Keystone awards $1,000 scholarships to Logan Cox, Aisha Moreno

Keystone Academy is awarding two, $1,000 scholarships to students who had attended the K-8 charter school and gone on to graduate from a local high school.
At the May 12 regular meeting of the Keystone Board of Directors, it was announced there were ten very good essays written in the competition and the two winners chosen were Logan Cox and Aisha Moreno, both graduating from Belleville High School.
The awards were announced during a BHS awards session and the checks will be presented to the graduates at Keystone during eighth grade graduation ceremonies June 9.
In other business at the May 12 meeting, the board:
• Held its annual meeting and budget hearing for the 2022-23 school year. The board reelected Vesta Losen as president, Steve Harsant as vice-president, and Charlene Derrick as secretary/treasurer. The board also appointed Andrew Roth of National Heritage Academies as FOIA officer, CS3 Law as board legal counsel, NHA director of facilities Tom Brennan as the AHERA contact, and Keystone Principal Jorvonna Drain as Title VI, Title IX, and Section 504 contact;
• Heard president Losen say that the state will be hard on charter schools if they have a chance and, “We should do what we can” to follow the state’s every direction on getting the governmental funds. She said they should have a board member at all meetings on ESSER funds. “There’s a line that’s drawn when you’re a charter school and we need to go the extra mile,” Losen said;
• Approved the 2021-22 audit letter of engagement with Adam C. Young;
• Approved the 2022-23 initial budget proposal as presented;
• Approved $1,500 to help pay for two pieces of equipment for Family Fun Night, an August back-to-school event for families to meet the teachers and have fun. The event includes bounce houses, wipeout, face painters, computer games, and laser tag;
• Approved $5,500 to pay for renting two places for almost 200 students each time to celebrate students who check in after completing the summer learning workshops. The first check-in will be for those who completed half the workbook and required online minutes. The second check-in is for those who complete the second half of their workbooks. To encourage and motivate the students, they are treated the first time to Sky Zone for trampoline fun and the second time to Zap Zone Canton;
• Heard Principal Drain announce that the school is concentrating on enrollment and has designed a mailer that will be sent out in May and July to addresses with children in 21 subdivisions in the Ypsilanti and Belleville area. Those subdivisions were chosen because they are less than four miles away from the school and a lot of the children who live there don’t attend Keystone;
• Heard Drain announce that they were just completing a two-day event — Arts, Beats, and Sweets — during which there were musical performances using recorders, singing, ukuleles, and bucket drumming; and
• Was provided with a long list of events until the last day of school on June 10. Drain said the school has pretty much been closed for two years and now there are a lot of events to come to. “It’s nice to have families back in the building,” she said.