School Board OKs buying cellular hotspots, WiFi access points

Virtual students in the Van Buren Public Schools will be able to pick up their new homework assignments and upload their classwork to their teachers even if their families don’t have internet or if they live in a neighborhood with poor cellular service.
At Monday’s Zoom meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, the board approved purchase of 200 cellular hotspots with unlimited service for two years for students who don’t have connectivity at home.
Sean Garland said AT&T has provided this for students at a cost of $20 per month each, which is $4,000 per month the school will pay. The cost is $98,000 for the two years. There is no cost for the hardware if the service is maintained for two years. If the district cancels the agreement before two years it still will have to pay for the hardware, at a cost of $3.55 per month for the remaining months. The district will own the units at the end of the two years.
Garland said the hardware could be used in the future if they started up the service again.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said they could use the COVID money they already have to pay for the service. Garland said he believes the hardware cost has to be paid through the two years and can’t be paid in advance.
“This is for cellular connection to the internet,” Garland said. “Some students don’t have good cell service.”
When asked how they came up with the 200-unit number, Garland said 105 students who were questioned said they didn’t have internet and that may be high or low from the actual number.
He said the district has encouraged families to get the inexpensive internet service, if possible. Some are truly in need and can’t afford that $10 a month, so these hot spots are for them, paid for by the school district.
Supt. Kudlak said if the district has to close up and go all virtual in the future, these will be good to have. They will have filters as required to get federal funds.
Garland also proposed parking lot WiFi access points from Sentinel Technologies at a total cost of $12,572, which was approved unanimously by the board.
Garland said the access points will be installed inside the building with an external directional antenna that will provide wireless signal across a parking lot allowing students to park and work from their vehicles.
He said once COVID is over and school gets back to normal, the district can then attach omni-directional antennae and utilize the equipment elsewhere.
Garland said the new Early Childhood Development Center is the first target for reinstallation as they will be purchasing more of this equipment for the new building anyway.
The equipment will be installed to enable WiFi access in the Belleville High School parking lot and up to four other lots throughout the district, as determined. There is flexibility, he said.
He said the access points will go out about 300 feet from the high school, the first few parking spaces from the building.
Supt. Kudlak said the WiFi access could be placed geographically, with possible locations at Rawsonville and Tyler elementaries.
A question from the virtual audience said that there are signed agreements to pay for the Chromebooks being distributed if they are lost and suggested there be similar agreements for the hotspots.
In other business at Monday’s one-hour-and-12-minute Zoom meeting, the board:
• Considered four bids for Material Testing Consulting for the 2019 bond projects, starting first with the Early Childhood Development Center construction. Director of Plant Operations James Williams said he will bring a recommendation to the Sept. 28 meeting for a vote. Williams explained that the company selected will provide quality control as to soil, stone, concrete and other items and will bill on time and material used. Supt. Kudlak said they are bringing this information now with a possible vote at the next meeting. Also, at the next meeting will be Bid Package 1, which they will present and hope to get a vote on it at that meeting. He said they can’t do two meetings on this bid package because they have to get some things done before the frost hits. He said if the board doesn’t want to approve the bid package for some reason, it can be delayed and they will deal with it;
• Approved terminations of the following teachers: Eyonna Tredway of Rawsonville Elementary, after six years of service as of Sept. 10 for personal reasons; Jennifer Bare of McBride Middle School as of Aug. 25 for lay off; Amanda Mitchell of Rawsonville Elementary as of Aug. 31 after one year of service, for a job opportunity; Melisa Hiuser of Owen Intermediate as of Sept. 1 after one year of service for a resignation; Jaclynn Behrendt of Tyler Elementary as of Sept. 2 for a job opportunity; and Mark Scarbrough of Owen Intermediate as of Sept. 2 after one year of service for a job opportunity. Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun said the teachers who left after one year of service had been laid off and most left for other jobs;
• Approved hiring the following teachers: Stacy Flynn for McBride Middle School as a Resource Room Teacher; Tiffany Kelly for Belleville High School, recalled from layoff; Laura Fleming for Owen Intermediate School, recalled from layoff; Jonathan Mayers for BHS as a chemistry teacher; Lori Puma for Tyler Elementary School as a third-fourth grade teacher; Nicholas Porambo for BHS as a math teacher; Kristen Smith for Edgemont Elementary as a fourth-grade teacher; Anthony Ploucha for BHS as a science teacher; and Emily Mills for BHS as an English teacher. Supt. Kudlak said because 60% of the students are coming to school in person, more teachers had to be hired and called back from layoffs;
• Approved terminations of non-instructional staff: Denise Weick, transportation, after 31 years of service, for retirement; Teresa Caudill, transportation, after 21 years of service for retirement; Linda Dyer from Owen Intermediate, resignation after one year; Toni Suggs of Edgemont Elementary, resignation after three years; Carol Marcum, transportation, terminated after two years; Margaret Simon, transportation, resignation after one year; Ann Daugherty of Food Service, resignation after one year; and Amber Milkovich of Edgemont Elementary, resignation after three years;
• Approved hiring non-instructional employees: Jesse Clemons as a custodian as of Sept. 8 and Bret Roebuck as a groundskeeper as of Sept. 21;
• Heard Director Madyun report the redeployment of bus drivers who weren’t needed because of decreased bus routes. They have been assigned different duties, which allows them to keep their employees working until they can be drivers again. “Drivers are impossible to find,” Madyun said;
• Heard Karen Johnston report that she was excited for Monday’s first day of school. She also thanked the Rotary Club which gave supplies for the students to use;
• Heard Financial Director Sarah Cortese report she is looking at all the money available to pay for coronavirus expenses. Kudlak noted a lot of the funds have strings attached. He said the district has no idea what the state foundation allowance per student is yet. “It’s flying blind, with things we have to do for our staff and students.” Trustee Keith Johnston said, “… and we don’t know how many kids we have.” Cortese agreed, adding, “And, how we count them this year is messy.” Kudlak said he was upset with the leaders in Lansing. Cortese said the district budgeted for a 550-student loss this year;
• Heard Cortese announce that from 3 to 4 p.m. every school day at BHS any kid under the age of 18 can pick up a lunch. The pickup place has changed from the summer location and now is at the D-2 west athletic entrance. Whether they are in the district or not, parents are required to register lunch requests on the district website. She said there were 180 lunches registered for the first day of school;
• Heard board president Amy Pearce ask if there will be a ground-breaking for the new Early Childhood Development Center, where board members can use shovels and wear hard hats. “It would be cool to have a little ceremony,” she said. Williams said he would talk to Granger about it; and
• Heard Kudlak announce a staff member tested positive over the weekend and that person is off now, following the protocol. The person had no symptoms. The person alerted the district on Saturday and on Sunday the district cleaned everything in that staff member’s building and let the rest of the staff know.