ELPS Approves Budget, Celebrates Accomplishments

In a fast-moving 90-minute session, the East Lansing School Board met on Monday, June 12, in a meeting that highlighted successes of the past year and looked forward to opportunities for the future.

During time set aside for recognition, the board thanked six educators and staff who retired at the end of the school year. Retirees included Terri Cregg, Emily Dunn, Patricia Kroth, Sherry Martin, Sheryl Scott and Diane Stone.

Another note of recognition was for Kathryn Kluzak, a kindergarten teacher at Robert L. Green Elementary. Kluzak received the 2023 Educator of the Year Award from the Michigan Lottery. She was nominated by her co-teacher, Madison Broski, and awarded a $10,000 prize. She has been an educator for nine years and was one of hundreds of nominees from throughout the state.

Donley music teacher talks about her efforts to bring STEAM to students.

Carin McEvoy, a music teacher at Donley Elementary School, gave a presentation on her efforts to bring a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) experience to her students.

“I began experimenting with digital audio workstations in 2020 when we came back with kind of that reduced in-person enrollments,” McEvoy said. “It took a considerable amount of time away from our active music making, but it was instantly successful with the kids because it was really connected with their style of music.”

Winning an East Lansing Educational Foundation grant that same year, McEvoy arranged for a music producer and rap artist to visit her classroom through Zoom. Last summer, she raised more funds through Donors Choose and community donors, accumulating $750 to pay for access to the Soundtrap music editing platform. Using national and state education standards, she created space for her students to engage with music through creating, performing and responding.

McEvoy played several of the compositions her students created, including one Superintendent Dori Leyko said could potentially be used when announcing future snow days to the district in robocalls.

McEvoy ended her presentation with a suggestion for the board.

“I also just wanted to put forth the ask that, as the district, we continue to strive to create more access and more choices within music education,” she said. “At the elementary level, access and choice, I think our elementary team does a great job of providing a variety of experiences. Specifically, I’m thinking of the access piece right now.

“Elementary specials teachers only have five iPads per classroom, which if the art, gym and music teachers all combine is still not even a full class. It’s half a class,” she said. “Teaching technology, especially for art and music, it’s a huge part of both industries these days and I think it would be extremely valuable if we could have even a full set just for each specialist-area wing at each elementary.”

Board approves the budget presented by the ELPS director of finance and operations.

Richard Pugh, director of finance and operations for the district, presented the 2023-2024 general fund original budget. He began by highlighting current proposals made by the Michigan governor’s office and those by the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate. Funding for pupil membership would remain steady while funding increases were suggested by each body to special education.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has proposed $160 million to provide free school lunch and breakfast to all pre-K to 12th grade students, with the Michigan house and senate in agreement.

When asked by Trustee Chris Martin when they could expect the state to finish its budget, Pugh said and Leyko affirmed they were expecting a completed budget, signed by the governor, by June 30.

During the hearing held on the budget, the only public comment came from high school social studies teacher Mark Pontoni, who stressed the importance of teacher attraction for the district and matching first-year teacher salaries of the surrounding districts.

Later in the meeting, the board would approve the budget as presented by Pugh.

In consent agenda items, the board approved hiring four educators for the 2023-2024 school year and approved leaves of absence for four other educators for that same period.

A parent speaks during public comment about the unpleasant culture his students have experienced this year.

The only generic public comment came from parent Brad Lutz, speaking about a MacDonald Middle School teacher who used the N-word in two classes. Lutz offered a timeline of the subsequent events and other experiences his middle school children had over the last year,

“My point is, what is the culture we’re creating in this district,” he said. “My experience this year has not been pleasant, for my students…we need to think about what we’re developing here. Had a child attacked in the hallway. I had an administrator tell me to ignore district policy [concerning] students filming in [the] bathroom. I had a teacher instruct my child and other students to lie about their age and register for a website, violating district policy and MMS [MacDonald Middle School] student handbook policy. My child experience[d] the teacher using a racial slur. Another one of my children experienced the same teacher calling a student a smartass in a different class. What culture are we creating that we’re comfortable with our staff acting in this manner and that they’re comfortable acting in this manner.”

The remainder of the meeting consisted primarily of discussion and votes on seemingly non-controversial topics. The board approved trips to France and Spain, and Cleveland for language arts students and band and orchestra members, respectively.

The board also approved the continued suspension of the pay-to-play participation fees for athletic and theater students for the coming fiscal year. It also approved language for the district’s contract with the East Lansing Educational Support Association union for paraprofessionals, concerning health insurance benefits.

A bid to make playground improvements at the elementary schools was approved for Penchura, LCC. Two Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) adherent bucket swings and access mats will be added at each elementary school while Glencairn will receive a climbing structure and Donley an ADA roller slide.

The board will meet next on Monday, June 26, in its meeting room at the East Lansing High School.