Keystone board signs agreement with Arbor Prep for high school

Students who finish the eighth grade at Keystone Academy in Sumpter Township now have an increased opportunity of getting into Arbor Preparatory High School in Ypsilanti for classes this fall.
Arbor Prep at 6800 Hitchingham Road opened in 2011 and describes itself as a “no-cost college prep with a moral focus program.”
It is one of the four PrepNet high schools in the state, with others in Kentwood, Grand Rapids, and Taylor. Keystone could seek individual matriculation agreements with each school, which is a possibility.
At the Feb. 13 meeting of the Keystone Academy Board of Directors a matriculation agreement was signed that guarantees Keystone students an increased opportunity to get into Arbor Prep high school.
The board passed the agreement quickly in order to give parents a chance to hit the Feb. 28 deadline for Arbor Prep’s drawing for seats. Keystone has no high school classes so its 81 eighth graders will be going on to a high school somewhere else.
Keystone students have no guarantee that they will get a seat at Arbor Prep, but they will have a preference if there are more applicants than seats available.
Chris Caulk, Keystone’s National Heritage Academy representative, said the preference for student seats at Arbor Prep will be: 1. Siblings; 2. Children of staff and board members, and 3. Matriculation agreement students.
Caulk spoke to the board by speakerphone since he is recovering from a ruptured disc in his neck.
In other business at the Feb. 13 meeting, the board:
• Distributed new Common Core textbooks for students in grades six, seven, and eight, so board members could take them home to study. There is some concern that the textbooks have not been properly vetted and might not be appropriate for Keystone students;
• Reappointed Vesta Losen and Amy Gusfa to serve additional board terms of three years to expire in June of 2017. The appointments also must be approved by Bay Mills Community College and National Heritage Academy;
• Appointed Plante Moran to do the 2013-14 financial audit;
• Approved the meeting calendar for the 2014-15 school year, with most meetings at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month;
• Approved offering 781 student seats for the 2014-15 school year, the same as for this school year. Presently there are 288 on the waiting list;
• Learned 60% of the students at Keystone have a Van Buren Public Schools district of origin;
• Approved paying about $700 from the Board Fund for a field trip;
• Heard Principal Keturah Godfrey say the school is looking to go to a trimester schedule in the next school year, using 12 weeks for instruction instead of 9 weeks;
• Heard Godfrey report that the MEAP scores report is available for study but embargoed. She said Keystone could put a smiley face on its report, which will be released in a few months;
• Heard Caulk announce that in 2014 NHA will be improving internet and wireless in all its schools and in 2015 will be looking at Chromebooks instead of refreshing desktops and laptops;
• Discussed the more formalized accelerated learners process that is now more based on data; and
• Learned of the 10 snow days taken this winter, six are forgiven by the state and Keystone is required to make up just two. It will do so by having students come in on what was scheduled to be a professional development day and, for the second, move parent conferences to evening hours and have students come in during the day. “I hope it doesn’t snow,” Godfrey said.