Keystone Board to take trip to Bay Mills to seek renewal of charter

Representatives of Keystone Academy Charter School are getting ready for their trip to the Upper Peninsula to visit Bay Mills Community College to seek a renewal of their charter.
At the April 13 meeting of the Keystone school board, Pat Victor, representative of Bay Mills, said the credentials Keystone is bringing to Bay Mills are very good and he expects a very good result.
Jeff Henders, representative of National Heritage Academies, said there is a board analysis essay to take to Bay Mills, along with a PowerPoint.
“Keystone is doing very well,” he said. “We are very excited to see our progress.”
The board unanimously approved the charter approval documents.
In other business at the April 13 meeting, the board:
• Learned there was 100% attendance for the conferences. Principal Keturah Godfrey said for the few who didn’t come in person, the conferences were done by phone;
• Heard Principal Godfrey report $6,000 was raised by Jump Rope for Heart, with two sisters raising $1,000 together;
• Learned total enrolled students at Keystone Young 5’s through 8th grade is 769 and the waiting list is 165;
• Was informed the 12th grade scores for math and reading posted by the Michigan Department of Education for Keystone is not correct, since it doesn’t have a 12th grade. That happened last year, too. “I can’t speak to where it came from,” said Henders;
• Approved new and revised board policies. Board members discussed in detail the Parent and Family Engagement Policy, noting 30% of the students are Title I students. “We do a really good job engaging our families,” said Principal Godfrey. If there is a problem with a special education student, they go to RESA and find offsite placement and then Title 1 Funds pay for transportation. As to Cyber Bullying, Godfrey said if students are bullied at home, that is difficult, but if school is involved, that’s a different story. “People are careless on social media,” Godfrey said. “If whatever is happening interferes with a student at school, action is taken,” she said. She said bullying is defined as “repeated targeting behavior of one person over the course of time.” But, she said, “as soon as it is repeated, we deal with it, but the frequency is not very high.” They also discussed Level 5 offenses, such as cursing and elbowing. The punishment is sitting for half a day doing nothing, which is incredibly boring and the offense seldom happens again. Level 6 offenses can result in long-term suspension and only three of them have happened since Keystone was started in the fall of 2003;
• Firmed up plans for board members to attend a conference in Washington, D.C.; and
• Made plans for Teachers’ Appreciation Week.