The Lowell Area Schools Board of Education met Monday evening for both a special meeting and for their work session. Typically, the board’s work session occurs on the fourth Monday of the month, but it was moved up in May because of Memorial Day.
President of the Board Brian Krajewski was absent, but all other members were present for the meeting. Vice President Laurie Kuna presided over the meeting in place of Krajewski.
Special Meeting
Kent ISD Biennial Election
The LAS Board of Education, along with all public schools in the county, get a vote for candidates elected to the Kent Intermediate School (Kent ISD) Board. A board member must be selected to serve as a representative for the entire board, and Board Secretary Pat Nugent volunteered to cast the vote for the board.
The motion passed unanimously for Nugent to serve as representative and for Kuna to act as alternate.
Food Service Management Contract
Last Tuesday, the State of Michigan signed off on the food service management contract for LAS for the 2025-26 school year, and there was a motion before the board to approve the renewal of the new contract. Chief Financial Officer Sonia Hodge said that there were no changes to the contract.
The board voted unanimously to approve it.
Work Session
Following the special meeting, the board began their work session with public comments.
Public Comments
School of Choice parent and Ada resident Stefanie Boone read a passage from a book, Blood and Honey, that she thought parents should know is available in the Lowell High School library.
Retired Cherry Creek Elementary teacher Kim Lum highlighted some of the happenings throughout the district this week, including an “all strings symphony” with district orchestras Tuesday, the LHS girls’ soccer game the next evening, and high school graduation Thursday evening. Lum said, “We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot to be proud of in Lowell…we have a lot of wonderful things here.”
Academic Achievement
Director of Curriculum Dan VanderMeulen gave a brief presentation on the shared curriculum drives that elementary teachers in the district can access.
The shared drives are organized by grade level and by subject and allow teachers to view what’s called a “curriculum map” for each subject. The curriculum maps spell out an overall unit planning guide, including an articulated vision, essential standards, nonnegotiables (standards that must be adhered to) and other resources and practices that are highly recommended.
Teams of teachers meet throughout the year to create the curriculum maps, and they’ve found that the maps help to ensure consistency across the district in what students should be learning and how instruction should be executed.
Cherry Creek Design Overview
Superintendent Nate Fowler shared with the board and audience the latest site plan for the renovation of Cherry Creek Elementary (CCE), which is slated to begin in late fall of 2025.
Fowler explained that, currently, the driveway for the bus garage is the same as the entrance for parents picking up and dropping off their students for school. At this time, traffic for high school softball and baseball fields goes onto the Cherry Creek campus as well.
The new plans separate the driveway for buses and the area where students are being picked up and dropped off by parents. That should hopefully reduce some of the traffic congestion that often spills over onto Foreman Street.
There are plans to construct an outdoor “quiet area” where students can read or study. Improvements to playground structures include the replacement of the pea gravel surface of the playground with something less messy and more accessibility friendly.
Inside, there are plans for classrooms to be grouped by grade level, and each grade level will have their own common area with spaces for collaborative learning. Currently, many of the classrooms have no window to the outside so included in the plans are exterior windows for all classrooms.
The Cherry Creek gym is an area that is used frequently after school for practices, meets and other events, but at this time, there is not a way to secure the rest of the building when the gym is in use. The new plans will include a way to shut off the gym space from the rest of the school for added security and safety during events.
Board member Annie Whitlock asked whether the current CCE teachers were able to offer input for design of the renovated space. Fowler said that teacher representatives from each grade level have had many meetings to discuss the overall layout of the classrooms. He added that one teacher request was that the sinks in each classroom remain for health and sanitary reasons as well as for functionality.
Personnel/Staffing Update
Meetings are happening now with building principals to determine paraprofessional needs for each building for the coming school year. That includes staff needed in classrooms to help with individual students as well as help for lunch and recess duty and with school pick up and drop off.
Director of Human Resources Dustin Cichocki said that all staffing positions for next year have been filled or are currently in the interview process. He added that current LHS Principal Steve Gough will serve as Director of Curriculum next year, as VanderMeulen is retiring. The position will have a new title: Director of Teaching and Learning.
The district is still on the lookout for additional bus drivers.
Finance
Hodge said that at the recent Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference held by the state, the three “…top words were uncertainty, assumptions and risks.” Hodge said much of the uncertainty was around possible losses in state and federal funding and what that would mean for the district’s school aid fund and general fund.
Negotiations are ongoing at the state and federal level and more will be known once the House releases its budget proposal in the next week or so. At this point, Hodge said there is not expected to be a State budget before September of 2025.
Communication
Fowler said he was looking forward to seeing the board on Thursday for the Lowell High School graduation.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:05 pm. The next BOE meeting will be held on Monday, June 9, at 7pm in the administration building. The public are always welcome to attend board meetings.
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