School Board OKs 1.75 mills for six years for Nov. ballot

The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously at Monday’s meeting to ask voters to approve 1.75 mills for six years on the Nov. 8 ballot to replace the sinking fund that has expired.

This is expected to bring $3,378,578 in 2023 if approved by voters and levied.

The sinking fund that expired was for 0.5 mill that had been approved for seven years. The Headlee Amendment had reduced that to 0.4870 mill.

The ballot wording approved says the sinking fund can be used for purchase of real estate for sites for, and the construction or repair of, school buildings, for school security improvements, for the acquisition or upgrading of technology, and other purposes authorized by law.

In other business at Monday’s one-hour-and-48-minute meeting, the board:

• Recognized spring athletes in track and field and girls’ soccer. Also recognized nine retirees, with some not present;
• Approved retirements and resignations for: Michelle Komaromi, a teacher at Savage, after 19 years of service, retiring June 10; Tania Bos, a teacher at Tyler, retiring after 35 years as of June 13; William Cline, a teacher at Belleville High School, retiring after 19 years as of June 10; Quran Jackson, a teacher at Owen, resigning after five years, as of June 30; and Renee Taylor, a teacher at the Early Childhood Center, resigning after less than a year of service on June 10;
• Approved the retirements of non-instructional staff: Dawn Stamper, paraprofessional for 26 years at ECC, as of June 30; Ethel Franklin, paraprofessional at ECC for five years, as of June 10; Nancy Parks, lunch supervisor at Rawsonville after 12 years of service as of June 8; and Kurt Long, custodian at Rawsonville after seven years of service;
• Terminated Lisa Bodenham from BHS Food Service after nine years of service as of June 7;
• Heard BHS Principal Nicole Crockett give a presentation on what is being done to stop the downward trend in proficiency in test results. She presented charts showing how BHS had 39% proficiency in all subjects on state tests in the 2016-17 school year and went downward each year since then. She said the 2019-20 school year is “gone” because of COVID-19 and there are no scores from that year being retained. Proficiency is back up to 39% for the 2020-21 school year. A new process, called the Power Standards Instructional Cycle, is being instituted. She also spoke about the gap between regular students and low-income, underserved, minority students and what they are doing to help these students;
• Approved the cooperative agreement with Wayne-Westland school district for vocational education services at the William D. Ford Career-Technical Center for the next school year, with Van Buren paying .25 FTE of the Wayne-Westland Foundation Grant per student served, plus an additional amount of $50 administrative cost per BHS student served;
• Heard Director of Instruction Jeff Moore give the state-required Extended COVID-19 Learning Goal Report for the end of the year. It is based on K-8 in Reading/ELA and Mathematics as measured by the NWEA tests. It measures one or more year of growth in a school year, with Van Buren students overall reaching 42.3% in Reading and 50.82% in Math. Moore said 60% means you’re doing relatively well;
• Approved hiring board vice-president Susan Featheringill’s grandson Ian Simmons as a part-time tech support employee in the Administration building. He just graduated from Belleville High School and started work at the school district as of June 6. Featheringill abstained from the vote. Featheringill’s daughter Sara Cortese also works for the district as Finance Director;
• Approved the request for the Navy Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (NJROTC) to attend Camp Atterbury in Indiana June 20-25 to train and be evaluated by command and staff. The Atterbury Summer Training Leadership Academy also features sailing for the five to six students involved, grades 10-12. The trip is paid for with NJROTC funds;
• Approved the April 5-9, 2023 bus trip to New York City for 65 students in grades 10-12 in the Symphony Band to take part in the National Invitational Band and Orchestra Festival at Carnegie Hall. Cost is $2,000 per student and each student will pay for the trip through several fund raisers. The students will miss a day and a half of classes at BHS, but will be marked excused;
• Heard Bill Wolters talk about the Robotics Team where he is a mentor. He said he took a tour of the new high school and he was pleased to see the walls are spotless and there are no fingerprints on the windows. He said there is no trash on the floors and he has seen a student pick up paper from the floor. He praised the custodial crew. He also said the Belleville Central Business Community has hired the NJROTC team and now has the group in the CBC budget. He said the students cleaned tables and chairs for the upcoming Taste of Belleville and will work at the Taste as well. They also work at the Farmers Market to help the vendors. He praised them as going beyond what is expected;
• Heard retired teacher Ginny Gearns ask if the administration has spoken to the Ypsilanti Police to see what to do about keeping the VBPS students safe, as the board had discussed. She said she hadn’t heard anything more about this and she wondered if they had talked to the police. School Supt. Pete Kudlak said it’s actually the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department that covers Ypsilanti Township and the school has been in contact with them. He said Washtenaw has talked to the local police here and informed them on what they’ve been doing in that community to help. Board president Amy Pearce said she would love to hear what Washtenaw has to say. She had asked at a previous meeting that they invite Washtenaw in to talk to the board. Kudlak said he has not invited them. Gearns said a lot of her former students are police officers and her son is a teacher and she doesn’t want any of them to be hurt. This discussion was based on information that one of the students who brought the gun to BHS carried it because he was afraid of the dangers in his walk to the bus through his Ypsilanti Township neighborhood; and
• Heard board secretary Darlene Loyer Gerick announce that students in the BHS Class of 2023 now can earn community service credits for sorting plastic caps for her daughter’s Benches for Belleville project. She said they have thousands of caps to sort and could use a lot of help.