"Behind the Board" will deal with facts, not politics. The administration reports to the school board. Elected members of the board must answer to you. This blog will provide you the opportunity to participate and get answers.
The first issue I'd like to address is The Head Start Program that was proposed to be housed at Poupard Elementary School. First, all eligible Poupard students were not guaranteed a place in the program. Second, there were too many unanswered questions regarding student safety as unknown adult volunteers are required for program success. Third, too many details about daily operations were incomplete. I cannot support a program over which the GPPSS does not have control or jurisdiction.
Questions and concerns were raised by all members of the board at our May meeting. It was a lengthy discussion. Several board members asked the parent committee and the administration to answer our concerns in depth. The answers never came back to us.
The plan was short-sighted and incomplete. The proposal was presented in May, no answers came to the board and voting was in June.
I cannot support a program that was scheduled for only one year. Our school system could not guarantee space for future years. We need consistency to be fair to our families.
As it tuns out, policy will not allow us to rent rooms to any outside programs until 15 minutes after the school day ends. Board members, Brendan Walsh and Judy Gafa, voted in favor of the motion. The dissenting votes were cast by me, Ms. Dindoffer, Mr. Steininger, and Mr. Jakubiec. Mr. Minturn was absent. Mr. Walsh served for several years on the Policy Committee and is prideful of his policy knowledge. At no time during the discussion did he offer a solution to amend our current policy. So when Mr. Walsh and Ms. Gafa voted in favor of Head Start they and the entire board knew it was a mute point.
This reminds me of another proposal that was not fully researched yet it was brought to the Board by Mr. Walsh. Twice, before I was elected to the Board, Mr. Walsh had proposed that the children of our faculty be allowed to attend our schools by paying tuition. The research was not done because it is against the law to charge tuition in this situation. Luckily, both times it came to a vote it was turned down. Our community recognized this as a pathway to open enrollment. One of the primary reasons why I decided to run for the Board was because of this situation. We cannot allow anything to open the doors to open enrollment.
It is the intent of the "Behind the Board" blog to bring to light issues facing the Grosse Pointe Board of Education based on provable facts. My opinion will be heard throughout the blog and denoted in italics. Names associated with the issues must be mentioned in order to be clear. I promise to be honest, concise, and civilized. Feel free to participate in my blog in the same manner.
