Keystone Academy swears in new board member Connie Shull

Connie Shull of Ypsilanti was sworn in as a new board member at Keystone Charter Academy at its board of directors meeting on Nov. 12.
Her term is three years and will expire in June 2018. Doing the swearing-in was the board’s attorney LaRae Munk.
Shull, who grew up in Belleville, taught for 18 years at Calvary Christian Academy in Ypsilanti and now teaches a four-year-old preschool class at Bethany in Belleville. Her husband works at L&W in Van Buren Township and they have two daughters in college.
She replaces board member Amy Gusfa who recently moved to Cincinnati for her husband’s work and also got a job there herself.
In other business at the Nov. 12 meeting, the board:
• Approved the Plante Moran audit of $6,048,737 in funds for the last school year. The Keystone board has control of just $53,696 of that total, with National Heritage Academies running the school. There was an “unmodified opinion,” which is the highest level. Treasurer Carol Manley said it is “what we would call a clean audit”;
• Heard Board President Vesta Losen report on information from state Sen. Pat Colbeck who said the State Board of Education is rethinking the Common Core standards for Social Studies and has put off passing legislation on them for another year until there can be more hearings. Sen. Colbeck and others presented a list of recommendations, some of which the board found valid. The Social Studies Standards are available on Sen. Colbeck’s website, along with his proposed changes. The state board accepted the Science Standards on Nov. 10;
• Approved the Freedom of Information Act policy. Munk said the information the school is required to give is already available on the transparency icon on the website. She said the teachers’ names and salaries are available through FOIA. “I don’t think that’s anybody’s business,” Munk said, but it is available through FOIA;
• Ratified the Criminal History Record Information registration form and ratified the agreement to process criminal background checks. New state regulations require charter schools to have another agency process background checks instead of doing it themselves, as in the past. Keystone now has a longterm agreement for the service with Presque Isle Academy in Onaway that can be cancelled at any time. There is no set-up fee and there is a charge of $20 per search. Keystone is now all set with the Michigan State Police on this. Public schools still can process their own criminal background checks ;
• Approved the Discipline Reporting Policy regarding the frequency of reporting. Statute requires the board to have information on disciplines;
• Heard a report from Principal Keturah Godfrey on Keystone activities and projects. The Veterans’ Day assembly had more than 1,000 present and 75 Care packages were sold at $15 each to send out to those in the military for the holidays. Among many other activities, eighth graders went to Wayne State University and Wayne County Community College and representatives from the University of Michigan came to the school. There also was a High School Fair, where school representatives came in; and
• Studied a list of the number of students at Keystone whose household home districts were listed. The most came from the Van Buren Public Schools, 533; then Lincoln Consolidated, 172; Romulus Community Schools, 31; School District of Ypsilanti, 28; Airport Community Schools, 26; Huron School District, 16; Wayne-Westland, 15; and eight other districts, with from 1 to 4 students each.