VB School Board to consider Sinking Fund renewal next spring

By Rosemary K. Otzman
Independent Editor
The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education will discuss a renewal vote for the Sinking Fund millage at next Monday’s work/study session.
The public meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Administration Building.
The present seven-year, 1.26-mill Sinking Fund millage was passed in November 2008 and was to be in effect from 2009 through 2015. It was down to 1.13 mills levied this year and brought in more than $2 million per year.
The board is considering putting a Sinking Fund question on the spring ballot for renewal and will discuss it at length at the Aug. 18 meeting. Since it is not a regular meeting, no votes can be taken.
At last Monday’s regular board meeting, the board renewed the services of Plante Moran CRESA at $7,500 per month, the same as last year, which is paid out of the Sinking Fund.
School Supt. Michael Van Tassel said Plante Moran CRESA saved the district a huge amount of money by advising on how to use the Sinking Fund for school maintenance proactively over the past three years, keeping the project costs down, and providing oversight of contractors. He said having them kept the district from having to hire another employee.
He said they will advise the board on how to best use the 2015 Sinking fund through Sept. 30, 2015.
School Board President Brent Mikulski said Plante Moran CRESA helps Building & Grounds Director James Williams assess future needs and plan in advance, instead of waiting for emergencies.
Plante Moran CRESA presented a nine-page proposal for 2015 Sinking Fund projects for every school with the exception of the new high school, but no representative of the firm was at Monday’s meeting.
Trustee Sherry Frazier said while $7,500 a month is a lot of money, “Their expertise is top-notch and they are a well-respected firm.”
Tuition preschool
The board took no action on a report from Director of Instruction Diane Kullis who said Supt. Van Tassel requested the district investigate an alternative way to provide parents with a tuition preschool experience at Haggerty, since the district had announced the cancellation of Bright Beginnings.
She said she is presenting the pre-school issue separate from the latchkey program because pre-school really isn’t a part of latchkey.
Kullis said she went out for pre-school proposals and got three. Data was collected and compared based on the vendor responses.
“Two of the providers would be able to provide a program that would be slightly less expensive than two other preschool providers in the Belleville area, but would be about 16% higher than the Bright Beginnings tuition program,” that the district had founded, Kullis reported.
“After studying the three proposals and engaging in numerous conversations with the three owners, based on their responses to the requested information in the RFP (request for proposals) and analyzing the potential cost to the parents, I cannot make a recommendation to the board regarding the district entering into an agreement to allow an outside vendor to provide a tuition preschool at Haggerty,” Kullis wrote in her recommendation to the board.
She presented a chart showing responses of K.C. Childcare, YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit, and Happy Days Daycare & Preschool.
“We wanted to keep you updated,” Supt. Van Tassel said to the board concerning the pre-school efforts. He said hopefully something can be put together for the 2015-16 school year. He said they are not comfortable in putting something together at the last minute.
“The worst thing to do is put something in place and it feels rushed,” Van Tassel said.
Kullis said Happy Days Daycare said there is not enough time for them to put something together for this school year, but perhaps they could mimic what they do in the Lincoln Schools.
President Mikulski asked if the number of kids taking part increased would the price go down?
Kullis said Happy Days said that, but the others didn’t want to say that.
“Our concern is the overall cost,” Kullis said.
Treasurer Frazier said it wouldn’t cost the school district anything, but it would cost the parents who are willing to pay. She said at the end of the school year there was a contingency of parents who wanted the preschool.
“When we have people who can afford to pay to have their kids in school before Kindergarten, we should provide it,” Frazier said, pointing out the district provides for those who can’t pay and should pay more attention to those who can pay.
“We’re not saying this is over,” Van Tassel said. “We’ll try to come to you well ahead of next school year.”
Van Tassel recalled what Trustee Scott Russell had said about “being cognizant of the businesses in our community so we don’t take away from them.”
Frazier said she believes that when children start with Bethany Daycare, they keep going into the charter school.
Trustee Kathy Kovach said her kids went to Bethany, then on to Edgemont Elementary, and then through the grades and Belleville High School, “and received a fine education.”
(Kovach called out to the Independent that her first name is spelled with a K, inviting the paper to quote her comments.)
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Approved a two-year agreement with Happy Days Daycare and Preschool to provide latchkey services at Tyler, Rawsonville, Edgemont, Savage, and Owen for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 school years. Van Tassel said the school district isn’t in charge of this program and doesn’t run it. The vendor rents space from the district. “It’s really a service to our parents,” said Trustee Kovach. The program is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and offers a discount to school district employees. The K.C. Childcare program had done the latchkey for several years;
• Ratified the Van Buren Association of Educational Secretaries contract economic re-opener for the 2014-15 school year. Shonta Langford-Green, Director of Human Resources, said two years ago the secretaries gave up 10 vacation days they usually were paid for and gave up their flexible spending account and took pay cuts. This contract includes a 2% salary increase and $160 deposit into Flex Spending Account;
• Approved Domino’s Pizza bid for the 2014-15 school year over the second bid from Benito’s Pizza Corp. Both vendors were used last year. Domino’s meets all the nutritional requirements to qualify as a reimbursable meal. The Benito’s proposal, filled out by the corporate office not the local store, was incomplete in its information, according to Food Service Director Jennifer Yee;
• Approved the second reading and adoption of Board Policy revisions, made necessary by changes in state and federal laws. Trustee Scott Russell, who had presented the revisions from the committee, was not present because he was stuck in a flooded freeway and couldn’t get to the meeting. President Mikulski filled in and made the presentation;
• Approved naming Andrew Lindsay as the new assistant principal for Owen Intermediate School beginning the 2014-15 school year. He presently is Dean of Students at McBride. The one-year contract pays $90,535, plus the usual fringe benefits;
• Heard a PowerPoint report from Athletic Director Jon Zajac on the results of the 2013-14 BHS athletic season;
• Approved the McBride Middle School field trip request for about 100 eighth graders to travel by bus to Washington, D.C. April 21-25 with their cost all paid by the students at $614 each;
• Approved the retirement of custodian Robert Hinchliff, 16 years; the resignation of custodian James Fogarty, one year; and the resignation for relocation of bus driver Kelly Mull, six years;
• Approved the hiring of tech specialist Jesse Johnson at Belleville High School starting July 30;
• Approved the resignations of teachers Kristin Rahn, 14 years, BHS; Erin Knotts, 4 years, Savage; Paul Petrimoulx (relocating), 14 years, McBride; and Vivian Taylor, 1 year, Haggerty;
• Approved the new hires of three BHS teachers: Alyssa Gipson, Joel Garcia, and Deborah Kummer; and
• Heard Frazier say that she went to the Wayne County Fair and saw representatives of the Plymouth Canton schools recruiting students for openings in their Kindergarten, first, and second grades. “If we had a PR person it would have been covered for us,” Frazier said, adding she would like to have the Van Buren School District go out and recruit new students since that is what brings in the money from the state for school operation. “We have to avail ourselves of all opportunities,” she said.
The meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., started and went right into closed-door session with school district attorney Bill Blaha. The board was scheduled to consider an attorney/client letter and negotiations with secretaries. At 7:25 p.m. the board returned to the meeting room and the 47-minute regular meeting began.