School Board Changes Elections; Hits Roadblock on Middle Schools

The hottest topic at this week's Huron Valley Schools Board of Education meeting was public debate on which middle schools should be .

Parents came out in force to attend the packed meeting. People lined the walls of the room and spilled out into the hallway.

"What a mess," Christine Quane, a district parent from Milford and a member of the middle school committee tasked with providing the board information on which school should close, said of the process. "You now have us all fighting against each other, how are you going to bring us all back together. You need to stop and rethink this process. You are guiding the committee down a path to pit us against each other."

The discussion on how to pare down the the list of which middle schools should close ended at a standstill after three hours. Prior to that, a motion by Trustee John Knight to remove Oak Valley Middle School and Muir Middle School from the list of schools in jeopardy of closing failed 4-2.

Trustees Sean Carlson and Knight voted in favor of Knight's motion, while Trustees Lisa Blackwell, Bonnie Brown, Charles Dittmar and Lindsay Cotter voted against it. Trustee Rebecca Walsh was not at the meeting.

"I want to make it clear, I voted for this because I think we need to pare the list down to two schools and allow the (middle school) committee to delve deeper into the necessary details needed to make this decision," Carlson said. "That does not mean I would vote to close or Highland Middle School when the times comes."

If the resolution passed the middle school committee and board would have looked, in greater detail, at how the closure of White Lake Middle School and the closure of Highland Middle School would affect the district. The other two schools would be left alone.

Now, it is unclear which direction the board will move in.

Following the vote, Carlson asked that the middle school committee be suspended until the board can come up with a clear path.

"...communities are pitted against each other and instead of talking, members are defending their hometowns and schools," Carlson said. "I think it makes sense to suspend the committee until we can come back with clear directions."

Tammy Hall, the parent of a student at Highland Middle School, attended the committee meeting on Monday. She said she thought some of the topics missed the point. "They spent and hour-and-a-half talking about how Highland Middle school smelled," she said. "...and only four minutes discussing Muir. This was a waste of time."

Many parents, including Hall, urged the board to make the decision based on facts – not emotions or public outcry – and wanted the board to disrupt as few students as possible. If one middle school closes, it is likely the district will redistrict and students at certain schools will be moved to other schools within the district.

The board agreed with Carlson, and gave instruction to the auxiliary committee and the curriculum committee to look at a proposal submitted to the board by a group of community members.

While details of the proposal were not released, Blackwell said it proposed keeping all four middle school open, and moving the 5th graders in the district up to the middles schools. The middle schools would then hold grades 5 through 8.

Carlson said he supported this and also wanted to look at the possibility of having two middle schools of 5th and 6th grade, and two of 7th and 8th grade.

"I am interested in pursuing and discussing these options. They do this in Clarkston and Brighton – it is something we should consider," he said.

Board votes to move elections

In other action, the board voted 5- 1 to move to every year elections with four-year terms. Carlson, Knight, Cotter, Brown and Blackwell voted in favor of the measure; while Dittmar voted against it. 

The board also voted 5 -1 to implement this change in 2014 and not extend their terms.  Knight was the lone dissenter.

During the public comment portion of the night, several district residents stated the need for the board to keep terms at four years and not extend to six.

"It would be nice if I could walk into my boss' office and dictate the terms of my employment, but I don't have the luxury and you shouldn't either," Scott Johnson, a Highland Middle School parent, said. "It's our democratic right to be able to vote you in or out of office – by extending your terms you take that away from us."

Knight, who voted against the four year terms, said he wanted the six year terms and even year election cycle in order to preserve continuity on the board and recognize savings right away. If the board were to move to even year elections and six year terms, no more than three seats would be up for election at a time and district would switch to even year elections right away.

Dittmar, however, wanted to preserve the current election cycle – annual elections – with four year terms, which is why he voted against the motion to move to even year elections. This would also preserve continuity on the board with no more than two seats up for reelection at a time.

After hearing the public comment, Dittmar voted in favor of allowing the public to extend the terms, not the board. Knight voted against this.

As it stands now, the district will hold their normal, annual elections in 2011 through 2013 with the understanding that those voted to the board in 2011 would actually serve until 2016, and those voted in 2013 would serve until 2018 in order to get all seats on the even year terms.

CORRECTION: Dittmar and Knight did not both support six year terms. Dittmar supported annual elections and four year terms; Knight supported even year elections and six year terms. Also Christine's last name should be spelled Quane.