Wayland Union Board of Education

The Wayland Union School Board met on Monday, March 13, 2023 at the Administration Office for their regular meeting.

All consent agenda items were approved.

District Odyssey of the Mind Team

• Pictures below

Fine Arts Committee Meeting

• Becky Hohnke discussed previous events that occurred such as Art Hop, singing at the Griffins games, and Holiday Concerts. Select students from the dance program at the HS will be participating in a workshop with the Stomp cast this weekend. The musical is coming up, this year's musical will be Descendants, the goal is to do a musical every other year. Choir will be traveling to Cedar Point in the spring. In the future, the band program would like to do an Alumni Band Concert in the fall. The music department would also like an increased budget and would like to review options for buying large instruments.

Curriculum & Technology Committee Meeting

• Theresa Dobry explained that curriculum discussions start with K-12 curriculum committee meetings, then head to the Guiding Coalition, and then goes on to the BOE committee meeting before a final vote by the entire board. Currently they are discussing ELA courses. The goal is to offer more options, but program will look different from what is being offered currently. Social Studies is also being reviewed. Teachers have piloted 3 different programs and are recommending which program to use.

The Spectrum of School Security Workshop

• Jeff Koon shared 3 options that schools have for school security which are Security Resource Officers, District Safety Officer (partnership with local law enforcement agency), or a 3rd party contracted officer. The workshop also discussed the importance of staying secured for after school events, since fewer school personnel are in attendance.

School Board Members Report

• Ava Makowski and Summer Morrison began by stating that 2nd trimester just wrapped up, which means so did winter sports. Girls basketball won the conference. Boys Swim and Dive had many qualifiers for states, overall the team finished 13th. The boys bowling team made it to states. Wrestlers attended the wrestling state finals, where 1 student made it to the top 6. Clubs are beginning with for their spring activities, including the start of the preparing for the musical.

Governance Team Good News

• Janel Hott shared that her son just bought a house within the district. Becky Hohnke shared that she just launched the biggest project she has ever undertaken at her job and that was very rewarding after years of being there. Therese Dorby was excited to spend spring break with one of her sons. Peter Zondervan is excited about starting his new job and for the MACUL conference happening this weekend.

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Assistant Superintendent of Finance & Operations

• Pat Velie gave the budget versus report for March 13, 2023. The budget is where we are expected to be as the year progresses.

Assistant Superintendent of Instruction

• Teresa Fulk discussed the PD day the teachers attended today. Buildings worked on MICIP goals, re-building PLC culture, and a team from Apple presented to the K-12 Technology committee.

Superintendent

• Tim Reeves shared that he got to attend a meeting with the Gun Lake tribe for their cultural sensitivity training. Reeves also mentions adding technology into the board meetings, as well as posting for Pat Velie's job this week, since she is retiring.

Triangle Contract

• Triangle contractor discussed that if the contract is approved before the May vote, then with the successful passage of the bond, there is the possibility to get started on jobs before the end of the year. He said the contract has not changed wording from the last contract created for the August 2022 bond vote.

Casino Budget

• Mrs. Velie explained that an estimated $2 million will be coming to the district, this will be the next step in the budget process. Some items included in the budget are iPads and cases, fitness center equipment, Odyssey of the Mind and Robotics, classroom supplies, MS wrestling mat, reduced preschool fees, school safety officer, etc.

Bus Purchase

• Pat Velie discussed that each year, 2 buses are purchased so that none of our buses reach 10 years old. Midwest Transit has busses available that would be a $26,000 savings for the district.

School of Choice Agreement

• Tim Reeves mentions that this is a yearly renewal of the agreement between Allegan County schools.

Curriculum Proposal for Elementary Social Studies

• Teresa Fulk said the elementary social studies curriculum is an area the district has been working on for a few years. Recently, teachers have been piloting Studies Weekly. This program is a yearly subscription for the district so all teachers have access to the resources within the program. The subscription for the first year will be $17,000. Recurring subscription fee would be $10,000/yearly.

Accel ELA Reconfiguration

• Teresa Fulk mentioned that they are not seeing the outcomes within the Accel ELA program that they were hoping for. They would like to change how they offer ELA at the Middle School and High School, this would be a two-year phase-in. The proposal would give students more of a choice in terms of ELA course offerings but there would be consisted standards to reach.

Lawn Service and Athletic Field Maintenance Bids

• Pat Velie wanted to emphasize that we can't pick and choose a vendor depending on the project, we'd have one vendor for the entire district. Pro-Mow provided us with the lowest bid, and we have been using them for the last 5 years. Other than the turf field, no substantial change will be needed in terms of services.

Labor and Material to Replace Variable Frequency Drives with Bypass

• Pat Velie shared that we had 3 vendors come to the pre-bid meeting. Control Solutions came in under the state threshold. This bid contains materials and labor to connect to our control system. Control Solutions have been a vendor for the district in previous years.

Annual SBLF Borrowing for Debt Payments

• Pat Velie explained that this annual request that comes to the board in order to meet the May 1 debt payment. We don't borrow for the November payments. Updated figures will be provided as more tax payments come in.

Revised Board Operating Procedures

• Approved

Janel Hott wanted to mention Odyssey of the Mind again. She is thankful for the coaches and the students who participate in the program, it is a great opportunity for our kids. Thank you to Summer and Ava, for being a great addition to the meeting.

Jeff Koon said he spent time working the bond table on Wednesday, and also spent time at Dorr Elementary.

Norm Taylor said he has also worked the bond table, generally he has heard positive feedback. He thanks the students participating in extracurricular activities, he appreciates their involvement. He also appreciates the input from staff regarding these curriculum decisions.

Peter Zondervan said his daughter has had a great experience with OM. Overall things are going really well in the district, he's hearing about a lot of good things going on.

Becky Hohnke said she saw a really nice post from an elderly community member about a HS teacher and his son who helped them out with shoveling. Ms. Hohnke wished Michigan Youth in Government good luck this week. She hopes everyone enjoys the MACUL conference.

Theresa Dobry believes the yes committee is putting out a lot of good information and keeping on top of answering questions.

Dan Cassini reminded the board about the MASB seminar on Wednesday.

The meeting adjourned at 9:03pm.

*Please note: This is a summary of the meeting. Official board minutes will be approved at the next regular board meeting on Monday, April 10, 2023 at 7pm. The meeting will be held at Dorr Elementary.