It was another packed house at Monday’s school board meeting. Board Vice President Laurie Kuna was absent for the meeting, but all other board members were present.
Student Council Report
Student Council President Conner Casarez said that Homecoming week was a great success. The student council did a great job ensuring that the week had fun activities planned. These included an assembly, parade, spirit days, and of course, the Homecoming dance with a disco theme.
He also reported some recent wins for athletics: the LAS equestrian team won the Division A State Championship title and the girls’ golf team was named conference champion in an undefeated conference season.
Upcoming High School Play
Four student representatives from the thespian council and Lowell High School theater department came to thank the board for their support and for approving the purchase of the new sound system for the Lowell Performing Arts Center.
Board members were gifted free tickets to the upcoming play, Game of Tiaras, and were informed of the March musical, which will be Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Performances of Game of Tiaras will be coming to the LPAC on the following days:
- Friday, November 1 at 7pm
- Saturday, November 2 at 7 pm
- Sunday, November 3 at 2 pm
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door or online.
Action Items
The board voted to accept a donation on behalf of the district. Board Vice President Laurie Kuna generously donated five framed prints by LHS Spanish teacher Sarah Ellis to be displayed in the library. Their value is $600.
The board also approved the purchase of a new salt truck for the district — a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado 3500 heavy duty dump truck at a total cost of $76,598. The old salt truck for the district was more than ten years old, had a rusted-out chassis and was no longer safe to use.
Superintendent Nate Fowler said the new truck will be used outside of the snowplowing season and will serve as a multi-use vehicle for grounds maintenance as well as for spreading salt in the winter.
Human Resources Update
Lowell Area Schools Director of Human Resources Dustin Cichocki said that the mentorship program for new staff met for the first time last Monday. New district staff learned about curriculum and finances, specifically retirement options and financial programs that can help save for future retirement. Director of Curriculum Dan VanderMeulen came to speak to new staff members about curriculum at LAS and introduced a new tool this year: a book about professional learning titled Learning By Doing. All new teachers in Michigan spend their first three years in the mentorship program.
Budget Update
Audit reports will come back this week, and district Chief Financial Officer Sonia Hodge said she’ll have more information on those for the board at the November meeting. At that time, she will also be able to provide more information about the budget, as the State recently passed a supplemental budget with “a lot of changes to retirement.” Hodge said she did know that the 3% that some employees contribute for their retirement healthcare had been repealed but won’t go into effect until October of 2025. Hodge said she was hopeful that more details would be forthcoming as staff were already asking questions about what that repeal might mean for the future.
Curriculum Update
The K-12 math vertical team will meet October 24 with consultants from the Kent Intermediate School District and work on their vision for best practices for teaching math in Lowell.
The district mental health team met recently with representatives of Corewell Health to discuss an upcoming program in suicide awareness and prevention. Participants in the program will meet for the next three years, and training will start with the district mental health team but likely expand to include other staff as well.
LAS students in grades 3-12 recently took part in a one-question survey about their feelings of belonging at school. The survey asked, “Do you feel like you belong at school?” Students rated how strongly they agreed or disagreed that they feel they belong. Roughly 70% of students reported that they felt that they belonged at their school, which was up 5% from last year.
VanderMeulen thanked board members Jessica Curtis and Tom Kaywood for their participation in student interviews at Cherry Creek Elementary School to help determine which fifth graders should serve on the fifth grade leadership team. This is the second year that Curtis and Kaywood have served in that role.
Public Comments
Longtime Lowell resident Mark Blanding said that he had the opportunity recently to help rebuild the community playground at Creekside Park. Blanding said it was heartening to see community members donate their time to work together to tear down and rebuild the playground. He noted that both Board Member Jennifer Dougherty and Fowler assisted with the project as well.
Blanding also mentioned the formation of a new group of volunteers, Friends of the Flat, who are concerned with cleaning up the Flat River. He said that these were just two examples of Lowell community members coming together to tackle local projects because they care. Blanding mentioned that he had previously served on the LAS Board of Education for eight years and thanked the current board, saying: “These people that I see in front of me…I know why those people are there, the same reason I was there, because they care.”
School of Choice parent and Ada resident Stefanie Boone said that she appreciated the board listening to public comments and making the board packet of information available on the district website for the public. Boone said she thought that, “Transparency is key, and I think that goes a long way toward that.”
Boone said she was disappointed, though, to see what she thought were inaccuracies in the meeting minutes posted on the website. Her complaint stemmed from comments made at the September meeting, in which a resident of Cascade, Doug Lee, was speaking about SAT scores at LAS. Lee said:
“(The) math proficiency score (was) 52.85%…the State of Michigan says that’s an ‘A’…52% is the curve. That means all the other public schools they’re compared to suck equally as well…as a board of education, you should be learning and teaching about education and being your own school. Forget what other schools are doing. Just because they all suck, you have the ability to change that.”
Boone objected to the meeting minutes report of Fowler’s reaction to those comments, saying that the minutes read as follows: “Mr. Fowler stated that our students do not suck, as was mentioned in a public comment.” Boone argued that Lee had not said that LAS students suck, only that their scores suck.
Boone chastised the board, saying, “For you all to sit there and not call the superintendent or board president out of order for their false comments at that meeting is a problem.” Boone asked for a “public retraction” and an apology to Lee.
Superintendent’s Report
In response to Boone’s public comments, Fowler said the SAT testing needed to be looked at in context. He then congratulated the high school theater department students still sitting in the front row of the audience, saying, “…you guys did a great job on that test. I’m sure a lot of you individually helped put us up to that point, where you were scoring proficiently on that…it is a hard test. Well done on that test.” Fowler went on to say that, “…we’re going to continue to work better to see more of our kids cross that (proficiency) line…”
Fowler went on to say that LAS was recently named to the AP School Honor Roll by the College Board. The district was recognized with bronze status in “college culture,” gold status in college credit (how many college credits LAS students earned), and gold status in “college optimization.”
Fowler said that the new bus wash project is underway; the current bus wash bay is empty and workers are putting in electrical and working on installing some of the underground components for the wash.
Fowler also mentioned that since the start of the school year, some neighboring school districts were having to deal with threats made by students. He didn’t specify what threats were made, but said that even though LAS hadn’t yet been impacted, it was important that students be made aware of the potential consequences of making threats. If students see something, they should say something.
Regarding the adoption of the federal Title IX changes, Fowler said that a vote would be delayed for now, and that if and when the board were ready for a vote, the meeting agenda posted online would notify the public of that in advance. A fall policy update will also be posted online, as requested in public comments at the September meeting.
Because of some recent questions he’d received about enrollment numbers at LAS, Fowler said he’d done some research. The “high water mark” for enrollment was in 2004 at 3,917 students in the district. He said there were some dips in enrollment numbers after the recession, and another dip during the pandemic that the district hasn’t rebounded back from just yet.
Last year, enrollment was at 3,449, a decline of 10-12% in student enrollment since 2004. Fowler said that there are many factors that are affecting districts across the state, such as declining birth rates, affordable housing issues and the average age of the district population. He added that LAS would continue to focus on “…doing everything that we can, and everything that we have control over, to make sure that this is a desirable place for students to come to school.”
October is Principal Appreciation Month, and Fowler thanked all LAS principals saying:
“…for the work they do each day to ensure our students’ success, to advocate for our students’ success, to advocate for the success of the teachers in our buildings, too. Our principals serve as role models for our community, and they serve as role models for our students…they do it every day with integrity and grace. We appreciate the work that (principals) do for our students and for our staff.”
Board Comments
Kaywood and Curtis commented on the 44 fifth graders they interviewed at Cherry Creek and how much they enjoyed it. Curtis said, “We even had one student who was advocating for higher teacher pay. I was really proud of her for that.”
Dougherty said she was excited about the bus wash, and she appreciated that the bus drivers, who already have a crucial job driving the buses, wouldn’t have to worry about washing dirty buses as well.
Board President Brian Krajewski said that since this was the last regular meeting before the general election, he wanted to encourage everyone to get out and vote.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:38 pm. The next school board meeting will be a work session for the board that the public is welcome to attend. It will be held on Monday, October 28 at 6 pm in the administration building.
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