Academic and Technology Committee - Documents

Academic and Tech Committee Agenda

April 8, 2025

1. Call to Order- 9:10 am
2. Roll Call- Glenn, Christian, Terah, Liz, Student,
   1. Absent- Chris Martin
   2. Guest- Allie Sanchez
3. Approval of Agenda- Chambers moved- Lyons Second
4. Approval of Meeting Mins- Feb 12, 2025-  Chambers Moved-Lyons Second
5. Public Comment- none
6. Items for Discussion
   1. Tech Updates-
      1. E-rate is a federal program for universal service funds.
         1. We have been moved to 80% coverage.
         2. Because we went up from 60% to 80%, we have saved some money on big projects, such as network updates and fiber maintenance.
      2. Security Bid- came in under budget.
         1. Security door cameras for HS, MS
            1. Genetech company
      3. Securely  Software in classrooms – trialing
         1. It helps teachers see what students are doing on school-issued devices.
         2. This is being piloted in HS and MS.
            1. If we continue with this software, we will pilot it in elementary school next year.

1. Book Break- postponed for next meeting discussion
2. Book Vending Machines
   1. Last week, we put our last vending machine into Green. We got them in all schools in about 1.5 years- which was supposed to be a 3 year project- All elementary schools have a book vending machine.
3. Book Challenge Policy
   1. How should we move forward with a policy if challenges arise with material in our library?
4. Announcements- none
5. Adjournment- 10:12 am

Call to order- 1:08pm

Roll Call: Liz, Terah, Chris, Glenn, Christian, Kathy Kowalski, Student Ellie Approval of Agenda- Chris, Terah 2^nd

Public Comment- none 

Items for Discussion-

Student Parking lot fees- Currently $60 for parking- discussion for next year might cut in half. The money goes into a pot to help with students who may need help with fees for other things.

Grade 7^th-12^th health curriculum- looked at 3 different curriculums- researched and reported back. Bringing 2 in to look further in. Vendors are coming to give presentations in early December. Pilot in the spring.
2 curricula
Positive Prevention Plus
Rights, Respect, and Responsibility

Tech Agenda:

Professional Learning Group: AI
Talking about AI if not then it’s just cheating Presentation by Kathy-
Common language to use within the district Syllabus language
What tools will we use? If any?

1. E Rate Season
   1. Federal funding program where ELPS only pays 40% of eligible services
   2. Category 1 fiber funding (fiber upgrades)
   3. Category 2 network infrastructure (MMS and ELHS new hardware)
2. Phone system project e911
   1. Current cisco hardware is expensive, proprietary
   2. Tied to e911 mandatory services
3. Bond project and tech consult
   1. Met with Communications By Design this morning 11/13/24
   2. Assist with design and documentation for bond
   3. Security upgrades for cameras at MMS/ELHS

Minutes of the Academic/Technology Committee of the 
East Lansing Board of Education 
East Lansing High School – Board Meeting 
509 Burcham Drive, East Lansing, MI 
September 16, 2024 
12:10-1:30pm 

Opening of Meeting 

Terah Chambers called the meeting to order at 10:38am. 

Roll Call 

Present: Terah Chambers, Chris Martin, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty 
Absent: Elizabeth Lyons (with excuse) 

Approval of Agenda 

Chris Martin offered the motion to approve the agenda. Terah Chambers seconded. Unanimously approved. 

Approval of Minutes 

Defer discussion of minutes to next meeting. 

Public Comment

3 minutes None. 

Meeting Topics/Action Items 

• Update on Algebra 1 and Algebra II summer high school math team curriculum updates: 
  • Received information on summer work: 9 new units of curriculum for Algebra I. 
  • Going into the academic year, math team will continue updating curriculum, including videos, SAT support, etc. 
• HIV/Sex Education Curriculum Review and Adoption Process 
  • Looking at new curriculum options. Limited options, but will go through regular curriculum adoption process used across the district. Sex Education Advisory Board, teachers will also be involved in the process. 
• Student Representative Invitation 
  • Student reps will join meetings beginning with the next meeting. 
• Schedule Acad/Tech meetings through December 
  • Next meeting will be Monday, October 7 at 12:00pm. 
• Policy 4229 Acceptable Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence 
  • Discussed history of the suggested policy 
  • Recommend adoption; sending back to Policy for review and then to full Board.

Announcements 

• None. 

Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Call to order- 11:09 am
Attendance: Chris Martin, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty, Liz Lyons, Elliana, Reena Absent: Terah Chambers (excused)
Public Comment- None Items for discussion:
Professional Learning 
April 26th: Last session

1. Morning 2.5 hr slot teachers will rotate sessions.
   1. We are repeating sessions and adding new ones: a pension/retirement session, student-led professional learning, and understanding the ELPS religious/culture calendar.
      1. A 30-minute block where teachers will have mental health activities.
   2. They chose 1 curriculum to pilot. Savvas
      1. Alg 1 will be ending in April.
         1. Alg 2 will end in May.
            1. Going to get student feedback.
               1. Tech issues: they will follow through with the pilot and then give recommendations if they want to proceed.
         2. AI Toolbox
            1. Ex. Language Model- ChatGPT
            2. Ex.Language Model- Microsoft-co-pilot, Google-gemini
            3. How is AI being used at ELPS
               1. Get Student insight to understand how students are/if they are using it.
                  1. Teacher use survey to see how they are using it.
               2. Ex. Grading, assignment creation, assessment
               3. Guidance: allow autonomy or adopt platforms?
               4. Assignment scale for the allowed use of AI
               5. AI Policy
                  1. BOE policy to offer guidance and guidelines.
                     1. Teacher involvement to draft rules and create assessment scale

Call to order: 12:04 pm

Roll Call: Terah Chambers, Liz Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty, Eli Hayes, Reena Natla, Chris Martin (12:15p).

Approval of Agenda: Moved by Terah Chambers, Second by Liz Lyons

Approval of Meeting Mins- Dec 1st: Moved by Terah Chambers, Second by Liz Lyons Public Comment: None

Items for Discussion:

Curriculum Office Updates: Still working on Alg 1 curriculum, reviewed seven different potential curricula, picked 2- heard from vendors. Ruled one out. Saavis Learning- has a great online platform and print material. We are going to start the pilot in April - mid-May. The committee will likely give a presentation to the A&T committee after the pilot and full board in June.

No other curricula review. 

Technology Updates:
Looking to fill the auditorium manager position (full-time). (posted position) Library para-pro.
Christian and Glenn meeting next week to discuss e-sports (possibly 2 folks who will work with e-sports).
Cyber security- tiered push out for campus computers. Protect district assets. Kali is going to come to the next meeting to discuss AI.

A&T meetings: April 12th 11am
May 17th 1 pm

Announcements: None 

Adjournment: 12:55pm

Dec 1^st 2023
Call to order: 12:06pm Roll Call:
Approval of Agenda: Chambers/Martin
Approval of Meeting Mins- Oct 27th: Chambers/Martin Public Comment: No one in attendance.

Items for discussion:
Alg I/II curriculum search:
Considering 7 different curriculums.
Have 5 of the 7 materials in. Should have the other 2 by next week.

E-Sports:
Starting E-Sports at the High School.
Need a point person to help run this. Posting position internally. 

Announcements:

Adjournment: 12:36pm

Academic and Technology Committee Agenda

ELPS Board of Education Room October 27, 2023 2:00 pm

1. Call to Order -2:07PM
   
   
2. Roll Call -Terah Chambers, Chris Martin, Elizabeth Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty- absent
   
   
3. Approval of Agenda – Moved by Trustee Martin, Second Trustee Chambers
   
   
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes – September 29, 2023 – no minutes from Sept 29^th as we only discussed student applications for the A&T board.
   
   
5. Public Comment -No public comment
   
   
6. Student Introductions
   1. Reena Natla
   2. Elliana Hayes (Elli)
   3. Naziyah Hall
7. Policy 5407 Administrative Guidelines Draft
   1. Reviewed policy and made edits.
      1. Under General Process added: “Create Committee.”
         1. Approved to move 5407 Policy to go to Policy Committee for review.
8. District Goal Update

Nurturing each child- Integrating Second Step- Going well!! 

Elementary:

Paul put together a presentation- Teachers, para’s, and lunch monitors attended the presentation. Principals enjoyed it and said it went well. Next up: discuss using common language.

Educating All Learners

Middle School: Establish a data-driven decision-making process for identifying students who need further support in academics, attendance, and behavior:

Training has begun and learning of different resources to help students, also having more support people at the MMS.

Building World Citizens HS and MSS

Utilizing EJATT: Has made the commitment to let the social justice team lead. Giving time at meetings to discuss.

Each social justice team is coming up with a plan and sending it to Klaudia for review to implement.

9. High School Curriculum Purchase Algebra math textbooks.

Going to start reviewing and forming a committee.

10. Technology Updates - None

11. Announcements - None

12. Adjournment -3:04p

Call to Order: 12:01P

Roll Call: Trustee Martin, Trustee Chambers, Christian Palasty, Glenn Mitcham Approval of Agenda- Chambers Second by Martin

Approval of Meeting Meetings- May 2, 2023- Chambers Second by Martin Public Comment- None

Teaching and Learning Updates- Glenn

Board Work Session- was very helpful. 
Admin Retreat- got a lot of work done.

Nurturing each child:

Glenn is working with Paul Shanks on his understanding and learning on second step.

Educating All Students:

MTSS: Structure around data and goals.
ISC (Instructional Support Continuum) -Can bring concerns to the team- get feedback and suggestions.
Begin looking at Middle School MTSS – Data
High School- early warning signs- Attendance, Academic performance, Behavioral Referrals.

Building World Citizens:
Goal to expand EJAAT work-deeper implementation with the Administration Team and Teachers.

Goal of student center voice.

Student recruitment A&T- Glenn is going to talk to Junior class to recruit.

Tech updates- Christian

The phone system is still down. Windstream company coming out to look over the wires and fix by this week.

All Summer projects were completed.

Auditorium lighting is delayed. Material comes from out of the country. Start of project in Sept. 

NEW District website will be launched next week- September 4^th.

Working with ISD consortium on cyber protection resources and what is out there to help (software).

Behavior Module is in place in PowerSchools. Posting a librarian position

2023-2024 Meeting Dates 
Sept 29^th 1pm
Oct 27^th 2pm 
Dec 1^st 12p

Announcements

Adjourn- 1:19pm

Academic and Technology Committee Agenda 
ELPS Board of Education Room
May 2, 2023 12:00 pm

1. Call to Order -12:02p
2. Roll Call : Chris Martin, Terah Chambers, Christian Palasty, Glenn Mitcham, Student Reps, Elizabeth Lyons
3. Approval of Agenda- Moved by Martin, 2^nd by Chambers.
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes – April 10, 2023- Moved by Martin, 2^nd by Chambers.
5. Public Comment - None
6. Student Representative Recognition – Lunch with student reps.
7. Bookworms Update – Instructional Coaches

Bookworms Update- Instructional Coaches: Daryl, Jill, Lisa

• Summer 2022 lesson rewrites, materials distribution, training (3 instructional coaches and 3 teachers did this)
• Sept 2022 Instruction Began
• Oct/Nov additional bookworm training
• Grade Level meetings throughout the year to: provide “just in time” information, have opportunities to reflect and ask questions of grade-level peers
• Feedback form and cont. adjustments for 2023-24 One-on-one coaching

How is it going for teachers and students?

• Teachers report feeling comfortable with the routines of the shared reading and DI blocks Students are highly engaged with the variety of texts presented throughout the program. Students like the shared reading texts

What Successes Have we had?

• More specific differentiated skill instruction
• Use of the IDI (informal decoding inventory) has supported the data conversations throughout the year.
• The shared reading block provided predictable, intentional structures that support research- based, best practices in foundational reading skills.
• Highlighting Teacher Spotlights Increased use of anchor spots

What challenges have we faced?

• Adjusting to a new curriculum- pacing, engagement, embedded assessments Schedules
• Shift in thinking about reading and writing instruction.

 Professional Learning- Teacher and principal

• Training, one-on-one coaching, supporting documents-etc…

What's next?

• Facilitate style PF on the following topics: Comprehension
• Writing
• Supporting ELL
• Student Engagement Book Study
• Project WRITE

8. New MTSS Update – if time allows

9. Announcements

 No meetings in June or July- will convene in August.

10. Adjournment: 1:28p

Academic and Technology Committee Agenda 
ELPS Board of Education Room
April 10, 2023, 12:30 pm

1. Call to Order-12:36p
2. Roll Call
   • Trustee Chambers
   • Trustee Martin
   • Trustee Lyons
   • Glenn Mitcham
   • Christian Palasty
3. Approval of Meeting min- Feb16- Trustee Chambers- Second Trustee Martin
4. Public Comment- None
5. Agenda Topics
   1. Summer Technology Projects
      1. Rollover power schools. Master scheduling. A lot of validations that need to take place. Software updates. 27 servers. 8 are physical- rest are virtual.
      2. Auditorium lighting. MMS first then to the HS. Electrician said they could be in and out in 3 weeks for both schools.
      3. Collecting senior desktops- get back around 300-320. Will save some for spares and sell off the rest.
      4. Website update- rolling over to new template. Its mobile friendly. Deleting old links, compiling information.
      5. Cyber Security Updates
         1. Christian is working on a cyber incident response plan. (Still in progress).
            1. Plan will be done this summer. (In the document- we do all the things we just don’t have it documented).
         2. Security Updates
            1. Lockdown button- only lockdown exterior doors @HS and MMS.
            2. Lockdown button at elementary locks exterior doors, and magnet doors in the building.
            3. Bright Arrow- texting- communication emails. Pre-program 

Announcements – None

Tentative next meeting May 2nd at 11:30am

Adjournment 1:45pm

February 16, 2023 

Call to order: 1:04P

Roll Call: Trustee Chambers, Trustee Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty Approval of Agenda: Chambers, Lyons second. Motion passes

Approval of Meeting Minutes- Oct 2022 and Dec 14, 2022- Chambers, Lyons Second. Motion Passes

Public Comment: None 

Agenda Topics:

Guest Speakers: Ashley Schwarzbek, Jennifer Jockheck (counselor), Josh Barrons (counselor)

1. Student Services Improvement Plan Update
   1. Seniors are helping with a TikTok- visibility of the department.
2. Series of video ELHS TikTok to follow
    
   Goal 1: Communication
   • Google Classroom
   • Family Line: once a month- counseling information- info about testing, FASFA, and various other items. “Newsletter”- with multiple pages
   • Facebook/Twitter/Instagram
   • Celebrate/share the services and programming that is happening.
   • Counselors mention: that a lot is confidential that they do with students.

Goal 2: Visibility/Accessibility

• Pilot with Junior class
  • Xello (has a lot of college info)
  • Course planning module
  • All HS students have a username/password
    • https://xello.world/en/middle-and-high-school/
• Celebrate College Month (Oct)
  • Help with common apps
  • FASFA
  • Question sessions

Goal 3:
TRAILS in the classroom. Get in the classroom more- be more visible.

Day to Day with HS counselors:

Very little sitting in the office Appointments with students

Academic/social/emotional/career development counseling

Writing letters of recommendation/meetings with parents/students/answering questions about the application

Social/Emotional meetings

504 Plans is a huge piece that counselors conduct Scheduling courses with students

Intervention- At Risk- personal check-ins with Counselors.

Graduate Alliance- uptick with students taking this route- still helping and working with them. Purchased a scheduling module through MBA- which will help identify gaps.

Guest Speaker: Ashley Schwarzbek

2. High School Scheduling
   1. Several years ago, ELHS moved to Arena scheduling (building a schedule based on previous years and what students took before).
      1. Send schedule out to all students without teacher names
      2. Students pick their courses and then meet with a counselor
      3. Exploring the option of “Student request scheduling”
         1. Department chairs were not very excited about this option. More discussion about equity-based scheduling.
            1. Arena scheduling (very transparent- everything is out there). 

Administration and staff weighed both options and decided that we would continue with Arena Scheduling.

Will continue with a Post survey for students after course pick. Possible Family survey as well.

Announcements: National Honor Society made a poster, and all students signed it and will give to MSU. They also want to write cards (letters) as well.

Adjournment: 2:13p

Minutes of the Academic & Technology Committee of the East Lansing Board of Education
East Lansing High School – Board Meeting 
509 Burcham Drive, East Lansing, MI 
December 14, 2022
11:00am-12:30pm

Opening of Meeting

Terah Chambers called the meeting to order at 11:00am.

Roll Call

Present: Terah Chambers, Debbie Walton, Elizabeth Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty, Pardis, Annabelle

Absent: Student committee members

Approval of Agenda

Debbie Walton offered the motion to approve the agenda. Elizabeth Lyons seconded. Unanimously approved.

Approval of Minutes

Moved item to next meeting. Will approve October and December minute at January meeting.

Public Comment – 3 minutes

Ashley Ahlin discussing the elimination of courses at the high school and need for more options for advanced level study options.

Meeting Topics/Action Items

• Course proposal for Advanced Painting (information only)
  1. Introductory classes available but teachers have identified a need for more challenging art classes (between intro and AP course options).
• New course sequencing – ELHS English (information only)
  1. Discussion of sequencing of English courses
• New course proposal – Future Educators Course (move to Board – full vote)
• Other items
  1. Report out from FAFSA/College night from a few weeks ago. Presentation from representatives from LCC and MSU. About 40-50 people attended the event. Dinner offered. Very positive feedback. Counselors also did a push to provide support for college applications during the school day in Excel period.

Announcements

None.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 12:03pm.

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Minutes of the Academic & Technology Committee of the 
East Lansing Board of Education
East Lansing High School – Board Meeting 509 Burcham Drive, East Lansing, MI 
October 19, 2022
9-10:30am

Opening of Meeting

Terah Chambers called the meeting to order at 9:01am.

Roll Call

Present: Terah Chambers, Debbie Walton, Elizabeth Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty, Student members: Pardis Raberimiandoab,

Absent: Annabelle DiMaggio

Approval of Agenda

Debbie Walton offered the motion to approve the agenda. Liz Lyons seconded. Unanimously approved.

Approval of Minutes

Liz Lyons offered the motion to approve the agenda. Debbie Walton seconded. Unanimously approved.

Public Comment – 3 minutes

none

Meeting Topics/Action Items

1. Report from Kathy Kowalski
   • District library update: libraries are analyzing their collections with goal to increase diversity of each collection to 50%. Elementary schools are using the diverse book initiative to update their collections, too. Secondary libraries will start with school clubs about what students want to see in the libraries. Asking for $1,000 per building (will apply for ELEF funding, too).
   • Red Cedar a bit of special case because that library had to be built from scratch when it re-opened a few years ago. There are big holes in the collection pertaining to curriculum (re-instituted Big Zoo lesson, but don’t have enough animal books, for example).
   • Caldecott project will happen this year (focus on illustrations).
   • Technology update: elementary good (K-1: ipads, 3-5: Chromebooks), MMS has 22- 24 carts that are mostly housed in the library. Prefer to have cart in the individual classrooms.
2. 2022-23 projects and funding sources
   • Delays in lots of orders. Access points for MMS and ELHS. Network hardware covered by e-rate so we’ll get some funds back through that project (they will cover 60% of our expenditures based on our FRL population). They fund us on a 5 year cycle (we’re in year 3). We have $606,000 so we have to pay about $400,000 that would come out of sinking fund dollars. Filed 470 form with e-rate to get bids to move forward with the purchasing. Project kickoff projected June 2023.
     • MMS and ELHS auditorium lighting replacement through Hamilton A/V. Budget will be 300k, for ELHS and 150k for MMS, 6-8 month lead time.
     • Elementary iPads due for replacement summer 2023.
     • Elementary and MMS A/V due for replacement (projectors). Get RFP out soon for summer. Could delay this if necessary (we have spares) but already well beyond manufacturer warranty.
     • Purchasing another grade level chromebooks to replace last laptops (currently seniors have them). After this most of our tech will be chromebooks except for some laptops for classes that run specific software (like Adobe).
3. Google v. Microsoft project
   • Migrating away from Microsoft and to Google, ramping up for that by having students store their work on the Cloud. Will impact the high school more (MMS pretty much already using the Cloud/Google). Will create cap for local storage…most of our staff are under, but there are a few who are over. Suggest to move to Cloud.
   • Migrate from Outlook to Gmail in the next few days for all students, staff, school board members, everyone.
4. Project Updates
   • Increasing cyber security: two factor authentication.
   • Completed security audit through Sentinel this past summer.
   • Football stadium: adding cameras (to cover the field) and Wifi.
   • Replacing cameras in some of the gyms.
5. Other Items

Announcements

none.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 9:11am.

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Minutes of the Academic & Technology Committee of the 
East Lansing Board of Education
East Lansing High School – Board Meeting 
509 Burcham Drive, East Lansing, MI 
August 10, 2022
9:00-10:30am

Opening of Meeting

Terah Chambers called the meeting to order at 9:04am.

Roll Call

Present: Terah Chambers, Debbie Walton, Elizabeth Lyons, Glenn Mitcham, Christian Palasty, Absent: Student committee members

Approval of Agenda

Debbie Walton offered the motion to approve the agenda. Elizabeth Lyons seconded. Unanimously approved.

Approval of Minutes

Moved item to next meeting. Will approve April, May, and August minutes at September meeting.

Public Comment – 3 minutes

none

Meeting Topics/Action Items

1. Student Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) Update
   • Discussed potential issues with policy on acceptable use for students. Will take back to Policy committee to consider minor changes that will better reflect our actual practices. Also discussed AUP for staff policy and initial implementation.
2. Other tech updates
   • MMS technology update (moving from 1:1 to carts)
     • ELHS will stay 1:1 (moving to all Chromebooks after this year; no more laptops after the seniors this year turn them back in)
       • Ordered 360 Chromebooks, 160 desk tops for the district
       • Updated wireless touchpoints in the high school; continuing ELHS A/V update
       • Received information from high school administration about a new ELHS Student Services Vision Statement, Goals, and Action Steps for 2022-2023.

East Lansing Public Schools Board of Education

1. Other curriculum updates
   • Summer school (elementary) – summer learning camp: focused on kiddos who were identified as needing a little more support.
   • Middle School 101 and High School 101 have great attendance and are operating well – learning things to improve for next year, but really pleased with results.
     • Bookworm (reading program in elementary) rollout happening. Trainings started in June with teachers, materials ordered and coming in to schools now. Science and Social Studies at MMS also rolling out – training happening. All materials in for that and all looks good.

Announcements

none.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 10:27am.

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