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DPSCD REGULAR BOARD MEETING | Otter.ai

DPSCD REGULAR BOARD MEETING

Detroit Documenters1h 55min

Unknown Speaker

04:32

thoughts? Are You?

Speaker 1

05:25

To fall person to participate in the 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 a support of the good, we request that you refrain from that behavior.

Unknown Speaker

05:41

Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

05:43

Item number 104,

Unknown Speaker

05:46

moment of silence.

Speaker 2

05:56

We have one family member, Theresa Smith, the ESE paraprofessional at Henderson Academy.

Unknown Speaker

06:10

I am Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

06:19

Thank you so much.

Speaker 2

06:21

Will now rise for the national anthems Star Spangled Banner and Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Unknown Speaker

09:30

us. Thank You. Motion for the approval of the

Speaker 2

09:53

agenda supports any discussion been moved, and second that we would approve the agenda, as is all in favor, aye. So moved item number four, the approval of the minutes 4.01 regular board meeting. Minutes from July the eighth, 4.02 policy committee meetings. Minutes from July 15, 2025, 4.03 special board meeting meeting. Minutes from July 21 4.04 special board meeting minutes July 22 4.05 special board meeting minutes from July 23 4.06 finance committee meeting minutes from July 23 4.07 special board many meeting minutes from July 24 4.08 special board meeting closed session minutes from July 24 4.09 special board meeting minutes from July 28 4.10 academic committee meeting minutes from July 30,

Speaker 3

11:12

is there a desire to tie bar Madam Chair? I move to tie bar items 4.01 to 4.10

Speaker 2

11:21

their support. Support. Thank you so much. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye, no opposes. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

11:31

Thank you so much. Is there a

Unknown Speaker

11:33

desire now to move forward, to accept support?

Speaker 2

11:39

Thank you so much. Is there any discussion all in favor? Aye, it is so moved. Thank you so much. Item number five, we have quite a few wonderful announcements for my report tonight, the first day of school coming back in the fall. We're almost there, Monday, August the 25th Monday August the 25th and all the children and we are all excited for the first day of school. There are other announcements that a plea would pertain to us as our stakeholders and parents, the Detroit Black Caucus education funding next Tuesday, August 19. This is an informative meeting from 630 to 8pm at Mumford High School. All are invited to attend. We have some summer on the blocks happening this week. They've been happening all summer this week, August 14, Thursday, summer on the block at Davidson, from 12 to two. Thursday, also 814, some are on the block at Barton from 430 to 630 many schools are doing back to school events, and you can check the website for the updates. Finance meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, August the 13th at 3pm special board meeting. Monday, August the 18th at 530 the academic meeting for August will be Wednesday, the 20th at 10am and of course, the next board meeting for September is Tuesday the ninth at 5:30pm in addition to many of the schools doing back To school events, please remember the faith based from faith, family and community engagement back to school at Eastern Market. That's Sunday, August the 17th, at 330 in the afternoon. That concludes my remarks. Thank you so much. We will move to item six Finance Report. Mr. Vidito,

Unknown Speaker

14:19

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, not see the clicker. I

Speaker 4

14:30

Okay, all right, this evening, we'll be reviewing the financials for the month through the month of June. Just as a reminder, these are the pre audited financials. The audit is in process. We will have final audited numbers for the FY 25 year in November, once the audit is complete, starting with DPS, I'm

Speaker 4

15:16

okay, there we go. Next slide. Thank you. We received tax collections on the 13 and 18 Mills, approximately $14 million on our capital debt millage of 13 Mills, another 14 point 5 million on our operating millage in terms of collections in these were in line with projections that we had for the year as we continue to repay all of our debt, as we move on to DPSCD, the next slide, revenue is coming in ahead of forecast, Which is good. We saw an increase in revenue specifically related to our interest earnings. We continue to receive earnings at a higher interest rate, as well as one time. Revenue from Wayne resa came in higher as well as federal revenue on the expenditure side, they are currently tracking below budget. Although these are pre audited numbers. We are completing the end of the year accounting, we do expect this number to increase, but we do expect it to remain below the budget. So we are projecting another surplus for this year. This would be the ninth consecutive year of a budget surplus and a balanced budget as we look at available cash on the next slide, we ended the month with approximately 13.3 weeks of available cash, so we have plenty of funding to get through till we get the first state a payments in October. So with that, it concludes my report

Unknown Speaker

16:44

to the board. Any questions for Mr. Vidito? I none.

Unknown Speaker

16:54

All right, thank you

Speaker 5

16:57

the audit. We will move the finance report. Thank you, Mr. Video, to audit and for the announcement that public comment registration is now closed. Dr Vitti, we'll

Unknown Speaker

17:10

turn it over to you for your report.

Speaker 6

17:13

Thank you, Madam Chair, good good evening. School Board and community very excited about always excited about our recognitions at the board meeting, but particularly excited about today's announcement and recognition as we're only a couple weeks from the beginning of school year, we thought it was proper to highlight some of our most important employees, which are teachers. Any kind of research is very clear that the number one and greatest factor in raising student achievement is teachers, certainly parental support, family support, parent education, background, greater support from the community. Are all factors that go along with ensuring student achievement happens. But research time and time again says that the number one factor, regardless of all the challenges to the student may or may not bring in the classroom, are teachers. And so today, we're going to recognize some of our highest performing teachers in the district. Through the use of I ready, we are able to see student growth. And when we talk about growth, we're talking either one year of growth, whether you're in sixth grade and at the fourth grade level, or your sixth grade at the sixth grade level, one year of growth means that throughout the course of the year, you demonstrate at least one year of growth when we talk about English language arts and mathematics, we often talk in the district about stretch growth, that is having two or more years of growth both in English, language arts and math. And in a minute, I'm going to pass it to ms Wilson to recognize about 40 or so teachers that had outstanding growth and stretch achievement this past year, the 2425 school year. And let me be very clear, the teachers that were highlighting today, they had anywhere from 100% of their students showing at least one year of growth. Some of our teachers today also had as much as 100% of their students making two or more years of growth. So that means every student in their class, in their class showed at least one year of growth. And then we have a set another set of teachers that showed every one of their students had two or more years of growth in English language arts. So these are clearly some of our top performing teachers. All of our teachers work hard. All of our teachers are contributing to student achievement, but as we are at the eve of starting the school year, we thought it would be nothing better than highlighting our top performing teachers from last year in ELA and math. This is k8 level only. We'll do this for our high schools. We'll do it in other content areas, and we also plan on on highlighting our academic interventionists as the months go along, as well. So Ms Wilson, I'll pass it on to you. You also recognize that the teachers come from many different type of schools. We often talk about some of our highest performing students being in exam and application schools, but you're going to hear today teachers coming from quite a few neighborhood schools as well. So this great work that's happening at individual classrooms is happening throughout the district, whether it be exam schools, application schools or neighborhood schools and so Ms Wilson, I'll pass it to you. We'll do English language arts, first with one year of growth and then two years of growth, and then mathematics, one year of growth and two years

Speaker 7

21:01

of growth. Okay, thank you. Dr Beatty, again, as Dr Beatty reiterated, our first recognitions and the preceding recognitions 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. So a student, the teachers that we're going to call up now are recognized as our top 10 teachers in the district for i Ready. Ela, typical growth for the school year, 2425 I'll call your name, and you can come up to the stage. Some of you will be repeat offenders honorees, and then you'll stand by the stage, to my stage left, and then you'll rotate back around. So without further ado. Misty Flanagan, Danielle, Daniels, Catherine, Geiger, Kiana Chauvin, Charmaine, Edwards, Teresa white, Christina, Hollowell, Natalie Sherman, Sentara Herndon, Kelly Han and Alana Mayfield, let's Give them all a big Round of applause. Congratulations. You.

Speaker 7

22:50

Okay, all right, let's give them another round of applause, and we're going to call our next group of teachers. Today, you can begin to line up, and again, we do have some repeats, so these group of teachers will be recognized as our top 10 teachers in the district for i Ready, ela stretch growth for the school year, 2425 so Misty Klan, again, who's already on the stage, and we'll have, we'll have those who are remaining on this stage. Yep, Misty is right here. You have another flag, Danielle, Daniels, who's already here, Christina Hallowell, Kimberly, Boyd, Markita to Jerry, Charmaine, Edwards, Julia, Hopson, shakini, Jennings, Teresa, white and Stacy Lewis, Let's give them all a big round of applause. You.

Unknown Speaker

24:38

Please, perfect.

Unknown Speaker

24:49

Congratulations.

Speaker 7

25:07

Okay, let's get ready for our next round of teachers for the category. These are our top 10 teachers in the district for i Ready math, typical growth for school year, 2425 Danielle Daniels, who will be coming back around, Christina Hollowell, Kimberly, Mitchell, Laura Perry, say, Ed pizana Nichols, Markita to Jerry Teresa, white Angela, Ford, Tamara, Bell and Andrew Clark, Let's give them all a Big round of applause. You.

Speaker 7

26:34

Congratulations. All right, let's give them another big round of applause.

Speaker 7

26:45

Okay, the next round of our top 10 teachers in the district for i Ready math stretch growth for the school year, 2425 is Kimberly Mitchell, Danielle, Daniels, Markita to Jerry, Theresa white, Christina Hollowell, Sarah Grange, Crystal, Gonzalez, Tamara Bell Cordelia Blake and Lisa brigelle, give them a big round of applause. You.

Speaker 7

27:30

Us. Congratulations, let's give everybody another big round of applause for their outstanding excellence. You.

Speaker 6

28:30

Thank you. Thank you for the teachers that were able to come. I know everyone is still in summer mode, but transitioning, so just thank you for coming. And for those that are maybe asking, How could a teacher receive it the recognition twice or even four times, there are primary teachers in the grades of k1, and two that will teach both ELA and math, because they're self contained, and their students obviously take the ELA and the math I ready test. And so their students did very well, both in math and ELA, and therefore the teacher is being recognized possibly twice or four times or three times. And so remember, you can a student can demonstrate both one year of growth minimally and even two years of growth. So you could have the same student show both one year of growth and two or more years of growth. So this is why some of the teachers were recognized more than once, so thank you for the teachers that came to gay today again, and to all of our teachers will be doing a lot of celebrating as we return to school with them. Step scores being released. They're embargoed right now, and so are the SAT scores, but DPSCD did very well last year and will show a strong round of improvement. And it's obviously important to highlight our teachers that are doing even better than the average throughout the district. The rest of my presentation today will focus on summer activities and the beginning of the school year and just basically an opening of schools report. We spent a lot of time this summer with our principals through principals Academy. You can go to that slide on the clicker working, so there should be a picture of the principals Academy and all of our principals together this summer. If you can click to that slide, there you go. So this is a manager that we took this summer over just a couple weeks ago. It was there a minute ago, but during our our there it is. It is okay. So principal Academy is about a week long. We focus on last year's performance at individual schools, looking at literacy, math, S, A, T, graduation rates, climate and culture. It's just about reflecting back and looking ahead, sharing the district wide performance data, but every individual school data as well. Principals work with each other in cohorts, sharing best practice. And so we culminated one of the last days with a photo with all of our principals and me included. By chance, I wore my blue tie. That wasn't planned, but I typically wear blue, so it worked out we also

Unknown Speaker

32:00

the clicker one next slide.

Speaker 6

32:03

There you go. This is just some photos of the some on the block events. I believe we have two of our board members pictured here, but quite a few of our board members went out as well for the summer of the block activities. This is a great way to just create some energy into the summer with not only coming back to school, but also help with enrollment, get together opportunities with our staff, current parents and students. This happened throughout the city at just about all our feeder patterns next slide. And just to share some data from that event, we had 17, at least 17 some on the block activities at this point, the Board Chair mentioned we have two more remaining on August 14, one at Davidson and one at Barton. We've had about 5000 people attend the 17 various events. We've also visited quite a few homes, as you can see from the data slide there, 57,671 homes at this point have been visited. It's a combination of school level staff and central office staff volunteers visiting homes of currently enrolled students and families, but also potential DPSCD families and students as well. So this helps us reconnect with families who are already enrolled in the school district and also visiting those that are not. We targeted neighborhoods where the market share is lower. And what I mean by that is, when you look at the number of school aged children in a certain feeder pattern or connected to a school, if the percentage of students attending that school is low, then we target those areas to try to increase enrollment and increase the word of what's happening throughout the district in that individual school as we move into the opening of school overall, we're in very good position for another year of a strong opening with about two weeks ago, we have about 20 teacher vacancies to remain to fill in the core areas of ELA, math, science and social studies, we're about fully staffed with special education teachers. Just a few remaining to go. We have three assistant principal vacancies, six counselor vacancies, five academic interventionist vacancies, 10 security guards, only three para pre K. We have zero ese para vacancies, 18 contracted custodian vacancies, and about 38 cafeteria worker vacancies. We only have about five schools among 100 that have two vacancies. The rest are singular vacancies at individual schools that make up the 20 overall teacher vacancies. We're positive. In the next couple of weeks, we should just be about fully staffed with teachers, which again, has been an ongoing positive theme with our work with DFT and negotiating higher wages and bonuses, and our principals doing a better job of recruiting and retaining our teachers. If you didn't know, DPSCD leads the region and teacher recruitment and retention, including suburban school districts in the area. As far as enrollment is concerned, as of today, we have 50,893

Unknown Speaker

35:30

students enrolled in DPSCD.

Unknown Speaker

35:34

That includes about 457

Speaker 6

35:38

pre K students. And so that's about maybe 10 pre K students more than we had last year. But typically pre K enrollment picks up right before the school year starts. We ended the year, not including pre K, with about 49,391 students in the first day of school. Last year, as far as enrollment, we had 50,586 students. So at the end of the day, what does that mean? That means that right now, when you look at the number of students enrolled in DPSCD, not including pre K, we have about 1400 more students than we did at the end of the year enrolled in DPSCD As of today, and about 500 more as compared to the first day of school. So enrollment is trending in a positive direction, but nothing really matters until the count, because we know that students often enroll, but at the same time, we lose students. So this year, we're putting a lot of attention and retaining our students, increasing our retainment numbers and increasing enrollment. At the same time, all of our schools, from a physical plant point of view will be ready to open on the first day of school with no major issues. Right now, there are some classrooms that still need to be cleaned and equipment moved into. That's That's less than a dozen Monday our our staff returns to schools, and so there'll be about a dozen school a dozen classrooms that are still needing to be cleaned and just equipment moved into, but that will be done certainly before students arrive, and Wednesday of next week is when teachers start moving into their classrooms. So those classrooms will be ready. By then, all schools will be ready for staff to return, with the exception of Sampson Weber, that will be Wednesday of next week, that school will be ready. We have extensive roof repairs and and floor or ceiling repairs done at that school. Staff will report to another site on Monday and Tuesday, and then the school building will be ready for them on Wednesday. Other than that, all schools will be ready, including those schools that were going through extensive FMP renovations and updates. That concludes my overall report open to any questions that the Board may have. The board

Speaker 5

38:07

Dr Vitti, the principal Academy, how many principals were actually participating in that? And what is the plan

Speaker 6

38:17

for the vice principals? All the principals were there by memory. There may have been a few that were dealing with extenuating circumstances. All of our principal positions are filled going in the year, we had the equivalent of a principal Academy as an assistant principal Academy, which took place this week for our assistant principals. So that was something that the assistant principals asked for. They had their separate time this week. I was able to present and engage them as well. That started on Monday of this week,

Unknown Speaker

38:53

any questions

Speaker 3

38:56

from the board through the chair? Dr Vitti, you mentioned that in your presentation that actually have two questions, that there were 57 over 57,000 homes canvassed, which is a pretty impressive number, but what is the total amount of

Unknown Speaker

39:12

homes that represent our students?

Speaker 6

39:16

I'll have to follow up and give that to you. As far as the homes where students were already enrolled, that's that's your question. Yeah, yeah. Let me probably by the end of the meeting, I can get that from staff, and I'll report that out.

Speaker 3

39:29

If not that, I'll send it as a follow up. Great. My follow up question to that is, out of those 57,000 homes, what was our enrollment goal? Did we have one and what was produced from us? Kevin scene, and I'm going to also ask that question about summer on the block there were you said there were over almost 5000 participants? Did we have a chance to identify how many of those students were not DPSCD students, and how many we were able to convert or to actually get to a table to understand some of the offerings that we have at DPSCD? Do we have any goals or benchmarks, and have we successfully enrolled, or what percentage that we

Unknown Speaker

40:10

successfully enroll into our schools.

Speaker 6

40:14

I'll have to follow up with staff, and I'll provide that to you and the entire board right now, as I think the board is well aware, our goal is to increase enrollment by about 1% which I think equals about 700 students compared to last year that's by memory. Might be more or less than that, but I can as a follow up to canvassing, how many district students were visited versus non district? How many is enrolled? How many people attended? Some are on the block events that were District versus non district, and how many enrolled? I'll follow that up to the board.

Unknown Speaker

40:55

Thank you. Madam

Unknown Speaker

40:58

Vice Chair. Madam Vice Chair, that's it.

Speaker 8

41:01

Okay. Thank you. Board Member, Bryant, so through the chair. Dr V I may be mistaken, but what was the number of 400 490 was that the goal? The 1%

Unknown Speaker

41:15

that was given in one of the

Speaker 6

41:17

academic committee meetings. I know the goal was a 1% increase.

Speaker 8

41:22

I It's about 500 students. Okay, so where you just mentioned the 700

Unknown Speaker

41:28

number? Where have we? I think

Speaker 8

41:31

I was just approximating 1% okay, yeah. And then if you could during our next upcoming academic committee meeting. So when we look at where we are currently on an enrollment track of 50, 50,893 I would like to see what kind of impact we're making on those 15 schools that had the the low utilization, so to see if we, you know, can get those numbers up with the remaining few weeks. Thank you.

Speaker 9

42:09

Thank you. Yes, ma'am, thank you. Thank you, Dr Beatty, for that report, keeping in line with some of the questions been asked already, the canvassing efforts, I may have missed that, but that was quite a number of doors. Do you have a full analysis of were those leg drops? Were they actually talking to residents on the doors? Is there a break back down by district

Unknown Speaker

42:38

and just kind of

Unknown Speaker

42:39

some of the feedback that was received on the doors

Unknown Speaker

42:43

through the chair?

Speaker 6

42:45

It depends. Obviously, knocked on doors, someone's answers. We engage, if not, we leave a door, a doorknob, flyer on the actual doorknob. But we do have data related to where we went. I do believe, I'm not quite sure if the data goes deep enough on whether we get a human engagement or not, but I know we do track on where we go to, and that's broken down by feeder pattern. So if we want to use the city council districts,

Unknown Speaker

43:15

we probably could break it down that way as well.

Speaker 9

43:18

So if I may just as someone who's canvassed and not only politically canvas, but even canvassed for the district itself, it would be good to maybe make sure that if we're using vendors, that they have a tool that can be able to give us a full analysis report. For those who are familiar with what we use in a campaign is the voter access network, and that voter access network, when you canvas, you can indicate whether resident was home, if they were receptive, if we can disaggregate if they're currently students and or not, if they're interested in attending one of our schools or not, if they're familiar with our skilled trades programs or any other specialty area or not. I just want to make sure that we don't have people that are using numbers that simply talk about lit drops. So just want to be more specific as we go forward in canvassing efforts, because if our goal is to actually increase our enrollment, we want to know truly what's working, and we won't know that by just having lists where literature was actually drive. I'm more interested in us getting feedback while we're actually on the

Unknown Speaker

44:41

doors that kind of inform where we go next

Speaker 6

44:46

to the chair, that's agree, and that's been the feedback, obviously, from the finance committee and the academic committee when we reviewed the marketing plan, which is, I do think, and I think you would probably agree, there's always a benefit to just literature dropping and just visiting homes generally. I think we certainly have been doing that. But it is time to go deeper, and I think be more precise with where we're going and what we drop off when we go. And different board members have already given me feedback on, you know, if we're if we're trying to increase enrollment at easting, US village, then what we should be giving to residents there is easting, is village literature, not district wide literature. So those are all refinements that will make as we move forward, and that we do have some desegregated data with this round of canvassing that I'll share with the board, but that's the goal definitely moving forward. Is to be more precise with the marketing and the literature specific to the feeder pattern and the school that

Unknown Speaker

45:46

we're trying to increase enrollment for. I appreciate

Speaker 8

45:50

that board member, Bryant through the chair. One additional question. Dr Vitti, with the 457 pre K are we asking those particular parents if they already have a student in the district, or are these 457 new students with no prior

Unknown Speaker

46:10

experience from the parents the 457

Speaker 6

46:14

through the chair. The 457 number is just enrolled pre K students. I'd have to pull data to see if they have siblings or not. Those are that's just a number as of today that's enrolled in DPSCD. I think the number last year at this time, was 447 so we're slightly above at where we were, but I'd have to pull data to see how many of those are siblings. Oh,

Speaker 8

46:38

wow. How many have siblings, right? And if you could share that, maybe in our upcoming academic meeting next week.

Speaker 3

46:46

Thank you. Thank you, board member. Just circling back to something around the canvassing of the homes. I know you mentioned it. The 57,000 were currently enrolled students, or the majority of them were no so could you remind us, just so that we have clarity what the purpose of the canvassing was, so that we're all on the same page about why we're canvassing and what we're doing, and what

Unknown Speaker

47:12

maybe the script is like when people are going out

Unknown Speaker

47:17

to the chair. So the No, the 57,000

Speaker 6

47:21

are not just district students. It's it's a broader engagement strategy to focus on one just reminding people about DPSCD, the recent accomplishments of DPSCD, and providing a flyer that provides information on enrollment, and again, district successes of late, provides information on The health hubs Montessori program. So in other words, to answer your question more precisely, it's more of a broad strategy of reminding residents about DPSCD and broad information about enrollment opportunities. The the only precise engagement from a canvassing point of view happened at individual feeder patterns through school personnel. So within that 57,000 there were individual schools that have lower enrollment that we asked employees to go out of that school, to go out and recruit for their particular schools. But I would say the majority of the 57 is a broad brush engagement process. I would, I would guess that most of the 57 I have any data in front of me and I'll pull it, but I would, I would guess the majority of the

Unknown Speaker

48:40

people engaged were not DPSCD students.

Speaker 3

48:44

And through the just follow up questions to that through the chair. So what do we do to work with our currently enrolled students. What is our plan to ensure that they're returning back to school? Are we making phone calls? Are we we're not knocking doors, obviously. So what? What are some of the other ways we're

Speaker 6

49:02

keeping those students engaged? Yeah, obviously some homes were visited, but not, not necessarily, all December on the block events were just a way to try to keep people engaged and energized. Every school will have a back to school event just to welcome families back, whether new or returning. And every principal or principal designee should be calling every parent who's currently enrolled in DPSCD, about ensuring that they come back, welcoming them, them back, and so we are tracking that to ensure that every parent is called about just reminding them about the beginning of the school year and that excited about them coming back to the school that they're currently enrolled in.

Speaker 10

49:50

Dr bland, welcome, thank you. Thank you for your report, Superintendent, you shared in the 50,000 plus students that are enrolled for this year in previous years about how many of those students tend to show up on count day and percentage. Applause. And

Speaker 6

50:14

it fluctuates. But I would say, I mean, based on the first day numbers and FTE, there's usually about 1000 to a 1500 difference fewer. And so the challenge has been the district has done a fairly good job of recruiting new students. The challenge is losing students. So that's why last year and going into this year, trying to put more emphasis on re enrollment rates. It's actually a metric that we hold schools accountable to in order to get a move away from the culture of, well, if you don't want to go to this school, you can go to another school. And unfortunately, we do have challenges of that, and that's also coupled with high transiency rates, as everyone knows in the city, that contributes to lower re enrollment rates than, let's say, other traditional public schools throughout Michigan and even the country. So natural transiency leads to lower re enrollment rate. But we have emphasized this summer and even last year, the need to just improve customer service and parent engagement so that parents feel more welcomed, and we fight harder to keep students at the schools that they're at, rather than having more of an attitude of, well, if you don't like it here, then you can find another school that's we're trying to break that culture, especially in our in our

Unknown Speaker

51:50

neighborhood schools. Thank you.

Speaker 5

51:53

Dr Beatty, with the defunding of Head Start, are we prepared as a district to take in those students, the pre K students? What's our thought in terms of attracting those young children, because I know last couple of years that has been one of the emphasis in terms of our growth. Now that Head Start is being defunded, how are we are we do? Are we at capacity? Do we have the capacity for all of these students? What about those teachers? Could just kind of give us a highlight of what the plan is for that

Speaker 6

52:30

population through the chair, as you indicated in your question, we don't have the authority or capacity to absorb children younger than pre K. That's a separate authority and staffing process and regulated process for the Early Head Start program, but there is an opportunity to recruit pre K students that were in that Start program. So the city is leading that charge. And hope starts here, which is a nonprofit in trying to connect families to DPSCD and in other you know other providers, local providers outside of the district, so that those students can be absorbed, at least to pre K students, including staff. So the city is the city, and hope starts. Here are the two bodies that are coordinating, and resa, most recently, Wayne. Resa also got involved we're trying to help coordinate the outreach to ensure students are enrolled. So to answer your question, there is, there are still seats, so if parents are listening that were in the Head Start program at the pre K level, there are still pre K seats available, you know, depending on

Speaker 5

53:49

the neighborhood and school that you're interested in all right, thank you. Are there any additional questions for the superintendent, if not a motion to accept his report? Support. Thank you so much. Is there any discussion all in favor? Aye, thank you so much. The Superintendent's report has been accepted. Item number nine, our consent agenda. Is there a desire to type our items, 9.01 9.02

Unknown Speaker

54:21

9.03 9.04 9.05

Speaker 5

54:27

9.06 9.07 and 9.08

Unknown Speaker

54:33

motion to tie bar 9.01

Unknown Speaker

54:35

through 9.08

Speaker 5

54:38

Thank you. And then to accept the consent agenda as Is there a motion support? Thank you. Is there any

Unknown Speaker

54:46

discussion? No, I got discussion.

Speaker 11

54:55

I'm sorry, go ahead. Dr short, the chair recognizes you. Oh, okay with the 2025 sorry, 2025 26 course catalog. We ask that we make sure we have the personal curriculum in there. And I know academics also asked, so I just want to make sure it's included. Dr Beatty

Speaker 6

55:17

that was requested, it was my understanding that that was added before the board meeting staff that

Unknown Speaker

55:27

might be here to confirm that.

Speaker 6

55:31

I just want to ensure it was definitely stated and it was noted. It was my understanding that that was added, so I can confirm, as we're sitting here, but I'm confident

Unknown Speaker

55:42

that it was understood and was added.

Unknown Speaker

55:46

Dr, short, what was that for? That was point 9.01

Unknown Speaker

55:50

No, it was 9.04

Unknown Speaker

55:54

Okay, 9.04

Unknown Speaker

55:56

to include the personal curricular

Speaker 8

55:58

option. Thank you so much. And through the chair, yes, ma'am asked that we get a new copy

Speaker 5

56:05

with the updated copy, with that with that amendment, yes, all in favor. So moved all right policies item number 10, our first reads that would be 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 of course, we know that we will read those and respond back to our policy chair, as there are amendments that may be needed. So the first one is the adoption of the new policy TBN as the high school diplomas and seals amendment to the policy 3113, conflicting employment of contractual relationships, and all of these have been attached within our board documents. Amendment to policy 5330, the use of medications and amendment to policy 8500, food service. Let me go to the policy chair. Is there

Speaker 3

57:10

anything that you want to add to this, just that this is a first read, and so you can go and check it out, and if you have any adjustments that need to be made, we can talk through it. We have a policy committee coming up, but again, this will be on next month's agenda again, so we need to move pretty swift if there are any

Speaker 8

57:29

changes or concerns about the language. Madam, Brian, so through the chair and I had this discussion with Dr Vitti. I had some concerns with the community service. So we discussed that there were the 200 hours, and we might want to maybe adjust that. And I kind of had a concern that we're now not requiring service hours for our just general population, so we were kind of thinking about if there's a requirement, maybe for 50 hours, just on a low end, so that there could be a seal for those students who are doing community service, and then at the high level, the 200 but I think the discussion was more like, how do we get to a reasonable amount of hours if students are involved in other activities?

Speaker 3

58:32

So through the chair, we will raise that with Dr Vitti board member Bryant, and I'll get back with you around, and also take it to a few of our policy members to just confirm that particular wording, and we will have it back on

Speaker 5

58:49

for a second read next month. Okay, thank you, and that would be policy number 10.01 Correct, correct. Yes, okay, thank

Speaker 11

58:59

you. Board Member. Short, I have a suggestion for this community service issue. Maybe we could have a special, a special designation on the diplomas for those who get the higher levels of community service, just a special, special designation,

Unknown Speaker

59:19

recognition. That's what I meant to say.

Speaker 3

59:21

That's a possibility. Thank you. Through the Chair, we will note that Dr short, and we will take it to the policy committee and talk about our options to ensure that our students are getting the appropriate recognition for their community service, which we want them to get. So thank

Speaker 10

59:40

you. And noted, that's great. Dr Blaine, under the new policy also, will it continue to have minimum and maximum numbers if you go to a range of beyond 200 so will it say? Currently, it says minimum of 200 so if it changes, would it have a minimum, maximum or

Speaker 3

01:00:02

but I like the idea that we just given, yeah, through the chair again. Dr bland, I think the best thing to do, I think we will take Dr Short's recommendation and make sure that the verbiage recognizes all of our students who have service and work with our also our legal our legal counsel to ensure that we're getting

Speaker 5

01:00:19

the language Correct. Okay, thank you. Great. Great. Thank you so much. All right, then we will move to public comment and Miss Moore.

Speaker 12

01:00:41

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 for in person, the Chair will call the names of individuals to address the board in the order received, please remain seated until your name is called. 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 two options via computer, select the Raise Your Hand option on the screen, or via telephone, press star nine to raise your hand the chair will select the individuals in the order received You will remain muted until your time to speak. All comments will be limited to three minutes. The superintendent 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, Vanya Moore at venue dot Moore at Detroit, k twelve.org

Unknown Speaker

01:02:03

Thank you so much.

Speaker 5

01:02:05

And how many do we have? Miss Drake ready? I

Speaker 12

01:02:15

Madam Chair. At this time, there's no virtual public comment. All right, thank you. All right. And in person,

Speaker 5

01:02:30

thank you so much. We have a total of 15, and we will start with Antoine Wiley Jr, and Le Kenya Melton, if you would come down now the two of you together on either side, the microphones are ready for you. Applause.

Speaker 13

01:02:59

Hello, how you doing? Good afternoon. I just wanted to comment on the summer youth and program that we just had this past summer. The program was truly a highlight of the season. It gave young people a safe place to encourage learning growth, connection with other community, hands on activities like learning workshops, skill building, and I feel like it gave them a safe space to come to the to the schools I know, like growing up, a lot of kids don't have a lot of outlets to like do stuff over the summer, so I feel like a lot of the kids really love coming to the summer programs that we had over the summer. That's really was it all right? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Summer on the block.

Speaker 14

01:03:57

Yes, hello. I am lakina Melton, and I had the pleasure of being a an art teacher for summer discovery and also summer on the block. It was a pleasure teaching and meeting the children this summer, watching them explore and learn new things through different art mediums, and just learning and watching them work their genius. They are extremely intelligent. It was a pleasure, so I wanted to, this is my second year, and

Unknown Speaker

01:04:39

I wanted to encourage

Unknown Speaker

01:04:42

more. I'm sorry, excuse me.

Speaker 14

01:04:46

Just to encourage to continue on every summer, because they truly enjoy it. So thank you. Also, one more thing, we could barely hear you all in the audience, so we apologize, we can have a little bit more, but thank you. Thank you for that.

Speaker 5

01:05:11

Thank you for serving Yvonne Ross and Mother Helen Moore. Yvonne Ross and Mother Helen Moore, you

Speaker 15

01:05:34

Ross, hello. My name is Yvonne Ross, and I also work with the summer program. And I had the opportunity to work with the eighth grade students who are going to the ninth grade. And I wanted to let you all know that I was truly impressed. There were about 15 students, most of whom were young men. And those children were there because they had to go to a summer school, of course, from eight to 1230 with lunch. But after that, they were invited. They didn't have to stay. They all stayed. They stayed for the entire five week program, and they stayed for the entire day, which ended at 330 and all of the boys stayed, well, young men, all of the young men stayed. Some of the young ladies did not stay until the end, and they were very cooperative. And I just think our children need structure. They want structure. And the problems that we've been having lately with our young people, I think this is something good for them, and I just think we should consider keeping programs like summer

Unknown Speaker

01:06:37

enrichment. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Wonderful

Speaker 16

01:06:45

mother Moore, good evening. This is not the report I was going to speak on. I'd like to talk to the audience, especially about what's going on in the United States of America with the President of the United States, we've been targeted, talking about Detroit Public Schools and all the school districts in the United States that have predominantly black children. So I'd like to ask this board, what are you doing about organizing and making sure that if this occurs, that we can have a place for our children to have some education. Now it's not impossible, because this happened before, and what we did, we met in the churches, and Jesse Jackson was leading it from Chicago. If you all will read your history, you will know some of the things that we went through and what we did for our children. They were out of school a long time, and he would come over here and meet with us, and we would set up the churches, and we would have schools in the churches. And finally, it was over with, and we went back to we voted to go back to our regular schools. Now, if you don't think that we're in a crisis, now something's wrong with you, because we are in a crisis, all you gotta do is look on national news, what will happen to Detroit public schools being predominantly black and brown, that's who the president is targeting. What will happen to us if we don't have a plan? I'm asking the board today, have you set up a plan in case they take over the school system and we have to go to court, we probably will get it back, but we want to make sure that our children have a place to go, and the parents know that their children will be safe. And we thought about them. We did not pretend that everything was going fine. We know that we are dealing with a maniac and a racist. So I'm asking the board, have you set up your committee, just in case this happens? Has anybody set up a committee? Keep the votes. Been talking about it, and we thought we present it to you today so that we would know if you're ready. No surprises. I wait. I see the way you all looking at me. I wanted to make sure that I presented this to you, because you keep going all along, like, ain't nothing happening. It's just like, okay, so we got a nut running the United States of America, and so if he closed down on a black school district, guess who's a predominantly black school district in state of Michigan, us who will be targeted first us. And so we sit like nothing's happening. You need to organize. And if you want to organize, we're helping. We're going to go to New York with Al Sharpton is coming up, excuse me, Washington. And we're we're going to, we're going to get ourselves together. Some of the members are sitting here now, and I'm going to be Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

01:10:10

Thank you. Mother Moore,

Speaker 5

01:10:14

thank you William Butler and Justin Crutchfield, no man. Mother never, never, never. Mr. Mr. Butler,

Speaker 17

01:10:33

hi. My name is William Butler, and I am a district employee, and I also worked this summer with the Richmond program. I'm here in support of the Richmond program because it is an opportunity for our students to build community. There were so many opportunities for our students to have access to activities that they don't ordinarily have access to through the summer enrichment program, and there were very strong bonds and very strong relationships that US workers were able to curate with the students on their behalf to make sure that they had access to different opportunities, such As golf or such as yoga, or such as photography, podcasting, and so I'm just here Miller to say that, you know, this is a great program. It is great for making connection with students. As an attendance Agent with the district, I have been able to curate and work with students that I may have had problems with during a regular school. Regular school year through the summer program, and build better and stronger bonds because the class sizes are smaller, there's more fun things that we can talk about and to build relationship around. And so I think that these programs are very pivotal for our students, especially in the summer season, where they may not have access to our facilities that we have during a regular school year. So that's

Speaker 5

01:11:55

all I wanted to say. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Ms Crutchfield,

Speaker 17

01:12:07

hello, everybody. Hello. I am Justin Crutchfield. I am coming to you basically talking about the summer. So I just took your photos, right? But I also do video. So this past summer, I really want to speak about summer on the block, the canvassing and summer learning. So let's first start off with summer on the block. It was just great being there, just seeing the engagement of the community, you know, capturing the faces, the smiles, people really came out and were really just inspired by what DPS is doing. And then it really went even deeper when we went to Canvas and really got a chance to kind of capture and talk to those that were canvassing. And those that were canvassing were very knowledgeable of what DPS is, who DPS is, right? But it was also people that graduated from DPS, right, which is not DPSCD. And their main thing, a lot of people would just say, I just want to give back. I just want to pour back into others and bring people back to DPS. And so I know it's called come home, but in the moment, it felt like boots on the ground, because they was out there walking. They was going to every door, they was talking to people, and they were really engaged and having deep conversations. Because some people were saying, Well, I don't, I don't really know, you know, my child or my grandchild is going here. And they were really knowledgeable and able to say, like, hey, well, these, this is what we have, all right, we're working on this, and we have this and that. And you can go here to get this information, or you can go to this place and get there, and some of them knew things past DPS, right? So say somebody may have had an issue with their house. They was talking about, hey, I know a place you can go to. They'll get you maybe get a grant or something like that. And so, Pete, when people were starting, I got a chance to also talk to people that were in the neighborhood, and they said, You know, I've never seen this before, like I whenever. I've never seen DPS. And these are people residents have been living in these homes many years. And they were saying, yo, I really appreciate you all coming out, and Alicia is talking to us and just having that conversation. Because when you really think about Detroit, I was born and raised in Detroit, right graduated from right? Graduated from Cass. It's about community, right? We live in a big city, city, but by the end of the day, it's about community, right? And they really got a chance to understand that. So let me go to summer learning, right? I'm down to a minute. Summer Learning is something that we continually need to do every summer. The reason being is because we're able to build relationships with these students and with DPS. Right now we are focused on relationships, building these relationships with these students and them work, and just being able to just relax and just have fun, but also learn different things. We got a chance to teach them photography, golf, karate, football, all types of different things. We had NPR come out. Did podcasting, Detroit Institute of Arts. They did art projects. The kids were so excited. They just engaged and just all in, right? And so it really also got it. Like the young man just came forward and said certain students that he previously had, he's got a chance to build a relationship throughout the summer. So I know we have summer learning right as far as them making up their credits, but like, the kids really didn't want to leave after they had made up their credits for the summer. They were ready to still stay and have fun and be engaged to a whole nother level for summer learning. All right, thank you. That's my time.

Speaker 2

01:15:36

Wow. Thank you. Thank you for the update that was good. All right, thank you. Thank you. JP and William Davis. All right.

Unknown Speaker

01:15:53

JP,

Speaker 5

01:15:56

coming. Thank you, sir. And then Mr. William Davis,

Speaker 13

01:16:08

yes, hi, thank you all for the opportunity to speak before the board and to the community. I just want to highlight some of the positive things that happened this particular summer. As a proud Detroiter and a proud DPSCD alum and King graduate, it was a great honor to see how our school district responded to some of the disenfranchisement that is going on throughout our country, and we responded in different ways. One of the ways was through the summer Discovery Program, where in the morning the students, they did a tutoring program, but they also got lunch, and then they also got enrichment, so for 1000s of students to be provided some type of programming, some mentorship, some conflict resolution, some encouragement in a time when a lot of people are missing those things, I think that that is critical for our actual school year, and within a city that has less than 10 operating recreation centers, is very critical for our kids To be able to do something. And as a person that drives all throughout the city of Detroit, I'm absolutely tired of seeing our students, and not just DPS students, but our kids throughout the community, sitting on the porch doing nothing. So for deep so for DPSCD and this great board and our great leadership with DPSCD to give an opportunity to have these 30 to 40 plus safe zones and spaces for these kids. People do not understand the importance of it. As a person that drives and get my gas in Detroit, pull over and I go to this supermarket, and I go through these streets and these neighborhoods, I see the young people. I see the people selling water up on the corner looking to do something. We can't ignore them, and the district did not ignore them, and that should be highlighted, because you all gave opportunities to a lot of people. We have programs for our senior citizens and showing them that they also matter, and we need to have walkable communities for our senior citizens, but we also need to give them a chance to have jobs, and DPS did that this summer. We also need to think about our college students, that they come back here from their schools and they're saying, Well, I don't want to come back to the city of Detroit. Well, DPS provided opportunities for them to be college ambassadors, and they worked and they could see an opportunity to come back to Detroit and not just make Detroit a brain drain. We want Detroit to be a destination for these kids to come back when they leave a Morehouse and they leave a Spellman and they leave a U of M. Then also, we also have to look at the opportunities that for the 10 month employees that had an opportunity to work and build a strong relationship throughout the actual school year. Summer discovery did that. But then let's also focus on the summer block initiatives. Where I'm from the East side of Detroit, and I can tell you, a block party is very important. So for that department to focus and give our families resources and have a party and atmosphere during a time where stress is real. I think all of those

Speaker 5

01:19:12

departments need to be highlighted. Thank you all so much for your time. Phenomenal.

Unknown Speaker

01:19:18

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Speaker 18

01:19:21

Mr. Davis. Hello everyone. William M Davis here, former elected official, president of a couple groups and organizations. My remarks are not as rosy as that young man's. I think this board and this system could be a better steward of resources and potential resources in that right now, you know, there's a lot of people in southwest Detroit that's afraid to go to school. Right now, there's a number of I see, I live on the west side. I used to be the police commissioner in district seven. I see a number of busses coming into our city, harvesting our students, taking those dollars out into Inkster. You know, all sorts of communities. I think that y'all should be doing something about that. I think y'all should be strongly encouraging people to come back. I think more needs to be done. As relates to we do some tenderers, you know, like say, there's a lot of kids miss school. There's kids that don't even have a home. I'm part of the neighborhood association, you know, we sponsor the washing machine a dryer for a school, but we need to make sure that you are more plugged in, into the city of Detroit. I'm also a city of Detroit retiring president of City of Detroit retiree group. But there's a lot of dollars leaving this city. Y'all should be tracking that. Y'all should be tracking how many students that live in the city of Detroit that are going to schools outside the city of Detroit. Y'all should be trying to work on a plan to reduce the number of people that's leaving the students for various reasons. You know, y'all should be working on plans to make sure they come back. Y'all should be working on plans to try to keep students from leaving. Y'all should be working on plans to encourage more community involvement. You know, when I'm older than some of y'all, not everyone, but most of y'all, and I remember schools used to be the anchors of the community. I remember, you know, you know, like, say, we have rec centers, but we had schools to have programs, real programs, in the evening time, all sorts of stuff. I don't see that anymore. You know, the school system is a pale a Pell reflection of what it used to be. You know, this good system could be better. And you know, if y'all was attract more of those dollars, perhaps y'all could pay off the debt quicker that the state put on, the state of Detroit. And I think y'all still be, should be aggressively challenging that. But I don't see that half the time. I don't even see representation on the Financial Review Commission meetings I speak regular but very few of y'all do by

Unknown Speaker

01:22:08

Joyce Jennings and Tommy Ingram.

Unknown Speaker

01:22:17

Joyce Jennings and Tommy Ingram. Good evening. Everyone in support of board member

Unknown Speaker

01:22:37

Monique Bryant's comment about the summer

Speaker 19

01:22:41

community service. In support of that comment, I think that it's essential that we not lower the standard, because community service is vital. It gives children opportunities to work, even if they don't get selected for paid employment. We also have to make sure that with the community service hours, we are completing the work permits, which is a state requirement if our board and the school district is not familiar with the workforce development requirements for youth in the state of Michigan, I think that it would be really good to have that as a training not only for the board and the administration for the district, but also high school students who look to be employed. You can use that form that is completed. It documents the positions that they will work, the employer that they will work for or volunteer for, what duties they will have, the equipment they will use, and when you're applying to colleges or where you're when you're applying to other programs. You can use that as supporting documentation for your applications to colleges or other jobs. In addition, as we listen to the representatives who worked with the enrichment program, I have been advocating for summer school to be returned back to the district for enrichment, and not just for students who fail programs. Many of us have graduated through Detroit public schools or from Detroit public schools because enrichment was offered at one time, I graduated early because enrichment was offered for credit. My mother graduated from Cass tech in January of 1970 because of enrichment. And I think that when we hear about the great success that those who represented tonight had from what was offered this year, if we could look at bringing enrichment back during the summer for credit for students who may not get hired for summer jobs, or who just want to be able to continue to develop themselves. I did want to speak to the repayment of the debt that is always very concerning, because we're paying back debt that we never should have had to pay in the first place, while we're giving away current tax dollars to millionaires and billionaires who are faking like they're developing Detroit, but it's actually being developed on the backs of our children, as our educational system is being dis funded and that or defunded, and that is not fair. This past year, three schools along Van Dyke were demolished. We could have hoped.

Unknown Speaker

01:25:41

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Tommy Ingram i

Unknown Speaker

01:25:54

Good afternoon, everyone.

Speaker 20

01:25:57

My name is Tommy Ingram. I am the CEO of associates of promise. We build the capacity of nonprofit organizations, schools and small businesses. I am here because we want to increase high impact partnerships with nonprofit organizations. So there is a lot of funding through my leap organization, as well as some other federal grant opportunities where they're vetted through the nonprofit organizations, and we are seeking partners, believe it or not, we have more money than we have schools, and so we're doing some incredible things. We have some amazing accelerated programs, math programs, tech savvy, innovative programs, stem steam engineering programs that are really adding tremendous value to our students, and we are seeing an increase in scores. Have 30 years of educational experience. We actually were in 63 DPS schools with our STEM program post covid, under Dr Irene nor day at that time, they did an internal audit in the math department and show that students who have participated in our STEM programs actually had increased their scores in both math and science. So we are looking for some partnerships. They're not just wrap around services. These are academic programs vetted through the nonprofit organizations that hire teachers. They bring in their funding resources, and all we need is schools. We need kids, and we're asking for consideration for these partnerships to start now so we can have conversations with principals, and we don't have to catch them when they go back to school and they're already busy in October, when programs from my leap are coming down the pipeline. We started out we had where this is our third year in the cohort, and it is just amazing. So I will email whoever they said, and just make sure you get it so we can hurry up and establish those partnerships. It's a great opportunity for us to just come together and do what we do, and let's educate

Speaker 5

01:28:13

our kids. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you very much. The

Speaker 5

01:28:23

next two would be Leah Moore and Darlene Anderson. Leah Moore and Darlene Anderson.

Unknown Speaker

01:28:42

Good evening, board and Dr Reedy,

Speaker 21

01:28:45

beautiful as always, to see our staff students getting recognized. It's always a privilege. Summer's on the block. I didn't get a chance to go to as many as I wanted to, but I did go to Paul Robeson Malcolm X, good job. Looking forward to school starting and just welcoming the children. Just a few questions before I go into a statement. But as far as Gregory Michigan with the camp, are we still thinking about spending millions on renovating that. As far as the pilot program, I remember Dr V speaking on pilot program for the high schools. I believe it was an East Side High School to develop the transportation similarity as what you all do for CMA. I'm wondering, Is that coming up, and is it going to be I believe it was two schools, or when is that going to start? Are we still paying our babies for tutoring? Are we still paying them for attendance this school year? What is the status on the 19 schools that cannot sustain themselves? It is very, kind of disheartening for us to go from 13 to 19 without a lot of major discussion. I didn't get a chance to see all of the slides, so I will email to get a copy of those schools, but it's imperative. I'm seeing the hype up about promotions, and it's great. But the sad part is that these poor schools have had to spend 8.5 years carrying themselves. We have had a yes board the majority of the 8.5 years that has led us to this enrollment and lack of support. If you remember the slide that was presented, the reason why a lot of our families are leaving the top is academics. The second is not being properly supported. So if you all can give us that information, it is imperative as a board that you all come together. We have the new gentleman. And I say thank you, and I say, welcome, but this ain't church, and it's no disrespect. I was born and raised in the church. This ain't about pastor's anniversary. This ain't about celebrations. This you are a public servant, and you are not above reproach. This is not about a hallelujah, yes choir. We have had that choir on this board for 8.5 years, to the point where now we got the Michigan Chronicle. Oh, we want to do African centered education 8.5 years. Oh, these schools have had to what sell themselves because Dr Nikolai vidi and his team and the majority of this hallelujah board felt that, hey, by the time you get to middle school and high school, you have made up your mind, which is not true. Now I stand here. I'm not a complainer, as you all know, and I'm not going nowhere, as you also know, but the community, it's a change in the air correct. It's a change in the advertisement and the way the district is presenting itself. Let the community speak for you all. If you do them right, if you do these schools right, the return on your investment is going to be natural. It ain't going to be forced or have to come to get more money to spend for the story to tell. But welcome,

Speaker 5

01:31:58

sir. Thank you. Darlene Anderson,

Speaker 12

01:32:03

thank you. Hi. Good afternoon board. My name is Darlene Anderson, I don't normally get up to speak much. I'm just an observer. But I did wanted to get up and say something about the impact of the Summer Program. I was able to participate in that. And what I observed while I was there was Dr Beatty mentioned that the customer service, where it does make a difference, because where I was, the person at the front the office workers, they set the tone so they were very, very nice, very helpful, respectful of the students, that's what the students want most, is respect as well. But the teachers gave their all this summer that I noticed, wow, especially I can the one I came in contact was the science teacher. Made sure those students had everything. She was very she was this lady was very dedicated, I do have to say that, and the kids enjoyed her class, and then being able to move over to the enrichment program with the different things that the kids were offered. Those kids are very intelligent. I do have to say that I've seen an improvement in the students, the way they speak, what they've learned, they how they're proud of their schools, singing their school song. I haven't seen that in DPS in a long time. So I'm just saying to keep it up. There is room for improvement. But the summer program that they had, the kids enjoyed it for them to show up every day, stay all day. Kids don't normally want to stay in school all day, but these kids were there. They enjoyed it. Also participated in the the

Unknown Speaker

01:34:10

summer on the block,

Speaker 12

01:34:12

I enjoyed it. The kids enjoyed it as well. And I do just hearing from some of the parents and the students, you did get some enrollment. How much of it, I'm not sure, but you did get students enrolling, and they finding out what the school had to offer. So congratulations to the teachers as well that received their awards. Like I said, you can continue to make improvements, but the summer program, I think, was excellent. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Speaker 5

01:34:50

Shanti Calhoun. Shanti Calhoun and Noah Casey, all right, summer.

Unknown Speaker

01:35:04

Good evening, everybody.

Speaker 22

01:35:07

So I'm Shanti, just a little background on me. I'm from the East Side Detroit, went to Finney High School, and I want to talk about the summer enrichment program. So with that, I grew up with summer school just being to make up grades. I wish it was what it was today back then, because I work with the summer enrichment but I love how we have different vendors there. So not only are there different vendors to where students can get access to lawyers, to police officers, band, we had cosmetology, the podcast and all these different things, but also a lot of these vendors were black owned businesses, so now we're supporting people who are from the city to be able to, you know, support our city and support our students, but the way that their students responded, it was amazing. Like, of course, with the smaller class size, that's better, where we can get more one on one attention, but they were able to just have fun at school. They can learn, but at the same time having a meal. We can kick it. We can talk about what's really going on in their life. And sometimes that's what students really need. They just need that opportunity to be heard, to be loved, to give the safe space, to be able to pour into them. I kind of got a knack for students who may seem troublesome or challenging, but at the end of the program, usually, or in the middle of program, we end up loving each other, and they not. I don't even see them as bad kids anymore, because they got the attention that they needed right. Because all at the end of the day, all they needed was love and somebody to support and believe in them. So also, from a vendor standpoint or a student standpoint, I just a testimony. So since one of our one of our workers, was able to tell a parent some of the challenges that a student was having, of course, she's not a doctor. Can't diagnose autism or a learning disability, but that parent was totally unaware. But since we had smaller classrooms that that staff member was able to talk to that parent, and that parent was able to get the help that they needed. So I love I'm not sure how summer school was back in the day, or high schools was back in the day, but there's plenty of resources here now that we have in summer school. Had the Secretary of State there, food trucks, oh, on our last day, I was at strokes and we had giveaways as far as clothes, the girls loved it. We all just had a good kumbaya moment. Didn't want to leave, but just being able to not just learn, but have fun and provide a space of love. So

Speaker 5

01:37:42

thanks for providing that program. Thank you. Thank you. Shanti, that was you all right. Noah, Casey, thank you. Noah,

Speaker 23

01:38:02

thank you. Good evening, everybody. I had the privilege of being able to work during the summer enrichment program as well as the

Unknown Speaker

01:38:11

summer on the block program. In all honesty, I

Speaker 23

01:38:15

think it gave, or the summer enrichment program gave students the ability to have a summer that they deserve. Right? I'm sure you guys can all think back to your childhoods of, like, good summer memories and just being able to, like, have fun, hang out with your friends, family, whoever, right? That's what we were able to provide with the summer program, right? And I hope that it continues when it comes to the summer on the block, I think that it was great I had the opportunity to talk to teens and just have one on one chats. Just get to know what their thoughts were on school. Just make them feel better about school. The responses that I received from students like I wish there was a way that I could write those down and give them to you guys, because students want to help the city of Detroit right, and I want to help the city of Detroit, and I think you guys have the power to do that right. And so students are sometimes scared to be in school because of teachers that they don't like or like. They have a hard time going to school things of that nature, right? I think you guys have the ability to help everyone in this city and bring it back to what it can actually be, right? So then people like me, myself, my colleagues, my family, neighbors, right? So that we all want to stay in the city of Detroit. Right? City of Detroit never left, just some people did, right? And it's all about, how can we build it back together stronger? And the Summer Enrichment Program and the Summer on the block program are great ways of doing that. And I hope that you guys come up with other great ways and fund other great ways to help rebuild the city of Detroit. Thank

Speaker 5

01:40:02

you, and I yield the rest of my time. Wow. Wow. Thank you. Thank you. Noah. Lauren Chapman. Lauren Chapman is our last public comment for this evening.

Speaker 24

01:40:19

Good evening, board and superintendent, I come before you today to ask if any consideration was given to creating requests for proposals to redevelop the schools that are scheduled to phase out over the next school year. Creating RFPs for these buildings creates many potential positive outcomes. Selling the buildings to a developer could generate income for the district that could in turn be used for other facility investments. This could also preserve historic buildings. The proposals could focus on redevelopment of the buildings for housing. This would help accomplish the aspiration of using vacant school buildings for housing that several board members expressed during a meeting after the deaths of two children this past February. Recently, two schools were rehabilitated and transformed into housing, st Matthew on the east side and Higginbotham on the west schools that have been vacant for decades. With the phase out schools only ceasing occupancy this next school year, they could be more feasible undertakings for interested developers. Several the schools are located in strategic neighborhood fund areas and would be more valuable to their communities as housing than vacant lots that the district would need to maintain if there are no bids that the district finds suitable, the planned demolitions would not be impeded. In a report from 2021 the city's planning department indicated that they wish to prioritize redevelopment of vacant school sites and strategic neighborhood fund areas and avoid demolition of buildings in good condition and with good historic integrity. Now is an opportune time to elicit proposals for the benefit of our district and our city. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 5

01:42:06

Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment. Dr Vitti

Speaker 6

01:42:14

through

the Chair, just wanted to follow up on a couple board questions that were asked before public comment. Just to clarify, the 1% increase in enrollment is equal to 500 students and the personal curriculum was added to the course catalog as committed to in the previous committee meetings answer questions from the public Henry Ford and East English Village at Finney are the two neighborhood high schools that will have yellow bus service starting this school year. The students that attend those schools and live in the feeder pattern or in the neighborhood, are those that are receiving the transportation the student incentives for the high schools are in the budget and was approved by the school board. The recommendation was not to continue to paid after school literacy program, the overall data was not deemed to be effective, but all schools, including high schools, do have funding for after school tutoring, including literacy tutoring, the schools that were identified as low enrollment versus funding as board policy, I'm required to go and present to the board those schools whose enrollment and the total enrollment number does not generate the FTE to fund the staff at that school, and so that that list fluctuates by year based on enrollment levels, there is no immediate changes to those schools going into this school year, as far as phase out of grade levels or closing those schools, the overall conversation and feedback from the board was to do a better job of narrowing on marketing strategies at those particular schools, especially the application high schools. Camper Shirley was the camp that I believe, was referred to. Right now, we have not secured funding at the legislative level to upgrade the camp on the various levels that we had identified. So right now, it's the status quo as far as the bill the land and the use of the rooms or the dormitories for engagement. As we talk about academics, I think one, one thing that we're beginning to promote more and explain more through individual schools and district wide is not only are we showing more improvement, but the investment of academic interventionists is one that separates us from other districts in the area that we can compete with from an enrollment point of view, we are now hiring nearly 570 academic interventionists throughout the district, mainly focused on literacy. The last year's data in the year before is very positive on the impact of these academic interventionists. And so when we talk about, how do we market the district, and how do we address the academic concern that families have, is that what makes DPSCD different is the investment in these academic interventionists. These are college degreed individuals that are trained in Orton, Orton Gillingham, multi sensory literacy intervention. This intervention happens one on one and small group of students, and this is what is moving the needle, as far as students that are three levels below grade level, below two one to moving to at and above grade level performance. So agree that one concern that parents have about enrollment is academics and and certainly talking more about our improvement and our investment in the AIS is one way to address this. As the speaker mentioned the phase our schools are identified for demolition, I think the district would be open to a partnership that would purchase the building in the land at market or above value, and based on board policy, has a community benefit beyond just owning the property and having it be vacant. But if there's a proposal that exists for that, and we can definitely promote that throughout this year leading up to the phase out, and we would be open to that at this point. I'm unaware of any investors that have come to the district about any of those phase out schools. Doesn't mean that the proposal doesn't exist, but it would be have to be selling it at market or above value in a direct, immediate impact to the community, or the better benefit, would be to demolish the school building so we don't contribute to the blight in the city and more vacant school buildings throughout the city being vacant.

Unknown Speaker

01:47:06

So much to the board.

Speaker 25

01:47:08

Dr Taylor, yes. Dr Beatty, we'd like to add that when we passed the budget for the 2526 years, it included the fact that we needed to develop a playbook with consequences and steps and actions regards to the changes that are coming out of the federal government, so that action planning committee is in place, and they're working on the playbook.

Unknown Speaker

01:47:34

All right. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker

01:47:35

Board Member, Sherry gay, thank you.

Unknown Speaker

01:47:39

I just like for us to

Speaker 9

01:47:43

based on one of the comments that were made, make sure that we have a communication either to the city and possibly to M DEQ to address any potential environmental violation, making sure they're following protocols, I had to reach out to Councilman Tate regarding a demolition yard in The 96 Greenfield area that was in violation of MDQ, the watering down, I think Miss Jenkins spoke to when, when buildings are being demolished, there's a protocol that has to be followed To ensure that debris and other variants are not residents are not being exposed, and oftentimes, because our city is so big, those we have a number of bad actors that occasionally don't follow because we don't have environmental police that are out monitoring them following those protocols. So let's just make sure that we have reminders and put them on notice for any upcoming buildings that would be demolished that we want M DEQ to provide some measure of oversight and review that they are following that I just have to applaud

Unknown Speaker

01:49:11

all of those who came to speak

Speaker 9

01:49:14

for summer enrichment. It's very pleasing to hear, I think, a truancy officer, not all of you are some of our more seasoned Detroit residents, a number of black men, something that I think is always important to have presence in our district. But I'm just hearing the myriad of different voices, whether vendor alumni, et cetera, I too want to it's good to hear from you all, so just know that it was very heartening, and hopefully some of the same people that participated in the summer enrichment are possibly those that we would be utilized for after school programs as we move forward, because I love the positive feedback that came today. I think, I think for it for now, that's pretty much it. I had something else, but it escapes me right now, but very pleased to hear all the positive feedback that came from the summer enrichment experience. And I think all of you all need to be applauded for your dedication and your work in our district. Yes, so

Unknown Speaker

01:50:36

thank you.

Speaker 5

01:50:39

All right. Is there anyone else on the board for response to public comment or Dr Beatty? All right. Thank you so much. Then we'll move to item number 13, which are personal action items, 13, 01 and 13, 02 is there a desire to tie bar? So moved. Thank you. Is there support? Is there any discussion? All in favor? Thank you. So the personal action items now will accept a motion to accept them move. So thank you so much. Is there any discussion? All right, all in favor. Aye, it is so ordered. We've accepted the superintendent's recommendations. There are a couple of announcements, I think board member Sherry gay Dan Diego raised the the labor day parade. Do you want to speak to that

Speaker 9

01:51:37

the labor day parade? Well, I think it's in the works. And oftentimes, I just have to say, oftentimes, those who lift their voices and saying they're not seeing and hearing plans, this board has been working very hard on a myriad of different ways and strategies to move items forward with the administration. And September the first of course, for those who always March, all of our labor organizations are pretty much there, and some of them have partnerships with our district as well. I'm pleased to say that the superintendent lifted up, that there would be an effort to collaborate with, perhaps staff, DFT members, and those of us who are board members who walk in the parade, and we'd like to invite some of you to come and walk in the parade, to lift up and bring awareness to our schools with skilled trades. What that exactly looks like? 100% we're not sure, but making sure that people are aware, have literature, signage, et cetera. So looking forward to fine tuning those plans as we move forward, but line up as that Abbott in Michigan, I believe it is. I don't have it in front of me on September the first if you are part of a labor organization, or even if you're not, we love to walk with you. It's fun, it's exercise, and it's an opportunity to bring awareness to the Skilled Trade presence that DPSCD will have going forward

Speaker 5

01:53:05

this new school year and beyond. Thank you so much. Thank you for that. Also August the 14th, we received an invitation as a board and a district to attend the Michigan day of learning on identifying and addressing anti semitism in our schools. They will tackle crucial issues. This interactive expert led symposium is specifically designed for Michigan middle and high school educators, educational leaders, equipping participants with critical insights, practical tools to effectively recognize and address anti semitism in school settings. It is online. The the link to our register is at our website, www, dot Detroit, k twelve.org, and if you are interested in going to Lansing, August the fourth, I think there's a lunch that is available. There is not a cost to this, but they are asking Detroit stakeholders, parents, educational leaders, as well as the board, to consider attending. It is being collaboratively presented by the Michigan Department of Education and the anti Defamation League, Brandeis University and boundless. Again, it's free of charge from 830 to 330 all day. It includes a light breakfast and lunch, and you may go to our website and register. That's August the 14th. As this week, the Michigan day of learning on identifying and addressing anti semitism in our schools. Again, first day of school is August the 25th and we are looking for all of those 50,893 enrolled students to be present on that day. Let's do what we can to get them in school. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. So move support, consent, all in favor it is so moved. Have a great night and continue To enjoy your summer. You

Unknown Speaker

01:55:27

well,

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