Van Buren School Board welcomes student board member Ivonna Goff

Ivonna Goff, president of the Belleville High School Class of 2025 and president of the student council, spoke to the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education from her seat at the board table as student board member at Monday’s regular meeting.
Ivonna said she also is part of the Michigan Association of School Boards’ board of delegates and just got back from Lansing. She said she is intent on leadership and instigating change.
Ivonna told of changes she is working on at the high school, including the Fusion class which features lessons in Spanish and French for 10 weeks to give them a taste of each before the students decide which language they wish to learn in depth.
Ivonna also is a member of the student advisory committee to School Supt. Pete Kudlak. She announced BHS Homecoming dance is Oct. 12 and Sept. 13 is the deadline for nominations for Homecoming King and Queen, which will be based on accomplishments, not be a popularity contest.
She said the new Cosmetology class is an outstanding hit at the high school, even though it is a two-hour block.
She spoke of other changes she would like to see in the district, such as the advanced AP class always filling up with students from Keystone Charter Academy and from Savage Elementary School, where the Gifted and Talented classes are held, but not from the other schools. She said she hopes to see that improved.
At the conclusion of her remarks, the school board and those in the audience applauded.
Board president Amy Pearce told Ivonna that she hopes Ivonna goes into education for her career since her enthusiasm and ideas are needed.
Also during Monday’s one-hour-40-minute meeting, the school board:
• Discussed the newly required mid-year evaluation of Supt. Kudlak. The board recently had attended three hours of training with the Michigan Association of School Board’s trainer to learn the new procedure. Supt. Kudlak spoke on the district’s five-year strategic plan and where they were. The new law went into effect on July 1 and the board will do the mid-year review in June next year. The regular evaluation of the superintendent is in December each year;
• Reviewed 110 board policy updates on 200 pages recommended by Thrun law firm. President Pearce said the policy committee met the previous Friday and she presented a summary of the changes from her 14 pages of notes. The updates will be brought back to the board for a vote at its next meeting;
• Approved the annual sixth-grade science camp Nov. 4-7 at YMCA Camp Copneconic in Fenton. There will be about 180 sixth-grade Owen Intermediate students and grade counselors from the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades. Cost to students is $225 each, and a fund raiser was available. Teacher sponsors are Jennifer Bias and Justin Bogrow;
• Approved the resignations of teachers Savannah Turner of Belleville High School after two years of service as of Aug. 19; teacher Brittany Stanko of the Early Childhood Development Center after two years of service as of Aug. 20; and Anthony Munoz of McBride Middle School after 19 years of service as of Aug. 16;
• Approved hiring the following instructional employees as of Aug. 28: Christina Braden, ECC, Great Start Readiness Program lead teacher; Aubrey Banning, ECC GSRP teacher; Haylee Dagnillo, ECC preschool lead teacher; Marshal Barker, BHS CI teacher;
• Approved hiring Lauren Trejo as Edgemont Elementary speech pathologist and Kaitlynn Brown as third-grade teacher at Tyler Elementary School, both as of Sept. 4;
• Approved the termination of Aaron McQuade from the transporation department after less than a year as of Aug. 22 and the resignation of William Cornell from the tech department after less than a year as of Aug. 26;
• Approved hiring the following non-instructional employees: Sydney Rosenblum for BHS student success coach as of Aug. 28; Martez Freeman as a school bus driver as of Aug. 26; VaLexus Woodard-Rumbley for BHS food service as of Sept. 3; Jay Rupnow for IT Tech in the tech department as of Sept. 3; Fidelia Johnson as a school bus driver and Brenda Chance as a bus aide, both as of Sept. 3; Lauren Rainey-Borgdorff as BHS attendance liaison and Judy Frentner as BHS student support specialist, both as of Aug. 28; and Aleisa Pitt as ECC Strong Beginnnings Family Liaison as of Aug. 29. Kudlak explained that Pitt, who just retired as Tyler principal, is filling in for a year for a teacher who is on maternity leave, and then she will retire again;
• Heard Financial Director Priya Nayak report that the auditors collected data last week and will report to the board in the second week of October. She said the district got $65,000 additional COVID money and was given a week to spend it, so they spent it on summer school. The actual amount of money from the state this year won’t be known until the end of the year, she said. Also, she said since the district got the grant for the electric buses, they will have them in a couple of months;
• Heard Curriculum Director Jeff Moore say the district now has five buildings with new administrators and the principal at Edgemont, who has been there for five years, has the most experience. He said the change in evaluation rules for the superintendent also reflects changes in evaluations of other employees. He said the Return to Learn law has been repealed;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak say the legislators think they are helping the schools when they make decisions and the schools buy the books they are supposed to have and then the legislators are gone after two years and the districts start over. He would like them to ask the professionals and students what is needed, not the legislators. Kudlak said what the schools need is “less Lansing”;
• Heard Kudlak note that students K-8 need a parent with them to attend a football game and the students will not be able to just be dropped off like in the past. High school students from any school wishing to attend the football game need to show their student ID, he said. Goff said since tickets are now available online, students’ whole ID is brought up at the gate when they are checked in; and
• Heard board member Calvin Hawkins say his heart goes out to Georgia in the wake of the school shooting. He said when he was young, the students did tornado drills and went to the corner of the room. Now, he said, they do active shooter drills. He said academics are important, but keeping the students and staff safe is most important. He said the district has cameras and special doors. He said he would be fine with spending $2 million to put an entrance in, so everybody is safe. Treasurer Simone Pinter said, “I’m all in favor of metal detectors.”