These are our notes for the Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education Study Session on April 13. The meeting was held in person at Forsythe Middle School. The meeting also aired on Zoom and on Xfinity Channel 18. The district typically posts the recording split into segments the day after the meeting or Xfinity Channel 18 will often replay it. The agenda for tonight’s meeting is available online.
Note, we are recording the meeting on Channel 18 and will take notes as we have time to watch it. We have filled out an outline based on the Agenda. Notes are taken through the start of public commentary.
- Call to Order
- Student Performance
- Public Commentary
- Reports of Associations
- Board Committee Reports
- Superintendent Update
- Monthly Budget Monitoring Report: February 2022
- Trustee Questions on Budget Reporting
- 2022-2023 Air Conditioning & Lighting Projects – Additional Bid Categories
- AN-2092 Classroom Furniture Purchase for Newly Constructed Middle School Classrooms
- AN-2093 Pioneer High School Theater Renovation: New Carpet
- AN-2094 Summer 2022 Instructional Technology Refreshment for Students, Teachers, & Classrooms
- AN-2095 Fuel Cooperative Purchase
- Consent Agenda
- Items for Agenda Planning
- Items from the Board
- Adjournment
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7p. The Channel 18 recording often misses the first few minutes of the meeting. Some presenters will be joining via zoom.
Roll Call
Present: Gaynor, Kelly, Baskett, Querijero, DuPree, Johnson, Lazarus,
Other Attendees: Swift, Bacolor
Agenda
The Agenda is available on Board Docs. This is the approved agenda and will include any updates and results of any votes.
Motion to approve the Agenda by Johnson, seconded by DuPree, No discussion. Motion carries.
Student Performance
Swift; AAPS Bands in Review was on March 21. It features middle school, high school, and K-8 schools were represented with 19 bands at Hill Auditorium. A big thank you to the band directors, school teams, & Ms Robin Bailey AAPS Fine Arts Coordinator for their efforts to make Bands in Review a success. Tonight we’ll enjoy an excerpt of that performance
<Editors Note, this is probably the video that they shared. – Linked from the AAPS YouTube page>
Public Commentary
As in the past, we will not be covering public commentary. Text of comments submitted in writing are available on BoardDocs.
Lazarus reviewed the rules for Public Commentary: Public comments pertain to district matters. Comments about individuals are expressly prohibited. Board members do not respond to public comments. We will listen carefully and followup as appropriate. There were 24 signups with many submitted in writing. Each commenter got 2 minutes.
Clarification
Swift: We appreciate everyone who came ou and submitted comments. We’ll address all of the topics in the superitnendent’s update. We’ve taken careful notes and will follow up on things that were mentioned.
Lazarus All comments submitted in writing are available on Board Docs.
Reports of Associations
None.
Board Committee Reports
Bond Committee Report
Lazarus: Met Thursday April 7 at 7p via Zoom. Discussed and reviewed several purchasing proposals that will be briefed on tonight. You’ll hear about them
Environmental Sustainability Task Force Report
Johnson: I missed the meeting due to a medical procedure, Querijero covered. The committee heard presentations for candidates from sustainability chair – a position we are looking to fill.
Querijero: Nothing particular to add. We did make the video public for the community to see. Something that has come up is our willingness to open those meetings to the public. I continue to advocate for them to be made public either as webinar or recording.
Finance Committee Report
Querijero: Met last Friday at 9a. A couple items going to first briefing today which we will hear later and a monthly budget monitoring report from Ms Minnick which we will hear.
Superintendent Update
Swift: We are pleased to have students back for the 2nd week following spring break. Students and families are active in our schools. It seems like there are activities every night in the district. I want to give a shoutout to school librarians. We shared the message last week, but I don’t think folks always understand what a contribution our school librarians make. This is school library week. We’re proud to honor our 33 school librarians at each of our conferences. They all have a masters of library science and regularly work across many areas in our school especially inspiring joy and delight in reading. Building and maintaining the collection to support culturally relevant print and digital texts, supporting teachers and staff, host author visits, coordinate march is reading month and year round, work with AADL, work with parent and community groups to provide culturally relevant texts, provide tech support and maintain library spaces. I also want to give a shoutout to library programs. In many districts, libraries have been cut in recent years with reduction in funding. While 90% of schools have a library only about 61% have full time professionally certified librarians. Schools like AAPS with staff ensure students have the resources to succeed. More than 60 studies have confirmed that school library programs with qualified staff have a positive impact on school achievement especially for students not privileged to have books in their homes.
I want folks to see on the website we are focused forward this spring. Lots of things are happening and we’re working to keep our community updated. There’s an addition of a Recent Topics & Information on the website.
We have recently resumed the A2 Schools Podcast. Tomorrow we share about the upcoming community equity sessions and celebrate success of home building students. Our students earned several awards. Every student qualified to compete at the state level placed in the competition. It is also the first time a female competitor has placed in the carpentry competition. Emma Sutton from Huron. Our teamworks team has earned the right to represent the state at national championship in Atlanta in late June.
April in National Arab American Heritage Month. It is a wonderful time to celebrate rich history, heritage, culture, and diversity of Arab Americans. US is home to more than 3.5 million Arab Americans. The initiative for national recognition was launched in 2017. US Representative Debbie Dingell and Rashida Talib introduced a resolution in 2019 to proclaim April as National Arab American Heritage Month. It was officially recognized in 2021. Efforts at state and local level have been ongoing for decades. A special thank you to our Arab American Parent support group for their partnership in the district.
COVID Update: This is the second week after spring break and we are seeing an increase in student and staff cases across AAPS and in wider Ann Arbor Community. We will continue our mitigation strategies including improved air ventilation, universal masking, remaining home when ill, monitoring for symptoms. We hope the weather is going to change so activities can happen outdoors as much as possible. The team is monitoring closely particularly where we have identified multiple cases in a classroom. Unfortunately we’ve identified more classroom clusters this week. The team is out and busy offering test to stay and popup testing in partnership with Washtenaw County Health Department. We will continue to update the dashboard each week.
This week our spring 2022 assessments have begun. We appreciate work from students, staff, and parents. We are required to administer assessments beginning in grade 3. It is our charge from the state to achieve 95% participation in each school. Spring assessment experience is framed as low pressure. We understand parents may object and respect all opinions on this topic.
We are excited to share that Ann Arbor Public Schools is hosting a couple of community meetings on equity with Dr Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz. They will be on Tuesday, April 19 and Tuesday, May 3 from 6-7:30p. The meetings will serve as a springboard to convene a Community Equity Advisory Group. We’re excited to move forward to the next step. <Editor’s note: I have added these events to our event calendar.>
Trustee Questions
Johnson: I appreciate the pictures of the home building program. Can you share how awareness of the program is shared.
Swift: During course signup season, counselors do promote the career programs. There are orientation sessions in the high schools so students now about that one, and cosmetology and engineering.
Johnson: I also want to recognize Emma Sutton, I’d like to see more young women in the program. Skilled trades are a growth opportunity.
Querijero: In regards to superintendent update on spring assessment it began on Monday that some parents may object to assessments and that we as a district respect all perspectives on the topic. I’d also like to remind the public that every parent and guardian has the right to refuse assessment for their child. If you want to refuse these tests that are known to be culturally biased and cause damage in undue stress, please contact your building principal (he provided the section of code from 1976 that guarantees this, but I didn’t catch it).
Gaynor: 3 comments. I’d like to follow up. I saw a graph today showing a direct correlation between parent income and SAT scores. I also appreciate shoutout to school librarians. Their importance can’t be overstated. It does remind me at the beginning fo the year we heard that they did not get a budget to purchase books and we purchased electronics. For looking forward. Also, I don’t know if students are using school libraries as normal schedule at elementary level. I’m going to ask for an update which I am sure will be coming on resource classes and math for high school from public commentary.
Swift: That is in my notes as a topic to follow up on. Yes, our elementary students are doing rotations in the library. I see in Twitter almost every day activities librarians are doing in the schools. We appreciate we have been able to return to that.
Bakett: I want to note Rachel (missed the last name), a young woman and I didn’t want her to be left out. She was part of a 4 person team and was the only young woman and was part of the third place team. I want to acknowledge I’ve been following the program for a while. Students are committed and out in all types of weather. They sell these homes at top market. It is phenomenal to see the work that they do. I was hosted in one of the homes sold by the home builder and the owner was proud to brag about every part of the home. These students often go on to bigger and better things – not just the manual labor – engineering, management, etc. They are from all over the district and come together to develop a wonderful home and relationships.
Lazarus: Thank you Dr Swift for acknowledging Arab American Heritage Month.
Monthly Budget Monitoring Report: February 2022
Swift: We are constantly monitoring our budget. The Finance Committee meets every month to review.. Ms Minnick has joined us in person to share.
<Editor’s Note: The monitoring report can be found in BoardDocs.
Minnick: Cash and Investment Report shows $31 million in cash and investments at February 2022. February 2021 was $42, but the drop is not a big concern and we’ll explain. Our February expenditures were a bit more than January due to increased level of support with Omicron variant and a general increase in cost of goods and services. The YTD shows increased revenues compared to 2020-2021 – a 1.7%. But the expenditures are considerably higher than last year – about 11.2%. I want to point out that the revenues do exceed expenditure level.
Ending Fund Balance is down vs 2020-2021 The higher level of costs continues to be seen. The comparison of revenues and expenditures compares YTD and monthly figures vs our budget instead of previous year. We have collected 64% of revenue budget. We have spent 60% of general fund expenditures. We’re about 2/3 through the school year, so the percentages of revenues collected and expenditures are in line.
The budget calls for using some of our fund balance this year. We anticipate ending with $15.5 million fund balance.
Trustee Questions on Budget Reporting
Querijero: On the YTD percent on budget, I think that somewhat explains or makes us feel better compared to first slide.
Kelly: Thank you for digesting it. You noted some large changes from last year. Where any of those numbers surprises, or mostly predicted based on state of our district and the world.
Minnick: Thank you, that is a question we discuss in our department regularly. With increased costs just as in our personal buddgets, and surges in COVID causing extra services like extra substitutes. Thoese added costs are reaonable given our current conditions. When we see how they compare to the budget, we’re still pretty much on track. There are expenditures over the summer that relate to the current year.
Lazarus: I would like to ask Ms Minnick, regarding the federal funding. This is February and ESSR dollars are not showing. I know we’ve submitted grant proposals. Are we on target? These numbers are absorbing extra costs we usually wouldn’t have. That is the value of a healthy fund balance. There are costs we have had to absorb. Are we expecting our budget to right itself once ESSR dollars come in?
Minnick: Thank you. It speaks to federal grants overall above ESSR. They’ve been out of sync timing wise vs previous years. It’s just a timing difference. But with ESSR particular, we will see a replenishment of the cash and an increase in revenues and things will begin to balance out.
First Briefing
2022-2023 Air Conditioning & Lighting Projects – Additional Bid Categories
This section includes additional bid categories for
- AN-2089 Bach
- AN-2090 Eberwhite
- AN-2091 Forsythe & Wines
Memos are available on BoardDocs
Swift; Mr Lauzzana will join via Zoom. As mentioned this was reviewed by Bond Committee. This fulfills the early years commitments and they will provide a significant improvement especially climate control and LED lighting. We never want to consider bond purchases without sharing gratitude for community. I believe most requested item was climate control.
Lauzzana: This is a continuation of projects that were phase 1 of bond plan with enhanced climate control. It also includes new window blinds in all classrooms we touch with climate improvements. The increased energy for AC will be offset with LED lighting and increased installation of solar panels. These are a few additional bid categories that did not have appropriate bids when previously bid.
We recommend at
- Bach – CEI Michigan for roofing of $216K, Pontiac Ceilings for acoustical ceilings of $189K
- Eberwhite – CEI Michigan for minor roofing of $22K
- Forsythe & Wines – Mechanical Systems Controls to Metro Controls of $1.163 million
No Trustee Questions
AN-2092 Classroom Furniture Purchase for Newly Constructed Middle School Classrooms
Swift: As you know in 2015 we made a commitment to replenish classrooms. In remodel at middle schools, we have created additional classrooms that need furnishing. They are scheduled to open in August and want them to be furnished.
Lauzzana: In 2017 as an earlier bond effort, we used VS America. This is 180 tables, 180 chairs, and 6 teacher desks at $84K
Trustee Questions:
Kelly: No questions specific to this proposal. I know we did a lot of pilot testing when we picked VS America. Has this panned out? Haev we gotten what we expected?
Lauzzana: The district did purchase a 10 year replacement warranty with the previous large purchase and have a similar warranty with these. The company has been good. Every couple months they come out and replace or repair. The lightness of furniture and being on wheels is conducive to more creative options.
Kelly: With historic inflation rates are we seeing that in other purchases?
Lauzzana: We have seen a significant increase in prices across construction. There is not a forecast that sees that alleviating. We see materials increasing, labor shortages, and supply chain issues. Predictions are that will last 2 more years.
Baskett: I want to assure the community that we plan to have this ready to go by fall.
Lauzzana: My understanding is the majority is in stock, and if we get this out timely, we would get these furnishings in June/July timeframe.
Baskett: It’s the same furniture we’ve already tested and tried. We’ll just have more of it.
Lazarus: Knowing supply chains and possibilities of delay, do we have a plan B to occupy these classrooms? They are new, not repurposed.
Lauzzana: We always try to have a plan b and c these days. We have some older furniture in storage and have a backup supply of the older stuff if we don’t get the new furniture in time.
Swift: The vintage model will certainly get the students attention.
AN-2093 Pioneer High School Theater Renovation: New Carpet
Swift: We have been busy working through both Schrieber auditorium and little theater. They were dated but had a mold issue at the end of summer. I want to give a shout out to the performing arts team at Pioneer. We’re approaching the end of acquisition for the project. This is the carpeting for the project. We’re anticipating a ribbon cutting in early fall.
Lauzzana: To support theater renovations, we recommend approval of carpet and resilient flooring to Shock Brothers for $121K. Carpeting will be in aisles. In seating areas will be an epoxy finish. The resilient finish is a vinyl coat. There is solid purple for seats and purple patterns for Schreiber Auditorium. Little Theater will have maroon seats.
Johnson: I’m on the bond committee and have seen this. You mentioned benefits to having carpet tile vs carpet rolls as we think of it in our home.
Lauzzana: There are 2 types in a commercial buildings – a broad loom – the big roll. Carpet tile is being used in schools more often. If you have a significant spill, you can pull out a few tiles and replace like squares on a grid. With the broad loom, there really aren’t options for replacement.
Swift: I always appreciate the visuals. Can we get that out to the community.
Lazarus: Relating to the carpet sections, does this $110K include additional excess tile for replacement and repair?
Lauzzana: Yes it includes a modest amount of replacement tiles.
AN-2094 Summer 2022 Instructional Technology Refreshment for Students, Teachers, & Classrooms
Swift: As you know we are on a phased refreshment of our technology. Dr Kellstrom joins us via Zoom. The most significant portion is our classroom teachers. It is their turn. I understand these devices are in need of replacement and will be good news for our teachers.
Kellstrom: ITD audits district technology through metrics and determine the devices recommended for replacement. These are MacBook Airs for teachers. Staff devices are well used particularly int he last few years. We are buying the new M1 Chip devices and testing them out. The price increase is only $45, a 3.5% increase. This includes a 4th year of warranty. We often will repurpose them into lower use usage. This will decrease our costs we had before. The new warranty is no fee up to 2 incidents per year.
Pricing was through the pricing cooperative. We also get $36K for special items because we are a large district. The total is $2.2million
Second recommended hardware is for classroom projector refreshment. We purchased the first year product and successfully installed. Our teachers connect laptops to showcase lessons, parts of lessons, primary sources, share video snippets. Students love auditory and visual components. We bought 400 and installed in February except a few waiting on construction projects to finish. Initially we thought it would take 3 year to make the installations as we do them ourselves. But we found we have capacity to do cycles 2 and 3 which would finish the entire district. Also gets a lower environmental device in classroom. We have the same pricing as last year which is great. Every classroom will have the same model. It is made through ENI cooperative pricing. Total is $920K.
Third recommended is final student device purchase. This is for K/1 touch screen chromebook with the look and feel of tablet and ability to use keyboard. For 2+ we use traditional chromebook. These devices give equitable access to tools. Safe and secure login and onboarding, shared digital space, and improve digital literacy and comprehension. Same built in accessibility apps. Students can collaborate on projects with peers synchronously and asynchronously. With devices, ITD can handle troubleshooting. This is the final grouping – 1 elementary school with 2 classrooms and a few devices on hand. Pricing via cooperative $292K
Fourth is preschool staff. Unlike K-12 they have a PC instead of MacBook as state and federal requirements. A Dell Latitude in alignment with other PCs in district. Pricing is $71.6K via a cooperative.
Kelly: We’re refreshing which is bringing in new devices. What do we do with old ones?
Kellstrom: For teacher devices, we run diagnostics. They are well used and many are on last legs and we’ve started to give swap outs when we can’t repair. After testing, the ones we can repurpose we have staff with 2015 and 2017 devices. More lower use mostly using web and not using sophisticate software or less battery demanding. We work with a recycler on unusable devices. It gets environmentally retired by standards.
Kelly: How do we solicit feedback on devices? What they like or don’t like that we incoroporate into future purchases.
Kellstrom: For students, when we went to the 2 device types, we put them in classrooms and got feedback from students and teachers. we track al year. In May we’ll probably do a survey. For staff, there aren’t a lot of options. Either a mac or PC. We’ve been a mac district for ages. There were 2 models and tested them out. The administrators have been using these for a last year. We did upgrade RAM to make sure they can run multiple programs.
AN-2095 Fuel Cooperative Purchase
Swift: Our buses travel about 3K miles a day, 15K a week. We need to make fuel purchases. As we see gas prices at the pump rising. This purchase is just part of our normal course of business and no a part of rising prices.
Minnick: This is a housekeeping item we bring periodically. We buy fuel for district owned buses operated by Durham – about $450K in fuel historically. The district has used Michigan intergovernmental trade network cooperative agreement which is administered by Sterling Heights. Fuel by RKA petroleum in Romulus. We recommend continuing to purchase. We have worked with them for years and they deliver consistently. We have the best rates, but there is no termination fee. If the cooperative should award it to a different vendor, we would have to come back to the board for approval. Dr Swift alluded to higher fuel prices. It is about $0.50 more since January, about a 5% increase expected. They will be offset by running fewer routes this year -about 15 less routes with a 2 tier system instead of 3 tier. That offsets increase costs and also decreases emissions
Swift: It isn’t running fewer routes doesn’t mean students aren’t being served. It’s that we’re serving them with less routes with 2 tiers.
Querijero: I guess it is mostly for Dr Swift on 2 or 3 tiers. Do you anticipate gong back tot 3 tier?
Swift: The efficiencies in servicing students in less time, driving fewer miles is very appealing. I don’t know but we’ll take that.
Minnick: That can be affected by student enrollment in busing zones.
Gaynor: Many more parents are driving students to school – and the whole economic and emissions impact. Does number of students not riding buses affecting routing of buses.
Swift: My understanding is as we go through the year families have migrated to using the buses. We encourage families to use our buses. This is earth month and we encourage that every month of the year.
Minnick: We have a subscription service so to speak to be able to see families using buses
Kelly: I appreciate using wholesale pricing. How often does the per gallon or per unit price change for us? Or does it change at the 2-3 week mark when we place orders?
Minnick – It works similar to what you see at the pump. We can access wholesale pricing based. on a service that is publicly published. It fluctuates but at lesser frequency than the pump.
Kelly: Given the size of our fleet and amount we spend, have we considered buying in bulk when supply is low?
Minnick: We have storage tanks and can fill them. We try not to fully deplete, but often times we monitor priors and if we see a spike may buy a bit less and then buy more next time. But we have to be able to transport our students.
Lazarus: I want to say thank you to all parents who have helped us out during this really rough time and helping us move students safely. Relating to electric buses, how are we doing on that? Maybe that’s a conversation for another meeting?
Swift; We actually have our next study session next week and environmental sustainability is part of that, maybe I can weave in that update.
Consent Agenda
The consent agenda is voted as a block.
- Approve Minutes of the January 26, 2022 Closed Session
- Approve Minutes of the March 23 Regular Meeting
- Approve Donations – Megan Cuddihy donated a Honeywell Air Purifier to Bach
Motion to Approve by Gaynor. Seconded by Johnson. No discussion. Unanimously approved.
Items for Agenda Planning
Baskett: If we could get an update on committee working on student voice participation.
Querijero: We discussed a few times and if we could get a potential for land acknowledgement for our community. I know Trustee Johnson and Baskett have express interest. I think we should get a little education and community engagement on that.
Johnson: I think you and I are supposed to lead that, so let’s talk about it
Querijero: I think it would be good to add a few more to that.
Lazarus: We can only add 1 more. Why don’t the two of you continue and report back.
Baskett: Can we set a deadline on that? Can you have something by next meeting? It’s April, we’re running out of meeting time.
Querijero: we can have a suggestion 2 weeks from today (next regular meeting).
Items from the Board
Gaynor: There’s been a push for No Mow May, an ecological venture to not cut lawns in May. I know the city council did a non-binding resolution and I’d like the community to be aware. To the degree our groundskeeping can align. It may be too late for this year, but keep in mind.
Baskett: Thank you for taking that on. Can you also clarify if they’ll waive any penalties if grass gets too high? As I understand, they’re not willing waive the penalty, but want us to not mow? Seems a bit of a contradiction.
Gaynor: I’ve read about both issues and can’t clarify right now.
Kelly: It feels like a million years ago because of spring break, on March 24 Washtenaw Area School Boards elected new executive committee. I will return as an officer. We’ll be working on how to come out of COVID. The commitment going forward is to continue breakfasts and training opportunities. We want to bring back collaborative nature. Please keep an eye on email as opportunities come through.
Querijero: I believe this is the right spot. I’d like us to consider increasing stipend for the work we do. I believe the number is outdated and with increased cost such as coming across town for a meeting and time away from families and other commitments. In a few weeks I plan to propose a motion to increase that pay and want to give time to think about it.
Lazarus: I would encourage you to talk to trustees off-line and get with me also.
Querijero: I have talked witha few offline and wouldn’t raise it if I didn’t think it was a good thing to do.
Lazarus: Please bring it up with me before making the motion.
Querijero: I believe I’m doing that right now.
Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn by Gaynor. Seconded by Johnson. Meeting adjourned at 9:20p by voice vote.
