The official groundbreaking for construction of the new Belleville High School will be at 6 p.m. April 19, although contractors are actually expected to begin moving dirt during Easter break.
At Monday’s special school board meeting, which turned into an almost four-hour marathon before a standing-room-only crowd, the board approved the bid of Verde Terre, 7994 Belleville Road, to start the site work.
Plante-Moran CRESA representative Paul Wills said the work has been broken up into 12 sections and bids on the other 11 sections will be recommended to the school board over the next few board meetings. All the bids were opened March 23.
Verde Terre, with a bid of $3,564,000 was the lowest qualified bidder of eight bids.
Blade Action, Inc., with a bid of $1,116,999 and D&R Earthmoving at $2,870,000 withdrew their bids after meetings on the scope of the work with Granger Construction, which is overseeing the project. Davenport Brothers of Belleville was the high bidder at $5,120,000.
Verde Terre’s bid was below the estimate and Trustee Martha Toth said, “We are saving money overall and we give it to a local business. It’s win-win.”
Closing Alternative Ed. Site
In other business at Monday’s meeting, a great deal of discussion was held on plans to close the alternative education site and, also, to send most of the career technology students to Wayne-Westland for classes next school year.
The board voted to do both and also voted to send layoff notices to the teachers at both sites in advance of the April 1 legal deadline for such notices.
A plan to educate the alternative education students in a special program at the high school next school year will be presented to the board at its May 10 meeting.
A large number of alternative education students, their parents and teachers were present at the meeting to plead with the board not to close the existing program, which is housed in portable units next to the vocational technology building on Sumpter Road.
School Supt. Riutta started the discussion by explaining that the awarding of credits at the alternative education program was not in sync with the high school and the curricula must be aligned.
He said the district was notified by RESA that some students were not appropriately counted and the district lost $145,000.
The proposal is to shut down the program for a year to make sure a quality program is in place so the students turn out every bit as capable as those at BHS, Riutta said.
He said the district has not stocked the alternative education program in technology or textbooks and, “Portables are not the answer.”
He said the closing is not presented as a cost savings but because it is not working. He said some things that went on a year ago at the site, shouldn’t have and “We need a different mindset.”
“It’s easier to start over than to patch up the mishmash we have,” Riutta said.
It was noted the program no longer gives credit for community service.
Trustee Bob Binert said there are 164 students in alternative education, with 29 graduating. There are about 30 out-of-district students.
Once the new school is built, the plan is to have a school within a school there for the alternative education students.
Trustee Binert said the alternative education program was opened too quickly and without the support of the school board to handle it properly.
“We were distraught over the number of kids we were kicking out of school who had nowhere to go,” said Trustee Toth, adding they recreated a problem they tried to solve.
“In a couple of years, we’re going to open a brand-new high school for 2,000 students and we need to have a quality education,” said Board President David Peer. “The alternative education program is not doing what it should … The best thing is to start over.”
“We are just closing the building, not shutting down opportunities for the kids,” said Trustee Toni Hunt.
When the parents got a chance to talk, they said earlier that day their tearful children called them from school to say, “Mom, they’re closing our school.”
Then, one by one, parents and students spoke of the positive things they’ve gotten out of the program and said they didn’t want them back at the high school, where they are looked down upon.
Assistant Principal Larry Warren said he agrees the program needs improvements, but he didn’t think it should be closed down, suggesting it be run as a night school.
“Keep it open and see if we can improve it,” Warren said, adding he spent some time there and there are no supplies or textbooks and he doesn’t like the profanity. He said he told the students – black and white alike – to stop the ghetto talk, because you can’t go out in a workforce and talk that way.
Teachers said they bought computers and textbooks for their students out of their own money.
The program, which officially was closed with the vote, will be discussed at the May 10 meeting. The current program will stay in place until the end of this school year.
The vote was 6-1, with Binert voting not to close the program, after agreeing there were problems.
Binert also was the only one voting no on the layoffs of the alternative education staff: Amber Berryman, Tim Hyde, Stephanie Karlinski, Stephanie Kears, Abdul Madyun, Michael Schwartz, William Spinks, Felicia Weathers, and Trudy Van Den Broeke.
Career Education to Westland
In a related action, the board voted unanimously to send many of the career education students to the William B. Ford Center in the Wayne-Westland school district next fall because they have better facilities for the students.
School Supt. Riutta called the program, “one of the best in the state.”
Some programs, such as accounting and financing, marketing, and business, will remain at BHS.
The Van Buren Schools have a budget of $752,000 for Career Technical Education and it will be paying Wayne-Westland slightly less than $2,000 per student, not including transportation. It is expected they will send about 150 students to the Ford Center.
Trustee Kevin English said he wanted to keep the construction trades in the district, perhaps to work on rehabbing houses.
The board voted to issue layoff notices, effective June 30, to CTE teachers George Buhro, John Blackhall, Henrietta Stover, Robert Hinderer, Don Borgerding, Michael Barnes, Karl Vanzile, Brooklyn Dobis, Alice Davis, Daniel Bobee, James Williams, John Seefeld, Marcus Hosman, and Jason Butka.
In other business Monday, the board:
* Approved filling the spots of three seats available to the district in the bylaws of the Belleville-Sumpter-Van Buren Area Substance Abuse Task Force, currently known as RACY. They will be the superintendent or his designee, a school board member, and a building administrator. Edgemont Principal Karen Mida has been attending the meetings as the lone representative of the district for five years. Appointments will be for one-year;
* Approved budget amendments for the 2009-10 fiscal year’s $52.6 million budget, as presented by Financial Director Nick Armelagos, who said there is $380,000 left in the fund balance and he hopes to hit the end of the year in June without a deficit. The district could be $4 million in the hole next year. He said from 80 to 100 districts statewide are filing deficit reduction plans with the state and Van Buren will have to do that, too, if things don’t change. He pointed out according to current figures the district will be getting $433 less per student from the state, a loss of about $2,386,953 (also assuming a loss of another 100 students next fall). Trustee Toth said the $1.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds sprinkled around the budget, “shows how much we were saved by the feds.” Armelagos said that will only be for another year and then it’s gone;
* Approved elimination of the high school computer course requirement because online learning experience is now required by the state and this will be incorporated into other coursework;
* Approved elimination of the requirement of eight semesters of attendance (seat time) for a diploma, as newly directed by the state, and base eligibility for graduation instead on demonstration of eligibility. This means students can test out of a course and, possibly, could get four years of credit for three years of attendance;
* Unanimously voted to cancel the scheduled April 12 meeting due to a lack of agenda; and
* Heard Trustee English again ask that the sound system at the cafeteria be fixed so people can be heard when school board meetings are held there. He also said that former school board member Ralph Nodwell had asked for a grant writer for the district paid on a commission, “And we should get one real soon.”