The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education will hold an organizational meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 9, at Rawsonville Elementary School to swear in and seat newly elected board member Brent Mikulski and to elect board officers.
Incumbent Board President Martha Toth also was reelected to the board in November and will be sworn in again.
Thirty-fourth District Court Judge David Parrott will administer the oaths of office to the board members.
The 2012 organizational meeting was set during a long agenda at the Dec. 19 meeting.
In other business on Dec. 19, the board:
• Ratified the one-year (July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012) agreement with the Van Buren Administrators and Supervisors Association, which was ratified by VBASA on Dec. 12. The savings are expected to be $332,020. The agreement tightened up pay when not working, discontinued reimbursement for graduate hours as part of professional development, instituted 80/20 insurance premium payments with the employee paying 20%, insurance changed to HMO, added five work days for administrators, and agreed to step placements for the 2011-12 school year;
• Ratified the two-year (July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2013) agreement with the 38 members of the Van Buren Food Service Association, with an economic reopener for the 2012-13 school year. The agreement offers $96,490 in savings to the district and includes an insurance change to HMO, 20% payment of insurance premiums by employees, limitations on pay when not working, and agreement for unpaid snow days;
• Received information that in order to comply with the district’s request that all units make monetary concessions to address the district’s budget deficit, non-affiliated administrative staff have made concessions, as well, totaling an expected $147,015, including insurance change, 20% payment of premium, limiting sick days, eliminating three holidays, and unpaid snow days;
• Approved a resolution complying with Section 4 of PA 152, agreeing the district pays no more than 80% of medical insurance premiums, with the employees paying 20%;
• Heard information from Belleville High School Principal Michael Van Tassel on trimester scheduling;
• Heard a presentation by outgoing Board Trustee Robert Binert on a Facilities Usage Committee that he intends to be a part of after he leaves the board. The committee will deal with details of inviting the community into the new BHS for its usage;
• Approved the $19,861 bid of TEL Systems, low bidder of four, for the BHS football field sound system. An additional $575 was approved for a possible temporary installation if the underground conduits are found to be full of water and unusable until they thaw;
• Approved the bid of Peripheral Vision for $227,834.05 for BHS video network security equipment. This was the low bid of five with alternates, including replacing certain cameras with upgraded versions in the glass stairwells at a increased cost of $7,489.82 and labor and software for four additional viewing monitors at a cost of $800;
• Approved $2,183,556 for 12 bids for fixtures, furnishings, and equipment for BHS, including classroom furnishings, athletic equipment for the weight room and other athletic equipment, lounge furniture, music and art equipment, and other;
• Was advised of construction change orders approved by School Supt. Tom Riutta, including additional fencing gates, administration building sidewalk replacement, additional plexipave track coating, gym wood floor rubber upgrade, bass controls for existing band wing, additional irrigation, west entrance fence and concrete, and edge light at stage door; and
• Heard a presentation by Curt Atchinson on the Drive One for UR School promotion by which Atchinson Ford earned money for the school. He presented the district with a check.