The St. Ignace Area Schools Board of Education moved forward with the district's millage appeal Monday, January 11, when it authorized Superintendent Mike Springsteen and Board President Jane Weiss to meet with attorneys, architects, and Department of Treasury representatives to seek approval to sell bonds for the "Energy, Technology, and Transportation" project for which the district will ask voters to approve a 0.55 mill tax during the May 4 election. The school board also learned state per-pupil funding is more favorable than anticipated this fall, learned that a team will visit the schools to assess its quality,

and heard the appeal of parents whose son had been suspended from class.

A citizens committee had recommended the millage to raise money for new buses, improvements to school technology, and the construction of a wood chip heating plant on the school campus at a meeting November 11.

If approved by voters, a 0.55 mill tax for 11 years would raise about $2.4 million to replace all of the district's buses, buy digital instruction boards for every classroom, buy a computer for each student in grades five through 12, buy a 30-computer laptop cart for kindergarten through grade four, and build an estimated $800,000 wood chip heating facility.

Mr. Springsteen and Mrs. Weiss will meet at the treasury offices in Lansing Thursday, January 21.

State Budget Cut of $127

Per Pupil Eliminated

The district's financial picture will improve following communication from the state budget office that the reduction in the district's foundation allowance of an additional $127 per pupil will not be necessary. The $165 per pupil reduction made earlier in the state's budget process will still stand.

"In an indirect way, that is a positive," Mr. Springsteen said. "That is a sign we are moving in a good direction."

District Business Manager Kathy McLeod said adding those revenues back into the 2010 budget would mean about $85,000 more than they planned for in the revised budget approved by the school board in November.

The district does not plan to use the additional funds to expand services or make any purchases, Mrs. McLeod said. Instead, St. Ignace Area Schools will let the reclaimed state aid funds help offset the district's planned budget deficit of $212,923, which would be reduced to a deficit of $127,923.

Assessment Team Visit Nears

A quality assurance review team from the North Central Association (NCA) and Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement will visit St. Ignace Schools February 1 through February 3 to evaluate the schools and provide a recommendation for district accreditation.

The team, comprised of individuals from NCA accredited schools across the country, will tour all three buildings on the school campus in St. Ignace and meet with students, staff, board members, and community members.

All three buildings, the elementary, middle, and high school, already have building-level accreditation with NCA, but representatives from the organization recently recommended that a district the size of St. Ignace seek a district-level accreditation, instead.

The process of accreditation is meant to stimulate growth as a district, Elementary Principal Kari Visnaw said, and to help administration measure the district's progress and find places in need of improvement.

"We've already reported on our practices, policies, and expectations," Mrs. Visnaw said. "Now we have outside individuals coming in to see if we are really doing what we say we are doing."

Another benefit of the district accreditation, she said, is that the review team can get a better picture of how the three schools function together and how the district works overall.

If St. Ignace Area Schools is recommended for accreditation by the team and that is approved by the NCA, they would require a progress report two years later outlining how the district has worked to meet the team's recommendations. The NCA accreditation lasts for five years before it must be renewed.

More important than the accreditation itself, Mrs. Visnaw said, is the benefit of having outside eyes coming in to look at how the school operates and offering suggestions and guidance on how to improve.

"One of the best things that will come from this is that students benefit from the process," she said. "It makes us commit ourselves to raise our achievement standards. We will have people coming in to hold us accountable for that."

Parents Ask Board

To Overturn Suspension

The parents of a senior asked that the school board overturn a decision made by high school Principal Don Gustafson to suspend their son one day after allegedly using chewing tobacco during school Wednesday, January 6.

Use, distribution of, or possession with intent to use tobacco on school grounds is a violation of the school's code of student conduct, as a tobacco-free school.

Proper channels were not followed in disciplining their son, they argued, and upholding the grade reduction stipulated by the school's student handbook would threaten their son's future success. His final grade for the marking period was reduced by 1/3 of a letter grade as a result of the suspension.

School board members told the parents they will consider the situation, and the board's policy committee planned to review the case at a special meeting Tuesday, January 19.

The mother said her son contends that, on January 5, his teacher had stuck a finger in her son's mouth to check it for chewing tobacco the student said was not there.

"I don't think it was right," she said. "By pulling his mouth open with his finger, that was wrong."

Mr. Gustafson said the reason for the grade reduction policy is to make the suspension process more fair, since on certain dates a student could miss a big grade like a test and on others, like when a substitute teacher is there, the student would not miss any graded classroom activities.

"The reason for that policy is to make sure there is uniformity in handing out discipline," he said. Students are allowed to make up anything that they miss when they are suspended, he said.

A second alleged disciplinary incident occurred Friday, January 15, when a teacher found a can of chewing tobacco in the student's pocket, at which time he was suspended from school until the parents have a chance to meet with Mr. Springsteen and discuss the incidents.