LAS Board of Education Recap: Title IX Vote Delayed

Monday’s school board meeting was a packed house, with standing-room only, and many audience members taking seats on the floor. All board members were present for the meeting.

At the top of the meeting, a motion was made to delay the second reading of the proposed Title IX revisions and to delay the board’s vote on whether to align district policy to match state and federal law until next month’s meeting. A legal challenge to the rules has been made by the group Moms for Liberty, and a federal judge in Kansas has issued an injunction stating that the Title IX revisions — which make changes to the definition of sex-based harassment and the standard by which they are measured, among other things — cannot go into effect at schools where children of Moms of Liberty members are enrolled. Both Lowell Middle School and Lowell High School are included in this injunction.

“I don’t think that things are going to change as far as how we conduct our business here,” Superintendent Nate Fowler said.  “Until this policy is implemented, we would still be operating under the guidelines that were issued by the Michigan Department of Education in 2020.”

Fowler also noted that the new Title IX revision does not affect athletics and would not change how the school handles issues involving transgender athletes. “We do have a process in Lowell where we work with students (and) families,” he said. “We have single use bathrooms that are available, and we have a history of working with students to find solutions and we’re going to continue to do that.”

“It’s also important to note that the district has an obligation to respond to sex-based discrimination, including harassment that occurs in our schools,” the superintendent added. “We take all forms of harassment…(and) bullying seriously and will respond, whether this policy is implemented or not.”

The board will have a more in-depth discussion about the matter at the September workshop meeting later this month.

New Student Council President and School Staff

Last year’s student representative and student council president, Antonio Casarez, has been replaced by the new president, his younger brother, Conner. Conner Casarez said that the year was off to a great start and that students were excited for this weekend’s Pink Arrow events.

Fourteen new staff members for the district were also present to be introduced to the board and to the audience members, and they were welcomed with unanimous applause.

Action Items

Only one action item was before the board: the approval of the purchase of equipment to be installed for the new bus wash at the district’s bus garage, at a cost of $131,000. Work is underway to clean the bus wash out in preparation for the upcoming installation. The board voted unanimously to approve the purchase.

Human Resources and Budget Updates

Director of Human Resources Dustin Cichocki said that all positions for professional teaching staff have been filled, and the district is still looking to fill a few paraprofessional positions and to hire a few more bus drivers.

District nurses have been busy setting up emergency response teams and making sure that all buildings in the district have medical kits and equipment that are complete, up to date and in working order.

Sonia Hodge, district chief financial officer, said that draft audit reports from the state have just been received, and her department is currently going through the numbers and making sure that they match district records.

The conversion to the new finance and HR software is underway, and staff will undergo trainings to help them utilize the new software for the next two months or so.

Curriculum Update

Director of Curriculum Dan VanderMeulen visited several buildings in the district with the new district ELL (English Language Learner) teacher, Lisa Pletcher-Vetter. Together, they will soon form a committee to help determine the strengths and potential challenges of the English as a second language program at LAS.

New district K-5 teachers will have trainings for best practices in teaching math and reading. Elementary math coordinator Carmen Tawney and Kendra Lee, elementary instructional coach for literacy, will head up the training to introduce new hires to the vision of teaching math and reading at LAS.

Several K-5 teachers throughout the district are piloting two new ELA resources this year to eventually choose one to be the primary learning tool going forward. The hope is to have a recommendation by January so that it can be brought before the board for a vote.

Public Comment

Seventeen people stood to give comment Monday night, and all but one comment were directed towards the Title IX regulations.

Three people spoke in support of the Title IX changes and thirteen spoke out against the adoption of the revisions. Of the thirteen who spoke out against Title IX, only four live in the Lowell community. One speaker was there to speak about the upcoming Pink Arrow events.

Resident of Ada and school of choice parent Stefanie Boone thanked the board for delaying their vote but also advised the board to “wake up.” She said to Fowler, “…you’re not being transparent with the board, and in turn, the district is not being transparent with the community. Why are we looking at an agenda that says ‘second reading of revised/new bylaws/policies?’’ It doesn’t say anything about which policies.”

Lowell resident Peggy Rapelje Luebs questioned whether the board might have incentive to vote yes on the Title IX revisions, saying, “One of my concerns and questions is how much the board will be paid for adopting this policy. I can’t help but believe that money’s involved.”

Doug Lee, a resident of Cascade who does not have children at LAS, said that the district needed to focus more on academics. He explained that he recently read that the “math proficiency score” for Lowell High School is “…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.”

On the flip side, longtime Lowell resident Mark Blanding said of the Title IX revisions, “…from what I know of the proposed changes, I support them. And I’m not alone. Regardless of your personal views, or those speaking here, follow the law where it’s required, and follow your beliefs where it’s allowed.”

Christine Terpening, a resident of Vermontville, said that she is running for state representative for this district (78), but she was commenting as the founder and president of I’ll Be Your Rock, a nonprofit that offers support for LGBTQ youth across the state of Michigan, their families and allies. She said that misinformation about Title IX, LGBTQ youth, and especially trans youth “…does real damage to our kids…every child deserves to come from a community that loves them, supports them, and celebrates them.” She added that, “…any forthcoming negative comments, especially about our trans kids will tell you why it is imperative that we have stronger protections for our LGBTQ children and Title IX.”

Superintendent’s Comments

Fowler answered to the math scores statistic given in public comment, saying that it was just one piece of several overall test scores, and that, “I would add that they don’t suck, that they’re good kids.”

Fowler said that his son, a senior, struggled in math and had wonderful support throughout the years from LAS educators. He went on to say that there was, “…a lot of data to celebrate…and some areas to improve.” Fowler added that 72% of the class of 2025 who took the SAT last year scored as “career and college ready” in ELA (English/language arts) while the county average was 56.5% and the state average was 51.3%.

He also addressed the accusation that the board would accept bribes for voting yes on the Title IX revisions, saying that board members are paid $300 a year for serving on the board.

Fowler said that he wanted to extend his sympathy to the community affected by a recent school shooting in Georgia, and student safety and security is something that LAS takes very seriously. The district has worked closely with first responders to talk about strengthening drills and emergency action plans and has an upcoming meeting to discuss the threat assessment process and how LAS can look to head off potential problems before they start.

Speaking to comments made at last month’s meeting regarding rainbow “safe space” stickers in the middle school, Fowler made this statement:

“…we continue to strive to find ways that every single one of our students and every single one of our schools is a place where all students have a place to learn at high levels…we want a place where we have a positive school climate, where everybody comes ready to learn, feel welcome and feel like they have a place to belong. We want to see reduced incidents of harassment and bullying in our schools. We have LGBTQ students that are twice as likely to be bullied at school…our LGBTQ population here in Lowell and across the county, across the state, across the country are more likely to engage in self-harm, they are more likely to die by suicide, more likely to attempt suicide, more likely to have truancy issues…we want to continue to ask the right questions to make sure that we’re working as a school system and working as a community to support all of our kids. Teachers have displayed those safe space stickers to show a historically marginalized community that they belong at school…we’re not interested in supporting any political agenda, we want to support kids and we want them to learn at high levels.”

Regarding public comments about bathrooms and locker rooms, Fowler reiterated that the district will be “…working with students, working with families, working with school officials to make sure that everybody has a safe place to go to the bathroom, to change clothes for gym class…we are committed to continuing to do that.”

Board Comments

In response to some of the public comments insinuating that the board isn’t informed about issues they’re voting on, Board Secretary Pat Nugent said, “…this board is a very hardworking group. This board asks good questions, this board does a lot of reading outside of what we have here, independent research…I do take offense at that comment being made again and again and again.”

Regarding the number of people upset about the revised Title IX guidelines, Nugent noted that the guidelines and current court case are coming from the federal level. “(M)y advice to you who are present tonight is maybe to redirect your energies,” he said. “Instead of coming here to this school board meeting, a venue that has no agency to affect these Title IX regulations, fighting your culture wars here at our meeting again…really advances nothing in the educational work of our school district. Instead, I’d recommend that you spend your Monday nights volunteering for a presidential campaign or a congressional campaign, where you can actually have a consequential effect on these policies.”

Board President Brian Krajewski also responded to some of the public comments, saying, “…I am offended and appalled that someone would think that I would take money. That’s totally against any moral value, and it totally…disgusts me to be perfectly honest with you. I am here to support my kids; our kids.”

He went on to say, “My kid was one of those kids who struggled. And…you’re going to tell them that they suck? And our teachers suck? That is offensive, and that is something that I totally will not stand for. My son…struggled to read…this school supported him…this school system gave him the opportunity, surrounded him and helped him get better. That’s why I’m here today, because I’m going to continue to do that. My son graduated from an Ivy League school. He does not suck, none of our kids suck and neither do our teachers. That is one of the most disgusting things that I’ve heard in public comments…it is not correct. Our kids are hardworking, and they deserve better than a comment like that.”

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm. The next meeting will be a work session on Monday, September 23, at 6 pm, which the public is welcome to attend.