Wayland Union Board of Education

The Wayland Union School Board met on Monday, June 12, 2023 at the Administration Office for their regular meeting.

All consent agenda items were approved.

Recognition of Wayland Union Bond Committee Members

• Tim Reeves stated that tonight they wanted to recognize those who dedicated their time to help pass the recent bond, including placing signs throughout the community, reminding those around them to vote, and consistently getting correct information out to the community. The school appreciates and acknowledges their efforts thus far, and for the support they will continue to give throughout the project.

Presentation regarding potential therapy dog at the High School

• Sarah Rollandini brought her therapy dog, Jovi, to discuss the 8 weeks of training they have gone through with West Michigan Therapy Dog. The purpose of a therapy dog is to provide a source of support for students, especially through a mental health epidemic. The way the program would work is that Jovi would remain with Mrs. Rollandini throughout the school day, but would be available for students in need during PRIDE time and as a reward for students on behavior plans. This would be an optional program with availability 2 - 3 times a week initially.

Report from May 15, 2023 Joint Meeting with City of Wayland

• Tim Reeves shared that he and 3 members of the Board of Education met with representatives from the City of Wayland. Topics covered included crosswalks, city development with student engagement, future housing developments, city and school district communication, and relations with Gun Lake Tribe Officials in coordination with the district and the City of Wayland. This will be an ongoing meeting to encourage open communication between all parties.

Governance Team Good News

• Jeff Koon shared that he was thrilled to be a part of the Graduation ceremony for the first time. Janel Hott shared that she was impressed with the different FUTURES programs, she got to work alongside HS students who volunteered in the Habitat for Humanity program. Dan Cassini shared that he got a new boat and has already used it this summer.

None

Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations

• Pat Velie shared the June 12, 2023 of the budget versus actual report.

Assistant Superintendent of Instruction

• Teresa Fulk is working on grants, summer learning programs, and prep for the 23-24 school year. She shared with the board statistics for the 3rd grade students on IRIPs. Some items to be proud of is that this is the 1st year we are not ending with more students on IRIPs then we started with, this is also the lowest the number has been since the law was enacted. The retention piece of the 3rd grade reading law will be removed future years, but this does not impact how the district will support our elementary students.

98b Goal Reporting

• Teresa Fulk shared that the district is required by the state to show that our students have achieved academic growth throughout the year, most schools within the district use NWEA data to measure growth while high school uses report cards. The national average is for around 50 percent of students to meet/exceed projected growth in a year. The majority of our grade levels and content areas are surpassing that expectation consistently. For the High School, where NWEA is not administered, progress reports and report cards were analyzed by comparing how many students were failing classes during progress report time in comparison to students failing classes at the end of each semester.

Superintendent

• Tim Reeves mentioned that the district received notice that we are past the election review phase for the bond, which is good. We also received our standard and poors rating of AA, which is a very healthy rating. On June 13, with the help of Huntington Bank Investments, the bonds will go on sale. He also mentioned that 2 weeks ago, he was thrilled to attend the AAESA annual ceremony to recognize the 3 nominees we had for Outstanding People for Education for the 22-23 school year.

Fitness Center Equipment Purchase

• Pat Velie stated that the equipment in the fitness center is 12 years old and the number of students using the equipment has quadrupled over the years. Bids went out to a few different companies, the district has decided to work with Direct Fitness Solution due to the look and the double sided equipment options. Looking for the board to approve a contract for roughly $122,000 to work with the company.

Bid for Roofing at Dorr Elementary

• Pat Velie explained that the roofing for Dorr Elementary went out for an RP request, 4 bids were submitted but 1 bid was disqualified. The district would like to go with Awynn Roofing, this is funded through casino budget. The company is ready to start as soon as they are approved, should take about a week to complete the project.

Annual Tax Levy - L-4029 Certification

• Pat Velie explained the annual L-4029 Tax Rate Request form.

State Approved Food Service Contract

• Pat Velie explained that due to inflation, the fee will increase to roughly $2, 300 a month. This was already reviewed by the board, just looking for final approval.

2022-2023 Food Service Final Budget

• Total revenue will create about $30,000 to be added to the budget.

2023-2024 Food Service Budget Discussion

• Due to the unknown nature of whether or not the state will allow 100% free meals, for the 2023-24 school year, this budget reflects "business as usual." The state has said that if free meals are approved it will not be the same as it was for COVID. If this is approved, the district will need to review food service labor needs.

2022-2023 General Fund Final Budget

• Pat Velie stated that the budget is nothing but a plan. The final items can be found on the district audit.

2023-2024 General Fund Budget Discussion

• At this time, since there is not a budget at the state level, the district will move forward with what is anticipated as far as per pupil funding.

2022-2023 Student Activities Fund Final Budget

• This money is raised by students and spent by students. About $245,000 needs to be accounted as a liability to the district.

2023-2024 Student Activities Fund Budget Discussion

• Opening the school year with the same liability of about $245,000. Groups who are in the red have been notified that they need to address the negative balance.

Accountant Contract

• The full time accountant position was eliminated a few years ago. The district switched to a part time position. The current individual in the position, has been with the district for multiple years and has been an accountant for 20 years. Pat Velie would like to raise the wages from $45 to $65 an hour, for a 1 year contract from July to June.

Administration Contracts

• Tim Reeves and Pat Velie met with the administration representatives on June 12. Due to the cost of living increase, the group proposes a 7% increase to their salary for the next school year.

Non-Affiliated Wage Scale

• After looking at local economies and an AAESA survey, the suggestion to the Board of Education is that levels 1 - 3 receive a 5% wage increase and levels 4 - 10 receive a 3% wage increase.

Secretarial Wage Scale

• Secretaries came with an offer to receive a 6% increase, this year and next year. The administration proposes that they received a 6% increase this year and they would like to revise their longevity pay to pay out twice a year. The second year would be a 4% increase, except step 10 for this year will need to be 7%.

Student Handbook for 2023-2024 School Year

• Santino DiCesare led HS and MS staff members through a discussion on revising different sections of the student handbook. Generally, student handbooks are living documents but this would be established 2023-2024 school year recognizing this could be modified for future school years as needed. A meeting will be held each trimester next year to determine what is and what isn't working.

Date Change for July regular board meeting

• Board would like to move the July 10th meeting to July 17th due to administration absences.

Capturing Kids Hearts proposal for 2023-2024 school year

• Approved

NEOLA Policy Updates

• Approved

District Requested Policy Update

• Approved

Annual Tax Levy - L-4029 Certification

• Approved

Accountant Contract

• Tabled until the June 26, 2023 meeting.

Date change for July regular board meeting

• Approved

Closed Session - Negotiations

• Approved

Closed Session - Superintendent Evaluation

• Approved

Jeff Koon shared that he enjoyed the graduation ceremony and was pleased with how efficiently it ran. He also shared that members of the community complimented him on the districts facilities, stating that they are pleased to see how their tax money is being used.

Janel Hott is excited about implementing the therapy dog at the high school. She also asked that the board works together to make sure at least one board member is present at all the end of year celebrations for the upcoming school year.

Norman Taylor is thrilled to see the therapy dog program being implemented. He also thanked Mr. DiCesare for his hard work on updating the student handbook.

Dan Cassini loves hearing positive statements from the community regarding events such as graduation.

Theresa Dobry echoes the same excitement for the school year ending on a positive note and was very interested in the FUTURES programming being offered at the high school level.

Pete Zondervan and Becky Hohnke were absent for the meeting.

The meeting recessed at 9:06pm before heading into closed session.

*Please note: This is a summary of the meeting. Official board minutes will be approved at the next regular board meeting on Monday, July 17, 2023 at 7pm. The meeting will be held at the Administration Office.