The husband of a Keystone Academy science teacher is a Detroit Police officer who is in an induced coma in Beaumont Hospital, Dearborn, where he was taken after being shot in the head in the line of duty late at night on April 30.
Nicole Johnson is off on leave from her teaching duties to be with her husband and Keystone teachers and students are doing fund raisers to buy different kinds of cards for the family, such as for gas and other items.
There also is a GoFundMe page set up by the family’s older son Arin to help with the expenses. Arin writes on the page that he was in New York City preparing for another semester at college when he got the news that his father had been shot.
Keystone Principal Keturah Godfrey explained the situation to the Keystone school board at its regular meeting May 11. She said doctors decided not to remove the bullet in Officer Johnson’s head and he is in an induced coma in stable, yet critical, condition.
Officer Johnson, a 14-year veteran of the police department, was responding to a domestic violence call by a woman on Joy Road near Wyoming when he was shot. He and the gunman exchanged fire and his partner, just six months out of the police academy, shot the gunman, who died.
There has been controversy on television news channels over why the ambulance crew took Officer Johnson to a Level 2 trauma center in Dearborn, when a Level 1 trauma center was closer.
More than 200 people have donated over $10,000 on the GoFundMe page.
The Johnsons have two other children besides Arin. Jaden, a high school sophomore, is taking honors classes and working out and training while hoping for a future in the NFL. Their little sister is Piper.
In other business at the May 11 annual meeting, the Keystone school board:
• Tabled approval of the 2016-17 final amended budget until line items could be entered the way the board thinks they should be by National Heritage Academies, which prepares the budget. A special school board meeting was set for 6 p.m., June 22 (instead of the scheduled June 8 meeting), at Kabob Garden Mediterranean restaurant in Belleville for a final vote on the amended budget. The amended budget is due to the state by June 30;
• Approved the 2017-18 initial budget proposal. A public hearing on this budget was held earlier in the meeting, with no public present;
• Approved the 2017-18 Parent Student Handbook that includes an updated section on the importance of Moral Focus by NHA founder JC Huizenga;
• Re-elected the same officers as are presently serving for another year: Vesta Losen, president; Susan Meland, vice president; Carol Manley, treasurer; and Connie Shull, secretary;
• Approved appointment of CS3 law firm, presently staffed by LaRae Munk and Candace Sorenson, as legal counsel for the 2017-18 school year;
• Approved appointment of the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act contact as Joe Sprys, NHA Director of Construction;
• Approved appointment of the NHA Partner Services Representative (currently Jeff Henders) as the Freedom of Information Act officer to respond to FOIA requests;
• Approved appointment of Keystone Principal Godfrey as coordinator of Title VI (civil rights/discrimination), Title IX (gender equity), and Section 504 (law requiring special accommodations to certain students). A coordinator is required by federal law;
• Heard Principal Godfrey say the award ceremony for graduating seniors at Belleville High School was held the previous evening and Keystone wasn’t informed and missed attending. She said, “We keep reaching out to Belleville … We are a viable part of this community.” President Losen said Keystone has been well represented in the top ten BHS graduates over the years;
• Heard Godfrey explain NHA’s new Teacher in Residence program that will bring four certified teachers to Keystone for the new school year to be ready to take over classrooms that become available or otherwise help with the total program until needed. She said three of the four positions have been filled, with one teacher a graduate from Keystone’s eighth grade;
• Heard Godfrey announce that Taiwo DaSilva has been hired to fill the 2017-18 Dean’s position that was opened. She also explained Cognitive Guided Instruction and Layered Learning. Godfrey announced that on May 5, Keystone PTO hosted Cosmic Bowling at Lodge Lanes and Keystone filled all 40 lanes. They were told that was the first time that had ever been done at Lodge Lanes; and
• Learned enrollment of 768 is expected for the first semester of the 2017-18 school year. Re-enrollment of 703 is expected, with a waiting list of 205.
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