Keystone board approves W.D. Johnson as new board member

At its annual meeting on May 9, the Keystone Academy charter school board of directors interviewed William D. Johnson to fill a vacancy on the board and then voted unanimously to approve him for the position.
The appointment is expected to be approved by Bay Mills Community College and National Heritage Academy, which manages the charter school.
Johnson, 46, attended the Keystone meeting and the vote was taken after he left. He will be replacing former State Rep. and attorney Deborah Whyman who has resigned from the board.
Johnson is an attorney who lives in Orchard Lake with his wife and 5-year-old daughter. He and his wife run Acclaim Legal Services, with five offices throughout the state that deal with bankruptcy.
He said he is interested in getting involved in charter schools and has been encouraged by two close relatives who are members of other boards.
He told the Keystone board that he believes charter schools help develop children into prosperous young adults.
“A school system should be more than teaching ABCs and 1,2,3’s, but also to teach them to become successful adults who contribute to their communities,” he said.
He said he was very impressed with his recent visit to Keystone where children were very well-behaved and well-mannered as they walked the hall. He said he noticed the children walked with their arms folded, which keeps “idle hands” from getting into trouble.
Johnson said he is a delegator by nature and encourages people who work for him to think outside the box. He said his wife, who is not an attorney, works for him and they ended up in therapy after being together for long hours, working and living together.
“I fired my wife in an unkind way several times,” he recalled. He said the therapist helped him and his wife understand that they are the two perfect people to be together because he can see the big picture and she is the doer that can make it happen.
“It made our marriage and our business stronger,” he said.
In other business at its May 9 meeting, the board:
• Re-elected Vesta Losen as president and Susan Meland as secretary and elected Carol Manley as treasurer and Amy Gusfa as vice president;
• Appointed the representative from National Heritage Academy, Chris Caulk, as the Freedom of Information Act officer;
• After a public hearing, approved the proposed $5.7 million budget for 2013-14 and the $5.8 amended budget for 2012-13. The board was advised by attorney Lorraine Monk that the state legislature is considering a change in the per-pupil state aid, which currently is $7,151 for Keystone, so the proposed budget figure is “nothing more than a really good guess”;
• Approved Plante Moran as the new auditor to start in June and reappointed Lorraine Monk as the board attorney;
• Discussed the Third Quarter Financial Statement that showed student participation down significantly in food service. Principal Keturah Godfrey said the school is serving more nutritional food, but the kids aren’t ordering as much. She said the food is better for the children, but they don’t like it and if they aren’t in the free and reduced lunch category, they are bringing packed lunches to school;
• Approved allocating $9,500 in board funds to buy low brass/woodwind musical instruments for the band and to rent out the larger instruments to the students to help pay for their maintenance. The band director said presently the school has what he calls a “melody band” with flutes and trumpets, but it doesn’t have any of the lower range sounds. He said renting a flute was significantly cheaper than renting a tuba. He said the school owns percussion instruments, but the students rent the rest at an outside music store;
• Discussed the University of Parenting put together by the School Improvement Team that features six different workshops on how to be better a helping with homework and other skills for parents. If parents attend five of the six sessions, they will get a shirt and a diploma;
• Heard attorney Monk explain one of the laws that changed in December 2012 that says if a building is owned by a school it is tax exempt for school taxes. That will be in the new budget and will save the school about $20,000 in taxes, down from last year’s $80,000. The school still will pay township taxes and other taxes, but not school taxes; and
• Heard Principal Godfrey note that eighth-grade graduation is June 11 and school is in session until June 14.