VBPS hears report on Boys & Girls Club groups

At the Jan. 27 regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, Alise Dixon, chief program officer of Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan, explained some of the classes the club has brought to Belleville High School and McBride Middle School.
She said real-world experts are helping find career paths for students, with less school work. She said they teach students what is really going on in the workplace, which doesn’t always follow what is in books.
She spoke of robotic coding, eSports, technology, and skill-based programs.
BHS senior Madison Delano spoke about how she signed up for a class because she had an opening in her schedule and she found what was offered was very involved and interesting.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said the Boys & Girls Club had been part of the district for many years, mainly at Edgemont Elementary School, but with the recession and COVID it closed.
Now the program is providing a lot of materials and people and the district doesn’t pay them anything, but allows them to use school space, he said.
School board member Victor DeLibera said his main focus at the school has been robotics and what she was saying about what the club was doing with robotics was news to him.
“We need to have a conversation,” he said and Dixon agreed to talk to him.
Also, when Dixon spoke about the special class for boys only, called “Passport to Manhood,” BHS Principal Nicole Crockett was surprised. She said she would like to talk to Dixon about that class and how what is taught there can be continued.
In other business at the Jan. 27 meeting, the board:
• Received certificates and gifts from Wayne County RESA to celebrate January as School Board Member Recognition Month;
• Approved a resolution saying this district supports federal legislation for full funding of the 50-year-old IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) program for the disabled. Supt. Kudlak said there was supposed to be full funding from the start, but that never happened. Supporters of more money to support this are taking the resolutions passed by school boards to show the local support and to ask Congress to fund it;
• Approved the 19-page School Board Operating Procedures for 2025. Pearce said its good to review how public comment is taken only at two places on the agenda. She said she has been lax and has responded to people raising their hands to speak and she will no longer do that. She said people who wish to speak must fill out cards and hand it to the board. She said people can speak on subjects at the beginning of the meeting before the board discusses and votes on an issue or at the end after they have decided. She said the board goes over the operating procedures once a year;
• Approved up to $20,000 in additional funds for Tyler Elementary to fix it so radios and cell phones will work properly there. Director of Plant Operations James Williams said that Savage had the worst issue and the quote was revised earlier. He said they actually need $17,864.74 for Tyler, but he rounded it off at $20,000 in case a little more is needed. The grand total of the district-wide radio upgrades, programming and cellular BDA DAS is $306,979;
• Heard board member DeLibera ask that budget line items be identified when money is being spent. He also noted this at the last meeting on another item. He told Finance Director Priya Nayak that he would sit down and talk to her about this at another time;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak announce that McBride’s VFW Patriot’s Pen Essay Winners were Donald DeYoung, who received a check for $500 for first place, and Nyemah Pettis, who received a check for $250 for second place. He also announced Braxtyn Monroe, a second grader, won first place in the Rawsonville Spelling Bee. Lucas Millard, a third grader, won second place;
• Accepted the resignation of Edgemont Speech Pathologist Lauren Trejo after less than a year of service as of Jan. 24;
• Approved hiring first grade teacher Hannah Paduchak for Edgemont Elemetnary School as of Feb. 3;
• Approved the resignations of Mikayla Mitchell as a Savage Elementary School paraprofessional, after less than a year of service, as of Jan. 16; and the resignation of Katina Hargrove as a bus driver after eight years of service as of Jan. 31;
• Approved the hiring of Joy Evans as a paraprofessional at Edgemont Elementary School as of Jan. 17 and Kyle Mattaush as a custodian in Building and Grounds at a starting date to be determined;
• Heard Kennedy Robinson, the student participant for the meeting, announce that student council members went to a leadership conference in Livonia and won the right to do presentations at the Grand Rapids state conference. She said the boys’ basketball team is undefeated and Kudlak said the boys’ bowling team also is undefeated;
• Heard Director of Student Services Julien Frazier announce that Connie Testorelli will be celebrated as Michigan Special Education Teacher of the Year for 2024-25 at the end of February in Grand Rapids. He also said the Unified Basketball team won its last game and lost the one before that. It will be playing at Little Caesars Arena this weekend;
• Heard Kudlak remind everyone that this Saturday the Van Buren Education Foundation event is at the BYC to earn funds for the schools. He also announced a girls flag football league is being formed by Candice Price;
• Heard Delibera say that in the future he will bring the information he has on various studies on lighting in the schools;
• Heard Pearce say this is the time of year where college decisions are being made by seniors and some are disappointed they were not chosen for the colleges they wanted. “You will end up where you’re supposed to be,” she said, adding it is a very competitive situation and they shouldn’t feel bad; and
• Went into closed-door session at the end of the meeting to consider reinstating student 24-25-004. After coming back into regular session the board voted to reinstate the student with conditions.
Board vice-president Dionne Falconer presided at the meeting. President Amy Pearce said she had thought she would not be present for this meeting, so she asked Falconer to preside. She said it would be good practice for Falconer, who was elected vice president at the last meeting.
Pearce said she actually will be gone for the next meeting, so Falconer will preside at the next meeting, as well.
Trustee David Shall was absent from the Jan. 27 meeting.