________________________________

From: Niehaus, Gary

Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 9:41:27 PM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

To: School Board

Subject: Fwd: response to Mr. Ismail

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Fannon, Rebecca" <Rebecca.Fannon@gpschools.org<mailto:Rebecca.Fannon@gpschools.org>>

Date: November 7, 2016 at 12:54:51 PM EST

To: "Niehaus, Gary" <Gary.Niehaus@gpschools.org<mailto:Gary.Niehaus@gpschools.org>>

Subject: response to Mr. Ismail

Would you be so kind as to edit and forward my response to Mr. Ismail?

1.       The five meetings held last year covered these topic areas:

a.       Our GPPSS Strategic Plan

b.      Basic School Funding 101 (Plante Moran) – adjusted based on group feedback (ex: added update on 2022 Bond)

c.       Needs in 3 areas: Health and Safety, Teaching and Learning, Building Infrastructure (Ehresman)

d.      Options for Funding (Plante Moran)

e.      A Building Tour

f.        A facilitated discussion by Mike Wilmot on these areas – small groups discussed and then reported to whole group

                                                               i.      What do we need to do differently than past bond efforts? (specifically in response to Mrs. Pangborn’s request for a post-mortem)

                                                             ii.      What questions do we have?

                                                            iii.      A-ha moments

The facilitated topics are purposefully broad to encourage a range of feedback. It was exciting to see the conversations around the small tables, on the tours, and in the session at the end. We encouraged board members to share contact information for invitees last time to ensure diverse voices, and because people are more likely to respond to personalized invitations than a broad community invite (we’ve tried both). We also wanted to have materials, seating, tour guides, and snacks ready.

2.       All are welcome. We have shared these dates in our GPPSS Weekly Update twice already, met with our local press to share the info, mentioned in the televised board meetings, posted on the website and social media, shared with the League of Women Voters and the Chamber of Commerce for their websites/meetings/calendars. We have also mentioned at Board Observer and PTO Council meetings, and with our building principals and PTO presidents. We did not have dates, but asked the community to watch for these on the front page of our district newsletter that went to all homes within GPPSS boundaries October 20. Additional suggestions are most welcome and I appreciate your willingness to reach out to others.

3.       The presentations are described above and focus on more than infrastructure. There are whole group presentations and break-out sessions to ensure people with various levels of comfort have an opportunity to provide feedback (whole group, small tables, tour groups, in writing).

4.       Please see number 2. Feel welcome to copy and paste

More GPPSS Town Halls are coming

Last year the district hosted Town Halls at North, South, Parcells, Brownell and Defer to be sure we are listening to our community and its direction for our schools. At those meetings, the civil discourse was amazing and we want that to continue. This fall semester there will be Town Halls at:

  *   Kerby Elementary, 289 Kerby Road, Grosse Pointe Farms - 11/10

  *   Maire Elementary, 740 Cadieux, Grosse Pointe - 11/30

  *   Mason Elementary, 1640 Vernier, Grosse Pointe Woods - 12/6

All are 6-9 p.m. and start in the school library. Email rebecca.fannon@gpschools<mailto:rebecca.fannon@gpschools> if you’d like more detail. These will be true Town Halls, open to all. Please come and bring your neighbors who don’t currently have children in our schools.

From: School Board

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2016 10:03 AM

To: Dean, Jon; Fannon, Rebecca; summerb@gpschools.com<mailto:summerb@gpschools.com>; Niehaus, Gary; roesked@gpschools.com<mailto:roesked@gpschools.com>; weertzm@gpschools.com<mailto:weertzm@gpschools.com>; ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com>; pangboc@gpschools.com<mailto:pangboc@gpschools.com>; abkek@gpschools.com<mailto:abkek@gpschools.com>; Abbey, Lisa

Subject: FW: Mrs. Gafa's Very Rude Response to My Email to Rebecca Fannon re: Upcoming Town Hall Meetings

________________________________

From: Judy Gafa

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2016 10:03:10 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

To: School Board

Cc: Dean, Jon; Fannon, Rebecca; summerb@gpschools.com<mailto:summerb@gpschools.com>; Niehaus, Gary; roesked@gpschools.com<mailto:roesked@gpschools.com>; weertzm@gpschools.com<mailto:weertzm@gpschools.com>; pangboc@gpschools.com<mailto:pangboc@gpschools.com>; abkek@gpschools.com<mailto:abkek@gpschools.com>; Abbey, Lisa

Subject: Re: Mrs. Gafa's Very Rude Response to My Email to Rebecca Fannon re: Upcoming Town Hall Meetings I am working with you Ahmed. I just clarified some misperceptions.

Judy

On Saturday, November 5, 2016, School Board <SchoolBoard@gpschools.org<mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org>> wrote:

________________________________

From: Ismail, Ahmed (GPPSS)

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2016 9:24:47 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

To: Judy Gafa (GPPSS)

Cc: School Board; Fannon, Rebecca; Abbey, Lisa; Niehaus, Gary

Subject: Mrs. Gafa's Very Rude Response to My Email to Rebecca Fannon re: Upcoming Town Hall Meetings

Mrs. Gafa,

I am disappointed that a school board candidate who preaches working together would feel the need to snipe out with a condescending response to an email that was copied to you as a courtesy.  I hope you will take the time to carefully read over my questions to Mrs. Fannon carefully, and then think about if your attack email was really necessary.  I feel an apology is in order.

Now, rather than my simply receiving a response from Mrs. Fannon so that I can alert interested residents about the upcoming meetings, I have to waste my time dealing with the inaccuracies in your sniping and get into issues that really had nothing to do with my email to Mrs. Fannon.

They are:

1.  Your first statement that "Dr. Niehaus runs the town halls"--what relevance is that to any of my questions?   The fact of the matter is that they were not run by Dr. Niehaus, he runs the school system.  The meetings themselves were run by Mike Wilmot, a professional facilitator who was paid to facilitate them.

2.  My email to Mrs. Fannon had nothing to do with the Strategic Plan, yet you felt a need to bring it up.  You have never asked me in all these months why I chose not to serve on the strategic planning committee, yet now you felt it was somehow relevant in my wanting to know about the format of upcoming meetings.  The reason I declined serving on the Strategic Planning Committee is that from the beginning it was not representative of our community.  These types of long range planning committees are supposed to be reflective of the make-up of our community.  Ours was not.  Instead, it was 65% plus staff and/or those with close ties to the system and/or administration. The last thing this committee needed was another board member.  I felt this hand-picked committee was not representative of the community and I was not willing to lend my name to it.

3.  Your statement that the building repair Focus Group meetings were open to all is so misleading that I don't know to start.  First, they were not the Strategic Planning meetings.  Their attendance was highly structured.  Your statement that each board member was asked to submit names for consideration as attendees is correct and further proves how closed the attendance was.  Sure, anyone could show up and sit in, if they ever heard about when and where they were being held.  Please don't try to make something what it wasn't.  You know better.

I hope you will re-read your campaign literature and your many statements relative to being a leader and start practicing what you preach.  Your email was unnecessary.  You can do better.

In the meantime, I am requesting that Mrs. Fannon (NOT YOU) please answer my questions so that I can do what I can to let the community know about these upcoming meetings and how if they will actually be Town Hall meetings or Focus Group meetings and their topic.

Thank you,

Ahmed

Ahmed Ismail, Trustee

Grosse Pointe Public School System

Phone: 313-343-9060 (The Portrait Place - 10am-5pm)

Email: ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com><mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com>>

Notice to Recipient:  The views expressed in this transmittal and its attachments (if any) are those of its author individually and are not necessarily shared by the other members of the Grosse Pointe Public School System's Board of Trustees and/or its administration.  If you would like the official school board position on an issue or would like to communicate to all of the members of the school board at once, please send your email to schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org><mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org>>.  Thank you.

________________________________

From: Judy Gafa

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2016 8:32:15 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

To: School Board

Cc: Dean, Jon; Fannon, Rebecca; summerb@gpschools.com<mailto:summerb@gpschools.com><mailto:summerb@gpschools.com<mailto:summerb@gpschools.com>>; Niehaus, Gary; roesked@gpschools.com<mailto:roesked@gpschools.com><mailto:roesked@gpschools.com<mailto:roesked@gpschools.com>>; weertzm@gpschools.com<mailto:weertzm@gpschools.com><mailto:weertzm@gpschools.com<mailto:weertzm@gpschools.com>>; pangboc@gpschools.com<mailto:pangboc@gpschools.com><mailto:pangboc@gpschools.com<mailto:pangboc@gpschools.com>>; abkek@gpschools.com<mailto:abkek@gpschools.com><mailto:abkek@gpschools.com<mailto:abkek@gpschools.com>>; Abbey, Lisa

Subject: Re: FW: Town Hall Meetings or Focus Groups on Specific Topic?

Clarification

First of all Dr Niehaus runs the townhalls.

Brian Summerfield and Margaret present a compressed version of the strategic plan.  You Mr Ismail were invited to sit on the committee and refused. I attended several of the townhall meetings, they were a mix of people. I can think of two - three people at just one meeting who were not friendly to administration, but provided constructive feedback during the breakout session.

Anyone was welcome to attend the previous townhalls. Every board member was asked to provide names of those they would like to attend.

I hope this clarifies how the townhalls actually worked last time

I would encourage board members to attend so they understand how the process actually worked

Thanks

Judy

On Saturday, November 5, 2016, School Board <SchoolBoard@gpschools.org<mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org><mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org<mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org>><mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org<mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org><mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org<mailto:SchoolBoard@gpschools.org>>>> wrote:

________________________________

From: Ismail, Ahmed (GPPSS)

Sent: Saturday, November 05, 2016 8:12:11 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

To: Fannon, Rebecca

Cc: Niehaus, Gary; School Board

Subject: Town Hall Meetings or Focus Groups on Specific Topic?

Rebecca,

A few questions re: your recent email announcing upcoming Town Hall meetings.

1.  Unlike the prior selective attendance Focus Group meetings (we called them "Town Hall Meetings") which were about infrastructure needs, are these going to be Town Hall Meetings in the true sense of the phrase where all residents can come in and actually have a conversation with the admin and board members in attendance?

2.  If they are going to be true, open Town Hall meetings, how are they being advertised to the community?

3.  If they are really open attendance meetings focused with a highly directed format focus on infrastructure (tour of water soaked ceiling tile rooms, etc.) are they also going to be structured with break out tables, etc.?

4.  In either case, what efforts are being made to attract attendees that are other than staff and those in the community who are advocates for the administration?

Please let me know the above as soon as possible so that I can get the word out to those who would have interest in what the meetings will actually offer.

Thank you and best wishes,

Ahmed

Ahmed Ismail, Trustee

Grosse Pointe Public School System

Phone: 313-343-9060 (The Portrait Place - 10am-5pm)

Email: ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com><mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com>><mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com><mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com<mailto:ismaila@gpschools.com>>>

Notice to Recipient:  The views expressed in this transmittal and its attachments (if any) are those of its author individually and are not necessarily shared by the other members of the Grosse Pointe Public School System's Board of Trustees and/or its administration.  If you would like the official school board position on an issue or would like to communicate to all of the members of the school board at once, please send your email to schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org><mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org>><mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org><mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org<mailto:schoolboard@gpschools.org>>>.  Thank you.