DPSCD School Board - Regular Meeting - April 8, 2025
4:19PM Apr 9, 2025
Speakers:
Keywords:
DPSCD School Board
meeting norms
moment of silence
agenda approval
minutes approval
personal curriculum
financial report
student remarks
administrative actions
public comment
parent engagement
literacy initiatives
swim lessons
budget cuts
superintendent salary.
I just remember
testing one.
We don't have no mics, if they work real good or or not at all, just like the church, that's
something. Alright. Good evening. Everyone call the meeting of the Detroit Public Schools community District Board of Education in order. The time now is 5:37pm,
Miss Moore, Roll call, please. Monique Sherry, gay,
Daniel go, Angelique Peterson, Mayberry, I'm present. Thank you. Dr Iris Taylor present. Dr Ida Simmons short present. Latrice McClendon Bishop. Dr Coletta Vaughn. Michael West present, Naomi Bucha day, Madam Chair, you have a quorum. Thank you.
Thank you. Miss Moore, would you please read our meeting norms?
We respect the rights of all persons to participate in this public 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 engage in behavior that is not in support of the good, we request that you refrain from that behavior.
Thank you. Is there a reason why the mics are doing what they're doing.
Thank you so much. Item 1.04 moment of silence during this time of silence that you will remember Joe Dawkins,
teacher at Bagley and tonight also our superintendent, who is a little under the weather. Let us remember him as well.
Thank you. Let us now receive our color guard from Cody High School, along with the singing of both anthems by Ellington voices The students from Duke Ellington, Let us All stand I
Oh, say, can you see By the dawn's early light, What so proud if we hail at the twilight's last gleaming Whose bright stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
or the rippers we watched were so gallantly screaming and the rockets record.
Air gave proof that our flag was still there. Oh, say, Does our spank?
Are you you Lift Every Voice and Sing, Bring what the heart with our rejoicing so
all sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, sing a song full of the hope that the presence has brought us Facing
The rising sun till victory is won,
morning.
All right? Breathing, arm order, arm And
Forward march.
Right let's give it up. Let's give a big hand to Cody and to Duke Ellington. Thank you. Thank you so much. Our students are amazing, aren't they? Miss Moore, let's see. I think I go to the approval of the agenda. Is that right? All right. Thank you so much. Are there any suggested changes to the agenda? If not, can we have a motion to approve as presented? Support, support, thank you. It has been moved by Doctor Iris Taylor and supported by Dr short that we approve the agenda. Is there any discussion hearing? None. All in favor. Any opposed motion is carried. Thank you so much. Moving now to Item four to 4.01 4.024 4.02 4.03 point 4.04 and 4.05 the approval of minutes? Is there a desire to tie bar Madam Chair? So move? Is there a second? Second? It's been moved and by Angelique Peterson, Mayberry and second by Sherry gay Daniel, that we were tied by the approval of these minutes. Is there any discussion all in favor of time barking the approval of these minutes? Say, Aye. All opposed motion is carried now the motion to approve the tie bar minutes. So moved Vice Chair, support and delete Peterson. Mayberry, thank you so much. It has been moved and supported that we would approve the tie bar minutes. Is there any discussion all in favor of the tie bar minute? Say, aye, All those opposed. Motion. Carried. Good evening, community, good evening. Thank you so much for being here, Madam Secretary, would you please note that board member Sherry game, janeko and Vice Chair McClinton are now present. There is a good news for our ese students. This past month, Dr Ida short sponsored a training meeting for board members and our ese staff, as well as our curriculum staff to take a look at something that is available to students in the state of Michigan called Personal curriculum. And what it does is it modifies specific Michigan Merit curriculum graduation requirements based on individual student needs and eligibility. The personal curriculum option is available for enrichment, so there are certain courses that are not required. Modifications transfer students or students with IEPs and these changes support students in earning their high school diploma. So we want to make it known to this community in this district that if you as a parent or caregiver would like more information, or you would like to request personal curriculum, parents should contact their school administrators for more information and next steps. The approval of these requests are subject to the superintendent of course or their designee, but I want to give a shout out to Dr Ida short for bringing this information to our district and clearing it up, you also can find a link on our website for additional information. This is a tremendous opportunity, even as we're moving forward to our high school redesign plan. So if you are a parent or caregiver and you would like to explore the option of personal curriculum for your scholar, please contact us at Van yout dot more at Detroit K twelve.org, thank you again. Dr short, also, there are informations available on the website that was not there. So if you look for it at one point and it was not there regarding personal curriculum, it is now on your website. Thank you again. That does it for my my report, and of course, tonight, we do not have a superintendent with us, so there will be no superintendent report, but we now ask for Dr vedito to come with our finance report. Thank you. Applause.
Good evening, board members, you hear me, hello. Okay, good evening. Board members and community, this evening, we're reviewing the financials through February. We'll begin with DPS. We received, continue to receive, winter tax collections on the 13 and 18 Mills, the next debt payments for the capital debt is in April, at approximately 140 $3 million that we will be making this month on the operating debt. Excuse me, we received 6.1 million. I can confirm that we made the required interest only payments in March and that this is on track to be repaid in September 2026 as we discussed, there will be no need for an election in May regarding DPS, CD, we were slightly ahead for the year in terms of revenue, primarily related to federal revenue coming in ahead of forecast. As we received additional money on the local side, we are slightly behind, but again, that was due to timing. We will receive those enhancement millage payments as the tax collections come into Wayne County and that are paid to us throughout the end of the year. On the expenditure side, we are slightly ahead for the year. This was planned as we were doing curriculum purchasing for next year and getting all the materials here early, so we're ready to go for next year on cash, we continue to have plenty of available cash, approximately 14.2 weeks of available cash. That concludes my report. Any questions?
Thank you, board members. You have any questions or concerns for Dr vedito, Mr. Video.
Hearing none, we will move this for forward review. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Video, we will now go to our student remarks.
Good evening. Everyone. Happy. Happy April. Before we begin our April board report, we would like by start. We would like to start by introducing the district executive Youth Council. The DYC is made up of high school students who are active members of their respective school 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 in team building workshops, professional development and student led networking meetings. Plan the annual C conference and engage in group volunteer efforts the YC and the student representatives to the board work together to present this board report to you each month.
On March 21 the du YC held our monthly council meeting, and both highlights and concerns were brought up, which will be presented today in moderation. Our remaining questions will be emailed to Dr Beatty's office, and the highlights are as follows, attendance rates have been arising across dpscd high schools, including Mary Grove, Cass Central and East English, some schools attribute the increase of the perfect attendance pays initiative, which regards students for perfect attendance by providing a total of $1,000 over five cycles. In addition to improve attendance, dpscd students have hosted several extracurricular events. The School of Mary Grove recently organized a blood drive. Denby High School held a student led panel featuring both male and female participants, and Osborne School advisory council recognized students and alumni with certificates of appreciation. Central High School has also seen success and soon proposed abbreviated schedule for seniors, which has sparked interest in other DPS, CD high schools. We look forward to hearing additional perspectives on this schedule initiative as schools continue to explore its benefits. Now, for some concerns, the Detroit School of Arts has seen an increase in guidance and disciplinary challenges, which may be a tribute to the absence of their dean of culture. However, we want to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of DSA principals and administration staff for the dedication in managing these concerns. Additionally, reoccurring discussions have emerged regarding the maturity of the freshman class, as noted by the Academy of Americas, as well as the concern from southeastern about the validity of the low challenge and prepared survey, these questions will be forwarded to Dr Beatty's office to ensure a clear and direct response
at our last DYC meeting, held on March 21 a district representative from the Office of Family and Community Engagement spoke with the student council about a new initiative focused on refreshing and revitalizing dpscd High School, media centers and libraries. The discussion plan, the discussion included plans to update book inventories introduce creative enhancements to make these spaces more engaging and encourage student advocacy and feedback. The initiative, the initiative aims to improve, not only improve the appearance of our libraries, but also their overall atmosphere, ensuring they become more dynamic and inviting spaces for the students.
Lastly, I do just want to add a quick note. I really do appreciate Dr Ida short for going and looking at my school this afternoon. I remember last year being on the board, and a lot of students had concerns about if the people in the district were going and actually seeing what was going on in the school. So I'm really happy to see that it's going on. I'm happy to see if anything comes from that I don't know things are being fixed. I really do appreciate that. And that concludes our report.
All right, fantastic, fantastic to the board. Any discussion regarding our student, board members remarks? All right, thank you so much again. Then the chair will entertain a motion as we move to our administrative action items, 10.01
notices of considerations of Non renewals. 10.02 the approval of reinstatement hearing committee recommendation and 10.03
the chair will entertain a motion for item 10.01 motion
to move forward, 10.01
there's support. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Are there any opposes? Hearing? None. One motion carries Item 10.02 approval of reinstatement, hearing committee recommendation for conditional reinstatement for student
is our motion, motion to move
support. All right. Is there any discussion hearing? None. All in favor. Aye, any opposed motion is carried, Item 10.03 the approval of charter contract reauthorization for Capstone Academy. Is there any discussion?
Yes, madam chair for Capstone, this issue was particularly important to me, especially during our finance meeting. Subsequent to that, I've had an opportunity to meet with new dye director of Capstone and really stress the importance of working with our district and the support that is necessary, but also want to make sure that all the stakeholders that are part of this equation, that being JDF Wayne County and Capstone work together to make sure that partnerships are moved to support the children who remain in JDF often times far beyond the length of time that they should be there. Yes, so right now, they do have an agreement with JDF for a year, and we want to make sure that we do everything that we can to urge collaboration between all stakeholders to ensure children who are in JDF receives the education that they should. So I move to move forward with 10.0341
year, and I support the motion on the floor. All right,
there is a motion on the floor. I see Dr short, I see your hand. I just want to support what member talking the mic, please. Sherry gay detnago is saying. But I would like to see that in the contract, this thing is, is it on? Yes. I'd like to see that in the contract, in the contract the specifics, what exactly
specificity of the JDF, which I believe has new leadership as well, correct, and to make sure that that it's communicated to our wayne county executive and his team as well.
Alright, thank you so much. I'm going to ask you to repeat that for council, just end for the record, please, in terms of your specifics,
I move that the specificity, I move that 10.03 be moved forward for one year, specifying The needed collaboration with the district, DPS, JDF, new leadership there, and to make sure that our wayne county executive and Wayne County Commissioners are made aware
there was a support by Angelique Peterson, Mayberry, all in favor. Wait, wait, wait, I have a friendly
amendment. What about Wayne resa?
Well, I mean, we can be explicit, but Wayne resa is automatically a part of any school better than in Wayne County's footprint if
you partner with them. Okay, okay, I can't. I understand we can't. You know, as I got it,
thank you. All right, thank you all in favor. Aye, are there any opposes? Motion carries? Thank you so much. We do not have our superintendent with us tonight. However, there are some recognitions that we are going To put forth, Miss Wilson, if you come i
Okay. Thank you, President Vaughn, our first recognition is for our core value of excellence. Which states 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 of our student from East English village Preparatory Academy, Jameer Gordon for demonstrating exceptional skill,
all right for demonstrating exceptional skills and determination at the 2025 mission. State individual Junior Chess Championship, Mr. Gordon secured first place in the u1 1000 section, making him a state champion. And thanks to this incredible victory, they have surpassed 1000 points, which is a huge achievement. So at this time, we honor Jameer Gordon for outstanding achievement and winning the 2025 Michigan State Junior Chess Championship.
Give it up a little bit more. Yay. Congratulations. Way to represent dpscd,
East English village Preparatory Academy. I heard what's cool. Okay, our second recognition is for the core value of excellence. Which states be relentless in your pursuit of greatness, be bold and innovate. Learn from your mistakes, hold yourself and others to high standards. We have two outstanding district employees, we're proud to celebrate Ms, Anika mckevins and Alyssa Ruffin for being honored as 2025 skillment visionary awardees. This prestigious award recognizes education change makers who are re imagining and transforming the education system to better serve students and communities. Ms mcevins was recognized as a student athletics Trailblazer whose leadership and advocacy are creating more inclusive and empowering opportunities for student athletes across the district. And MS Ruffin is celebrated as a teacher, leader and curriculum designer who is transforming the way we grow and support leaders in education. We'll see their billboards brought to you by the Skillman foundation all across the city, and we are proud that they are dpscd employees and staff members. Thank you for being part of our family and making us so proud. Congratulations. Applause,
all right, let's whoop it up a little bit More for Miss MC Evans and Miss Ruffin. Congratulations. You.
321, More, 321,
one more.
That's it.
Public comment is now closed. Public comment registration is now closed. Thank you and congratulations again to all of you who have been honored tonight. You make us look good. Items number 11, the board's attention. Items, number 11, the consent agenda. We have 11.0102030405061,
050 670-809-1011,
and 12. Is it motion to approve the Consent Agenda and 1314, okay,
Madam Chair, I move that 1314, thank you. I move that we approve the consent agenda items which are inclusive of items, 11.01 through 11.14 I know they've both gone through committee, and there's been extensive conversation, so I appreciate us being able to have those before us today. On. Sir,
thank you so much. Is there a second I support? All right, thank you so much. It was moved by Angelique Peterson, Mayberry, supported by Vice Chair. Is there any discussion all in favor? Are there any opposed motion carries item 12 policies first read, 12.01 and 12.02 these are first read policies, so they do not have to be voted on today, but I do encourage board members to read over the policies, and if you have any questions or concerns, to reach out to Policy Committee Chair, Vice Chair, McClendon, or any member of the policy committee. Item Number 13, it is now time for public comment. Ms more.
Members of the public are welcome to address the board during 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 registration, the Chair will call the names of individuals to address the board in order received please remain seated until your name is called for virtual public comment 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 the 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,
the board, chair the board
chair will reply to questions or concerns raised today that do 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 venue, more at Vania dot Moore at Detroit K twelve.org just
for modification, the board chair will refer it to the administrative staff that's here, and it will be posted on the website By Friday of this week. Thank you. Who's first?
Mr. Steven, let Thank you. Please come and Janet lawless, I
COVID. Good evening, members of the board, I respectfully am here to request that the board immediately launch a full investigation in depth and independent of this district conducted by an outside law firm into the circumstances and reasoning behind the recommendation for my termination six months ago, as clearly outlined in my undisputed closing briefs from the teacher tenure appeal supported by factual citations from public documents, live witness testimony and investigative reports, the district has failed to prove the validity of the 20 plus charges that it levied against me, also during the teacher tenure Commission hearings, your top district administrators were exposed as Having provided false and unethical testimony. Accountability has to be pursued. Bernadette kakuza, the Inspector General of this district, was cited several times, giving incredible testimony. The testimony from the district was so incredible that Miss Hicks, the attorney. Who submitted the brief decided not to use any of their testimony. There was no testimony used in the district's closing brief. I remind you that five individuals testified against me. Why is that I have served the district with unwavering dedication, maintaining perfect attendance. I've coached both students and educators. I've led programs. I've coached academic games, basketball cheerleading. But despite my contributions, I've been met with discrimination, targeted actions, silencing, bullying, defamation and slander. I've been treated capriciously and desperately, seemingly because I expressed a desire to participate in a grant funded summer school opportunity. This mistreatment is not only unjust, but it sends a chilling message to other passionate educators committed to student success and professional growth. Although the leadership of the DTF, the DFT, did not support me during this ordeal, I remember I remain hopeful that my fellow educators, my brothers and sisters, will stand with me as I work to vindicate my impeccable record of service, given how this situation has been mishandled and individuals from these offices were dishonest at the teacher tenure Commission hearings, I have no confidence that the Office of the Inspector General nor the superintendent's cabinet can or will conduct an impartial review for The integrity of this district and the interest of justice and transparency and external investigation is the only path forward. I urge this board to take swift action to restore faith in the system and to ensure that no other educator is subjected to the harmful and retaliatory treatment that I've
experienced. Thank you. Thank you, sir, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mister. Let Janet's Janet lawless. Janet lawless. Miss Helen, mother, Helen Moore, I'm sorry, she coming. Okay. Thank you. Sorry, Miss mother Moore, Miss lawless, is here. Thank
you. You. I just have a few questions. I had us, hold on, mother, she's here.
I'm I'm tutoring in the West in the Let's Read program with face. And came tonight to just talk about my my pleasant, effective experience in the program I taught at Grand River Academy, right at Grand River and Southfield area, and now I'm teaching at Roberto Clemente in southwest Detroit. So it just dispelled any notion, erroneous notions about how DPS schools are run, and the kids and the general sort of process during the day, it was just really pleasant, and all the teachers were really open and helpful, and the kids were, like, really eager, and there was no I didn't feel any like coldness or distance. It was all just like, hey, we're gonna do some reading and sharing stories with me and answering questions and working really hard and focusing. They were really eager to learn and talk and share with me. And I just witnessed real growth, like in sight word recognition and fluency and vocabulary development. And I just had a really great experience overall. And I've worked, you know, as a reading teacher and reading specialist and as a college professor, it's just delightful. So I just came to share that tonight some good news. Thanks.
Thank you very much.
Mother Moore, okay, I just have a few questions to ask. I'm in the middle of a whole lot of problems with the President of United States, and I'm getting all kinds of different answers. It depends on who I talk to, Washington, Detroit. I'm going to ask you a question. I was told that, and I looked it up legally, and I know he doesn't have the right to do it, to take away our money, and et cetera. The President puts all this stuff out there, and then I check it out with Washington and some of my friends all over the country, and I'm getting different answers. One question I want to ask you is this, do we have enough money to keep schools going on for next year? And I know that Trump don't have nothing to do with our money. He's putting all that out. But can you tell me, because I'm getting all kinds of answers coming in, do we have enough money? I was told yesterday that we were going to have summer school and that you all had decided. So what's the real deal? We got enough money for summer school? Yes. Yes. How much money are we losing? $25 million or more. Okay, you're going to answer me. When you get up there,
who did she ask? The answer,
okay, you're going to tell me, all right, that's I need to know that if this is going on and the President has so much power, why are we just sitting I notice every meeting I go to, everybody seems so calm. I'm a nervous wreck from what's going to happen to these kids, and if we're going to have enough money for next year. I was surprised when I got to tutor the kids yesterday, and principal said, we're gonna have summer school. Where's all this money coming from? Y'all gonna answer me today? You answering me? I got no today so I can tell my people what's really going on. I'm not gonna ask ask any more questions, because I'm too confused at this point. But is it going to be school next year? School System, shaking heads, Okay, sounds good to me.
Yes, unanimously, yes. Okay. Thank you so much. Sharlanda edgerson and Zakiya Gibson, please come. Thank you.
Hello. Good evening. I am Dr Sharonda Edison, on behalf of Barack Obama Leadership Academy, I'd like to thank the board for the opportunity to continue educating students on the east side of Detroit, and although the school has had some challenges in the past, there has been major improvements in systems and operations, and you will continue to see improvements academically and creating students that are community centered, that will make all of us proud once again. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you
the kid. Ms Gibson, yes, good evening to this honorable Board of Education. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. I am Zaki Gibson, CEO of Ed Tech central LLC and representing Capstone Academy Charter schools. We are present to express our gratitude for approving a one year reauthorization for our academy. We look forward to continuing to servicing our youth and working and partnering with all of the stakeholders to serve our youth through offering a quality education. We look forward to offering these services and elevating the services that we provide to our youth through our partnership with you. Thank you so much for the opportunity again.
Thank you, Mr. Eddie people and Melissa mother. Melissa Redman, please come you.
Mr. People. Eddie people,
give the old man a minute. You got it? Good evening. How are you good sir? How are you? Well, you know my name, Eddie people, and I'm a member of the National Action Network. I was hoping the superintendent would be here. This is not going to take a long time anyway. My question is, we're talking about superintendent's salary just came back from the National Action convention, and this is a new superintendent of the New York public school system, but this all has to do with their salary and the previous superintendent seen him on several different occasions, and his big emphasis on was how proud he was that he really insisted that his students read from a book didn't deal with of course, they had the super, I mean, the computers, but he insisted that their main focuses was reading from a book. Superintendent vidy and I, we've had our arguments on what was more important, whether the students holding that book in their hand and reading or the computer. And the other thing was my question as to this salary. I. Uh, New York City's public school superintendent, they have like, 912,000 students, and they make $105,000 a year. And superintendent, vide, he has what, under 50,000 students, and his salary is $354,000 a year. And I'm wondering what, what is so difficult about his job, as opposed to this, these superintendents with 912,000 students, as opposed to his job with 48,000 students, he's making $354,000 a year. And here these superintendents are with almost a million students, and they are making $105,000 a year. Are our students that dumb and difficult for him to have to take care.
Thank you. Mother. Redmond,
good evening the school board. I first would like to say thank you so much for the school board, as well as Shalonda Buckman, for the parents are heroes conference. It was a lot of great workshops, and our parents are still talking about it. So Ms, Buckman, Destiny and the whole defense department. Thank you so much for the way you showed out for our parents. Also, I would like to thank Ms Whitehead from GDI, since I put the request about the cleanness of our building, her and her team has done a phenomenal job when it comes to Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy, I yield my time. Thank you for that report.
Thank you Miss White and GDI. Thank you mother Aliyah Moore and Joyce Jennings i
Thank you, sir. Good evening board and sorry. Dr, reedy is not here. I'm so used to saying that, but not too much to say today. But I thank you all for acknowledging simple parents concerns, concerning roofs, that's very important. So thank you for acknowledging that. I did ask Dr Reedy, I think in a committee meeting, about college advisors, he kind of watered it down. But you all really need to consider not necessarily having college advisors at every school, but with the with the climate of what's going on or potentially going on with these college changes, you all need to do, maybe a group workshop or an event for these students to come and get their questions answered and to get service because, I mean, just to have the nonchalant attitude about things are not necessarily going to happen, we still want to be proactive and give these seniors Some kind of hope and confidence in moving forward the ESC department with these potential changes is also very important during COVID. I'm not sure who was repping for the ESC department on this board, but moving forward now, it is essential that you all stay close to these families and this process of moving these self contained classes. When I asked Dr reedy back in 2017 when he came about Oakman, he told me, Oh, the state doesn't want to see schools like Oakman, but if you look at his plan, it is really duplicating many oakmans, which is nothing wrong. But the problem is with this ESC department is not being compliant, not following up. I had to file a state complaint. My daughter will be getting her compensatory services during the summer, but I'm just one parent, and when you hear the frustrations of these ESC parents, and you have a superintendent that blows it off and says, Well, we just can't give them what they want. How dare you blame a stakeholder that's bringing their kids to school to provide services that you all are not doing? I'm not saying each teacher is wrong, but what I'm saying is, when you have somebody in compliance, like Miss Armstrong, Hunter Armstrong, when you have people like Sarah Jordan from the. Ese department that can blame a parent for being vocal. I scared, supposedly my daughter's ese teacher because I'm vocal because I'm asking about her caseload. So moving forward, thank God being here today, so maybe I can get you all because that's your only employee. You don't do the day to day operations, but your job is to check that man and to to just blame these ESC the community. You have parents that are scared to speak up for themselves, let alone speak up for them, their children. When I filed my complaint, oh, the narrative is that, oh, the state is so slow the state owed they don't provide help them. People was owning they said, Do you need help? Do you need advocacy? So don't dare let this man continue this narrative to try to water down the complaint process. And you can move children
to any people, but if y'all don't get this DNC compliance together, y'all
gonna have a game on the phone. I
thank you. Mother. Moore, Joyce Jennings, yes,
ma'am. Good evening, everyone. I came this evening just hopefully to encourage everybody that's here as people talk about the 2025 plan that was rolled out by President Trump and groups of individuals. I've been saying that in Detroit, for me, it seems like we've been experiencing a project 2025 since 1999 maybe they use Detroit in our schools and what's going on in the city as a platform to carry out what they're doing across the United States of America. But one of the blessings is that we all were created by a God that created all resources. We don't serve a poverty stricken God. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, For they that dwell within as a parent, when I make a decision to enroll my children into a school, I look at school districts as a partner in parenting or training up my children in the way that they should go. So what ever is contributed to our district, whatever is taken away, whether we know about the resources or not, I just encourage everyone to do what is required, to make sure that our children are trained in the way that they should go. Our educational systems can't be the only source or resource that we use to prepare our children. When I look at the fact that just last month, we had southwest Detroit and that big flood experience that occurred as a mother of children, I think about the fact that we have recreation centers that are not providing the expanded swimming programs like they used to. We have schools that are not providing the swimming programs like they used to. There are a lot of talks about liability. I would like to see swimming offered as a life skill to all children in the city of Detroit, because what happened in southwest Detroit could happen anywhere throughout the city of Detroit, especially with the challenges that we're having with our infrastructure. The other concern that I would like to raise and ask the school board to consider we have a lot of families dealing with housing instability, generations of families coming together. I would like to see our school districts working with our city and advocating for home ownership. That's how we're able to leave an inheritance for our children's children. All these rental programs and Section eight and rural communities, they use that same money to make people homeowners. I would like to see that happen in the city of Detroit so we can expand housing stability. God bless.
Thank you.
Melania senior and Brittany, word law, Melania senior and Brittany, word law, all
right. Angelica Thompson. Angelica Thompson, thank you, and the next mic is Ernest Riley,
good evening, everybody. I hope y'all are having a wonderful night. My name is Angelica Thompson, I come. Be wearing several hats. I'm a children's book author, I'm a teacher, I'm a school social worker, I'm a unicorn, and perhaps most of all, and most sacred of all, I'm a parent with all of those titles. I can confidently say I've seen the power of parent engagement this year through DPS and through the different things that I've worked with. I've been a part of the parent engagement night for the second year. This year, I was also part of faces group, the student workshops, and I was able to go to different schools and do different workshops. I do facilitations and PDS around the state. So I was able to come in and bring some of those to your students. And it was wonderful, the conversations that we had, the engagement that we had, and to take that and talk to those parents afterwards and make faces to names was wonderful, but let me get back on my script. Now, I know the budgets are tight. We all ask to do a lot with less. I get it, but if you want real return on investment, I really want to talk about parent engagement and the conference that we we just had. This isn't just another event for with muffins and motivational speeches and quotes. It's a catalyst. It's where parents transform from spectators to teammates. They go from I don't know how to help to I've got this, and we've seen it. It's where barriers are broken down and relationships are built back up, and families walk away feeling seen and supported and inspired. I've seen it firsthand parents attending those workshops and coming out of them and saying and those literacy strategies and knowing how to navigate with their kids in this digital world. And I've seen them rush to the self care seminars that are so needed with their little yoga mats, and they're so excited to show them off and come get stickers from my table so they can decorate them. And I love that. And we've had teachers and parents come up to us after sessions and say, I didn't know that I could do that with my child, right? Or that gave me the confidence I didn't know that I had. And that's not engagement, that's empowerment, right? And we are giving that to these parents through these different seminars and this different avenues, so as let's not forget, when parents feel connected, our children thrive, right? They feel supported. They show up to school ready to learn, knowing that their village is behind them, and that's what we want, a thriving, resilient generation with their roots strong and strong family and supportive communities, right? So can we spend? We can spend 1000s on curriculum, we could spend 1000s on tech and testing, but none of that will reach its full potential without the home to school connection. That conference was a bridge, and I've seen it two years in a row, and what it has done and the sustainability that it has done for the second year, the engagement we had last year was amazing. Destiny is amazing. But this year, what we saw were parents coming the same parents from last year who were kind of hesitant. They came back with a new gumption, like they were ready. They knew what they were coming into. They were able to help those other the first time parents and assist them and navigate through the different workshops the authors walk walk through and the different things so hard work teachers can absolutely,
absolutely and thank you for your participation.
Hello, hello. My name is Ernest Nova Riley, um, I wrote a book, made a book. It's called Keep dreaming. You can, can you hear me now? Oh, okay, I wrote a book called Keep dreaming, and it's for you to write down your it's a journal for the children to write down their dreams, aspirations, or however they can express their self through creative writing. I think it'll help for mental illness. I think it'll help for self awareness and creative writing and things of that nature. I think it helpful creative writing. I would like to partner with DPS and publish my journal that students can use to help with their mental health and overall planning. That's all I got right now. All right.
Thank you so much, Mr. James Beasley and Lauren Chapman.
See, they're trying to get to him. They're trying
to get to him. They're going to get to him.
Mr. Beasley, and Lauren Chapman,
good evening to this honorable board I stand before you today. My name is James Beasley. James Jeremiah Beasley, Jr, some of you know me, some of you don't. I'm here to introduce myself to you so you know what I stand for. Sometimes I come before you and your subordinate, your superintendent, calls me a vendor. That's not correct. I'm a citizen of the city of Detroit. I was Detroit, born, Detroit bred when I dialed be Detroit dead, that's how far I am here. My father was raised here. I was raised here, and I came through a school system that gave me the fundamentals to be successful in life. What you see standing before you is what this boy should be trying to produce a successful black man. I just turned 70 years old, and I turn around and I look at my friends, and I see those who have been successful, like brother Bill Luce, who we came up to elementary school. He ended up being a vice president at IBM. He used to fill Liverpool. All these brothers who came out of Detroit public schools, we formed a bond, and we look at each other and we say, Look, we made it so many of us didn't, and the reason we were able to make it was because we were able to read. And when I see the report card come in year after year, and Detroit is on the bottom, that concerns me, and the only one who could change it is this board. I served on board. I was chairman of Detroit cable Communications Commission 20 years ago, when we cared about broadband and the way that we could help our people grow so this board can set policy, and I'm standing for you today, asking the Board to be open, to look at new ideas, because a 4% proficiency rate is not enough. When you look at a black man for your black boy, for example, white boys, for example, young young white boys, one didn't have one in 23 chance of being incarcerated. Young black boys have a one in five chance of being incarcerated. Think about those numbers. Think about that contrast, one in 23 versus one in five. And with this kind of performance from this school board at 4% you know, you get a five time better chance of being incarcerated than he does reading a grade level. And when we take a look at what the way we're reading, and the pace and the progress we're making, we see it's going to take us 100 years to get to Grade Level Reading unless we do something drastically different. Now, that's not what I'm saying. That's what the numbers say, you know. So I have a skill that God has given me, was to work with a group of people who know how to look at numbers, and not only what the numbers are, but what the numbers mean. And we need to, you need to change policy to get better results. And if you change policy, guess what, you will get better results. But if we keep doing the same thing year after year after year, you're going to get the same thing. You can't talk about the science of reading if you don't apply to science, if you can't measure it, you can't manage it, and that's all I'm standing before you today. I've got information coming for you, and hopefully we can engage deeper when you have a more appropriate.
Thank you, Mr. Beasley. Lauren Chapman,
thank you.
Board. Good afternoon, public. My name is Lauren Chapman. I am a teacher in the district and a dpscd alum. I would like to open my comment with the following questions, how many librarians does the district have what is the librarian per student ratio? Why were no literacy lawsuit funds directed towards employee librarians, as noted in tonight's finance report, 2.3 to $3 million is budgeted for the distribution of culturally responsive books. The employment of librarians is a much better way to accomplish this program, programmatic goal and many other goals, instead of sending a few books home with each student in hopes that they will read the book at home, librarians can curate literacy experiences for many students simultaneously and send them home with Many books that can be read repeatedly by many students. This is more economically and ecologically sound. With the same $3 million the district could employ at least 25 full time librarians at the median school librarian salary level for at least one school year. This number and duration could be further increased by librarians rotating between schools and partnering with the library science programs at Wayne State and or the University of Michigan. Studies show that students with access to librarians perform better on state tests. The plans for several new schools appear to lack libraries completely. If the board continues to underfund libraries, what right do you have to appoint members to the City Library Commission? And with my remaining time, I would like to second the previous public comment about swim lessons being a life saving skill. And once again, these new buildings are lacking. Some of these basic necessities that were previously embodied in their current or previous iterations. Cody and Pershing both currently have pools that they will lose, even if the pools could not be afforded in the first phase of building, they could be phased in if the design made more sense and had an locker room just facing the exterior wall, changing very little, if anything at all, drowning and reading are both things that need to be addressed at this district for the future. Thank you for your time. Wow.
Wow. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Chapman, thank you. Ms Drake, do you have any callers? Virtual,
yes, ma'am. You
Karina Reese, or I'm sorry. Karina riez, please go ahead with your public comment.
Can you hear me? Yes.
Mr. Ries, go ahead with your public comment. Hello, you're able to hear me.
Yes, we are. You can't
hear us. You can hear her. Okay,
hello, Ms, Ries, please go ahead with your public comment.
She cannot she cannot hear us, but we can hear you.
Madam Chair, I'm not sure. Ms, riez, if you can hear me, please, if you can hear me, just say hello.
We can go to Mr. Madden, and then tried to come back to miss, right? Yes.
Hello, Mr. Madden, please go ahead with your public comment.
Good evening.
Good evening.
All right. My name is Samuel Madden. I attended the last meeting. My daughter is a student at Detroit International Academy for young women. I my previous statement was that she was not receiving recess and had no electives Aside from her animal science class. After that statement, she started getting recess, and they switched her animal science class to gym because she didn't go to gym once this this year before that. And I was just wondering, I was under the impression that most schools alternate, you know, music, one day art, one day, gym, another day. And I was just kind of wondering why they have to, like, sacrifice one for the other. I don't know if it's a scheduling thing. I don't know if it's a staffing thing, but, you know, I just wanted some more clarity. I gave my information to the representatives of the school that were at the last meeting. I haven't received a direct follow up from them, but I just wanted to do my own follow up and and see what I might be able to learn. And that's pretty much it from me. So thank you for your time.
Thank you so much, Miss Drake, would you make sure that we get the student's name as well.
Yes, ma'am, thank you, Madam
Chair. We have, we have his information. All right, he was at the academic meeting. So we do have his contact information, if we just check the sign in for academic meeting. All
right. Thank you. Thank you so much. The next caller, please. You
to bring in Joe.
Hi, Mr. Joe, please go ahead with your public comment. Oh, can you hear me? Yes,
I guess you can hear me? I just have a few questions I listen to. My name is tapering, Joe. I'm a long time detour and advocate for public education. I listen to, like the listening session that Dr Vitti had for. Discerning the cuts coming from the federal level. One thing that really stuck out to me was that he didn't he said that he didn't want to do lazy budgeting, which he which he defined as the throwing money from the surplus into where things got cut. Number one, I want to know how the board feels about that, and what's the board's plan on what should be cut and when it should be cut, and what will be cut going next, going on, going into the next school year. My other question is, before any or before anything has to be cut, will there be a discussion on cutting his salary that is important for the public to know? Like previous speakers before me, talked about his salary, how much he makes a year, which is pretty much equivalent to a University of a university president, if you ask me, So are we willing to look at his salary and his contract to amend his salary and his contract before we amend the students of Detroit's future for just simple cuts that we can be fighting in the streets and making our voices heard loudly, that we are against what's going on. And secondly, I hear we talk about, we have, we have money going for schools being built. My other question is, where is are we still talking about this May special election, or this election where we're asking the people of Detroit for more money to go to a debt with everything that's going on. Is this something we really want to be prioritizing at this moment in time? Is the question I want to ask the board members without the without Dr Vitti being there, I would love to get a question, I mean, an answer back from the chair. Thank you.
Thank you. Mr. Joe, thank you so much. Mr.
Drake, Madam Chair, that concludes virtual public comment. All
right, thank you very much. We will be answering those questions this week at a later time. Thank you so much for contacting us and being a part of public comments tonight. Well Board Members, we are at number 16 for announcements. I'm sorry. Number 15 personal action items. I'm sorry, personal, personal I'm sorry. I
was just making sure that that the CF CFO provided the answers that mother Moore Yes, inquiring about
Yes, Mother Moore received her answers. Mother Moore, Mister vidito, yes, ma'am, you received your answers for Mister vidito, yes, yes, alright. Thank you very much. I'm sorry. Testing, can you all hear us? Okay? Thank you very much. Moving now to Item 15 personnel actions,
Madam Chair, I move that we accept the superintendent's recommendation for the terminations based on job abandonment.
Their support. Thank you. Thank you. Moved by Angelique Peterson Mayberry, supported by Doctor Iris Taylor, is there? Is there any discussion all in favor of approving administrative termination. Say, aye, all in opposition. Say nay. Motion carries right now. We're down to announcements, any announcements from any of the board members tonight, alright, and I will entertain a motion for adjournment so moved Madam Chair is that a consensus second motion carries. Thank you so much and good night. Have a great night. You get to go home early.
