they did not want to proceed with the work because it included licensed electricians, which is not really part of their business model.

Okay, got it. Okay, thank you for that clarification. Trustee Norton?

Thank you, President Feaster. I just wanted to highlight a couple of things that came up in the finance committee and I see our chairs not here. One of them is that one of the problems here is that we were informed there's increasing competition for skilled trades and particularly licensed electricians given a certain large project currently happening in Pittsfield Township. that is causing ripples throughout the rest of the economy. So that's one thing to consider. The other thing I just wanted to make clear that you informed us at the time was that the 5% contingency is Bill 10 because you never know what you're going to find precisely, but it need not be spent if it's not required as a guaranteed award. So, that's something to consider. Mr. Okay. Trustee Schmidt?

Trustee Schmidt- So, I have to piggyback on your thing about what's going on in Salina at the data center. I live on South Ashley and a lot of people the construction guys park on my street to work on the dorms and you know I chat with them sometimes if I'm out in the front yard and when they come back to their cars and they've told me that the this region of the state you know a large region of this part of the state is that the workers there are being offered you know seven days a week and they're getting overtime and that it's sucking the workers out of so many projects and i think we're going to see this in more ways than we want to see over this next year um so it's a real thing that the scope of that project is so huge trustee wilkins

question about other elementaries other new element have we did have we we can't hear you I'm sorry I was standing up to get some space other new elementary buildings have we already approved this work how much was it in comparison and who were the then who was the contractors that were approved for that

I don't have all of those responses. We have a bit out this section or scope of work, this trade contract for Logan, Thurston, and Mitchell. But those buildings are four-section schools. This is a two and a half section school, so the scale is different. So those contracts are larger than what this this particular contract is. To the vendors specifically that were awarded, we could get you that information, but those vendors did not respond to this rebid.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

So our second item tonight is annex number and 2287 Forsyth exterior soffit renovation trades contract recommendation and I think

Yeah, if you wouldn't mind, we do have a couple visuals for you we can share, but this proposed scope of work addresses a deteriorating soffit and header condition that exists at a number of exterior windows at Forsyth Elementary School. So we've got some images of just the existing conditions here. This is the soffit, which is the projected overhang, which meets the exterior wall assembly, which includes windows and bricks and mortar. But a combination of issues then related to aged exterior building envelope are creating building inefficiencies and threaten to damage new HVAC equipment, particularly in extreme cold and extreme hot and humid weather. So we have a couple images up on screen of just the conditions you find underneath, And a number of these images, you'll see daylight and opportunities, pathways for air to move from outside to in or inside to out. And these are the areas of concern that led us to putting together this package. So the package is for turnkey comprehensive carpentry and construction services to repair this exterior soffit and header, protecting HVAC equipment and creating a better thermal comfort experience for students and staff. So up on screen, the yellow represents the entirety of the scope of work or the area in which we're replacing this exterior soffit and header. So this will include the demo of the soffit, grids, tiles, and wires, plaster soffit, plaster coats, lath, and framing, and the plywood and framing underneath. So they'll be replaced with a new metal soffit system and the related trim. New exterior wall assembly at door locations and work will be scheduled to be completed as soon as possible with the most invasive work being completed ideally prior to school coming back in the fall. We might be really up against it here with timing at this point. up on screen, but work that would take place during occupied conditions would likely need to shift to after hours or second shift conditions. So we have factored some of that into the overall bid scope. These images up on screen just simply indicate sort of our, what the condition is in the summertime in particular here. So warm, humid air is able to migrate from outside in. That humid air in particular is hitting our cooling equipment and it's condensing inside and creating water issues. So a new, new insulation barrier, new thermal barrier is going to protect us from the elements. So the capital program then, our team solicited bids from qualified contractors, conducted post-bid interviews to review the scope, project schedule, and staffing level requirements. And in this case, the apparent low bidder withdrew their number as they had a calculation error in their labor hours and requested a withdrawal. So as a result the district recommends to approve the Forsyth middle schools carpentry exterior soffit contract dispense brothers of Ann Arbor, Michigan for exterior rehabilitation in the amount of seven hundred twenty eight thousand six hundred fifty dollars plus a ten percent contingency fee of seventy two thousand dollars eight sixty five for a total award of eight hundred one thousand five hundred fifteen to be paid for from the capital funds and I'm happy to answer questions.

Trustee Wilkins.

You talked about the timing might be tight on this and how if they end up having to finish it after school starts, were you meaning that overtime might have to be paid, labor might cost more, and that kind of, is that what you were saying?

Yeah, we talked with them, this vendor in particular, about the likelihood that this scope would have to drift into occupied hours, so in that process, we wanted to make sure that they were accounting for not disrupting school operations. So we're going to, so these folks know that we're gonna have to push work to unoccupied hours for some of the projects that are going to create actual disruptions for students. But maybe Jason, if you have any more clarifications on that. I mean, if I answer the question appropriately, then I'd, you know.

The reason I'm asking is, is two weeks going to make a difference? Is this one of those things where if we decided to move it up to a second briefing and approved it now, would that make a difference to that schedule? And maybe you were talking about the air conditioning and humidity and we have less of that to deal with. Maybe it makes it an easier job. I know nothing about this, so I'm just

No, I really appreciate that. I mean, I would defer to Superintendent Parks with sort of procedural requests here. But from a timing standpoint, certainly the sooner that we award a contract to this vendor, the sooner we are able to get this work started, the sooner we are able to potentially get the bulk of the work done before any bodies are in the building. So, yeah. As our work is often, you know, time-constrained, we are always happy to get started as soon as we possibly can.

And the vendor could start sooner than or as soon as possible?

Yes. I mean, they are currently working on another project at Forsyth right now. So, yes, they would be able to.

so just for clarification so trustee wilkins you're suggesting that we but not skip second briefing and just go immediately to approving it i guess i'm not really sure following i'm i'm wondering if that's something that we might want to consider if it saves us money if it's um gonna make it so that more of the work is done before the students are back in the building okay i'd like to be that i think that might be something we could consider

Trustee Baskett.

I appreciate that, Trustee, and I could support that. I mean, remember, Trustees, we did postpone a meeting or cancel a meeting where this would have been the time to approve it anyway. We're following our usual process.

This would have been the second briefing. Yes. Exactly.

So we would have been voting on this. So I could support that if you'd like to move that.

I'd like to move that. Do I do that now?

sure why not you'd like to move it to a briefing action moving to board action or you're asking yeah or the consent agenda I don't know which one it goes to if we move left to board action if you don't mind well I had a twelve point three addressing board action is there support I supported a move by trustee Wilkins supported by trustee basket any discussion trustees All right, seeing none. Mr. Cooley?

Trustee Baskett? Yes. Trustee Norton? Yes. Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

Trustee Wilks? Yes. Trustee Wilkins? Yes. Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

President Feaster?

I guess that's fine. motion passes seven to nothing don't stress yourself out president that's why i said that all right i believe that brings us to was it 9.3 uh an 2287 We just did that, right?

Yeah, that's what we just did.

So I guess we're all set then with you all for right now. That brings us to second briefing, 10.1 AN2283, Athletic Training Service Recommendation for Huron and Skyline High School.

The change in between first briefing and second briefing, it's not a change actually, it's a clarification on a question that was asked during first briefing about the reason for the increase between I think 2003, maybe in 2004. At that time, MedSport renegotiated all of their contracts with their athletic trainers and brought their salaries up to fair market value. and they worked with their union to do that. And so the increased cost of salaries was then reflected in the athletic trainer contracts that we are in partnership with. for the athletic trainers at both Skyline and Huron. And so that's a significant part of the increase in costs between those years. And the other part of that was an increase of about 800 additional hours for the two athletic trainers at those schools was the other part of that increase.

And that was like a 40 percent increase in costs. 60% increase in the hours needed. That explains it.

I appreciate that. No problem. Thank you, President Feaster. So real quick, so it's been a while since we visited this. Seems like it's been several weeks. But I just need a little refresher. So again, so does the MHSAA require us to have trainers? Yes, they do. So that's why this is not an option all right okay well we want the safety of our students yes yeah and the safety of our students so i just i just wanted to reiterate that um just for for the public and for folks who just may not know um but this is a hefty price tag i i just want to say that i mean this is what a teacher or two i just want to put that out there um but again it's required so um yeah so we have to do it

Any other comments, trustees? All right. Thank you so much. That brings us down to 10.2 AN 2281, Capital Program Management Service Contract Extension Recommendation.

There are no changes to that particular item since first briefing.

Sir, did you? I believe in the agenda. Because I'm not seeing those items on the consent agenda. The expectation was that there would be a vote on both of these items.

Oh, I apologize. You're right. My apologies. So going back to 10.1A and 2283, the athletic trainers, is there a motion? So moved. Moved by Trustee Wilkins. Is there support? Second. Support by Trustee Schmidt. Any discussion, trustees? Seeing none, Mr. Cooley, whenever you're ready.

Trustee Wilkins?

Yes.

Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Trustee Wilks?

No.

Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

President Feaster? Yes. Trustee Norton? Yes. Motion passes 6 to 1.

Thank you. That brings us to AN 2281, Capital Program Management Services Contract Extension. I believe Superintendent Parks said there were no changes. Any questions, trustees? Seeing none, is there a motion? So moved. Moved by Trustee Baskett. Second. Supported by Vice President Wilks. Any discussion, trustees? Seeing none, Mr. Kluwer.

Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

Trustee Wilks?

Yes.

Trustee Norton? Yes. Trustee Wilkins?

Yes.

Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

PRESIDENT FEASTER.

YES.

MOTION PASSES. THANK YOU.

THAT BRINGS US DOWN TO THE CONSENT AGENDA, TRUSTEES. WE ARE NOW AT THE CONSENT AGENDA. MR. CLOOLEY, WILL YOU PLEASE READ THE CONSENT AGENDA?

11.1, APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE JUNE 17, 2026 REGULAR MEETING. 11.2, APPROVE A CLOSED SESSION. And 11.3 approved donations for Elro Metals Outlet donated 141.2 pounds of aluminum shapes usable drops for the Forsyth Robotics Program.

All right. Would anyone like anything removed from the consent agenda? Seeing none, do I have a motion? So moved. Moved by Vice President Wilks, supported by Trustee Schmidt. Any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Cooley, please.

Trustee Wilks? Yes. Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

Trustee Wilkins?

Yes.

Trustee Feaster? Yes. Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

and trustee norton yes motion passes seven to nothing uh i do question i think we're supposed to say exactly what that closed session when and what it's for attorney client and negotiations thank you

All right, I believe that brings us down to number 12, board action. First item is 12.1, ASC tentative agreement. And Ms. Langford, looks like she is approaching.

Okay, thank you. Good evening, trustees and superintendent Parks. Good evening.

Oh, can you all hear me?

Yeah. Sorry. Okay, I come before you this evening asking for your vote on a tentative agreement that the district reached with the ASCSA, which stands for the Association of School and Community Service Administrators. I will just highlight, I know you have this, portions of the TA in which we agreed upon. A lot of the TA was actually things that we just needed to add that we actually had in place, but were not needed to put it in the contract because we hadn't had it there. Some of the compensation highlights is that we now have a portion of the contract where those staff members on the instructional side who have master's degrees, and it's a requirement, or not a requirement, I'm sorry, a preferred portion of the job description, would get a $500 stipend every year. And then as far as compensation, this is a four-year agreement. For the 25-26 school year, we'd be looking at obviously the step increases, and that's overall the school years, a 2% on-scale increase for all steps, and then a .5% for those at the very top, which is step six. For 26-27, again, a one-step advancement for steps. 1.5% on-scale increase for all steps, and then an additional .5 for those, again, at the top. 27-28. A step advancement, 1.5% on scale, increase for all steps, an additional 0.5 again at the top. And 28-29, step advancement, 2% on scale for all, and then a 0.5 again increase for all those at the top of the scale. That is the gist of the agreement. Are there any questions?

Thank you very much. Any questions, trustees? Seeing none, I assume I need a motion to adopt the resolution approving the ASCSC tentative agreement as presented. So moved. Moved by Trustee Schmidt. Second. Supported by Vice President Wilkes. Any discussion, trustees? Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for your hard work on this one. Appreciate it. All right. Mr. Kluble, please.

Trustee Norton. Yes. Trustee Schmidt.

Yes.

Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Wilkins?

Yes.

Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

President Feaster? Yes. And Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Motion passes.

I believe that brings us down to our added 12.2, which is the resolution or the settlement agreement resolution that we have. Does anybody have any questions?

Do we have the language yet?

I don't have it on the agenda.

It should be in diligent. Did you refresh? Yeah, I see it. I refresh. I refresh. I just don't, and I don't see it. And I was just wondering that it's, I'm in the right place.

I refresh and I still don't see it either.

So you don't actually see the resolution? I do not. Oh, I do.

Where at? Under what number do you see?

There's no number.

The settlement agreement. We'll get that uploaded. Okay.

Do we want to do 12.3 while we wait to have that uploaded? 12.3 was what was added by Trustee Wilkins. It was approving the Forsyth soffit, which was under second briefing.

That was under first briefing.

Thank you.

Under first briefing.

First briefing 9.3.

And then we move.

That was AN2287, foresight exterior soffit renovation trade contract recommendation.

Right.

Do trustees have any? So moved. Thank you. Moved by Trustee Baskett, supported by Trustee Schmidt. Any discussion, trustees? I'll offer discussion. I normally don't support moving things past first and second briefing without giving people a chance to weigh in. But I don't know that I think that the public is going to be mad that we are fixing our school and making it better for our students before school starts. So this is one that I guess I can waive my objection. Trustee Wilkins.

this was also reviewed in the finance committee meeting so it's not the first time that some of us have seen this and asked questions about it there trustee schmidt and we did cancel a meeting and it would have been a second briefing anyway so i think that the timeliness of this is important to vote on tonight and that's the reason why i will not do my normal objection yeah and like i just want to say i think it's really important to try to get this done before school starts so let's take advantage of the time

All right. And the weather.

If there's nothing else.

If there's nothing else, whenever you get a chance.

I can take the vote on 12-3 if we're ready.

Yes, we are ready. Mr. Kluwe.

Trustee Muhammad?

Yes.

Trustee Baskett?

Yes.

Trustee Wilkes? Yes. Trustee Schmidt?

Yes.

President Feaster? Yes.

trustee Norton yes and trustee Wilkins yes motion passes 7 to nothing thank you very much mr. Cooley trustees that brings us back to 12.2 and they are still working on that superintendent parks recommended we go to item 13 so let's go to item 13 and come back to 12.2 that will bring us to items for agenda planning to trust

All right, I have a quick question. Yes, we're going back into closed session after this vote to go back to closed session.

We just recessed closed session. So we did. In terms of agenda planning, anything new that I'm not already aware of for agenda planning.

Oh, I have a question. So will we be having in the near future an update on the strategic planning process? We will.

Yep. Okay. Thank you. Our first August meeting. All right. Okay, that brings us to so if I may point to the settlement agreement is indeligent. It is at the end of the document that is linked. So if you scroll to the end of that document, it is it is there.

You're assuming we can go back to Dillicham.

Which document? I think it includes the closed session.

Oh, OK. Oh, OK. OK. I'll go back to closed session. Yeah. Which is under previous. It's at the end of that document.

You're asking an awful lot, Superintendent Park, you know. Some of us are still trying to figure out Dillicham. OK. OK. OK. So I don't, not there. This is so sad. Hmm. I don't have I don't I'm obviously on the wrong page no it was this it right here oh they're community I'm sorry Okay, I have memo okay, thank you all right so under memo to superintendent item i you're saying the last page is what okay the last yes the last three or four pages It's page four. The fourth page.

Can we make sure it's whatever we're voting on is in our regular meeting? Because it's not what we're voting.

We will. We will do that. Typically when Ms. Olsinski is here, those things are done. So we're just doing what we can. Understood.

All right. Okay, thank you.

Trust everyone has found it. The actual agreement are there any any questions any Is there a motion? So moved. Moved by Trustee Baskett to approve. Supported by Trustee Schmidt. Any discussion? Seeing none. Trustee Wilkins?

I just want to let my trustees know I'm going to abstain from voting on this since I wasn't at the closed session when this was discussed earlier.

Okay.

That makes sense.

Any other discussion?

All right.

Mr. Cooley?

Trustee Wilks?

Yes. trustee Norton yes trustee basket yes trustee Muhammad yes president Feaster yes and trustee Schmidt yes motion passes thank you and I believe that brings down to number 14 items from the board the trustees have anything that they would like to share some of us have to get back there

yes trustee schmidt okay so first um i'm excited to report that the ed budget that was signed by the governor once again has included a million dollars for schools to use to train teachers in orton gillingham which is an approach to teach students with dyslexia we've taken advantage of these funds in the past with the michigan dyslexia institute and several cohorts of teachers and speech therapists in our district have taken it Public Act 146 that was passed in 2024, which we see in our district, all the changes we've made in literacy instruction, will be fully in place by the 27-28 school year. And having folks on staff with these skills is important to meet the requirements of that. educators are are required to complete professional learning regarding dyslexia characteristics and evidence-based interventions so this is good news last year the money was not there they we'd done it for three four years and then they didn't do it last year and i know we've got teachers that are very excited about taking that training so i'm excited about that I also want to report about some community conversations several of my fellow board members and I held throughout the community. Thank you to President Feaster, Vice President Wilkes, and Trustees Wilkins and Baskett for joining me at Traverwood Library, Peace Neighborhood Center, and Pittsfield Library. There was an open dialogue where folks could air their grievances and frustrations, ask questions, and share ideas. It was particularly great to see at our last session at Pittsfield Library, it was highly populated by teachers. Topics included, we talked about budget information, everything from the sinking fund to proposal A and for pupil funding, all kinds of conversation around technology, the roles and responsibilities of the Board of Ed, you know whether they manage the district negotiations in a general sense because we didn't get into that superintendent role and visibility we talked about the superintendent's evaluation the district's strategic planning process and how vendors were selected some people brought up the need to expand partnerships with aaps to raise money improve district communication with the community protocols for dealing with district issues and who handles what school start times bus schedules class sizes the IB program pros and cons and what the role of the city school committee is I'm made a point of taking notes at these meetings and following up with information to try to fill in some knowledge gaps on some of these topics with the our participants dialogue was respectful and thoughtful with many working to learn and understand from each other what wasn't present was the vitriol we see at board meetings and online which unfortunately doesn't contribute to collaboration or understanding and causes our community to develop fears and anger based on incomplete or incorrect information the intent of these was the intent is to continue to have these dialogue opportunities both during our strategic planning process and in future community conversations to foster better understanding of all stakeholders so um thank you again for doing that and i know that um trustee norton sent an email out to us on the last couple days he said i'll even help i'd like to help too and trying to organize more in the future so i hope we continue to do that people were really appreciative

Thank you. Thank you, Trustee Schmidt. Trustee Norton has one.

Yes, I just suddenly I wanted to speak to the two information sessions that were held regarding the sinking. There were two meetings that were hosted by the Ann Arbor Citizens Millage Committee, but featured guest appearances by trustees basket Schmidt and Wilkes and the first one and then trustees Mohammed and Wilkins in the second along with superintendent parks they were not standing room only but they were good attendance and good conversations with a background on school funding and why the district finds itself in the position it's in and the importance of tools like the Thinking Fund to have more control over our own finances and to make sure that we're able to maintain a sound environment. So, those went quite well with a number of the members of the public, including some candidates, school board who came and participated and I think came away with a deeper understanding of the situation so that I'm I'm pleased that those went well and just to follow up I would be happy to help organized a rota of community sessions that we can all participate in on a regular basis not so much for the campaign but for discussing issues relevant to the district going on on a regular basis in the future. Sounds great. Thank you. Vice President Wilkes.

Thank you, President Feaster. I just wanted to thank Trustee Schmidt and Trustee Norton for organizing both events. It was both events civil, an opportunity for the community to come out and talk to us directly. And so I just appreciate the time and effort that you all put into organizing both of these. Just wanted to say that.

Thank you. Yes, thank you. all right thank you all for your comments if there's nothing additional that brings us to number 15 do I have a motion to adjourn by adjourn by voice vote I make a motion to adjourn by voice vote thank you very much I move by trustee Schmidt supported by trustee Baskett any discussion all right seeing none all in favor aye any opposed say no all right we are adjourned at 10 22 p.m.

Record.