Keystone Academy board reports on recent NHA symposium

Three members of the Keystone Academy Board of Directors gave their impressions of the recent National Heritage Academies’ annual symposium they recently attended.
Board members Kim Kowalski and Christine Mihaly, who were sworn in in August, and Steven Harsant, who has been on the board for more than two years and now serves as vice president, said they were very impressed with the information offered.
Board president Vesta Losen asked the newer board members to speak about the symposium since two of them had never been to one before.
Kowalski said her children had been through Keystone and she knew the school from a parent’s point of view, but the NHA information was new and interesting to her. She said she had been to a lot of symposiums, but this one was stimulating and made her want to go out and do something.
Mihaly said NHA excited her. She said she was wondering what she would do when she retires from her current position and now she is interested in getting involved with NHA.
She said when her children first came to Keystone she was interested in the school because of the expectation for education for her children. The NHA symposium helped her to understand the other side. She was impressed that everyone who spoke had the same goals and said the same things.
Harsant said he especially enjoyed listening to the CEO of the company, J.C. Huizenga, and hearing his commitment to charter schools.
Huizinga owns many companies and Harsant said he was surprised that Huizinga listed each one in his talk. Huizinga said he could sell any of them, but not NHA, which he’ll hold on to until the end.
“This means something to me,” he said of the charter schools.
In discussion later in the meeting, Harsant said he thought high-achieving students need something to stimulate them. He said a friend said he is sending his kids to the Van Buren schools because they have gifted and talented programs and an honors program.
Principal Jorvonna Drain said Keystone has advanced classes for students and, “Our curriculum is very, very rigorous.”
Kowalski and Mihaly said when students graduate from Keystone and go on to high school in Van Buren they are automatically put into the honors English class because they have already read many of the books required in the regular English classes.
“We have been reluctant to brag,” said NHA representative Andrew Roth. “We should start bragging a little more.”
“It’s not a matter of boasting. Scores are scores,” said Harsant.
President Losen pointed out that scores of 50% proficient are better than others, but still aren’t good enough.
The board approved setting enrollment for the 2023-24 school year at 768, which was the set enrollment for this school year. Current enrollment is 625. The school has a maximum enrollment of 804, grades Y5 through 8.
Roth said when he was first assigned to Keystone in 2019 there was a waiting list. Since COVID there has been no waiting list.
He said a count of 690 kids are projected after the Feb. 15 student count and will bring $6.1 million to $6.2 million at $9,100 for each student. The first count day was Oct. 4.
“We hope to get the kids back,” Roth said.
The board also approved the amended budget for the school year.
Roth said revenue is down because the enrollment is down and NHA is filling a $300,000 hole. He said there are no layoffs for this and also there were no layoffs during COVID.
Roth said there is talk of “missing kids” that don’t show up at any schools and, “Some kids are just missing nationwide.”
Principal Drain said NHA schools in Canton and Plymouth have increased enrollments. She said there is talk that birthrates are down.
Roth said parents are shopping around and are going in and out of schools.
Losen said there are about a dozen NHA schools within driving distance and parents are applying to all of them to see where they can get in. It gets complicated, she said.
“School-age kids are down in Michigan,” Losen said.”
In other business at the Nov. 10 meeting, the board:
• Heard Principal Drain report the percent of free and reduced lunch students is up from 46% last year to 50% this year. Van Buren Public Schools have 56% reduced lunch students;
• Was informed Keystone won the Best Youth Organization scarecrow award in the contest put on by the City of Belleville. The scarecrow was made by 20 students in Miss Karpinski’s art club;
• Learned there now are two staff vacancies: a 7/8 science teacher and a social worker;
• Heard Losen say she wanted the board members to meet with the board attorney for an educational session. It is tentatively set for Jan. 12 after a brief regular meeting; and
• Discussed the marketing Christmas gifts for 72 staff and board members which will be delivered the week of Dec. 19. They had money left in the budget for that, so they will present a luncheon for employees on Friday, Jan. 13, after winter break. They decided to see if they could order through Firebird Foods in Belleville, because they like to buy locally.