VB School Board plans for new bond issue

At the April 28 regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, consultant Rob Kakoczki of Plante Moran Realpoint, gave an update on plans that would end up with a bond on the ballot in November.
He said it would be about $76 million and would be issued in three series, in 2026, 2028, and 2030. It won’t increase the millage rate for voters, he said.
The district is currently winding up projects from its 2019 bond issue.
He said they have to submit a request to the state for the bond vote by May 28 and at the June 9 board meeting it needs to be approved and then sent to the state. On July 14 or 28 the board would pass a resolution setting an election in November.
They are still working on the exact amount that would be requested, based on projects at the school.
He listed projects at all the schools in the district, including a four-classroom addition to the Early Childhood Development Center, which has a waiting list, and a new football scoreboard at BHS, and renovation of the media center.
At Haggerty School, the plan is to demolish all or part of the vacant building to make way for moving all of the district service operations onto one site, including the bus garage, warehouse, and main IT data room.
Board president Amy Pearce said they have talked about buying property along W. Columbia Ave. in the future, so the administration building could be moved out to the street to free up space for the high school.
Board vice president Dionne Falconer asked if they will be able to work around tariffs and School Supt. Pete Kudlak said they are putting escalation dollars in the bond. Kakoczki said, unfortunately, no one knows how the tariffs will affect the building. They could plan for higher building costs than it turns out to be and then end up with extra money for additional projects.
In other business at the one-hour-54-minute meeting on April 28, the board:
• Recognized the BHS Robotics Club for its trip to the world championships in Texas and the girls varsity basketball team for winning the state championship;
• Approved the May 12-15 JROTC Boot Camp field trip to Fort Custer Training Center in Augusta, MI. Cost is $40 each for the about 55 students in grades 9-12 participating;
• Heard Kakoczki explain the $285,914 plan to replace door hardware at Edgemont and Rawsonville schools to support secure access systems. It will be using 2019 bond funds and will be voted upon at the next board meeting. The lone bidder was LaForce, LLC;
• Heard director of plant operations James Williams and consultant Kakoczki report on the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools project, a division of Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan, to offer accessible clinic and mental health services directly to the school community. Total cost and fees is $608.570, including $110,703 for contract manager Davenport Brothers Construction, which will manager the ten contractors invovled. This project will change the media center’s storeroom area into the clinic. It will be voted on at the next board meeting. The work is through a mental health grant;
• Approved Schools of Choice for the 2025-26 school year, offering an unlimited number of openings in all grade levels from May 20 to Sept. 25. Director of instruction Jeff Moore said they do not allow new students who have had out-of-school suspensions or expulsions. The schools of choice students do not get to choose their elementary school and siblings are kept together. Pearce asked what percent of the students are schools of choice and how that has changed over the last five years. Moore said it remained about 13%. He said he will do a presentation to the board on the subject. Reg Ion called out from the audience that the board should vote no on schools of choice, but “I know you won’t.” Pearce said, “If you’re going to speak at my meeting, you’ll fill out a card,” and Ion refused to fill out a card;
• Approved 21 updates to the Board Policy as presented at the previous meeting;
• Approved the purchase of four general-education diesel buses from the general fund and two general-education electric buses through a Clean Air Fund grant that includes charging stations in the total amount of $1,566,330 from Hoekstra in Grand Rapids. The district follows a bus replacement program to replace the district buses every eight years to keep the fleet in good working order. To maintain the program, the district purchases six buses a year;
• Accepted the resignation Chelsea Mittlestat, a paraprofessional for five years, as of April 21; and accepted the hiring of Michelle Smolarski for BHS food service as of April 14;
• Heard resident Kathy Wasser tell the board her concerns about how the school discipline policy is being administered, especially in the elementary schools where administrators do not back up the teachers. She said she looked for a student handbook on the district website and could only find one from 2022-23. She said the handbook says, “Parents are responsible for the attitude and conduct of their students.” She said students disrespect the teachers and get away with it. Supt. Kudlak said he would call Wasser to answer her questions and they will make sure the website has the right handbook;
• Heard Moore report a new literacy program is being developed for grades K-6 for this coming school year. He said the robotic arm the district got in 2019 is broken and needs to be fixed or replaced. The cosmetology class grand opening is May 6 and E sports finals are under way, he said;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak report May 16 is the only home game for the new flag football team and board vice president Falconer was honored with a distinction award from the Michigan Association of School Boards for the many classes she has taken. He said a new after-school community education program will start next school year for students and adults. It will include art, clubs, basketball, acquatics, and other things, for an hour for a fee. He said the district will take over its latch-key program that had been run by a private company; and
• Heard trustee David Shall ask for the results of student testing after it is done. Moore said they are not allowed to release the results until August and he will share the results then.