Keystone Academy assigned new NHA representative

At the April 9 regular meeting of Keystone Academy, DeAmo Murphy took over as the new representative from National Heritage Academy to oversee Keystone, the charter school in Sumpter Township that it manages.
Murphy replaces Andrew Roth, who has been the NHA representative for nine years. He was present for his last meeting and sat in the audience. He explained he has been reassigned by NHA to two schools in Wisconsin.
He said he will not be moving from his Michigan home but will commute to Wisconsin meetings.
Roth gave a farewell statement to the board saying, “There will never be another Keystone” because of its “stratosphere position in school excellence.” He pointed out principal Jorvanna Drain was an excellent principal and the board was collaborative and strong.
The board wished him well in his new assignment. Murphy said he will try to fill Roth’s former position and needs the help of the board for that.
In other business at the half-hour Keystone board of directors meeting on April 9, the board:
• Ratified the 2025-26 Audit Letter of Engagement with Alan C. Young and Associates with a gross fee not expected to exceed $8,350;
• Reviewed the annual conflict of interest disclosure form board members are required by charter-authorizer Bay Mills Community College to fill out and sign;
• Discussed NHA’s renewal of the food service contract for the 2026-27 school year with SFE (Southwest Foodservice Excellence). NHA said SFE has provided high-quality nutritious meals to the students and based on their continued performance and reliability the contract is being renewed;
• Heard principal Jorvanna Drain report Keystone in in fourth place of the 102 NHA schools in attrition rates with 5% dropping out over the 2025-26 school year, down from 6% in 2024-25 and 8% in 2023-24.
• Learned current enrollment is 717, with offered capacity of 765. Average daily attendance for the 2025-26 school year is 95% with 11% chronically absent (missing 10% or more of enrolled days);
• Heard principal Drain report Keystone was able to raise and donate $751.69 to First Book, which is $220.29 more than last year. She said First Book is a non-profit organization that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need. She also reported that as part of Reading Month, Keystone invited three published authors to the school to share their stories and inspire the students. Each student received a free book from one of the authors; and
• Learned Keystone held its enrollment lottery and accepted 134 students for the 2026-27 school year.