Wayland Union Board of Education

The Wayland Union Board of Education met on Monday, December 9th, at Wayland Union High School for their regular meeting.

All consent agenda items were approved.

Recognition of Student Artist for this year's District Christmas Card

• Lillyanna Terry, a 4th grader at Pine Street Elementary, was the winner of this year's District Christmas Card.

Recognition of All State Athletes and State Qualifying Swim Athletes

• Adam Valk recognized state athletes for Cross Country and state qualifiers for Girls Swim.

High School Building Report

• Principal, Santino Di Cesare, began by thanking Ricci Sabin and the choir for starting the meeting off with two holiday songs. He shared that the high school was recently named within the top 20% of high schools in the nation. He also thanked the Education Foundation for their dedication to our teachers with their recent grants. Mr. Di Cesare shared that a big emphasis at the high school is making sure students have a voice, so he invited members from Student Council to share some of their recent projects. Afterwards, the presentation concluded with an explanation on how the high school restructured Pride Time for the benefit of students and staff members.

Student Board Members Report

• Matthew Chubb and Teagan Robinson shared that LOC Club recently took 3rd place in the Christmas Parade and they are preparing for Snowcoming. ECO club has been brainstorming ways to reduce waste. PALS nominations just wrapped up for next year. E-sports winter season just wrapped up but they are looking forward to their spring season. NHS is preparing to deliver letters from Santa's Elves to elementary schools. Student Council is planning on decorating the hallways for the holiday season. The boys and girls basketball teams are undefeated so far. Boys swim and dive had their first meet this past weekend, receiving 2nd place. The boys hockey and wrestling seasons are well underway. Girls wrestling had their first match on Friday, all 4 wrestlers placed in the top 4 in their respective weight class. Competitive cheer is kicking off their season this weekend.

Committee Meeting Report - Facilities & Finance Committee

• Jeff Koon shared that they went over audit results and made a plan to review the life expectancy of all our facilities.

Committee Meeting Report - Fine Arts Committee

• Becky Hohnke shared that we have a talented group. She wanted to highlight that they started a band booster program which has seen huge success so far. We also anticipate having another record breaking season for winter guard. She also encourages board members and Mr. Reeves to attend the upcoming fine arts performances.

Governance Team Good News

• Tim Reeves shared that the district had their first snow day last week.

Recognition for Outgoing Board of Education Members

• Tim Reeves shared that we have two board members who are leaving their position at the end of the year, Janel Hott and Dan Cassini.

No public comment.

Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations

• Leslie Wagner shared the year to date revenue and expenditures. The facilities team completed 175 work orders in the month of November. The soccer and football stadiums were winterized and an extra water line was added to the bus wash station. Our food service program is remaining busy with breakfast and lunch servings. Our transportation department recently received 2nd place in the Wayland Christmas parade.

Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services

• Tim Reeves shared on behalf of Teresa Fulk. He shared that the 2024 index scores are available for view. After winter break, there was more testing (primarily NWEA) so that interventions can be adjusted accordingly.

Superintendent

• Tim Reeves thanked the choir for attending the board meeting, he also encourages everyone to attend one of our holiday concerts this week. Videos regarding bond progress are still being created periodically, with the most recent video highlighting the Pine Street gym bathrooms. Tim Reeves also shared that the district has the Gun Lake Tribe revenue sharing event next week.

Request for use of buses for Grad Party 2025

• Approved.

Request for overnight field trip for FUTURES program

• Approved.

Second reading of Proposed Policy Updates and Changes

• Approved.

Resolution Authorizing Public Entity Membership in the West Michigan Health Insurance Pool

• Approved.

Public Improvement Fund Projects for 2025-2026

• Hohnke and Zondervan are concerned with utilizing a portion of the money to improve the roof and parking lot of the new admin building. Approved.

Closed Session

• Theresa Dobry mentioned that the new board members have been invited to attend the closed session. Approved.

Results from Superintendent Evaluation

• Theresa Dobry shared that the evaluation went well, Mr. Reeves received an effective rating.

Jeff Koon would like to thank Mr. Di Cesare for hosting the meeting. He congratulated the cross country and girls swim teams on phenomenal seasons. He also thanked Mrs. Hott and Mr. Cassini for their dedication to the board.

Norm Taylor followed suit.

Dan Cassini wished everyone a happy holiday. He hopes that we continue to take care of one another.

Becky Hohnke shared that this is one of her favorite meetings. She was at the Snowfest over the weekend and was thrilled to see how our students carried themselves. She thanked Dan Cassini and Janel Hott for their years of service on the board. She also thanked Mr. Di Cesare for hosting the meeting, she loves seeing how involved the students are at the high school.

Pete Zondervan shared his love for the video created by Scott Gunderson. He was thrilled to see the community coming out for the parade, he was blown away by Pine Street students and their float. He loved the student involvement during the meeting. He also thanked Janel Hott and Dan Cassini for their time on the board.

Janel Hott thanked Mr. Di Cesare and the high school students who participated in the meeting, she loves seeing how well rounded our students are. She is grateful for her time on the board, she is really proud of this district and the direction we are heading.

Theresa Dobry thanked everyone who participated in the meeting tonight. She also appreciated the work the high school staff is doing to keep the students engaged in their classes. She thanked Janel Hott and Dan Cassini for their dedication to Wayland Union Schools.

The meeting went into closed session at 7:15pm.

*Please note: This is a summary of the meeting. Official board minutes will be approved at the next regular board meeting being held on January 13th, 2025 at 6pm. The meeting will be held at Baker Elementary.