Union Deliberations, Bond Again Hot Topics at School Board Meeting

Passionate and sometimes overwhelmed with tears, members of the union representing East Lansing schools’ administrative assistants spoke out at last week’s East Lansing Board of Education meeting.

As previously reported, the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee (AFSCME) is in negotiations with the district as it works on a new contract for the administrative assistants in the district.

Norm Scott, vice president of the East Lansing Education Association, the teacher’s union, spoke in support of his colleagues during the public comment period.

“On behalf of the ELEA,” he said, “we urge the district to seek fair and equitable deal with these fine people that we need very much. In keeping with that, the ELEA plans to continue to do all staff walk-ins once a week at each of our buildings in support until they have an agreement.”

The walk-ins Scott mentioned have been physical demonstrations taken by educators, administrative assistants, and students who, often wearing the color of the union (green), will meet outside the district buildings on Friday and walk in together.

Rebecca McAndrews, administrative assistant at Marble Elementary, spoke about how the district responded when she and her colleagues were unexpectedly dropped by its previous union.

“When we were dropped by the previous union,” she said, “I didn’t worry much. I believed we would be taken care of by this district that I loved. So I was surprised and saddened to learn that ours was the only district in the state of Michigan that chose not to honor the contracts of those dropped by the union. When East Lansing chose to seize this opportunity to renegotiate a new, less beneficial contract, it felt like a gut punch, quite frankly.”

Kristen Pfaendtner’s remarks caused her to frequently pause to compose herself.

“I am responsible for 1,228 students,” the ELHS student services administrative assistant said. “During count days, I am responsible for tracking and recording any students who are dual enrolled, attending Michigan Virtual Academy, are enrolled in middle college, have part-time schedules, have reduced schedules, are homeschooled, are attending Wilson Town Center, are in the gifted and talented program, are attending on a visa, in a dropout recovery program, are in peer-to-peer program, or are in a work study program. I am also responsible for any and all paperwork related to these students. This is an audit year and after putting together an audit binder of awesome, trademark pending, our auditor sent an email, saying, ‘Kristen I want to give you Kudos again for doing such a great job on your audit preparation. Count days are where our funding comes from so accuracy is of the utmost importance.”

“I don’t focus on the funding, I focus on the students…because I am responsible for 1,228 students.”

Pfaendtner went on to share how she had played an important role in securing essential items for East Lansing classrooms. 

“My afternoon professional development group is student health and wellness,” she said. “This year, I shared an idea I had about having a bag of fidgets and coping items for each classroom to the group we applied for a grant and were awarded $1,200 to make the self-regulation bags a reality. I had all the supplies ordered, worked with some students to make the bags, got each teacher a bag for the classroom. The goal is tier one support for students who need three to five minutes to decompress then they can get back into the classroom. I did this because I’m responsible for 1,228 students. This year, I have moved and expanded the high school’s needs closet…whether a student spills chocolate milk in their lap or has been displaced from their home, they will be able to find clothes and essentials in a boutique atmosphere as opposed to digging through bins.”

School plans to make improvements to security, accessibility if bond proposal approved. 

Superintendent Dori Leyko gave a presentation, sharing more information on changes coming to the district if the proposed bond is passed by voters in May. 

Both MacDonald Middle School and ELHS would receive new hardware on the doors allowing teachers to lock their doors from the inside. A ramp between the floors would also be constructed in both buildings to help students and staff travel between levels when the elevators in the building are down. 

Leyko shared artistic renderings created by the architecture firm consulting with the district, noting plans were subject to change.

The most drastic change would involve the construction of a new administrative headquarters that would take the superintendent and board out of the high school and move them into a newly-constructed building off Towar Ave.

“We’ve added positions at [the] central office with the director of equity and social justice, human resources, director of health and safety, so we’ve added positions and support positions as well and all of that has made us a little cramped here at the high school,” Leyko said during her presentation.

Marble Elementary employees present on themed events.

Marble Elementary Principal Josh Robertson and fifth grade teacher Erin Farver spoke about themed months at that school. When the district chose to eliminate in-class celebrations of Valentine’s Day and Halloween, Marble moved towards having themed months with inclusive activities for all students. 

Planned by the social justice teams at the school, observations include October as music month and November as math month.

 If events held for the themed months take place after school hours, students are offered bus rides following their conclusion to help reduce barriers that would keep students from participating. 

The school board will next meet after spring break, on Monday, April 8 downstairs at the high school.

Update: This story was updated to correct a grammatical error.