Good evening, everyone, and welcome to regular board meeting for March the 11th, 2025 thank you so much for your being present. For those of you that are online and those of you that are in person, please forgive my voice tonight. It's a little hoarse and compromise, but I actually feel a lot better than I sound. So please. Thank you for your consideration. We are excited. Those of you that want to view online, if you would go to www, dot Detroit, K twelve.org, forward slash board meeting, you can view us online. All those of you that would like to make a public comment, please visit our zoom link, and tonight, you will be able to seamlessly watch and make a public comment on the Zoom link. The YouTube video will be for video only, but if you desire to make a public comment, please go to the Zoom link that is meshed in embedded and you can be heard as well as seen. Can you see? Can you all hear me? Okay, hold on. Alright. Thank you. Is that better? Little bit better those of you that are joining us in person, thank you. And those of you that are joining online, there are two options for you to join online. The YouTube is for those of you that will be viewing only, and you may go to www dot Detroit, K twelve.org, forward slash board meeting. If you desire to make public comment, you will be able tonight to go to the Zoom link. And not only will you be able to make public comment there, but you will also be able to view visually so that there will be two options for you to view. One is on Zoom, but that is for those who desire to make a public comment during the session of public comment, those who are just viewing may view on the YouTube option. Thank you so much this time, we will go to our call to order and a roll call please. Okay, roll
call Bishop and
I give my bishop. Coletta Vaughn present, Latrice McClendon present, Dr Ida short, Dr Iris Taylor, Angelique Peterson, Mayberry present, thank you. Sherry gay, Daniel go Monique Bryant present. Michael West present, Naomi abutunde Present. Madam Chair, you have a quorum.
Note board member, Sherry gate and Diego present. We do have two vehicles that should be moved as soon as possible. J, Z 884, and G w7 zero n. This is a Chevrolet, the G w7 zero n and the J z 884, believe that there are some emergencies. Please, if you would go to the four year to move your vehicles. Thank you. Meeting norms,
we respect the rights of all persons to participate in this public meeting of the board and kindly request that everyone engage in behavior that supports the same. In the event anyone engages in behavior that is not in support of the good, we request that you refrain from that behavior.
Thank you. During our moment of silence, we have three names that we want to be considering of having a Hassan academic interventionist at Davidson Morgan Parton, Parton teacher at clipper Academy and verinda Van Dyke teacher. Teacher at Marquette.
Thank you. At this time we call for our student presentation. Our Color guards are from Cass Technical High School, our Star Spangled Banner and Lift Every Voice. Let's rise for them. You.
Color Guard,
oh, left face, arm,
oh, say, can't you see, by the dawn's early light, we're so proudly we've held at the twilight's last whose broad stripe and bright stars Through the perilous fight, or the rampers we've watched
bursting in air to the night And the flags was still there. Oh say, does the star sprinkle ban our yet wave or land of the free, home of the
brave? Right.
Forward march you
thank you so much. We should all know, Lift Every Voice and Sing. So I'm going to ask board member Sherry to lead us out. I know you know it, Lift
Every Voice ring. With the let our
rejoice the listening skies, let us round.
Eyes let us loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full
of the faith
that the darkness has taught us. Sing a song full of a new day, let us
march on
till victory is one.
Thank you. Board Member, Sheriff
and poor member, Mayberry, thank you. Audience, thank you. Thank you for our students, our color guards. Can we give them another hand Cass signify and our young solos, soloists for the Star Spangled Banner. Thank you so much. We'll move to Item 3.01 approval on the agenda.
Madam President, I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda. Agenda for a motion to reconsider termination. Line item from last school board meeting.
Where would you like to amend the agenda?
I would like to amend the current agenda to ensure that we have an opportunity to have a closed session. I Is
there a support? Support? Is there discussion? So we will go to council
member gate agno. Go. Can you state the reason for the closed session? The
reason for the closed session is the individual that was terminated, timeline of receiving information or not, first of all, not even be given an opportunity to request a closed session at the last board meeting. He was hurt on the job. He did not receive adequate information. I feel like the HR department, FMLA and whatever else, is not interfacing properly or integrating properly to make sure that he had adequate information, this man was hurt on the job, we have terminated him, and we need to have a conversation that looks at the timeline in which he received the information. HR received the information, FMLA received the information. I
just, I just, I just wanted to know, because under the Open Meetings Act, we can only go into closed session for certain reasons, and one of them is to consider the dismissals, dismissal suspension or disciplining of or hear complainer charges brought against an individual, a public officer or an employee at that employee's request, we can't go into closed session unless the employee has requested
it, yes and The employee during a Zoom meeting with myself, with board member Bryant, with President Vaughn, expressed his inability to even have an opportunity to request it, and so he was asking for an opportunity to present and talk with the board. So
he's asked for a closed session. Yes, is
the is the employee present tonight. I
don't know that he's here because, again, he was hurt on the job. I think it's important that we as School Board members who have not and some who were not privy to that Zoom have an opportunity to hear all the facts in which he was terminated, in the lack of information that was provided to him before that termination.
So if there, if he's requested it, then we can Yes, ma'am. And the other thing about the motion for reconsideration. Motions for reconsideration have to be brought in the meeting where that action took place.
Typically, that has been the case. However, we didn't have an opportunity to meet with the said employee until this past Tuesday? Well, no last Friday. And so you know, if we're going to talk about terminations, we also learn of conflicting information of a person that we honored for 40 years of service at the beginning of the meeting and then a termination for job abandonment at the end of the meeting. So I think it's important that the school board members have a closed session to discuss why our departments are not communicating with each other. Okay,
so I'm clear on the closed session piece, but on the motion to reconsider. That wouldn't be the appropriate motion, it will be a motion to rescind.
Thank you. So I will amend my motion, and that
requires a two thirds majority vote, two thirds vote, I'm sorry.
Thank you. So I like to I rescind my former motion, and I'd like to amend my former motion, to amend tonight's agenda, to go into closed session, to reconsider a termination from February 11 meeting, to rescind. Rescind.
Is there a support? Support All in favor of the motion that BOARD MEMBER danego has put before us? All in favor? Aye opposes. It is so ordered, so number 11. Item number 11 on our agenda where there was no closed session. Now we will adjourn for that. Item number 11. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you moving forward. We do have the approval of the minutes. Items 4.01 4.02 4.03 because of the recension motion that has just previously been adopted, we would want to look at item 4.01 Okay? Because that would be the minutes from last month's board meeting. So are we clear on moving forward with that? I'd like to hear from the board support. All right. Item four. Point is there all in favor of 4.01 please say by Aye. Aye. Thank you. Are there any opposes? Item 4.02 finance committee meetings. Is there a motion to support? Thank you. All in favor? Are there opposes? Thank you. 4.03 academic committee meeting minutes. Is there a motion to accept these and approve so moved, Madam Chair, support, support, thank you all in favor, aye, any opposes, alright, thank you for my remarks tonight. Yes, I have a question
for the Finance Committee. Yes, we accept, we accepted that report, yes, okay, but I needed to make a to recuse myself. Remember
speaking at my remember, yes, ma'am, okay,
so I need to make put that on the record. Okay, okay, so for
the record, for the record, board members, short, because of a relationship with one of the contractors, recused herself in the finance meeting. It is on record, and she's recusing herself tonight,
right? Thank you for
the at water media contract. So I'm recusing myself because I have a long standing relationship with that the owners of the company, and I also have a professional relationship with them. Thank you.
Noted okay for our remarks tonight. March is reading month. March is reading month, and we are excited about volunteers coming into the schools and reading with our children, that can be arranged with all board members as well as the community. If you'd like to go into the schools and read, those principals would love to have you. Those teachers would love to have you. The children would love to have you as well. Parent teacher conference for high school is tomorrow. March the 12th, parent teacher conference for k8 is next. Wednesday, March the 19th. Please remember that winter break is coming. Winter Break March, the 24th through March, the 28th and schools will resume and reopen on Monday March, the 31st there is a spring break vision clinic by appointment only. Tuesday March, the 25th at Western High from 10am to 2pm in the afternoon and on Wednesday, March the 26th at East English village, from 10am to 2pm and on behalf of our faith department, family and community engagement, April 1 is our parent our heroes celebration. And this year it is at the Western Book Cadillac, and it will be exciting. Please check the hub for additional information. For those of you that would like to attend some of our committee meetings. The policy meeting upcoming is March the 18th, at 430 the parent listening session on Tuesday, 318 that is on teams, the finance committee meeting that is upcoming is Wednesday, March the 19th, at three o'clock PM. The academic committee meeting is Monday, March the 31st at 4:30pm and our next board meeting is Tuesday, April the eighth. Here at Martin Luther King, all committee meetings are held at the Fisher fee, at the Fisher building on the 12th floor, and you are all welcome to attend. That being said, we will now turn it over to our students for their report.
Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Happy. Women's History Month.
That's right, women's history
women's month. Before we begin our March, Board report, we would like to start by introducing the du yc. The du yc is made up of high school students who are active community, active members of their respective schools, Student Council and or government. School administrators nominate two students, a junior and a senior, from their elected boards to represent their school on the du yc. These students participate. To pay in team building workshops, professional development and student led networking meetings, plan the annual C conference and engage in group volunteer efforts. The du YC and the student board, the student representatives to the board work together to present this board report each month, we want to take a moment to recognize women's history month, what began in 1978 as a week long celebration in California became a national observance in 1980 thanks to President Jimmy Carter. By 1987 Congress officially made March Women's History Month. Still, we know women's contributions deserve recognition all year, and we continue to honor their resilience and excellence every day
our February 7. On February 7, 2025 DUI, see the DUI. See meeting, highlighted student accomplishments, addressed concerns from the last meeting and present follow up questions to the board. Any remaining questions from our March 21 meeting will be emailed to Dr video later this month, this meeting, the DYC members have primarily focused on their studies, so there's no major highlights or concerns to report. However, we would like to raise an ongoing concern regarding early dismissal for high school students. Some administrators are unaware that students have earned the required credits and have the guidance permission and may be eligible for early release, while we understand that early dismissal is at the discretion of each school's leadership. We would like a clear guidance to be provided to principals, assistant principals and deans to ensure they are aware of this option. Addressing this community gap would help prevent challenges for students seeking early dismissal. We have three questions that we would like guidance on an insight. Should we ask all three at the one time or give you guys space to answer in between. Keep going. Okay. The first question is, what steps should students take when they face barriers to early dismissal despite meeting credit and parental approval requirements? The second question is, how can early dismissal process be improved for the next academic year to ensure better coordination between school administration and student representatives and three can the board and the Office of Superintendent provide guidance or encouragement to school leaders to help resolve this issue and ensure consistent understanding of early dismissal options.
Good evening. Thank you for your questions and again, thank you for your continued advocacy in this space, I know changing things sometimes can be difficult.
Thank you for advocacy for this I know it can take a minute to try to process some of these changes, the guidance, which was not necessarily uniformed across the district and not in writing, was put in writing to all the high school principals. From me, I believe it was addressed at a high level at the principal meeting, meaning referring to it. The hesitancy on high school principals parts right now in releasing mainly seniors early that are ahead of credits is the detriment it may have on the student's ability to increase the number of students participating in AP classes, possibly IB, but more likely do enrollment so the advanced classes that, in and of itself, shouldn't be The reason not to do it, just transparently describing why there's some hesitancy to implement it. If individual students are challenged with the conversation with principals or the designee that get an early release, obviously, I would recommend sitting down with the principals, one on one, and describe your situation or their designee, and on why it should happen. It might be necessary to bring a parent or guardian along in that conversation, but I encourage especially seniors to advocate for themselves and have that conversation and try to really put your self in the shoes of the principal as far why they wouldn't give the release. Your other question, I think, is really about advance notice and communication going into next year that we're going to do this. This was pretty much announced after the beginning of the second semester, right at the second semester, which put stress and strain on the schedule, because that had already been developed. I think as we move into the spring summer, a combination of the district and I think the Student Leadership Council is communicating the opportunity to take advantage of early dismissal, so before schedules are even created, and as students get their schedule going into next year, this can be part of the conversation. I think it's a it's a balance between providing the privilege, because it's obviously earned, and also being acknowledging that the school and the district at large is trying to have more students complete advanced classes, and this does prevent them to do that. And you know, to some extent, I. I think for some students, they already have gotten into college. They already know the amount of scholarship opportunities to have. For other students, that's still a process. And so I think it's about analyzing the individual student status academically and making a decision that way, rather than a uniformed approach to well, if you qualify, you should get it.
Yeah, that was really good. Dr V, really appreciate that feedback on this matter, and we'll work on getting that out to the duic at our next meeting. Hopefully in the next month or two, the duic will be able to honor outstanding educators who have shown exceptional dedication to students. Each member will select one educator to receive a special reward in recognition of their impact. And we look forward to celebrating this on stage, either in the April or May, 4 month for our report. Thank you, and that concludes our report. Thank
you so much. Thank you. Are there any discussions or inquiries or commentary from the board to our board of the board members? Yes, through the Chair,
I do have a request, and we can take this back to the D, y, C group, but it be also extremely beneficial for the board to know who those students are, so it whether that's them coming to a board meeting so that they can be recognized as being leaders from their individual schools, or on the screen with pictures and schools. I just want to lift that up. I know I've gone and talked to the group a couple of times, and it's just it's really rewarding to see young people learning how to advocate for themselves and be representatives for them, for their schools. So I'll just lift that up to the board member ambassadors.
Thank you so much. Is there anyone else for the board? Thank you. Thank you so much.
Good job. Dr short, no, I just said, Good job.
Good job. Good job. Thank you so much. We will now move to our finance report. Jeremy bedito, thank you so so much.
Good evening. Board members and community. See if we can get access to the slides. Great. We're presenting the financials, as you can see here, through the month of January, we continue to receive collections on the 13 and 18 mills. As you can see here, we the winter collections were received, we are on track to make all scheduled debt payments. Somehow, regarding dpscd, revenue is continuing to track as forecast to our budget. So that's moving forward. On the expenditure side, we are slightly ahead for the month, as you will recall, we discussed the Davis and Cooley awards. Those funds were paid to the foundation in January, and so you are at slightly higher for the month due to those payments. Thank
you. The next slide,
okay. As you can see, we have available cash, approximately 14 weeks of available cash on hand. The expectation is a key area, minimum of six to eight weeks, so we have plenty of cash to continue to pay all salary and vendor payments. So everything is on track there. That concludes my report for the month.
Thank you so much. Mr. Video, are there any questions or Is there discussion for Mr. Video,
no, so through the chair question around scenario planning, considering some of the possible federal custom, maybe this is a question for you. Dr Beatty, what are we at risk of losing? I mean, there's so much going on today in the news. The Department of Education cut half of their staff. There's some federal implications happening. Have we done scenario planning? Are we preparing for what is expected to come out federally?
Yeah, through the chair at the last Finance Committee, we provided a very high level review of what could be the potential cuts based on the the budget resolution that was passed by the Federal House and Senate calling for a 25% cut in overall federal funding. And so right now, we're still struggling to understand exactly where the might the cuts might come. I think it's fair to say that the cuts are obviously coming, and right now the target is 25% across the all federal budgets or revenue streams. So the assumption would be 25% would apply to K 12 education. We're hearing everything from it could be a 25% cut in each k 12 federal. Program, or it could be a combination of cuts to arrive to at least 25% for overall K 12 funding. And so unfortunately, I don't even think the House and the Senate quite know where they're going to cut. And between now and October, they plan on working through what that looks like, to answer your question. So internally right now, we have started to look at, you know, from a line item point of view, obviously, what are we funding in? Title One, title two, Title Three, title four, and what those cuts may mean. We've also started that preliminary conversation with state legislators to say, with the surplus you have at the state level? Would you prepare to, for example, give districts a loan to fill the gap that with federal cuts likely coming, the challenge that we already anticipate that the state level is the governor's budget, as we review that the Finance Committee is favorable, but the House Budget, house control by the Republicans at the state level uses the same philosophy of cutting 25% of funding, and that is hid in the fact that per pupil is increasing and the House budget proposal at the state level, but there are significant kinds of categorical funding, including 31 a at risk. So it's a quick overview of basically what we know, and internally, we're reviewing what some scenarios would look like. And then we'll start to work with the finance committee, and probably likely the academic committee, and then working with the chair with possible retreats to go in deeper in scenarios, I think, at a high level, if the cuts look the way they do at the federal level. There are some things that we may be able to pick up in the general fund, but that would also probably include some cuts to the general fund, and possibly considering using the fund balance that we have. On the positive note, we have roughly a $200 million unrestricted fund balance. But again, that's one time money. So the you know, the board and I would have to have a discussion, you know, what do we save, if you will, what do we protect for maybe a year or two? What do we let go? I mean, those are the scenarios we would come up with and provide to the Board for discussion and final decision making. The other caveat in all of this is the threat of a shutdown at the federal level, and I think that, honestly, is my greatest worry. I mean, certainly I'm worried about a 25% cut in federal funding and what that would mean to next year's budget. But from a practical level, I'm more worried about a shutdown as negotiations may drop, you know, between the Congress and the president, where the President would want certain things happening, he would threaten a veto, or the Democrats walk out. I mean, there's a lots of different scenarios, but at the end of the day, if we have a shutdown situation, then there would be no flow of dollars, which then, you know, create more pressure on the budget, because then we would have to use that fund balance to just operate the district at the beginning of the year. So we'll be prepared to start to walk through those scenarios. But as I cautioned at the Finance Committee, I think that the greatest frustration will be what extent of cuts are we talking about. So it's really we can, we can scenario plan, but it'll be hard to adopt the budget in June if the federal budget is not clear, and even the state budget isn't clear, because we know that the state has been late historically with their budget, so unfortunately, lot to be a concern of but more questions than answers, but we'll be Ready with the different scenarios, so we will be opening in the fall. I don't believe right now we're looking at things like cutting like closing schools, but there will be scenarios with maybe accelerating the phase out schools, closers, looking at small high schools, and possibly looking at layoffs. But I do think there is a path to prevent layoffs and more dramatic school closings if we use the fund balance and we make other, maybe smaller cuts in the budget moving into next year.
Thank you. Are there any other questions?
Yes. Madam Chair. So through the chair, Doctor vidy, I know slides 20 and 21 there's a lot of information on there, but it might be advantageous for the community to have one pagers on the district website about what the governor's budget proposal is, and then defining Title One, title two, Title Three. I know I get a lot of questions around it. And so for those who may not be as comfortable asking this, would be great to have a one pager on the district website, so that our community knows exactly what these where these funds are going,
Yeah, to the chair that was certainly discussed at the Finance Committee meeting, we are putting together a letter, an advocacy letter, that will go out to all dpscd stakeholders. And community at large. Again, I think my email some media engagement, and what's happening nationally, there's greater awareness that cuts are coming, but it goes back to the same point of where to what extent. So, you know, stakeholders can certainly be activated, but I think the question becomes sure we can, we can call out the injustice with the cuts, but to who and to what extent, knowing that the President is where he is right now, and the Congress is controlled by Republicans, so that's going to be our greatest challenge. And so I think the strategy should certainly be to make all of our federal representatives aware of what's going on, but they are aware. They just don't have the votes to do much about it. I think, practically speaking, the state government is our greatest leverage right now to try to create a way to fill the gap of what's about to likely happen federally. But those letters will be created. I'll share it with the board before it goes out to the community. We will start to create presentations for the website, and then we'll start to ramp up engagement, or community engagement on the topic as well. I'm just forewarning everyone, everyone's going to want questions, you know, answers, the questions that we are not in a position to answer until we get clarity from the federal and state government. But we'll do our best to try to educate everyone and what we're facing.
Dr short,
I like the idea of sending out the letters to the parents, but you made me think of something else. Maybe we should put a Q and A on the website, on the website, so that as questions come up and are answered, people know where to go to get those answers. So it'll decrease the rumor mill
understood. We'll work on that as well. No, especially explaining that our programs, what they fund, it was already named, but there's often confusion about how much money goes to the district level, to the schools on Title One. You know, what exactly do we use title one for title two, etc. So we can break all of that down. Yeah, and
be great. Yes. Board Member Sherry Gayle,
whether my hand was up first or yours, yours was up
first through. Madam Chair, quick question. Dr Vitti, when can we expect the time frame for this information to be up on the website and to start to be disseminated to our stakeholders,
I would say no. By the end of the week, I'll have the letter to the board. I'd say we can get everything up on the website by next week. So before winter break? Yes? Spring Break, yep.
I'm sorry, spring break, yeah.
Thank you board member, Sherry gates, Madam Chair, thank you. To that point, my question. We've discussed this prior to the last school board meeting. I know that there was a meeting that was held during the day for stakeholders. We're still asking for a meeting to be held in the evening as well, for parents to give an overview of all the finance issues that we're facing. Millage, Lansing, federal, what is a timeline, or anticipated timeline for having an evening meeting where we could spend more time on the finance issues we're facing as a district
through the chair? It depends on if we want to just administratively set that up or work with the board to schedule that, but I would recommend we have that meeting no later than the first couple days we get back from spring break, if not right before spring break, either one.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I think before spring break would be great as well. Okay,
are there any additional questions or inquiries of Finance Report. Thank you, Mr. Vedito, for your report. It will now go to audit before we move to the Superintendent's report. We just need to do a little housekeeping with parking. There are cars that have created a third row, and you are blocking persons, and the police are now coming to tow your cars. So please, if you kind of created your own parking space, please run out right quickly. I do have two additional license plates, numbers, Bronco, E, x, j2, 708, and a, Tucson, A, D, T, j9, 844, if, in fact, you think you are blocking someone or you create. It somewhat of a different path for parking, even if you didn't go check your car, so that your car will be here at the end of the meeting. We thank you in advance for that. Having said that, we will now go to our superintendent, Dr Vitti, for your report. Thank
you, Madam Chair. At this point, I'll ask Ms Wilson to come to the mic for our recognitions. After she goes through the initial ones, I will take it over for our monthly recognition of schools, namely principals and their teams on graduation rates. Ms Wilson,
thank you, Dr Beatty, our first recognition is for the core value of excellence, which states be relentless in the pursuit of greatness, be bold and innovate. Learn from your mistakes, hold yourself and others to high standards. The CAS tech chess team, led by coaches Cameron Tolliver, Ursula bird and Mark randon, demonstrated exceptional skills and determination at the 2025 state Chess Championship. The team secured first place in the u1 1000 section, demonstrating hard work, strategic thinking and commitment to the game. Their efforts resulted in numerous individual medal winners and an outstanding team performance. An additional special recognition goes to Fox Williams, whose performance earned him a gold medal at the championship. At this time, we honor the cast tech chess team for their outstanding achievement, state Chess Championship. U1 1000. Congratulations to the entire cast tech chess team on This well deserved recognition.
Again, let's give them a big round of applause. Congratulations.
You Thank you.
Our next recognition is for the core value of excellence. Again, which states be relentless in your pursuit of greatness. Be bold and innovate. Learn from your mistakes. Hold yourself and others to high standards. You can go ahead the Sampson Weber chess team, led by coach Kevin fells, deliver an impressive performance at the 2025 state Chess Championship, facing tough competition from 58 teams statewide, they emerged as CO champions in the u6 100 section, tying with two strong teams from outside the district. At this time, we honor the Sampson Weber chess team for their outstanding achievement in winning the 2025 state Chess Championship. U6 100 section, congratulations to Samson Weber chess team on this incredible honor.
Let's give Samson Weber chess team another big round of applause. Congratulations.
Right one.
One more on the thank
you, thank you. Okay. We have three more rounds of excellence to honor. Our next group of honorees are again honored for the core value of excellence, which states to be relentless in your pursuit of greatness, be bold and innovate. Learn from your mistakes, hold yourself and others to high standards. We are proud to recognize four outstanding students whose creativity and dedication. Have earned them the prestigious Gold Key award in the Scholastic Art and Writing awards. This is the nation's longest running and most distinguished recognition program for creative teens at this time. Let's acknowledge Tanya Martinez Salazar, a junior at DSA. She was recognized in the drawing and illusion category for her peace fear of Christ. Nier Bursey, a sophomore at Mumford High School, was honored in the category of photography for her work. Girl in the mirror. Jania Williams, a senior at Mumford High School, received recognition in digital art category for her piece, glowing moon, sunrise, sunset, and Tulu is a senior at Renaissance High School. She was awarded the Gold Key in the drawing and illusion category for her works, if I could see light, I might look twice the toughest, largest, worst pill and more. Mr. Grady is here from Renaissance to accept the award for Tulu as she is receiving her senior pin during their pinning ceremony. So congratulations to our goal. Key award winners must
come. A big old round of applause for our goal, key winners. Okay, here we go again for excellence, our next group of students, actually, this is for one student, Cyrus Woodbury, a freshman at CAST tech so proud made history by winning the 2025, division, one 106 pound Michigan wrestling state championship. Cyrus became the first ever individual champion from CAST tag and only the second wrestler from DPS school league to earn an individual state title. His determination, skill and perseverance have set a new standard of excellence for future athletes. Let us welcome our State Champion Award winner history maker Cyrus Woodbury, congratulations.
Cyrus confirmed. Cyrus Woodbury, do we have a representative from CAST tech that could come up?
Okay? Thank you. Thank you. Micah. All right, let's give it up for our history making award winner. Thank you. Micah, one more. Okay, actually, this is a group, so this is excellent. This is another history maker for the district, and the core value of excellence. Tonight, we celebrate the on the rise Academy fellows from the first cohort of the program for their dedication to becoming certified educators. Over three years, they completed 200 plus hours of rigorous training, earning effective evaluations during their interim teaching period, with 70% having previously served in dpscd, they remain committed to our students and families. These educators embody excellence, passion and resilience, shaping the future of Detroit classrooms and helping the district make history with our own grow your own program. Please join us in recognizing Gloria Boatwright, Antoinette Bowen debarto labin, Willie cannon, Sarita Davis, Tina Davis, Anne Hightower, DeMarco, James Eric Jennings, Christina Latson, Justin Montgomery, Shayla Moore, carmetta miles, vanzetta Patterson, Reginald sharp, Cassandra, Tapia, Ashley Nickens, Deborah, Gardner, Nathaniel horn, Baptista, Jolin and Chloe sherbenag. Congratulations to our fellows, ladies and
Thank You,
congratulations.
Alright. Thank you. Okay, our last recognition tonight is certainly not least. As you know, every month since the beginning of the year, we've been recognizing schools that are really contributing to raising student achievement at their individual schools. So tonight, we're going to recognize the outstanding performance of graduation rate as announced about a month ago now, we're going to recognize the schools with the top five highest percentage of four year graduates based on last year's group that graduated, because the state releases that a bit lagged and delayed, and the five most improved. As a reminder, the district graduation right now is 78.1 we're only point two percentage points away from the all time high in the history of DPS, DPS, CD, we've come a long way. In the last two years, we've increased graduation rates by over 10 percentage points, and proud to say we're only four percentage points away from the state average in Michigan, and the schools that we're going to recognize tonight, all are have graduation rates that exceed the state average. 80% of our high schools, about 20 out of 24 I saw a graduation rate improvement from last year, and we only have, by memory, maybe 10 all neighborhood schools that are slightly below the state average, and so once those schools improving graduation rate, I anticipate in a year or two, we should eclipse the state average, which we're continuing to improve at a faster rate than the state there's very few, I think, data points as important as graduating students. In four years, we still track five year rates and six year rates, but we know research tells us, and anecdotally, we know when students graduate in four years, they're most much more likely to be college ready, enroll in college and complete college. So with that, our five highest graduation rates for last year, number one Renaissance High School at 99.5% principal, strawder, number two, Detroit School of the Arts, 99% principal, Reynolds Cass tech, 98.9 school at Mary Grove, 98.6 principal Williams, and number five, Detroit International Academy for young women, Principal montelon, at 95.2% so I'm going to move on to most improved graduation rates. So these might not be the highest graduation rate levels in the district, but most improved from two years ago to last year. Most Improved number one, probably this school that has the hardest work with moving four year graduation rate Detroit Lions Academy, because it takes students that are often below credits. They improve 16 percentage points in graduation rate. And if you haven't gone to a graduation ceremony, you should go to Detroit Lions. And so they improved 16 percentage points to get to 58% number two, a neighborhood High School, Cody High School, improved 16 percentage points, and principal Solomon is here at 65% third and most improved Detroit International Academy for young women, they improved 12 percentage points. Principal montelonian Again, number four, most improved Central High School. They're at 70% graduation rate and. Led by principal Webb Harris and number five, a school that's going to receive a new building, along with Cody High School, Pershing High School, a nine percentage point improvement in graduation rate, Mr. Tipton, principal Tipton, should be here. They're at 76% graduation Rate. I
That's it, awesome.
Comment,
Detroit Lions. Oh, really, I think she was at the graduation.
Thank you so much. At this time, public comment is closed.
Dr, Beatty, thank
you at this point, as I do every month, I review our metrics. Right now, our enrollment is at 49,108 it continues to grow. Right now, based on spring count, we're at 48,685 students actually counted. The end of the spring count period is March 14. Right now, 99.2% of students enrolled or who are eligible to be counted in spring count have been counted. We're now doing home visits for those students have not attended school for a full day during the window calling home, and we have a log in order to do that. Our re enrollment rate is slightly higher than it was last year. Our average daily attendance continues to be higher than it was last year. It's about three percentage points higher at 84% our chronic absenteeism rate is down by about eight percentage points as compared to last year. We continue to see positive improvement at the high school level, where high school average daily attendance rate is at 83% about a two percentage point improvement from last year. And most importantly, our chronic absenteeism rate at the high school level is down six percentage points as compared to last year. Certainly the incentive continues to make a difference. The last cycle, we had 4000 students that had perfect attendance in a two week window that was increased, an increase of about 500 students from cycle two, and nearly 1000 students increase from cycle one. The next cycle ends March 13, which is in two days, and then we'll start cycle four, for the perfect attendance incentive, our our teachers with excellent or moderate attendance, is at 83% we did take an interim survey. 27% of students collectively felt love, challenged and prepared again. This was a modification of the survey that they're taking now, which is the end of the year, if you want to call it, that climate survey for our students, and our staff is taking that as well. We'll have the results of that in the summer as we move on. Regarding student achievement, right now, 53% of our students show at least one or more year of growth. That's slightly below where we ended last year, but obviously we have a couple more months of instruction, I would point out, as I have the continuation of students in the bottom 30 making strides in one or more year of growth, with 58% again, slightly lower than where we finished last year, but we still have more teaching and learning to do in math, 55% of students show one or more year of growth, slightly below five percentage points, were below where we were last year, but still showing strong growth when we project where we'll be at the end of the year in ELA. These numbers are not new. These are same numbers are reviewed last month. They're based on our mid year assessments and. 17% would be at and above grade level on grade three to 7m step, that's plus or minus three. And then in math, we're looking at about 13% which would be improvement as compared to last year. Sat about 30% of students are at are showing college readiness scores in grades three to 11, that would be an increase of where we left off, or one percentage point where we left lower than we left off last year, and in math, about one percentage point lower there where we ended last year. So we are trending in the right direction. I talked about graduation rates earlier and right now we have 63% of our juniors and seniors involved in college or career classes, and right now about 60% are passing both numbers are slightly where we were last year, or slightly above when we move into vacancies. Right now we have 36 teacher vacancies, 27 support staff vacancies. We have 17 custodian or contracted custodian vacancies, 19 cafeteria vacancies, six assistant principal vacancies, two counselors, five academic interventionists, three security guards, 13 ese Paras and six pre K Paras. Of our teacher vacancies, 12, our special education. We spoke at length at the finance committee about meal participation rates for breakfast and lunch. They are lower than they were last year. Our root cause of that appears to be the way in which we have to count breakfast and lunch with the actual meals. And so we had a rich conversation at the Finance Committee meeting about although we have brought ID cards, and that is a way to scan and track meal participation, not all of our students have their ID or keep their IDs, so we've we're thinking about maybe just having the Id stay at school so at minimum it can, they won't be lost in greater numbers, and we can track breakfast and lunch at higher levels. We also have to increase training for cafeteria staff on the technology, and then look at individual schools that are showing higher gaps of where they were last year to this year, and maybe infuse more part time people during the point in which students are scanned for breakfast and lunch, most of our operation metrics are trending below where they were last year. At this point, I'll move into a quick presentation about our homelessness office. This has been obviously put in the limelight, knowing the tragedy that one of our students faced with a death with not having secured housing. The other student was younger and not a school age. But we have been doing a lot in this body of work, and the work mainly is about identifying families that are eligible for homeless assistance. This is driven at the federal level through the McKinney, McKinney vento homelessness act, our Assistance Act. It was passed in 1987 it was updated in 2015 through the Every Student Succeeds Act or Esser. It is also applies not only to traditional public schools, but charter schools as well. And the ultimate goal of the act is to ensure identification, enrollment and success in school, despite challenges with housing insecurity. How do we define homelessness so children who lack a fixed, regular or adequate nighttime residence? Again, this isn't defined by dpscd, but federal law. So when we talk about fixed housing, we're talking about stationary, permanent, not subject to change. It needs to be regular housing, so predictable, routine, consistent basis. Consider relative permanency. So is it is a child consistently staying in one place, and is it adequate? Is it lawful? Is it reasonably sufficient? Is it meeting the physical and psychological needs
of a typical home environment? These are the standards that are applied to determine eligibility. So eligibility is based on if you're sharing the house with others due to a loss of housing or economic hardship, so basically, you're doubling up with another family or individuals in order to have a place to live. If you're living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, camping grounds due to a lack of alternatives. Have a common housing you're living in an emergency or transitionary shelters or living in a car, a park, an abandoned building, substandard housing, bus, train stations or similar settings. So basically, the McKinney vento Act requires districts to work, to identify families and then provide resources so that you can protect their learning experience as much as possible. And so the goal ultimately is try to keep the child in the school that they are enrolled in. So it might be easy to think, well, if you're if you're enrolled on a West Side school and you're staying on the east side, that we should try to have the child attend an East Side school that actually violates the law. The goal is to try to keep the child in the school that they're at and then provide transportation so they can stay at the school they're at. Now, obviously the school, the homelessness office, our transportation team, will problem solve with the parents guardian to determine what is the most effective way to ensure that the child comes to school despite the challenging of the challenge of housing. So there is a problem solving process, but we can't say as a district that Well, the easiest way to do this is to move schools that would violate the law, obviously, once identified as homeless, then we are required to provide transportation. Now, a theme that was brought up last month is that we don't necessarily receive specific funding at the federal or state level to serve homeless families and children. So this is an ongoing theme that you often hear me talk about, and the need for adequate and equitable funding. Now there are pockets of dollars that we can use from an eligibility point of view, but there is no allocation per se for every child that is identified for homelessness, similar to being identified through an IEP for special needs services. So we are constantly stealing from Peter to pay Paul in order to provide the services that are legally required as a district. We don't oppose we want to help children, but the reality is, we're constantly pulling money from other places that are already inadequate to serve other children, and that's the ongoing challenge. So the positive, and we'll get some data points, is we're identifying more children and families, but that's increasing our costs, and the major cost is in transportation, because you can't simply use k8 yellow school busses or city busses To address this need. We largely use local cabs and services locally that are vetted and background checks are done to provide students with more one on one, intimate transportation in order to allow a child to stay where they are as they're dealing with homeless insecurity. So again, to repeat, children's basic rights, stay at your original school, be provided transportation to get to and from school, including after school activities, keep it stay enrolled where you're at and within the district, and try as much as possible to remove the barriers that can get in the way of focusing on teaching and learning. So what does the homeless office do to provide services to families and individual children? One, they manage your referrals. The referrals mainly come from individual schools, and recently, we placed a liaison at every school who's trained to work with families and children to identify the status of homelessness. So but the homeless office is the one that reviews the referrals to determine if services can be provided. That homeless office is only two full time individuals and then two contracted staff. So they work with our schools. When referrals come in, they review it and determine eligibility. Then they work through issues of transportation, school supplies, uniforms, basic needs, where to stay enrolled at the school or possibly consider another one. We also that team also develops relationships with our homeless shelters and other nonprofit and resource partners. They provide district wide professional development and very specific to the liaisons. They manage events, donations, grants, specifically for homeless students and families. And then they participate on the committees locally and statewide around this issue. And then we we do our best to refer families to the resources that the city provides regarding shelters. So at the school level, a lot of this is a repeat of what I reviewed already. Our homeless liaison at the district level is Michelle Parker. She's a former principal at Cody high school, but. Yeah, and so she and her team work with the ladies on again, identifying enrolling students who are homelessness, helping students get immunized and get their medical records, helping them enroll, helping them with transportation, connecting students with community resources that already exist, working with the state and school personnel, continuing to raise awareness and outreach, helping to resolve disputes and that can happen between families and schools around enrollment and challenges with transportation, and then also help children or graduates transition for high school to college.
So enroll high level takeaway, we must keep the child enrolled in dpscd, if that's the wish of the families, and keep them in their school that they have been identified at when they're homeless. We also in within the school, maybe a teacher may learn that a child is homeless through a running assignment or maybe even just a casual conversation, and then that teacher will refer it to the liaison, and then the liaison worked with the family to fill out the necessary paperwork. Our goal is defined by the state, which is to get at least 10% of students who are homeless to be to get the resources that they deserve that's set by the state. So we've used the same number. We're still not at that level district wide, based on the numbers that we see citywide, but we're moving to that goal again, always trying to identify who the point of who the parent is or the Guardian is under their rights, and let them know their rights, explain to the parents and guardians what their options are, and work to provide transportation and resources. So here are there are multiple access points for homeless families and just for even awareness for advocates and supporters, mainly through our website, we have a tool kit, resources, resources for students and families. Obviously, the enrollment packet, how to get access the resources and help to the face department, and then the list of the liaisons at each of the schools throughout the district. So when we talk about the referral process, again, it's submitted digitally by the liaison at the school level, or from staff at the homeless office. There are two referral links, one internal, so an internal staff can figure out, fill that out, or an external individuals can fill out, the family or maybe an organization or advocate. We try to address referrals between 24 and 48 hours. There are peak times. For example, during the high enrollment season is a peak time, but we do our base our best to meet that goal of 24 to 48 hours, once the referral is acknowledged, then that is identified in the query, so we can track that. And then again, we begin to set up meetings to understand what kind of transportation we can provide to the family. There's an external link here and an internal link. These are live. So if you want to do this now, you can use it, or you want to share the information with the greater community. And so this just breaks down the transportation process and an outreach number to work through transportation. As I mentioned, we have a number of vendors locally. Some are local, some are national, where we go through a background check for the cab driver or the service to directly pick the child up, where the child is living temporarily, and drive them to school. That's a one on one transportation model. If the regular bus system, city bus or the school bus system, does not work, we have a pantry distribution site. We also use our health hubs to gain access to free medical, dental eye screening, eye glasses and mental health support to all families and students, including our families that are struggling with homelessness, that pantry can provide toiletry supplies, basic food, canned goods, uniforms and other just basic needs. When school is closed, there's the hotline, which is the public safety that responds to calls, and we can help pick up unaccompanied youth that are struggling with homelessness, and we do that often throughout the city, for our students, and we also take children directly to shelters or where their temporary location may be. Just when you think about our counts right now, we have 208 18 unaccompanied, unaccompanied youth that have been identified as homeless, 3207 across the district that are defined as homeless. And then, when you look at homeless and unaccompanied served, 3425 i Yeah, so I think this is also telling of the progress we've made. But everyone knows that there's much, much more work to do in 1718, was which was roughly the time the empowered and elected board started and this administration started, there were 685 students identified for homeless students. We are now at about 3182 that's a 20% increase. Proud of the increase because we are doing more, but certainly the gap is still large, and I'll give another QR code for those in the audience to use. The rest of the presentation just shows you an example of the pantry and the goods that we have for families if they're struggling with this or other issues. And then this is just a review of the partners that we have and the kind of resources that they provide. So the board had asked me to give an overview of this. I also provided them a lot of information about the partners that we have, the shelters that are available. I know some of our board members also visited our site, where the where the office is, and more of our resources are. So I know we have staff here. I can ask any answering questions that the Board may have, or I can give those questions also the staff. A board member also asked me to talk about how we're supporting families in southwest Detroit that were impacted by the the flooding that occurred several weeks ago, where that displaced a number of families in southwest Detroit, we were obviously aware of that crisis. The City mobilized the use of hotels to temporarily place a number of families and children. There were only initially about 12 families that were identified that were dpscd families that were temporarily placed. We were a little skeptical of that number. We thought it might be higher, but our staff went to the hotels the days that those families were moved there. We tried to engage all families on their homelessness status, to problem solve with the city, to provide transportation from the hotels to schools. We continue to communicate with the city regarding services for those families. I just think it's important to note that all those families are not DPS city families there. There are several that are charter or private or being served outside of the city at this point. Madam Chair, I don't know if you or the board has questions about this or the metrics.
Madam Vice Chair, Dr Beatty,
thank you for your report on Southwest Detroit. A couple follow up questions. One, are we? Do we have Spanish speaking support for our Southwest students who are dealing with these issues? Two, would you address the leniency for those who are displaced to not have to wear uniforms to schools? And then can you talk a little bit more about transportation and what we're doing, and also complimentary laundry services, access to the schools, because I've received a couple reports, and folks have questions about this, and then I think my last question is, are we attending meetings that are joint meetings with the city and other entities to ensure that our Southwest Detroit students are receiving that we're in the loop of what they need,
sure. So through the chair our our family community engagement team definitely has individuals on the team who are bilingual. Obviously, when we talk about Southwest Detroit, we're mainly talking about Spanish speakers. And so when we did engage hotels, we did have a Spanish speaker that was included on the team to obviously engage the families at our Southwest Detroit schools. We do have quite a few people staff that are obviously bilingual. And so that's a point of reference when whether this crisis hits or homelessness is a challenge for those students. And again, if we're talking about language being a barrier outside of Southwest Detroit, then whether it's at the school with our automated translation services, now that all non native speakers have. Access to all employees do, but we then can connect them to face team members that can problem solve at the school if there's someone at the school that does not speak that language there right now, there aren't regular meetings that I'm aware of linked to the the flooding crisis that occurred. There were, and we were definitely participating in those. I'm not aware, at least at my level, that there's been challenges at individual schools or with families that were impacted by the flooding that's not providing the services that they're entitled to through the McKinney vento act. I will say the point of clarification, because initially we had identified by memory, 12 families that we thought would obviously qualify for McKinney vento services, but because they were placed in the hotel, their status changed, so then they couldn't receive the services under The law, but the city was still providing services as a support mechanism for those families, and obviously we were willing to step in and fill any gaps, and we still are, if there are any continuing gaps there, I may have missed one of your other questions. So
if a family needs to get in contact with the district, who specifically can they reach out to? Because I know there are several families listening in today who are asking for a contact that can return their call within 24 hours. Who is that person and what is the best way to contact them?
Yeah, I would say, if they're at a school, obviously they're enrolled in one of our schools, I would say, reach out to the principal, a guidance counselor, who then should, should refer. They can do a direct referral based on the, you know, the the QR code that we have. They can do an internal referral for that family or student for eligibility. Or they can refer the the employee at the school. Can refer that family or person to the liaison, the homeless liaison at that individual school, either way works, and so admittedly, there may be staff that aren't aware of the referral process. So if I'm a teacher, I'm not a liaison, and my child, one of my students, talks about being homeless. I may not know that I can go ahead and submit the referral by talking to that child or the you know, the child's family. They may not know that at this point. They should know that there's a liaison at the school, but we may need to continue to create greater awareness for that. But I want to directly answer your question. Tell any parent, any student, to go to their counselor, their principal, assistant principal, and they can do an external or they'll reach out or go to the liaison to fill out the form, which is very couple questions that can be filled out in a couple minutes to then determine eligibility.
So last question on this topic, so a lot of these students, you know, you may not qualify for McKinney Vento and they're just displaced. What are we doing as a district to help them, if they're living in a hotel in Southfield to get to school? Could you specifically, specifically talk about how we're supporting folks who may not qualify? Because you just mentioned that there was some confusion there. Yeah, like, what are we doing to help folks who are just displaced because of their situation? Yeah,
I mean, and I also want to go back to answer your question, you know, I would hope that individual schools, when they when they learn about either displacement or homelessness, that we understand issues of uniforms, discipline linked to uniforms, all should be reduced and reconsidered, and more importantly, just problem solved with the family, because we do have ways to get children free uniforms. We also have greater access to washers and dryers, and so all of that can happen at the school, through the homeless office, through our health hubs, and through those resources generally. As far as displaced families, there are limitations to what we can do, but I think it always requires a conversation at the school. So you know when, when we have an attendance problem, there should be a conversation with the attendance agent, or, let's say, the dean, assistant principal, or even a teacher to let's explore what the options might be. Are there? Are there shelters in the city? Are there different bus stops in the city that might the families not might not be aware of? Now we can't provide direct transportation, and we're not structured or funded that way, but there is a way to problem solve through nearest bus stop, maybe a different school, and just better learn and understand and then connected to the homeless office that it does have the resources and problem solving skills to work with an individual family. Okay, so
my request is that we just go back through all those who have been identified to be impacted by this situation and make sure that we work with those local schools, that the principals, as well as just contacted the family to see what they need, because I'm hearing different information about what we're we can and can't do, and I want to make sure all misinformation is cleared up.
And as I always say to the board or even anyone listening in the audience or online, you can email a board member, you can email me directly, and that's the you know, obviously we rely on our schools, but if things are not followed up on, then we want to provide the services, and then we know how to route that to get an immediate response. So I think it has improved, but there are probably examples of families and students falling between the cracks where they're not being provided services that they're entitled to. So continuing to create more awareness about this, and, you know, reach out to me, directly to a board member, and then we have a rotting process to make sure that that's addressed,
and just also making sure we communicate to our leadership to say, hey, if they need to wash their clothes, if they need to not wear uniforms today, we should support them because they're going through an unusual situation. So just having that flexibility to support our students when they're dealing with issues like this, and it should come from us at the top, communicating that as well.
Yeah, agreed. And you know, as the board knows, and some community members know, by the beginning of next year, all of our schools will have washer and dryer so that that will help address some of these issues that we're talking about tonight. It's not a silver bullet, but it does address some of the issues.
I see Dr short, and then board member Sherry gay go, and then board member Bryant,
I just have a suggestion, because this whole issue of transportation keeps coming up over and over again, and I'm wondering, what is the possibility of us getting with some of our partners? We're creating some of the partners with the big three to get these vans, the seven of 15 passenger vans that we can use specifically for the homeless, so that we have our built in transportation to have them donate those to us. So I just think that's an area we should look into. That's it.
Thank you board member Sherry Gaines, and they go,
thank you. Thank you for that comprehensive report, and to the staff of this department. I know this has to be very stressful work. I have a few questions. So taking notes, so forgive me for one, I know what you said. 645 and 2017 I think I wanted slides, and then the exponential growth to 3425 has our staffing grown to accommodate the demand.
Through the Chair, the staff was the highest, if you will, the most number of people during COVID. So obviously, with Esther funding, or COVID funding, we expanded that office through full time and contract to staff during the pandemic because of the wide range of challenges that were even worsened by the pandemic. But then after we move forward with balancing the budget, after not relying on one time COVID money, the staff numbers went back down, not to the level they were before the pandemic, but lower than they were during the height of the pandemic. So right now, we have two full time staff members in that office and two contractors in that office.
Thank you. This seems like a monumental task with four people leading the work for 3425 students. So hopefully our priorities will reflect that in upcoming budgets. One of the slides, I think it moved a little quickly right before the one that had school and then SPLC listing, go back a few slides, maybe about three more. One keep going. Go back, back, back, back. One more. One more keep going. One more. Keep going. Keep going, keep going, keep going, because they were moving so fast, keep going. The one before. Thank you. I didn't, I didn't get this. Okay, so the district's homeless liaison, Michelle Parker, I didn't. This will move too fast. I don't you go over this one. You did. Okay. I'm sorry I was taking notes, so I missed some of that. So thank you to Michelle Parker and those who are lead. This work, there was a incorrect phone, or incomplete phone number on one of the slides. Also, that was for security. It's 313748600, is what was reflected. So some number is missing on the one that public safety number? Yeah, I know, but the public just got a wrong number or an incomplete number, so I want to make sure it's reflected and updated in this is there, when you were talking, I was just doing a Venn diagram. So we know we have four staff members in this in this department, but you mentioned truancy agents. How many do we currently have insurance attendance agents, because there has to be a lap over between the homeless and the truant. So how many do we have for a truancy
so I know the previous title, I think, was truancy officer. We obviously call them attendance agents, 85 full time attendance agents, and I believe 17 of them work district wide and for exam schools, application schools, and what we would call very small schools. So schools that I think by memory, are smaller than, let's say, 300 students and then all the other so outside of exam schools, application schools and small schools, every school has an attendance agent, and so we used a 17 to do more district wide work at those smaller schools. And you may recall, when we balanced the budget without COVID money, we reduced the number, I think, by 10 or 15 by memory, and we used more of that district wide model for the smaller schools and the non exam and application schools.
So thank you so our since we have that's good that we have one at every school, are they interfacing with this department, and you mentioned the liaisons at the school, are they communicating between the attendance agencies and the liaisons that okay?
Well, the the attendance, the attendance agents at individual schools, are managed, obviously, by the principal, you know, or the lead, the the assistant principal at the school. From a central office point of view, they're connected to what would be the the whole child team, which works on code and attendance, the homelessness work that office is under the Office of Family Community Engagement. So the family community engagement team, or the homeless team, will go to the attendance agent meetings explain the resources that that the homeless students and families are eligible for. Some of them may be attendance agents as far as delays on at the school, some may not, but yes, that office, when we have attendance agent meetings, they will go and explain their sort the resources that are available.
Thank you. Thank you. And I ask that, and I appreciate those that are leading the face work. I believe I saw the leader here, director here earlier. I don't want just cabinet heads meeting. I just want to make sure that if we have liaisons at the school level and we have attendance agents at the school level, you use the term earlier you I would hope we know that we've seen all kind of communication kids get sent home because they had a sweatshirt or didn't have a sweatshirt or didn't have the right color, we want to be very intentional about making provisions and making it clear for those who are boots on the ground in the schools on how to handle situations like this, so that we're not penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to our kids being in school, who've already went through adversity to get there. I wanted to also ask so see something, say something. The phone number for security is that the same number, let's just say, in the community, there was an outcry, of course, with the loss of our children in the car. But many people are looking to help, and we're encouraging them, if they see something, to make a phone call. Where are they to call? Is there an easy number where people report kids on a block that you we had kids living on a porch? Where do they call to say these kids are not in school?
Probably the number that had to be corrected on the slide. Yeah. I, 313-748-6000,
okay, 6000 zero was missing. Thank you
that. I think that is the best number to call. You know, we actually had a conversation about this with with a board member, the robo call number that goes out that you see on your phone. One, that number can also be called, that's an active number, and that that goes to a call center, and then someone, some a live person, answers the phone unless there's a bunch of calls coming in. But someone does answer that phone, that number, and it can route it, you know, to a department as well. But I would, I would use the public safety number to answer your question. So
thank you. If we could start getting some social media presence to put this information out, and I like the use of the QR codes, but to put that out for lay public, who is often looking for ways to help and to support I know that the city is starting some conversations on de siloing these issues, making sure that departments communicate with each other, and I think certainly we need to do the same, but also looking at thinking outside of the box. The CV eyes used by the city to combat violence in our community, and they're out in the community, doing a lot of the work, perhaps, maybe these are ways that we could expand our footprint. And are we recruiting volunteers in some capacity that want to be helpful with respect to homelessness? I think so many people have reached out to help. It's overwhelming for us. I know it's overwhelming for the department, but how do we put these people into an opportunity to be a resource in the community, to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Obviously, we have the process for volunteerism. I think it's just a continuation of creating greater awareness, call to action and clear funnels of where people can go if and when they want to help, specifically for the homelessness work. I mean, I think we have needs across the district when we think about volunteering, you know, everything from extra eyes on children during lunch, you know, transition going in the bathrooms, you know, using the the the locker rooms, you know, during when they're changing for gym to cross guards. I mean, I'm just naming examples of volunteer opportunities. And I know board member Brian has been talking about this a lot as well, which is, how do we streamline the net that we cast and how people can come in. I think we are looking at upgrading our technology when it comes to people signing up, seeing a calendar of all the volunteer opportunities. So these things have all been named as opportunities for improvement. And you know, we have talked primarily to board member Brian about some features that can be upgraded, but I do agree that this continues to be a big opportunity to create more clarity on where is the need. Where is the need. How do you sign up and efficiency in this process? And one thing that we have talked about internally as well linked to this is we have seen success with things like a liaison for homeless at individual schools. Well, we're thinking about maybe a liaison for volunteerism at individual schools, so they can coordinate the activity at schools, put them on, you know, the website, and people can know where they are. So those are some of the upgrades we're thinking about for next year, and possibly a small stipend for the individual that does it. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Before we move to additional comments, just a little bit more housekeeping, there is a red Cadillac with a Western alumni tag, J, z8, 8y, eight, why, please, please move your vehicle. Also, Grand Cherokee, black to Q, G, W, 09, and a. Lincoln, white, nine, in k, m3, three, please check your vehicles. The tow truck is here. Thank you.
Board Member, Bryant, thank you, Madam Chair. So I wanted to just thank my colleagues who were on top, boots on the ground, getting information, and probably asked half of my questions. So I'll move to the two things that I think we need to understand. We have a two and two working in the homeless liaison space. What would be the optimum number needed to actually cover all these, these cases that we have? I mean, over 3000 so what would be the optimal in terms of expanding. Andy, and can we look at a plan? Hats off to Ms. Michelle Parker, I want to say we you used team. Dr Reedy, but it's two people. I mean, I know we probably consider more than one a team, but they're doing some amazing, amazing work. I just can't imagine all the hours that she and her other team member put in. So with that being said, I mean, with budget cuts and all the other information that you've shared why this department isn't working at full capacity. But I would have to think with what we're facing in terms of the cuts federally, we're going to see more homelessness, unfortunately. So I would rather us be prepared to see what we can do moving forward with some type of development plan in the works, that at least we understand what those numbers look like and what we could possibly do. Thank you.
Through the Chair, this will be a focus as we develop the budget, and I'll be prepared as we go through whether it's budget cut scenarios, you know what? Even, even in a budget cut scenario, there still should be conversation around strategy. And so we'll be prepared to talk about what is the best practice at the district level. When you look at what could be the unidentified number of students throughout the city or families, what would be the right staffing? And obviously we're probably talking about a reduction somewhere else to add in this department, and the board would see what are the moving parts in order to have that so I'll be prepared to answer your question based on best practice in other districts, or even you know, what different cities have done, I would just say, agree this is a need, agree that we should put more resources in it. I would just say the board obviously also has to be prepared to probably reduce somewhere else, knowing where we're headed with the federal budget and knowing that this isn't currently not fully funded.
Thank you. Board Member Peterson, maybe yes,
thank you. So a couple of my questions have been asked already, too. Just Dr Beatty, just two. One we one of the slides mentioned about the 10% target, and I know it set by the state, and we were, I think your report was that we're not even meeting that minimum. So can you identify what the biggest hurdle is, if it's not staffing, then what is it so that we can attack that? And then the second thing is, you know, earlier on in in your tenure here, we had the board at that time, had a very intense conversation about shifting the narrative from special education students, and we renamed the department. And I just think that as our young people get older, especially those in high school, it's going to be really hard to report that you are homeless just because of the stigma that's attached to it. So I would hope that we think about something different, the name itself, what that looks like. I know in other industries, they've kind of changed what that name is. I just want us to explore that as well, so that maybe that whole reporting piece may be one that we can eliminate in terms of an obstacle as well.
Through the Chair, we'll research that, and probably best to likely do that through policy, because I there are, there are, I think, certain policies that name this, so we can go through that and offer the policy committee best practice and in names, I think the biggest gap continues to be the stigma related to the experience and just students feeling comfortable talking about the challenges that they and their families are facing. I think we've I think society as a whole has done a better job of reducing the stigma and talking about the challenges, because when we talk about mental health, this can be triggers. And so I think generally, society is positively evolving in that space. And I think our students generally are more comfortable talking about their challenges than they were even before the pandemic. I think the continuing issue is the stigma connected to it. I'd also say, unfortunately, a lot of our students that that also defines their persistence is that they, unfortunately, a lot of our students, believe that that is their reality and that, you know, they have to deal with it. And I think it's. Our job to continue to talk about what is available, that there are resources that can help, and I think we we own that at the district level and individual school level, to continue to promote
Dr Vitti, speaking about funding, we have a foundation, Detroit public schools, community, district, foundation. How tied in to this specific area is the foundation, in terms of looking for funders andor investors? Has this been a conversation with them?
Not at the highest level? Meaning, if you recall now, about two years ago, the board had identified philanthropic priorities, and the indirect link to this was the funding in support of the health hubs. Because indirectly, directly, the health hubs can help serve homeless families or insecure housing families and students, to the pantry, the family resource center and the other medical and mental health services that are available through the health of so indirectly that has been a support. Obviously, the funding link to the washer and dryers is another direct example, and then part of our priorities is just a call for more supplies and resources. So help with uniforms, help with the pantry, you know, canned goods. So indirectly. Now, to answer your question, we didn't name it as a main priority, and that's something that we can revisit from a funding point of view, now, not the partners point of view. Certainly the foundation can connect us, but I think that's more the district's responsibility, not not really the foundation. The foundation's responsibility would be to raise dollars specifically to support families and students facing this, and that can be translated in transportation, all the things that we talked about earlier, but we haven't named that as a priority with the foundation. Indirectly, it's through the health hubs and family resource centers. And
that conversation can happen when, well,
we have to, I have to have a conversation with the board about whether they still want the priorities that we have, because those if for the for new board members, they may not know, but for the board members that were here, previous to January, we had identified the Cooley Project, the camp Burt Shirley, as as two major ones, and Davis aerospace, which now is funded, the Cass tech field, which is now funded. So there is an opportunity, I think, to go back to the board and say these were the original ones. Is where we are. Do we want to name homelessness, you know, as the main one, or one of them as we move forward. The other one that was named was high school redesign and more support with that around transportation to colleges and some of the analytical work that needed to be done around scheduling and the partnership itself.
Thank you. I saw another hand.
I just want to, I know we're mentioning Michelle Parker, who is our liaison, and she's actually sitting in the front row, and I just want to acknowledge her work in supporting our students.
Please stand, Michelle, please stand. Please give her a round of applause. Thank you, Michelle Parker and her supervisor is Superintendent, Shalonda Buckman, can we just honor her as well? Would you please stand Miss Buckman, thank you, yes. Thank you for the work that you all are doing. I am so excited about what has happened for those of you that do not know where the pantry is, write this address down as I review it. It's 47 01, McKinley Street, 4701 McKinley street. That's Detroit, 48208, and that is open to all students of the district. Please write the address down, 4701, McKinley and we, we saw pictures. Dr Vitti, can you get those pictures back up of the pantry? Please? There are uniforms, there's garments, clothing, there's perish, non perishable food items, ton of clothing, socks, shoes, uniforms, but not just uniforms, but clothing. There's household items. Of course, there's coats, because we know that we have fostered that throughout the day. District, but this is open every day, and any parent, any person from the district, is able to go to the pantry. Again, those of you that are identified through this discussion, homelessness, foster care. You know that this place serves as a resource center, but I don't think sometimes that all of the parents of the community and our district know that this is a resource for you as well. So thank you again for family and community engagement, to all of the volunteers, and, of course, to Michelle Parker, who has done a phenomenal job one more time. Can we just celebrate them please, for the work that they're doing?
We had the opportunity Vice Chair, McClendon and I just last Friday, I believe it was to walk through it again. And I've kind of been personally engaged in this area for the last seven years, and I've seen so much progress. We need funding. We need volunteers. We need support, and of course, we need your prayers for this very vital work of our district. Thank you very much. Also, is that it for before we go to public comment, we received the Superintendent's report? Is there support to the motion to receive it all in favor? Aye. Thank you. No opposes eyes have it, we will now move to our public comment. Thank you so much, and again, please. A shout out for PBS public television that is also here, recording live live streaming to our YouTube channel. Many of you may have recognized on last month, they were here, and they are committed to be with us so that our live stream has improved, as well as we're about to test our public comment virtually. So thank you again to PBS and the team that's here, and to our own team under superintendent Bucha Jackson. Thank you so much for the work that you all are doing tonight. Also, if you have signed up for public comment, please prepare yourself, and we'll hear the reading of that now,
members of the public are welcome to address the border and public comment. Individuals wishing to address the board must register in person or raise their hand online prior to the chair announcing the closing of public comment. Registrations, the Chair will call the names of individuals to address the board in the order received, please remain seated until it is your time, until your name is called for virtual public comments, it will be facilitated through a zoom webinar, the link and phone number for which can be accessed at Detroit, K twelve.org, backslash board meetings. Individuals wishing to address the Board may do so by choosing one of two options via computer, select the Raise Your Hand option on the screen or via telephone, press star nine to raise your hand via the telephone, the Chair will select the individuals in the order received. You will remain muted until it is your time to speak. All comments will be limited to three minutes. The superintendent will reply to questions or concerns raised today that did not violate ethical or legal standards, confidentiality, privacy of others or require additional information to respond. If you would like a direct response to your question and or concern, please forward an email to the secretary to the board Vania Moore at Vania dot Moore at Detroit K twelve.org applause, thank
you so much. Miss Moore for the first two public comments. We have Jerry white and Mel Moseley. Thank you so much. Sorry, m, e, i L, please say it for me again. M, e, i Mel, thank you.
Thank you. I'm speaking on behalf of the Socialist Equality Party and the Michigan educators rank and file committee, and I'd like to bring to the attention of everyone here a chilling attack on free speech that educators and all workers and young people must oppose on Saturday. A Mahmud Khalil, a graduate of Columbia University and a legal permanent resident, was kidnapped by Homeland Security and ICE agents, not for any crime, but for speaking out against the US backed genocide, snatched from his home, thrown in a private detention center in Louisiana and cut off from his family and legal representation. These are the actions of a dictatorship, plain and simple, using the lie pedaled by both the Democrats and Republicans that opposing the genocide is anti semitic Trump has threatened to arrest 1000s of students for, quote, anti American activity. Now, if he can do this to a student for exercising free speech, why not to striking workers who are fighting job cuts or to teachers and parents and students resisting the destruction of public education today, the Department of Education employees were told not to work tomorrow and a reduction in force notifications have gone out to 1300 employees of the Department of Education. Billions are now being cut for low income, disabled and ESL students and funneled into privatization and the destruction of public education. And as Dr Vitti admitted, some 25% cuts in K through 12 funding is coming down the pike, and this means the destruction of public education. The Democrats and the aft and DFT bureaucracies are totally rolling over in the face of Trump, but educators, parents and young people cannot. We have to defend the right of our children to public education. We have to stop the cuts. We have to stop them looting society's resources in order to fund more tax cuts to the rich and more wars. I urge everyone here to attend an online meeting this Saturday at 12 o'clock. It's on the leaflet that we handed out, or you could go to Ws, ws.org, forward slash educators join the fight to build a rank and file movement independent of the Do Nothing union bureaucracies and unite all workers, educators, auto workers, young people, to defend our rights. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. White, thank you, sir. Ms Moseley, applause.
Hello. Okay, hi.
So today at school, when I was just minding my own business, some girl came up to me and pulled my hood and then start choking me.
See how long this has been going on. It been going
on since I've been in second grade.
I'll take the rest of this because I'm the next person in line. My granddaughter has been abused at Sampson Weber school. This whole school year, I've been sending letters to Beatty all last month, and during that month, all I've been getting is bull crap. She had nerve enough they have drove her to want that she said in front of her teachers, I want to stab myself now, instead of worrying about the bullies, they're worried about her committing suicide. Why is that? They're not addressing the problem of bullying in that building? I'm fed up when I asked them what was going on. It's none of your business. We don't handle when I asked the counselor, what did you do with the kids? Because she gave them a list, they said to me, we don't discuss discipline. I don't do discipline. Excuse me, I want to know what's going on. I'm the one that filed the complaint. I'm her grandmother, Bede seemed to got out that seat now, didn't he, he must remember I'm the one that gets on his nerve. I got on Bobby Bob's nerves, and I'll get on his I'm fed up with them, wanting to cover stuff up. They got nerve and up the center. Letter to the parents going to have an online suicide prevention kind of thing. What about the bully? What about letting this child get thrown shoes in her face, talking about me like a dog, talking about her hair? Her hair is real, not Memorex. I don't have the time nor the patience for this bull crap that he has been doing with me all month. I warned him that I would be here. I gave him a month to figure out what's going on. Farmer the principal, oh, well, we're checking on May, and we're making sure that she's okay. But every time that she tries to tell a teacher or tell somebody what's going on with her, guess what happens? Sit in your seat. May get get out of faith. Get out of my face. May. Then when may starts acting up, guess what? She gets in trouble. She gets thrown out of school. But these seven girls, six girls and one boy.
Yes, ma'am. You. Remember, I
was sitting in front of that school,
everything with the signs saying this school allowed somebody I heard nothing
about what they had been these parents, none of now, they had a meeting.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you and we you are heard. Miss Buckman, those that are on staff here,
please, Madam Chair,
there's Miss Mayor weather. Thank you so much for the superintendents that are present here tonight. Did we
get the student's name in the grandparents name students? Name
is male Moseley. You said me, yes, yes, me, I mostly, and the school is Samson Weber. Is that your school? Thank you. So board member Bryant is assigned to that particular school. So thank you so much. Thank you for coming for grandparents. Thank you. Thank you so much. The next two would be Tamara Willis. I just
want to make a comment. No,
ma'am, no, ma'am. Tamara Willis and Artesia bomber B, O, M, E, R, this is public comment. Thank you. Please come that's Tamara. Tamara Willis and Artesia Bonner, right? We will move on to Tony Stevenson, Tom Danko, Tony Stevenson and Tom Danko, They are not here. All right, okay, thank you. To
thank you so much, sir. Are you Mr. Stevenson or Mr. Danko? Thank you, sir. The next two would be Sean King and Kyla McDonald. Please be ready. Good
afternoon. Good afternoon. I represent the Davis technical advisory from Davis aerospace. One of the reasons that I'm here, and several of our my colleagues are here, is to find out the progress of the moving of the school back to the airport. Since, from my understanding, things have been approved and there's money in the pipeline. Is everything still on schedule, and is that going to take place? And will obviously, transportation be provided, and everything for the students to get to the airport when the construction is completed, and the curriculum for the school has that been looked into yet to find out, for the qualifications for the job, for air frame, power plant and aviation studies, is that still going through? But the main thing is for the. The movement of the school to the airport, with the construction and everything, I'm assuming that the director, Mr. Watt at the airport, has been brought up to speed. And has he been involved in any other meetings here with the school board as well to make sure that, once again, everything is on track and on course and on time, as I said, since the money has been budgeted, and I believe in the like I said, in the paper pipeline for the construction of the school and for teachers as well. So that's everything, and I think I had to find out, so I'll be curious to see what the response would be. Thank you. Thank
you, sir. Thank you for coming. The superintendent will respond to me, and thank you. Tom Danko, Sean Klug, K, L, U, G, thank you, sir. You here.
Well, good evening. I won't take up too much of anyone's time. My name is Sean Klug, close enough there. I'm the Regional Director from Aflac insurance. Been with the company over 20 years. Now oversee most of Metro Detroit Aflac operations. We understand that the board removed some of the benefits like Aflac a number of years ago for whatever the reason our is, but approximately two years ago, we started a relationship with the Detroit Federation of Teachers to make the Aflac benefit options available to those members on a direct pay basis that they're funding through checking account or credit card that They can get through on their own, we've marketed and done a great job with those members getting the word out through email, events and other things. However, we're running into a little bit of a resistance, or a head wind in working with the school system directly and getting access to obviously educate the staff members or the union members on what's available to them, because we're not in the approved vendors list, and we're having a tough time getting a badge ID or getting the ability to get on access that we're not disrupting classroom or learning time, but give them access to, obviously, to understand the benefits that they are looking for. So the question is, how do we get that approval, and then maybe number two, in a closed session, how do we get to table to discuss potentially getting these benefits back on as a normal benefit option through apparel deduction format, since we're currently working with over 200 school districts in the state of Michigan, that format. So I'll just leave it up to you.
All right. Thank you. Tom tinkle, yeah, I'll just finish
up the remaining time. Certainly we have over 500 I think closer actually, to 700 members with the Detroit Federation of Teachers currently insured in the plans as well. So membership is very high and firm. Claims perspective, that's really one of the big areas that Aflac really helps out, especially in the time of needs, of what we talked about, where people need money, we heard about some of the areas of tough times, certainly even at the teacher membership level of employees, that's truly where these benefits help out, because they pay them cash directly during a time of when they're going through a medical situation. So truly, the value and where the need for these plans in today's world has risen tremendously. And again, having this as an option for the entire staff is also part of the goal outside of us just working through the specific union where we're limited to the members and who we can talk to as well. So thank you.
Thank you. Next,
Kyla McDonald and Emma Bolton,
hello. My name is Kyla McDonald, and I'm one of the benefit representatives for Aflac. We appreciate the opportunity to be able to service the DFT employees, but we love the opportunity to be able to service all the DPS employees. Over the years, I've heard so many testimonies of how we've been able to help families in their time of need, and I've been there, like through the process, in terms of helping them with the claim process as well. Over the years, I've seen, like, the district hire a lot of different new hires, because I get a lot of calls regarding people who just started, or, let's say younger members in the district, who don't have the time and weren't able to build up enough time to be able to have time off or pay time off, I've actually been able to help people who've had like, like illnesses such as like, cancer, heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, permanent paralysis, coma, just different things that people experience, that our coverages have been able to help out in their time of need. And I'm. Don't just enroll the employees. I also help when the with the customer service. I help with the claims process from from the beginning to the end. So we're just looking to see if we can actually maybe have, like a closed session with the board to kind of discuss maybe payroll opportunities, because we do get asked on a daily basis, how can this come out my paycheck? Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Miss Bolton, sorry I'm not good at this. And next following her is Miguel Thornton. Miguel Thornton,
good evening, everyone. My name is Emma Howlin Bolton and I am a proud fourth grade teacher at their goal Elementary my students are the actual best, and this year has been one of my favorites, despite it being a Concerningly interesting time to teach social studies, many worried after we publicly spoke out about the abuses committed by our former school leader, that we would be punished for our advocacy, but I come to this body with a story of great hope. I am doing the job that I love best. I live in the neighborhood I teach in, and I walk to school every day. I coordinate my school and community gardens. I'm on the PBIS team and the Union Committee at my school, and it has been my great honor and delight to support the formation of what will be the Thurgood PTA. All of this was made possible by the daring and relentless organizing of a magnitude of dedicated parents, staff, students, elected officials, journalists and community members who fought for our school last year and won. People were worried that because of our success, we would be systematically punished, that we'd be assigned to an even being assigned an even more punitive and brutal school leader, that our evaluation scores would be artificially diminished, that we'd be moved from teaching the grades we love best to the ones we're least suited for, that we'd be transferred out of circle against our will, or worst of all, that Our beloved school, which has been open and operating gloriously since 1914 would be closed in retaliation and y'all by and large, that did not happen. Thirkle is thriving. Imagine our surprise then when just a few weeks ago, our attempts to form a PTA were met with sudden and unexpected pushback, this resistance to a parent teacher group that has been operating joyfully, transparently and inclusively for months, comes from a small cabal of malcontents in central office, the bullies we were warned that were coming for us. I was held against my will in the main office and told that if I tried to leave, that the police would be called, and our PTA group disbanded, all in an effort to keep me from facilitating a meeting that was already approved and then I was written up. We just want to be able to meet as parents and teachers, and we ask the school board and Dr Beatty to intervene on our behalf. Can you help us? In closing, I'll say this be unbelievable. Don't let anyone take your joy. I go to work happy every day, even despite recent attempts to erode both my sense of physical safety and my trust in our district, I was told to expect abuse and intimidation. But what I've been shown instead is how many people there are with a deep and unshakable conviction that our students deserve the very best. If you're one of these people, I want to say thank you, and then I'm proud to stand with you. We're meant to feel like evil is overwhelming and inevitable, but the only thing that's inevitable is our resistance, and when we fight together, we win.
Thank you.
Miguel Thornton. Miguel Thornton, retired Colonel Lawrence, Melbourne, you would come at this time. Thank you.
Yeah, you walked out for a second.
He's in the Okay, I'm sorry. We'll come back. Heidi West, Heidi West and l Thomas. Heidi West and l Thomas do
participation.
Is this working? Yes, okay, good evening. Board members and community. My name is Heidi West, and I'm a proud graduate of Detroit Public Schools cast tech class of 93 and a 15 year old teacher in the district, first at Western and now Academy of America. This for the past seven years. I know there's a lot wrong in the world right now, as we've heard here tonight, but I am here tonight to thank the board for passing the gun safety and safe gun storage resolution that is on the agenda tonight. Oh, I'm getting emotional.
I'm here representing not only for my students, but also here with friends and members of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Susan, I guess, yeah. Annie Gallagher, Susan coseki and Mia Reid, an amazing community activist where am I and therapist and Bonnie Whitaker, both of whom are survivors of gun violence themselves, and now passionate advocates for gun violence prevention. Also Brenda Goss Andrews, retired Detroit Police Deputy Chief, who could not be here tonight because she's at a conference, but she helped tremendously in getting this resolution in your hands and thanks you. Thanks you, and we'll follow up with you all. We started this process a few years ago, and we are so happy and thankful to see it being presented tonight. Sadly, as we have recently seen incidents of children accessing guns and terrible violent accidents happening all over Metro Detroit, we know how necessary this resolution is. More now than ever we in Moms Demand Action. Would like to offer her support to help you distribute the timely and lawful information on how families have to safely store their firearms in their homes. Now that it is the law in Michigan, we can do presentations offer information that can be found at be smart for kids.org. Please reach out if you need support. We love to help you in any way. Thank you so much again for your time tonight, and know that you are helping protect our children, our families and our students from gun violence tonight. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Can we? Can we put our hands together for them and for the resolution that is coming forth in a few moments? Thank you so much next.
Oh, Melissa Redmond, Mama Redman and Mama Aaliyah Moore, our parent advocates. I
and the next two persons would be coach Ron and has the Colonel Lawrence, have you returned back into the room yet?
Not yet. Colonel Milburn,
not yet. All right, thank you, Mama Redman, thank you.
Good evening. Board, good evening. Dr Vitti, first, I would like to give a thanks to certain board members that have came over to Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy during this school year. Bishop Vaughn, Sherry, Monique. Bryant, thank you for coming to visit the building, because it shows that you care about our students. Absolutely. I will first like to ask all Paul Robeson staff, parents and students to please come join me at the mic. When Paul when will Paul Robeson get their washer and dryer installed? It's already been put order in, but we're still waiting. It's March. School is over in June. Three weeks ago, I brought to the attention of one of our to our engineer that our bathroom was flooded by the girls restroom. So now I check our bathrooms every day to make sure they're getting clean properly, and now I'm seeing raw sewage come up that's a hazard to our children to breathe in. We have two bath two working bathrooms for the young ladies. Now if my second and third grade or kindergartens are in the lunchroom, me taking them all the way around the building to the opposite side is very hard, because they may have a mistake. So I will wonder, how long does it take when an issue happens at the building before it gets fixed? Dr Vitti and school board, I sent out an email because our parents were asking where our leader of the building was. So I did make our parents aware that he was put on administrative leave and that it was I told what you was told. No robo call was sent out to our parents. So of course, every single day I go to work, I have parents and kids asking me questions, and only thing I can say is he's put on administrative leave since there was no robo call that's above my pay to even let the parents know, because parents would like to understand why wasn't. Informed that the principal was put on the administrative leave, Dr Vitti. When I address you, I say Dr Vitti. So whoever's doing your emails, please Don't address me as Melissa Redmond, because at a offer African Center School, it's called mama red me. In case you guys did not know the we have several students. Here we have our coach and our basketball team was here. Some of them had to leave because, of course, it's going on nine o'clock, almost 839 o'clock. They have homework. They have school to do. I know I'm not allowed to find out, because it is an investigation going on, but since no one else wanted to step up to the plate. You can explain to our parents what's going on with our leader of the building.
Okay, Mama Moore, come on.
Uh, good evening, doctor reedy and the board. Um, it's always good to come in. I was alone a little CP time, but to come in and see a wave of these beautiful people getting recognized for years, this is what we asked for. And I say, Thank you. The community says thank you, because it shows the extra so highlights to that keep it going. Now, as far as noble summer school. Now, when I asked about that, Dr Nicolai really told me the answer was that the summer school wasn't that successful. So I'm asking board members whose school is noble, please check on that, because I don't want any schools moving forward to get deter from thinking outside of the box and trying to have summer activities for their students, because I heard that the summer school was very successful and it had children and it the attendance was Strong. So can we get some clarity, whose school is noble? How successful was that summer school program I do. Thank board member Monique Bryant for coming to the let's read once again. Let's read has been around for years, but the lack of interest, involvement, promoting by the district, by the board, it wasn't really there. Yeah, y'all did a fan fair in the very beginning to talk about, let's read. But it hasn't been a strong momentum for that program. Um, I have so much to say, but I won't say it. I will. I do have another question. Now. It's also good to see that Pershing Detroit Lions and the school for the girls got awards today. Those three schools are also three of the 13 that couldn't sustain themselves. So with them getting these accolades, are they still on the list with not enough students to maintain the day to day operations? Because if you're giving awards, that's great, but let's be, you know, let's make sure that these schools are sustaining themselves. As far as Samson Weber, once again, check beautiful, but Samson Weber babies got buckets in the hallway. Where is the emergency patch job for these groups? We already know 27 million, am I correct is going into it out of the $700 million plan. But what happened to emergency patch jobs? How can we have our scholars in 2025 in buildings in these conditions? We don't expect perfection. We already know it's 2.1 billion for the whole infrastructure, but an emergency patch job Sampson Weber is already on their third year to keep them open for five so what are we doing? And just know these buckets in the hall. Are these? Would you all walk through the Fisher building with buckets in the hall. Or would you try to ask for a temporary fix until the main fix? Thank you.
Thank you. Mama Moore, coach Ron, or Aisha and Aisha Brown, coach Ron and I Isha Brown.
Miss Brown, thank you. And the next person is Lakia Wilson. Miss Wilson. Miss Brown,
I was at one board meeting where chronic absenteeism was the topic, but I feel like holding public comments almost 10 o'clock at night is the reason why our babies were absent. Because. But most of us bring our children. My son is here tonight. He will be at school tomorrow, but this is pushing his bedtime and he has homework to do that's neither here nor there. That's not why I'm here today. I come before you as a concerned and upset parent of a student at Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, concerned because our principal has been missing since January 31 upset with the district's lack of communication as to why we need our principal in the building. There's a sense of order when Dr Robinson is in the building, and there has been chaos and disorder since he has been gone. My son has been affected by his absence, because he was able to go to Dr Robinson at times of stress and frustration, and Dr Robinson is able to calm him down, get him back on track and refocus so he can have a productive day he is. He no longer has that safe space. Dr Robinson is a father figure, not only to our students, but some parents as they are his old students. He has previous students enrolling their children and Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, that speaks volumes on the type of principle a man that he is. He listens to his parents and resolves issues with integrity and fairness. There was no communication from the district our schools vice principal that our principal was on administrative leave pending investigation, and we filed that out because we called the news. We still don't have a clear answer as to what's actually going on. Any information we gained came from a source not in leadership. The lack of clarity and communication led to speculation and rumors among parents and students the district of Paul Robinson, leadership could have helped ease tensions among the parents and the students by just communicating. I chose Paul Robinson Malcolm X Academy because of Dr Robinson, I know under his leadership, our students thrive and feel safe. We need our principal. We want our principal. There is no Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy without our principal. If he is not reinstated, I will be pulling my son from Paul Roberson, Malcolm X Academy and dpscd all together, and I will organize the parents that feel the same way that I do to do the same. Are you willing to risk losing a large amount of students, parents, or your seat on the board reinstate and return Dr Robinson? Or we will show you better than we can tell you thank you.
Welcome Miss Wilson,
yes, thank you. Good evening. Honorable school board members, I would like to publicly ask our parents, community stakeholders, and our union and non union members for your continued support as we continue the fight against the defunding and threatened elimination of the Department of Education. As educators, we have many targets on our back, teachers, a profession that is predominantly women. We are unionized workers and advocates for students, families and social justice, we have fought and won against many forces from within, stair step superintendents, emergency managers and Betsy DeVos. However, this is the biggest fight of our lives. Never has our existence been realistically threatened by the President of the United States of America, losing funding from the Department of Education would be crippling to this district that receives approximately $200 million from the Department of Education for programs such as English language learners, career and technical education, free and reduced lunch exceptional student education services, Title One, early childhood programs, our students with Pell grants and financial aid schools as we know it, will be crushed today. 1300 people were announced to be laid off from the Department of Education. What have you done? Michelle Obama told us all to do something. Please call the White House at 2024561, 24561111, Google your rep. Find your rep and enter your zip code for both Michigan and the US. Google find your senator for both Michigan and us. Let your hurt, anger, frustration and feelings of betrayal be heard. They work for us. They should hear from all of us we are watching and what's going on to cut the budgets from the least of these our children, our families in poverty, students with special needs and youth seeking post secondary training to benefit billionaires is unacceptable. I am Lakia Wilson Lumpkins, president of the mighty Detroit Federation of Teachers and a national vice president of American Federation of Teachers with over 1.8 million members. And we never roll over because we care. We show up, we fight and we win and I thank you, Dr Vitti and the school board for your support. Our actions last week, and we will continue our actions, Because together, we will win. Lastly, our short term disability providers, Aflac combined and NTA life, are being told they need to be vendors to enter the schools. We have a direct question, what is the process for our supplemental insurance providers to continue providing valuable services to our members who have a need for financial assistance during their leave time? Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. Miss Wilson, the last two in person, Mama Helen Moore, Mama Moore and James Beasley. I
Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Can you hear me? Yes, ma'am, good evening.
Okay, I don't know what to say, because it looks like I'm way ahead of you all. All the information coming to my house. Aren't you getting any of it that the schools are about to close, that we sit in a position right now where we're not really looking at what's happening. Our Detroit public schools are on the chopping block, and you keep acting like it's going on forever. Dr Beatty, why? You can answer me in a few minutes now, let me talk to my people out here. Racism is all over the place. Detroit public schools are one of the main groups and school system that they are trying to get rid of. If you have the information that I have, going to Selma, Alabama, all over the country, where we travel, keep the vote no take over. You will understand that it's a hit squad from the President of the United States and the people that support him are total racist. And what does a racist do? A racist sees you as the enemy, and they see our children as a problem. The problem is they might get an education and out out think their children, they might get an education and make sure that their school systems get a better fight when it comes to fighting. Well, I've been around 62 years, keep the vote no, take over black parents for quality education, and I've never seen things so bad as they are now they're coming after us, and I just can't stand to see the board of education going on with the plans. What the hell plans are they talking about? This fool Trump is going to destroy the public school system because he hates black people and they don't like the way some of these black children are being educated. So do we go on acting like nothing's happening? What do we do about the $700 million that we got for building schools and fix them up? If we jump into that pool and that money is taken away from us, and we start building all these schools and everything. When we owe a fortune, we owe so much money, do y'all keep up with it? So I'm just here to tell you I got 21 seconds. I'm just here to tell you all that we're marching in the wrong band. Get yourselves together and realize that they after our black children. They do not ever want them to come up to par with their children, and that's what we are fighting. Is it called racism? Yes, it is your
Thank you mother. Thank you. Mother Moore, thank you. Thank you for the alert. Thank you for the alarm. James Beasley, you
I thank you to this honorable board I stand before you today. This is the second time I've come to a Detroit school board meeting in the last three. Years. And the reason I stand before you today is because of the report card that this school district has received and the Nation's Report Card at the fourth grade level, we have shown out of a 30% sampling, a 4% reading proficiency rate, 4% that's four out of 100 these numbers are appalling. We've been around long enough to look at the numbers over extended period of time. If you look at the baseline of the year, 2020, 2009, 2009, up until today on The Nation's Report Card, we're actually performing poor today than we were 10 years ago. If we begin to take a detailed look at the numbers, the numbers will tell a staggering story. I stand before you today as board members. I'm a community member. I can't be defined by someone else. I have multiple roles that I wear at any point in time. I'm standing before you today as a graduate of Detroit Public Schools, and I know the Scriptures tell us that our people perish for lack of knowledge when we look at what the main reason for school board is, is to teach our kids to learn how to read. It's not to balance the budget, although that's important, it's not to build a new school, although that's important, is to teach our babies to learn how to read, and when we're doing it at a 4% rate, that's unacceptable. And as a citizen, I stand before you, and I'm telling you, I'm asking you for an opportunity to share the research that I've been able to do, to show you what those numbers look like, not only today, but over time. But even more important than that, to show how we can leverage the law to put ourselves in a better situation. Now I come to you because you're the only resource we have we didn't elect the superintendent. We elected the school board. You selected the school the superintendent, but refused to hold him responsible for the results He's given us. That is unacceptable. 70% of the black men in jail can't read. We are filling the school the prison pipeline with this type of performance. My request to you today is asking for time so I can show you, either individually or collectively, what these numbers look like, and I ask you to change your policies, to put us in a situation where you are not filling our community because what we have now is intellectual genocide going on. And when I was in college, we was in the streets protesting. I never thought I'd see it coming out of this. But we're becoming self where we're killing ourselves. We become a self villains I DJ hope to meet with.
Thank you, Mr. Beasley, our online participants, Miss Drake. You ready?
Hello.
Can you hear me? Yes, sir.
Go ahead with your public comment. I
Mr. Joe, yes, go ahead with your public comment.
Hi. My name is tabri
Joe. I'm a
DPS alumni. I actually graduated and moved on from Malcolm X Academy, I stand here in full support of preserving the fabric of Malcolm X Academy, and what it is stands for. Dr Robinson isn't a perfect person, me, him, me and him have a disagreed on our differences, but he is one of the last, or last founding staff members of Malcolm X Academy and I rise to preserve the African centered education in Detroit. Detroit. Dr Robinson is a part of that fabric, like you've heard from many parents today. They want Him. They need him to continue the education that they've received and that students have received. We
want answers. Parents wants answers. Let be transparent. If we care about the students, we have to care about all students.
Students. Advocate every day they miss their principal. Let us know why. Let us get answers, and let's preserve African centered education in Detroit, at Malcolm X and Paul Robeson Academy also rise in support of the students that walked out earlier this week in support of, I mean, against the ICE raids and the deportations that are that I that are forthcoming from the Trump administration. But I have to disagree, our options to defend public education isn't to call the White House. It's to call our neighbors and to in our teachers and our parents and our churches call them out into the streets. Calling the White House isn't the answer to defend public education. We have to call on our community. This is will have to be a community effort to defend public education. Doctor King didn't rely on the Doctor King didn't rely on politicians. He the movement moved the politicians to Doctor King's side and the Civil Rights side. That's so that's the answer we have. That's how we defend public education. Other than the Trump administration, we continue to call for student walkouts at Cav tech Renaissance, Martin Luther King High School. This is what we need to defeat Donald Trump and to defeat and defend public education. Thank you.
Johnson, please go ahead with your public comment.
Yes. Hi, hello, board. Dr Beatty, students and community, I just wanted to say thank you for the moment that my granddaughter went to the kindergarten boot camp this past summer. She attended. It was great. The two teachers she worked with, they were great. They provided her with a lot of guidance. They showed her how to be, how to share, and how she got interested in books and how she got off those electronics all the time, and I enjoyed all the free trips we attended. We went to the zoo, we went to the hands on museum, we went to Belle Isle. They provided us with transportation and lunch, and it was well organized. I just want to say thank you and keep up the good work, right? Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi iPhone caller 71 please go ahead with your public comment.
Hi iPhone caller 71 please go ahead with your public comment.
Okay. Can you hear me now? Yes,
okay. Thank you.
Good evening. Dr, VD and school board. My name is kietta Campbell, and I'm the founder and CEO the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance, as well as a proud alumni of Cody high school, I want to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude to the board and the district for the outstanding work they've done that you've done with the communication department. Your openness and support have made a significant impact of both the school and the surrounding neighborhood. The district's communication department has truly gone beyond the call of duty for supporting family, our Family Fun Day, engaging with senior citizens in the community, as well as attending other community gatherings, these efforts have helped create a stronger connection between the school and the community. Additionally, the communication department has played a pivotal role in fostering the alumni and community engagement, which has been crucial in building meaningful relationships and also working towards a better future for our school. We are thrilled about the new school being built for Cody High School, and is inspired to see how the community and alumni are coming together to create a state of the art learning environment. We look forward to continue this partnership with the board as well as the school district and providing a full we provide our full support as we move forward, we remain hopeful that federal cuts won't hinder the progress we made thus far. We are committed to working alongside the district and to ensure the success of this exciting new chapter, not only Cody roots neighborhood, but also the city of Detroit. So again, we thank you once again for your dedication and support, and together, we can continue to build a brighter future for Cody High School and the entire community. I am a proud alumni of Cody High School. Thank you.
Thank you.
Hi, Alondra. A Carter Alvarez, so please go ahead with your public comment.
Hi, this is Alondra Carter Alviso, may I be heard?
Yes, go ahead with your public comment.
Okay, thank you. I'm a proud immigrant with English as a second language, raised in southwest Detroit, I know firsthand how detrimental bureaucratic systems and lack of Spanish speaking support can be for families. I am here to elevate the concerns that families who are predominantly Spanish speakers are facing as a consequence of being displaced. Given the water main break from February 17, we are now roughly at 30 days from the incident, and children are still missing school with a primary reason being transportation. I'm glad to hear that you're open to creative problem solving. Problem Solving. Dr Vitti, that's news to me, because I've been on plenty emails since February 19 where you've been directly contacted by city, city officials, community leaders, and have sort of absolved yourself in the district of the responsibilities it has due to this lawful mandate for impacted students. I'm here to extend an additional opportunity for you to be the leader that you've claimed to be to this governing body, especially because I and others have sent requests for your team to participate. I kindly request your direct attendance on these daily virtual calls that the city of Detroit and community leaders host virtually to help problem solve every day at 3pm the ongoing issues that are related to the water main break. But specifically, we'd love to have your team attend these calls to discuss the school transportation challenges. Additionally, I'd like to know what bilingual communication can be provided on the laundry services available to dpscd students and parents and on the uniform leniency and late arrival grace periods. I understand that your office of homelessness and foster care and community engagement teams are incredible and understaffed and under resourced, but I do think this is a call to leadership and to really support bilingual and immigrant communities that are your students. And I am very disappointed that we are roughly 30 days into this incident and we still don't have transportation figured out. I've known plenty of families who have been left stranded for having multiple children who go to either a high school and a middle school and an elementary school, all of the pscd and the city of Detroit, Uber system is not a long term solution for getting kids to school, and so bureaucratic systems are hard to navigate. I kindly request your presence, and I will be following up via email to ensure you have all the connecting details, and I hope to see you on those 3pm calls daily to ensure that we can resolve this. Thank you and I yield my time.
Madam Chair, that concludes virtual public comment.
Thank you very much. Miss Drake. Brenda golf. Andrews is not present virtually anymore,
no. Ma'am, no. Ma'am, no, ma'am.
All right. Thank you very much. Dr Vitti, some questions that have come up for you,
sure. So the first speaker referenced a challenge with the student at Sampson Weber. I have an email written to the grandmother on February 16, addressing mental health resources. I know issues are related to bullying and a particular incident of violence was also named. So I know that staff in the audience followed up with the grandmother, but I will also follow up to make sure that issues were addressed. It was my understanding from the follow up in February that the main issue was grandma wanted a detailed understanding of the discipline that was given to the child who was the perpetrator in a violent exchange at school, and we don't give the details of the discipline. That can often be frustrating for parents and guardians, but that child's rights are also protected as far as the discipline provided to the child. Davis aerospace construction will start this August. The construction will be completed by August 2026 and that's when the students will move to the city airport. The CTE aviation curriculum is approved by the FAA. We are not offering power plant and avionics at the school regarding the the Employee Benefits. Remember, any any employee on their own, independently, can reach out to companies to get additional benefits beyond insurance, but specifically, if you're going to be a direct partner with the district, then based on board policy. See 10% of employees have to sign up for those benefits. There will be an RFP in May, June for employee benefits, and companies can compete for that process and then go forward with gaining 10% of employees being interested. The reason why we have that threshold and the board set that previous was that there's a lot of work that happens behind the scenes in the finance department to ensure people actually elect to have payroll deducted in order to get benefits. And just under this administration, there were challenges with third parties saying that individuals were wanted benefits removed, and they weren't actually signed up, and that just led to a lot of additional bureaucracy and challenges in the finance department managing all of that. I want to address the issue of no robocall robust and Malcolm X, and this is been an ongoing challenge to balance throughout the district, and that is when an employee, or in this case, a principal, whether it be Paul Roberson, Malcolm X or other school, other schools, there's a balance between communicating to parents regarding the issue and Protecting the due process of the employee, in this case, a principal, and not revealing too much regarding what the allegation is and what the investigation is about. I respect that parents deserve to understand and know what's going on at the same time, the employee deserves not to have a public open conversation, or a robo call, describe what the investigation is about, or even what the allegation is about, because it's part of the investigation in fact. In fact a couple about a year ago or a couple years ago, there was an example where, in the act of transparency, we did provide details about an investigation and allegation timeline regarding the administrative leave with pay, and we were challenged legally about that, so we have now moved to the other direction of not communicating a whole lot in order to Protect the district. Frankly, there's absolutely nothing to hide, nothing. And so there were a couple parents that reached out to me. I did try to provide a general description of what was happening with the general timeline, and I purposely tried to stay general, to protect the employee at the same time, I know there were district emails sent, community emails sent discussing what the employee had stated happened, and that allowed me to talk a little bit more in detail about the circumstances regarding the issue. Bottom line is, Dr Robinson will remain the principal of Paul Roberson Malcolm X and he'll be returning at the school in about two weeks, about noble and summer school. I do all will follow up to miss Moore about noble summer school program, and I'll include the board about that as well. That just will describe the initial enrollment at summer school, and then what the daily attendance look like, and what that looked like with other schools that we had summer school, there was a question about small schools. These are schools that have low enrollments, and when you look at the cost of operating a school, they fall under that threshold. There is a board policy that requires me to engage the board about those schools that's going to be upcoming and discuss with the budget development process. So the breakdown of what those schools are, what's the cost difference between the enrolled, the cost of the school, will all be part of a breakdown that I'll provide to the entire board, and likely discussed in more detail at the Finance Committee meeting last week, the restoration and repair of the Sampson Weber building started. It looks like when you look at restoration and repairing the roof that will happen by the end of the year. As a reminder to those that don't recall that when we started the facility master engagement process, which led to the $700 million investment, the original recommendation was to close or phase out Paul Sampson Weber and move students to a near k8 that was in better physical condition. There was pushback by community members and staff about that, but as we decided not to phase out the schools, it was there was clarity provided that large investments in the building would not happen based on the condition of the building and the lack of funds to do that, that was clearly stated at the same time. We don't want buckets of water and we don't want the day to day operations of the building impacted. That certainly happened with the recent rainfall and melting of snow, and we are doing an emergency purchase of emergency contracting to do restoration work and repair work so the day to day operation of the building is safe and manageable. Lastly, the public, the online public commenter about flooding, please email me directly the names of the families and the schools that they're at that aren't receiving transportation as it relates to the flooding issue, and I'll certainly work with the homeless department to work through any McKinney vento eligibility or just any problem solving regarding the school, we will and can do a robo call and a robo text in Spanish about the sensitivity around uniforms and the accessibility to washer and dryers if they've been installed at schools. And lastly, as a general reminder, NAEP is not taken by all students. M step is probably a better indicator of where the district is as compared to its peers. In the state of Michigan, we improved before the pandemic. We have been improving since the pandemic, and literacy at a faster pace in the state. And I continue to encourage all stakeholders, internal external, to stop saying kids can't read because they don't get a certain score on a standardized test. The standardized test is an assessment of the standards not of ability to read. A literacy test is different than a Standards Test, and I'll say that every month, every time I hear an internal and external stakeholder say our kids can't read, 50% of based on that standard that we heard tonight at public comment, that would suggest that in the state of Michigan, 50% of Michiganders can't read. We never say that outside of Detroit. I don't hear that in girls point. I don't hear that in Birmingham. I only hear it here. So I would suggest that we stop saying kids can't read because they don't get a certain score on a state assessment. Thank you.
Thank you. Dr Vitti, public comment has concluded, and we will move to the okay to the board if you have any concerns or questions regarding the superintendent's responses to the public comment board, the chair acknowledges Sherry gate. Done go.
Thank you. I know the hours late, but I just want to number one is the director or person for procurement in general in the meeting. I know we've talked about having staff members and directors in the meeting, if the Director of Procurement is in the meeting. We need some through the Chair and the superintendent. We need some better engagement on the procurement process. It's always a mystery, and I receive a number of calls, and I'm very disheartened, as we both had Aflac and our DFT leader express the interest of having our members to be able to through payroll. Now we've discussed this in a year ago, maybe two, on providing the op in opportunity. I know there was discussion at one point about uploading all of the staff through an Excel, but I thought we made a compromise, Madam Chair, of allowing for some form of opt in. I'm not sure how many staff members are in HR, and so I know that that is challenging. I hear the superintendent mention finance, I believe that's Mr. Verdito. But we have had several members who, if they did not meet the threshold for having enough time, as we'll discuss in a closed session today, persons needing FMLA couldn't get it, but if they had that bridge with Aflac, which many of our members are already participating, as well as the other vendor, I believe, for financial services, as a former teacher, I've used both previously. So I think we're creating a process and a hardship by saying we're going to have a RFP and May and June to address processes and services that are already being used at a 10% level, if I recall, they have current. Currently 400
to 700
staff members enrolled. I'm writing all over this piece of paper, so forgive me, 700 400 to 700 so I certainly want not just for this issue, but I think we need to demystify procurement in this district, and we need to make sure that individuals that are constantly trying to do business with the district, that we not hide it behind some wall and we open it up, we educate people on the process. But this issue, I think, we need to look at an alternative method to to meet the requirement of what was or the request that was presented to us previously by DFT, because we've discussed this before. So thank you.
Through the Chair. Yes, we did discuss it, but that was payroll deductions for union benefits, which is operationalized for all the unions. That's what we discussed previously. We never discussed a checking of the box or something like that. As it relates to employee benefits, the board would have to revisit the policy regarding 10% if we're going to lower that threshold or really change systems and processes for that. So obviously, that's at the Board of discretion through the policy committee. And certainly the policy committee can hear a presentation from the CFO or the leader of the procurement division to talk about the pros and cons of lowering the 10% threshold. So we won't be ready for that. Well, we might be able to put something together by Tuesday, which I think is the next policy Yes, and we'll do our best to try to come up with a high level review of the pros and cons, and then the policy committee can review that, and then we probably can take the same conversation to the Finance Committee, at the subsequent Finance Committee, because it's a combination, I think, of a policy committee conversation and a finance committee conversation.
Thank you. And so in as we're thinking about processes and ways as we approach the meeting on the 18th and I truly appreciate that is looking at the time, time in which they have served those that have have a track record and a performance record with the district. We're not talking about bringing in new vendors that fall below the 10% but for those who have been participating and providing resources and services that are already approved by DFT, I think we should be in alignment, unless there's some glaring reason why we should not.
Thank you. Thank you. Board Member, McClendon,
I just want Dr V I didn't hear an answer. And maybe you said it on the raw sewage and the washer and dryer being installed at Paul Robeson, as well as maybe update on circle. And I did not hear answering transportation with the around Davis aerospace, there was a specific question, would we be providing transportation?
Thank you for that. The end of March, we'll have the washer and dryer installed at the current location for Paul Robeson Malcolm X currently, Davis does not rely on city on our bus services. So similar to how we manage our exam and application schools, we would use city busses to access Davis. Moving forward, there could be collaboration, maybe with the county or the city, you know, around thinking differently about routes to Davis aerospace, but right now we the it would be the status quo. Rely on city bus passes to get the Davis and then what was the other question?
Let's see here we talked about, you said, The Washington Ross
yeah issue, yeah. Paul Roberson, Malcolm X so I'm unaware of that issue, but let me reach out to operations. What should have happened, and that's what I want to check, was a was the working work order submitted for the issue? That's what I'm going to look at, was there work order submitted by the administration at the school, and if so, what's the timeline look like to get that resolved? All
right? And then third goal, and then just an update on Southwest I didn't hear a response to the lady from Southwest Detroit.
Oh yeah. As far as the online public commenter about Southwest Detroit, apparently she stated in her comments that she had emailed me. I don't recall that, but maybe she did. I asked her to email me directly on the names of the families and what schools there were challenges. And then once she sends that, I'll work with the homeless team, you know, to reach out to those families to understand the need for transportation and other challenges. I also had stated that we would send out a. A bilingual low pro bowl around sensitivity on uniforms, knowing that students may be challenged with housing situation there and then. Thurgood, what was the issue on PTA? Oh, yeah, so I had responded about clarity on the PTA, and that, generally speaking, obviously, we don't run the PTA, that's an outside organization, but we partner with them, and the vision is to empower parents to lead the process at individual schools. Certainly, teachers can be on the PTA team, if you will, and be members, but the vision is that have the partners drive the agenda and the thought around the work of the PTA at individual schools. So there was some need for clarity on that point, which I provided when staff and the principal reached out about that as far as the the incident between the teacher and the principal. I'm still investigating exactly what happened, and I will be writing back to the employee about that issue for after it's reviewed, and I review the information provided to me, and I can give the board an update on that as well.
Thank you. Board Member short, oh no, okay. Board Member Bryant through
the chair. Dr Vitti Thurgood is one of my assigned schools, and I would like to work closely with you with getting this situation resolved. I know it is the desire for our district to have a PTA or PTSA in every school. So if you would, I would like to request time to go over to the school with representative from the face office so that we can further, you know, assess, if you don't mind the situation, and move it forward. Teachers are asked to join the PTAs, and this being a K through eight school, it would be parents, teachers and community members. So perhaps maybe they don't have a parent able to step up, and maybe we just need to identify that and move forward. But I certainly want to be engaged in this process, if you will. Thank you. Thank
you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Having said that, we then will move forward to the administration action items, the approval of the resolution supporting the gun safety and safe gun storage that was brought to the district on last month. Madam Chair, yes, did
you skip 11? 101,
yeah, oh my gosh, we must go to closed session. Support, may I have a motion to go to motion to go to closed session. Thank board support. All in favor. Thank you. Thank you. Roll call, please.
Monique Bryant,
yes or no for closed session. Monique Bryant, go to closed session,
yes. Chair again. Daniel go Yes. Doctor IRENA shorts, yes. Latrice McClendon, yes. Bishop. Coletta Vaughn, yes. Madam. Chair, you have a quorum for closed session.
Thank you. I do apologize.
Thank you so much. Thank you board thank you for coming out of closed session. May I have a motion to come out of closed session? So moved support, all in favor. It is so moved. Thank you so much, Madam
Chair, Board member,
Sherry gay Jane go because you made the motion to go into closed session for the purpose that you stated which you now have your comments for the
Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair, for the agenda. I move to rescind the termination of WD that was approved at the fair February 11, 2025 board meeting, and as allowed by law, to approve payment to him of compensation and benefits from February 12 to march 11, 2025
so moved.
It has been properly moved and supported. Board member Sherry gay Dan echo and supported by Vice Chair, Latrice McClendon. All in favor? Are there any opposes? It is so moved. Thank you. Thank you for raising that issue. We do have administrative item, 13, 01, going to ask that it is the approval of the resolution supporting gun safety and safe gun storage. May we have a motion to move this forward? So move support. Support. It has been properly moved and supported. All in favor. No opposes. Thank you so much. Item number 14, this is the consent agenda. May I have a motion to approve the items 14, oh 10203040506070809,
10 and 11. So moved supportive Park. It has been properly moved by almost a pastor, almost said Pastor, Doctor short and supported by McClendon. Vice Chair, McClendon, all in favor, aye. Are there any opposes? So moved. We move now to announcements. Item number 15. Are there any announcements from any of the other board members? Yes.
Excuse me. Please, okay.
Alright. Thank you, board members. Can we please go back to item number 12, 02, recommendation for employment pursuant to MC l3, 801230, is there a motion to move that forward?
I'm sorry, Which number did you say?
12 0.2 recommendation for employment, 12 01 was removed. Oh, so we are, wow, I have what I have here. So on board Docs is reading 12.01 because 12.01 was previously removed. Now it is recommendation for employment pursuant to MC l3, eight, 0.123, several. Thank you. Is there a support
12.01 obviously,
Dr Vitti, can you give us some discussion on this place without using
the without using the employee's name? This is an individual that is seeking employment but had a felony, and so in order for the individual to be hired, the board and the superintendent have to agree that the individual can be hired. Support.
All in favor, aye, any opposition. Thank you. It is moved forward. Announcements, no announcements, except for I do want to remind the community, those of you that are still watching, those of you that are still here. April 1 is our big event at the Book Cadillac for our family and community engagement, and all parents are welcome to attend. May I have a motion for dismissal. Second, all right, all in favor. It is supported. We move on. Have a good night. Thank you so much. You.
