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March 2 AAPS BOE Meeting Notes

March 9 AAPS Board of Education Meeting Notes

These are our notes for the Ann Arbor Public School Board of Education Meeting on March 9. 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.

Call to Order

The meeting was reconvened at 7p. The Channel 18 recording picked up after Roll Call

Roll Call

The Channel 18 recording picked up after Roll Call. Attendance is based on my observations

Present: Kelly, Gaynor, Baskett, Querijero, Lazarus, DuPree

Trustee Johnson arrived late during the student performance.

Other Attendees: Swift, Osinski, Cluley, Klus

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 by Kelly. Seconded by DuPree. No discussion. Approved by unanimous vote


Events from our Sponsors


Moment of Silence

A moment of silence was held for Stephanie Marie Carlson who passed away on March 1. She was a teacher at Bryant. You can read the tribute on Board Docs.

Student Performance

There was a virtual performance by the Choral Cavalcade West: Choir Performances of Pioneer High School, Slauson Middle School, and Tappan Middle School. The event was held yesterday (Tuesday, March 8) at Hill Auditorium (at Hill due to the closure of Pioneer’s theater). Huron High School, Clague Middle School, and Scarlett Middle School will hold their cavalcade Tuesday, March 15 at Huron’s Auditorium, Skyline High School, Forsythe Middle School, Ann Arbor Open, and A2 Steam Cavalcade will be Thursday, April 7 at Skyline’s Auditorium.

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 17 signups.



Clarifications

Lazarus: Thank you to everyone who has spoken tonight.

Swift: I appreciate everyone who offered comments in writing or in person. We are moving to a study section next week that has about 4 primary topics and one of them is our social emotional health student wellness. I hear that concern. There is a lot of work going on and we look forward to sharing. I believe many of the topics will be covered in the superintendent’s update.

Lazarus: I’d also like to remind everyone that all comments submitted in writing are available on board docs for the trustees to review.

Querijero: Excuse me, I have something I would like to respond to. To the person who mistakenly provided the comment about my advocacy for opting out of standardized testing. You weren’t listening to what I said last week. What I said is we should provide an easy path to families who choose to refuse administration of standardized tests which is their legal right to do so.. What I advocated for is our district provide information on how they can exercise that right. It’s not any different than finding information about other topics of interest to families. Yet this is one topic they can’t find information on. It sets up that you have to do more work to exercise your legal right. It is very accessible on other districts around us. I’m not advocating that people opt out, I do it personally, but to make it easier for people who make that decision.

Reports of Associations

Colleen Klus, Recording Secretary from the Parent Teacher Organization Council joined virtually and shared a statement available on Board Docs.

Johnson: It seemed you were reading that report. Is there a way for us to get a copy to read it.

Klus: Yes, we sent a copy. And thank you for being so flexible with my car issues and allowing me to zoom in.

Board Committee Reports

Bond Committee

Lazarus: We’re pleased to announced inaugural members of the Bond Advisory Group. Member are:

  • Glen Nelson, Chair – Parent and retired community member, former AAPS BOE Trustee
  • Carlene Colvin-Garcia – Parent and owner of Clean Mobility Consultancy, LLC
  • Andrew Smith – Parent, Project Manager at UM, Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Department
  • Missy Stults. – Parent, City of Ann Arbor Sustainability and Innovations Director.

Bond Advisory Group Purpose

The purpose of the AAPS Bond Advisory Group is to engage community members and organizations in a collaborative process to help inform and make recommendations to the AAPS BOE Bond Committee and the Bond’s professional team. These recommendations will reflect the values and direction of the AAPS core mission to deliver a high-quality educational experience for all students. The Bond Advisory Group will assist in communicating bond updates to the community and enhance partnerships in support of bond work.

From the Announcement on Board Docs

Querijero: I have a question about the bond. Can you remind how many applicants there were and the process of selection

Lazarus: I don’t have that data in front of me but can get it.

Querijero: The reason I ask is I want to make sure there was equal opportunity for everyone to participate and be deliberate about the folks we selected to be sure we have a full scope of the community.

Lazarus: I appreciate your question. The Bond Committee because we posted in September 2021 and left it open and it was on the district’s website and made announcements in the weekly updates and even held it open an extra month into November to make sure it was available to everyone. We’ll get back to you with the actual number.

Johnson: I’d also like to point out the Bond Committee is a bit different than the sustainability task force and some of our other committees in that there are a lot of specific work that will be done with the bond. For example.we may be working on a specific school and we will involve that community – parents, staff, students and be more specifically relevant to that school. That’s where we get the interest. When you’re talking district wide there is less interest. As you hear about your school being renovated we ask you get get inolved then.

Querijero: I’d like to ask how long you imagine this committee will exist. Will it change? Will it add peoples, a new committee for each school.

Lazarus: The term that these individuals agreed to was 2 years. It is a commitment. Because the process of construction is lengthly, the bond committee thought a longer term was appropriate. We will be touching every school in the district and encourage everyone to attend the bond committee meetings and get involved. This is intergenerational work we are doing.

Gaynor: A bit of a tangent I’m glad to see the Environmental Sustainability Taskforce mentioned. I’m glad the members of the bond advisory committee have been made public. But I don’t think the Environmental Sustainability committee members has been made public yet even though its been in existence for 4-5 months.

Lazarus/Swift: I think you’re right.

Querijero: One thing that has ome up in sustainability and we’ve brought it up and haven’t gotten to it yet. Was any thought given to what extent we would make these meetings public.

Lazarus: Bond Committee meetings are public and posted.

Finance Committee

Querijero: I believe everything we went over we will see later this evening. We met on Friday evening.

Superintendent Update

Swift: We’re delighted to be in March. It is reading month. Our elementary & K-8 are brimming with activities. This month one of the activities is one even us adults could benefit from – genre bingo. Challenging them to include books that are from different genres. Our partners at AADl have delivered kits to all 2nd grade classrooms to register for an AADL library card.

I want to touch on our student and family volunteers across AAPS. We are increasing in school activities including enrichment opportunities during the day and after school. Science Olympiad and Girl Scouts and others are being scheduled across our campuses. Parents are volunteering and scheduling space for after-school classes and activities. We appreciate our parents involvement at school. It is a big part of our success at AAPS.

May 5 is spring transition – the day rising 6th and 9th graders get to visit their next potential campus. School and district leaders are planning for full-scale in person transition day. They are organizing spring field trips. You’ll hear more details from your school principals.

We are moving forward with openings activities for students and parents and will share updates week by week. I want to give an update on Freeman Environmental Education Center. The Freeman team with Rec & Ed are currently developing in person summer environmental ed programming. They’ve done this before, we’re excited to see what they’ll do in 2022. They have 40 acres- half wooded and half grasslands. They’re working with facilities on outdoor learning environment.

Update on Masking

I want to give an update on masking. I know it’s a topic we heard quite a bit about from public commentary. We will continue with universal masking.

We are delighted to see cases decline among students and staff. We are aware of adjustments to guidance by CDC & MDHHS. Just last week you know we got more detailed guidance from WCHD particularly around our work with medically fragile and vulnerable students and direction on steps to take during a rise in cases, outbreaks or other specific situations. I also had the chance to sit in a briefing with Dr Miguel Cardona, US Secretary of Education, and Mary Wahl (sp? – I did a search and could not find a similar name) White House Senior Ed Advisor and member of White House COVID Response Team detailing additional considerations highlighting the importance of considering vulnerable staff, students, and families and our preschool students who can’t be vaccinated.

We understand individual preference may vary, but understand the priorities that matter most are health and safety, maintaining in school learning, and restoring activities for students and staff. Our focus remains on preserving in school learning and that we can fully staff our school.

Next steps are to open more activities while monitoring case numbers. We want to see sustained decline in cases despite opening up more opportunities. Masking strategy has served as a layer of support. We will take a balanced and cautious approach.

Transportation Update

I appreciate Ms Minnick and Ms Margolis who are here this evening and have been working with Durham Transportation team. They continue restoring our staffing levels to offer full transportation. We are not quite there yet.

starting next week we will be serving 92 of 97 routes. We’re diligently focused on restoring 100% of bus routes. Beginning next Monday we will restore the 7 suspended routes over the last few weeks. I want to give a big shoutout to everyone helping manage this. PTOC to bring snacks and appreciation to drivers many of whom are working extra. Unfortunately, we will have 4 routes of 97 that need to be suspended the next 3 weeks beginning onMonday. Detailed information will be sent out directly to parents this week.

We are anticipating that the drivers coming into service that we will have full restoration beginning Monday, April 11.

The transportation team is currently processing spring field trip requests. The dispatch line is now staffed 6:30-10a and 2:30-5p as promised. The staff member also carries a cell phone and is connected tot he dispatch to respond to real time transportation needs.


Events from our Sponsors


Afghan Refugee Resettlement Plan

I shared a taste about a week ago and today have more context. Between 2020 and 2022 we have welcomed 39 students who are family members of Afghan Refugees. 23 enrolled last year and 16 this year. We anticipate more students and families by the end of this school year. Our partners at Jewish Family Services. It looks like an additional 30 families will arrive by the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year. AAPS is the desired school district.

Of our 39 refugees, they are resettled into 16 of our campuses. At high school are all considered students with limited or interrupted formal education. Middle school 8 students also having had their formal education interrupted. At elementary it is 21 students and they run across the spectrum of disruption levels. And one preschool student.

The Jewish Federation folks said our community overwhelmed them with our response. Thank you for your support.

Recognitions

I want to give a shoutout to Mr Lauzzana who presented to US Rebuilding Council. He is AAPS Executive Director of Capital Programs. He was a panelist on lead in water webinar. There were 100 attendees mostly of school districts across the country. The patchwork of regulations and financial challenges were discussed. We appreciate the efforts of President Lazarus & the board with our Healthy Water Initiative for Michigan Schools.

I want to recognize our AAPS Social Workers. We take this every March, but especially now. The theme this year is Time to Shine. Our school social workers shine every day for their students, families, and school communities. We join with school communities to celebrate their work.

We’re rounding the corner of this school year and making progress on quality learning, growth, and enrichment. I appreciate our teachers, staff, school leaders, and parents.

Querijero: I would like to repeat the 2 things I said after last week’s Superintendent Update. One the ease of which we can make the task of families who choose to refuse tests or opt-out as is their legal right. The second thing is on behalf of the community, it is time for an update on the investigation into Institutional Racism at Pioneer. Again you said it’s calendared, but still trying to see what that means. With the time and expense we’ve put in, to make sure we are doing due diligence to report out to the community.

Lazarus: Thank you. We have addressed both issues privately. Im not quite sure how to respond to the one. I’d like to say we have a fiduciary duty as trustees to make sure that we represent our district financially and service our community and students that attend. Standardized testing is a federal law that we have to follow. If we put that in jeopardy, we are violating our fiduciary duty. You and I have talked about that privately. It is a very delicate situation with what you’re asking for. Dr Swift, I’m not sure how you want to respond. We have to be careful as trustees. We cannot put the success of our district in jeopardy as we obligated to support and follow the federal law.

Kelly: I’d like to make one more comment on this issue. When we discussed, it would be irresponsible not to remind folks that in addition to the state laws with teacher evaluations and administration evaluations, state evaluations can be important data than an IEP team considers when determining a student’s eligibility and it would be a shame if advocacy didn’t include this and jeopardized a students access to services.

Querijero: Can I respond? I don’t want to be told to be careful when I am careful what I say. It is a legal right. I don’t know of one time in AAPS history where opting out of tests has stopped funding. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong.

Swift: As I noted last week we will take steps in the form of a Q&A as I shared last week and spoke individually. We will continue the process. I’ve spoken with trustees and i know you’ll be hearing from the president about next steps.

Lazarus: Ok, lets move on. I do want to say one thing about Mr Lauzzana being a panelist. Thank you.

Swift: I think he slipped out on a mission.

Lazarus: I want to share I worked closely with several groups on moving the Healthy Water at the state legislative level. It’s exciting to see it move from an idea to something funded at the state level.

First Briefing

Network Equipment Refreshment: Annual E-Rate Application

Swift: Dr Kellstrom joins us virtually. This was reviewed by finance committee on Friday. Each spring we follow federal process for reimbursement for expenses related to connectivity. I certainly appreciate the reimbursements from the federal government.

Note: Bid information is available on Board Docs.

Kellstrom: The district’s core network is always evolving and expands and grows as our users grow and also handled cybersecurity needs. We’re looking out 5-10 years. Our network operations center backups and restores. We do patch management, look at our network performance to optimize it. We strive for 99.9% reliability.

If you remember from last year we talked bout our firewall as the orchestra conductor. Now we start to shore up and refresh our network. Next year we’ll take it down to the building level.

Tonight, we ask for switching equipment at the core central networking switching components, printer switches, and security and a refreshment of the UPS – uninterruptible power sources. We’re also looking for some new server racks as we upgrade our operations center. Our physical footprint gets smaller.

We try to leverage our projects against erate. It gives us a 50% reimbursement rate. All equipment before you this evening is erate eligible. We received 4 proposal – 2 full bids, and 2 partial bids. Two of the full proposals provided equipment that matches our current equipment. We are recommending Sentinel Technologies who provided the CISCO equipment we already use. Funded through Tech Bond and reimbursement of $212K from erate.

Johnson: The memo says the district will have $212.5K from erate. This cost savings to me seems operations, or you’re saying its a rebate?

Kellstrom: Yes, it’s a rebate. We have to spend the funds then submit for reimbursement.

Lazarus; Just for transparency. The Sentinel was a little higher but the other bidder proposed a substitution in equipment. can you explain the substitution and why you chose not use that option.

Kellstrom: When you think about the operations, we rival community colleges and even college with our digital footprint. We need enterprise level equipment with great up times, and warranties, and uptimes. The substituted product would be like giving a symphony orchestra a low quality instrument. We as a district can’t afford to have subpar equipment at the center of our operations. The cost savings of $30-40K isn’t enough to warrant having low quality equipment.

Lazarus: You also have experience with the other equipment.

Kellstrom: Yes I did in the last district Iw as in. It didn’t have the longevity and performance of the CISCO system. If our core switch is down, our network is dead. It’s important we buy quality high tier products.

Air Conditioning and Lighting Projects at Bach, Clague, Eberwhite, and Forsythe AN-2082-AN-2085

Swift: This is Year 1-6 commitment from the bond campaign. It was comprehensive lighting, A/C and other updates. I’m grateful our community supported this effort and that Mr Lauzzana and his team are working through this. You’ll remember a few years ago Mr Lauzzana showed us research on the benefits of comfort in the learning environment on reading, confidence, and learning.

Note supporting documents are available on BoardDocs.

Lauzzana: We’ve previously brought these up. We had a few additional bid divisions where we didn’t get enough bids.

Clauge currently has an uninspiring front entrance. No seating, gathering area, It’s similar to Scarlett where we have made improvements – adding gathering space and plantings to improve the look. Plus installation of a new geothermal heating and colling.

At Forsythe, since we are mobilizing there, their hallway flooring as a significant portion that is failing. It includes both connecting ramps and other areas where floor is failing and causing trip hazards. There will be heavy duty recessed mats instead of those that sit on top.

Kelly: I love these projects because they are so tangilbe. Two questions iwth the recessed mat will the custodial duties change?

Lauzzana: We haev an agremment with Syntas to service. Custodians would vaccuum and the servicing would by Syntas.

Kelly: Do we expect cost changes for custoidal?

Lauzzana: No

Kelly: Vinyl – we know in old buildings we don’t see replacement on those and vinyl has a terrible reputation in environmental community.

Lauzzana: We are not replacing whole hallways. It is just select areas with more wear and tear. We looking forward in the bond will look at things like polished concrete. Linoleum is a bit more expensive, but you save on maintenance. But with this inserting repair our thinking was the maintenance on linoleum is different and would damage. Since we’re inserting into existing floor, we felt better to stick with what’s here.

Kelly: So it’s like a vinyl band-aid. You mentioned the concrete. Do you envision us using that with more complete revisions?

Lauzzana: Yes, we did that in the new STEAM room at Pattengil.

Gaynor: Couple questions on the bidding. I think it was the sprinkler had bids ranging from $300K to $900K? Any explanation for the really high bid? What I would like a response to is a couple items like the Clague landscaping that you have one bid that you have some projections that this fell int he projected range?

Lauzzana: That’s one area that I don’t know if in CVID times everyone decided to do landscaping work. It’s a lot more than just bushes and trees and that’s what is driving the cost. It was in the range of our budget expectations.


Events from our Sponsors


Skyline Stormwater Pumps and Irrigation System Replacement

Swift: We’re practicing our environmentally responsible approach here with replacing this system. It came up int he bond meeting but it’s worth saying here in the public session. We use all our water so there is no run off from the property and the water is used to irrigate the athletic field. This is a replacement with the overall design of achieving environmentally responsible goal

Lauzzana; You have a memoranda in front of you, Due to suspected impairments, we hired some engineers to assess the design and operation. It revealed many irrigation lines had failed and many pumps were at end of life, not functioning properly and needed replacement. It retains water during heavy storm events to prevent downstream flooding. cleaning parking lot pollutants from water stream and providing all of the water needed to irrigate athletic field. We use no city water for irrigation. New pumps at baseball, softball and other fields. We’ll be rebuilding 2 that are in better condition for future use in reserve. There are 3 connected ponds to provide water management and irrigation.

Kelly: This may be for Baskett as much as anyone since she was here when we built the building. I know the site was a fairly wet area to begin with. Those ponds are disturbed from construction but a feature that was there beforehand. Whats the impact of diverting water from the ponds to irrigation. Do we disrupt critters that live there or flora?

Lauzzana: Those ponds are constructed. They were built at the time of the school like near other commercial developments. It was constructed for this purpose and was not an original habitat.

Kelly: That’s helpful. It was a wet site though right?

Lauzzaana: Before my time.

Kelly: So current pond was not a natural feature.

Lauzzana: The area of conern for amphibians is the wooded area to the north.

DuPree: How long do the irrigation systems usually last. You said a 5 year warranty.

Lauzzana: The pumps have about a 15 year useful life, but the warranty is 5. Like with the car the warranty only goes to 60K miles, but the car may go to 200K.

Swift (later in the meeting): Ms Margolis shared that a vernal pond was built in the woods as part of the remediation when the building was built.

Commissioning Services for Capital Improvement Projects

Swift: We have spoke a lot about deep commitment to have bond projects go very well. You know it is important to us to be good stewards. What Mr Lauzzana and Ms Minnick are bringing tonight is a commissioning service pre-qualification service. A technical set of eyes to review projects and ensure quality control – what’s behind the wall before it gets closed up. Our bond website has a brief piece on how we’ll ensure quality control. We’ll use particularly on large technical projects to make sure we have extra eyes on the scene.

Board Docs has information on the commissioning service.

Lauzzana: Third party commissioning is important to ensure proper design and installation especially on building systems like HVAC, low voltage electrical. plumbing, insulation, and envelope systems. We recommend to pre-qualify Synergy and Strategic Energy Solutions. Pre-qualification does not obligate us to use them. Actual billing would be based on a fee schedule.

It is standard practice to use commissioning service for building process. They’re a partner through the process. They review design documents, scope, construction to make sure it is installed properly., warranty management.

Querijero: I have just one question. Looking at the two optional one year renewals. Can you give a rough estimate of the amount of work over the 3 years prior to renewal.

Lauzzana: I can certainly look like it and get back to you. Commissioning typically costs 0.5-1% of the cost of the system.

Kelly: We have seen proposals to prequalify before. Have we done any of those in the past that we see that process pay off. I know how tight the labor mark is now. Is pre-qualifying helping us keep our place in line or get work we couldn’t get if not.

Lauzzana: Great question. One of our most is with skilled trades on pre0qualified contracts are electrical, plumbing. It saves us from having to go solicit quotes every time an issue arises. From the company’s standpoint, they get predictability to the amount of work. It allows them to staff properly to serve the district.

Pioneer High School Audio/Visual Equipment and Theatrical Lighting Replacement

Swift; We are on a year long process to remodel both theaters at Pioneer. They experienced a growth of mold in August that needed to be mitigated. We are preparing for a fall 2022 reopening. This is probably one of the last packages you’ll see. It is the AV equipment and theatrical lighting.

Details on the bids are available on Board Docs.

Lauzzana: We contracted with an AV contractor to evaluate the existing system. The AV system was analog. Video projection is pretty much cart and buggy style. A total contract of $1.36million. The equipment is antiquated and beyond useful life We were able to include things all departments felt were a priority.

Components include a new audio systems, chime and feed video in lobby, wireless microphones.. Acoustical cloud enclosure with baffles to improve. The current system is antiquated and lacks lighting. Side panels are in good shape and will be kept.

The video system is a significant upgrade with 2 16’x9′ LED walls installed on the left and right plus a drop down projector. Plus a new camera system for live streaming.

Querijero: Was there something needed/wanted or an ask we oucldnt deliver?

Lauzzana: Not to my knowledge

Johnson: YOu almost read my mind when yo mentioned carpet. Are there otehr aspects of the theaters that need to be renovated/replaced that we could use bond funding?

Lauzzana: We’re trying to pickup what we can. Aisleway carpeting, lighting, epoxy coating under seatings, seating, AV equipment. I’m sure there will be small items that slipped through the cracks We’ll take care of as we come across.

Gaynor: We’ve heard a lot about maintenance needs at Pioneer. The question that came to mind is what’s the shelf life of these items vs the life of Pioneer. I’m not being critical. Just saying we need to take a look at the status of Pioneer.

Swift; I appreciate you raising it. In Phase 1 it is several years out. You’ll recall high schools serve as staging for middle schools during their remodel.I t will be a few yeas.

Lauzzana: Most of the major pieces are 15-20 year lifespan.

Consent Agenda

Ms Osinski read it out:

  • Approve minutes of the February 23, 2022 Regular Meeting
  • Approve donations
    • filters and air purifiers for Slauson

Motion to approve by Johnson, seconded by Gaynor. No discussion. Unanimously approved.

Proposed Bond Sale

Board Docs has supporting documents.

Swift; I appreciate the Bond and Finance Committees took time to review this proposal for the sale of bonds and our community who supported our bond in November 2019. This is a multi-generational effort – a 20 year construction project and share the way our students learn for generations to come. It will give an infrastructure approach that we heard for a decade prior was needed. Because of those actions, this is carrying out the marching orders to carry out the bond.

We are working on an algorithm to balance resources we need with the timeline and available resources. We committed that there wouldn’t be a big jump in the levy. Our financial advisor and Ms Minnick used the algorithm, the ale for this spring is for $50. This is year 2 of a 20 year process. I’m delighted to say we are following what the community asked us to do.

We have Ms Minnick and our bond counsel. You’ve all seen the proposal. They’ll come forward to answer any questions you have.

Minnick: As we discussed, we are at the time of our second bond sale to work those bond projects. Tiemline

  • First bond sale was May 2020.
  • June-December 2020 – Preliminary Project Planning
  • December 2020 Bond approved APPS Bond Plan Phase 1
  • May 2022: Second Bond Sale

We cannot pay any teacher, administrator, etc. salaries. It was forecast that he levy would be 4.1 mills. Can only be used for capital improvements and purchases. Remodeling, renovations, new construction. Not for consumables or supplies or general maintenance.

May 2020 $140M Bonds issues at an $11.7 premium and iwll be paid off over 20 years.

Bond Sale for May 2022 aligns with Phase 1 projects for $80 million bonds also for a 20 year term. Bonds to be sold by June 30 to be part of July 1 levy.


Events from our Sponsors


Querijero: In previous iterations we saw implications if we had not proposed this sale. What has changed?

Minnick: Back in 2018-2019 as the ballot was being prepared, in examining the property and needed improvements, decisions had to be made. At that time financial projections were development. The foundation was to issue bonds 4 series across the 20 years. We issued the first bonds in 2020. Projects have moved along with COVID and shift as new needs came up. As we begin to draw down initial bond proceeds, with shifting interest rates and property rates, it is time to issue more bonds.

Swift; I also want to add in the course of the bond we always expect to adjust based on completing the project, working through the levy. We were clear that the subsequent bond sales would shift as costs and schedules became known.

Kelly: An expression of gratitude as a trustee and parent of children in the district. As a taxpayer, I’m grateful for focusing on stability and impact on our community. I do have one question. We re looking at significant geopolitical issues and a volatile market. Do we know how those factors will impact this particular sale.

Minnick: Certainly it is having an impact. Interest rates have fluctuated. Municipal tax exempt bonds are still selling well in the market. The current interest rate is still below 3% and our projection s 4-4.5% , so we are good. Taxable value growth. We take conservative approaches to them and have exceeded those.

.Colis (bond lawyer): AAPS has a strong credit rating so our interest rate is good.

Kelly: I know many details were covered in the first bond sale. Who buys bonds. Can our community buy bonds?

Colis: As Ms Minnick noted, this is a competitive bid and typically investment banking firms will bid to buy large chunks or all of the bond. We are taking the lowest interest cost due to state law. It’s typically an individual investment banking firm who then sells it to their clients.

Minnick: We work tirelessly with our financial advisor to be sure to get the word out to a variety of investors.

Johnson: Thank you. When we first passed the bond, we as trustees got training on our conduct as trustees due to large commissions. I know we’ve talked and trustees could probably use a refresher.

Swift: I appreciate that question. If potential bond buyers approach trustees there are strict laws around that.

Colis: We’d be able to host a committee meeting or study session on that. Typically that would comp up in a negotiated sale instead of. a competitive sale like we are doing.

Johnson: So a competitive sale is open to everyone and just like a bid. There is no influence, its just lowest interest cost.

Colis: yes.

DuPree: Thank you for going over this with us before tonight’s meeting. Going over what we can spend bond money on and what we can’t. Where can people find that?

Minnick: One source is this bond presentation. The bond language is small, but you could blow it up. It’s also on our bond webpage.

Some debate on whether you need to read the full resolution. It was resolved that they did not need to as it is posted publicly.

Motion to approve by Johnson, seconded by Gaynor. No discussion. Motion passes unanimously.

Items for Agenda Planning

None

Items from the Board

Johnson: Thank you. I want to recognize that yesterday was International women’s Day. The theme this year is break the bias. We all need to break biases and stereotypes that hold women back globally. There was talk about the international students we are hosting and I want to acknowledge not just the domestic issues. I want to salute the women on the board.

Querijero: Thank you to Erickson Elementary in Ypsi who hosted Books for Kids to kick off reading month and provide a free book fair.

Kelly: I have 3 items. First, a March 3 email from an WISD member. Social Emotional Learning was always important but there is an urgency with the pandemic. They are preparing a presentation on SEL for local district trustees at 6p tomorrow night. The registration link is in that March 3 email.

I want to thank our commenters and needed a minute to look at some numbers and couldn’t share it during clarification. I appreciate your patience as I share it now. One commenter misinterpreted the county data as being 100,000 students age 5-11 in our county. COVID cases are reported as cases per 100K. There are only 26K kids in that range with 43% enrolled in our district. Yet only 30% of COVID cases are in our district. While they are increasing in the county where others have removed their mask mandates, they are decreasing within our district. Masks work and are helping to keep AAPS students healthy and in class.

Lastly, I want to thank trustees who will joining me in a virtual coffee hour at the Ann Arbor Democratic Party Zoom hour this Saturday. We will meet from 10-12. Trustees Baskett and Lazarus will join me in the school board breakout room and Gaynor for representing schools in virtual breakout rooms with city, county , and state leaders. Registration link is on the Ann arbor Democratic Club’s Facebook page.

Querijero: Will Thursday’s presentation be recorded?

Kelly: I hope so and will ask.

Adjourn

Motion to adjourn by Kelly, seconded by Querijero. No discussion. Voice vote unanimously passes. Adjourned at 9:43.

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