August Election News and Recall Information

Good Morning.
A few updates on happenings in August.

Michigan House of Representative Election: The Lakes Area Coordinating Council in tandem with the MEA had a “screening and endorsing” meeting and will be supporting Lisa Brown’s re-election bid for the Michigan House of Representatives. Also, the Farmington Coordinating Council held a “screening and endorsing” meeting and will be backing Vicki Barnett in her re-election campaign for the Michigan House of Representatives. I will write more about those meetings later and post it on my blog.

School Board Election: There are three seats up for election this November. Five people had filed to run for the three seats by the August 10th deadline. I will have more information regarding that election later as well.

School Board Meeting this Thursday, August 19th, 2010 and RECALLS:
The School Board meeting this Thursday will be at 7:30 in the ESC Board Room. The Agenda for the meeting is available on Walled Lake’s Website. You can also contact Cindy Barstow to be placed on a list to receive all Board Agendas and Minutes through your district email.

Thursday’s meeting will include the first recall of teachers who were laid off at the end of last school year. I do NOT have a list at this time and do not believe that the list will be posted to Walled Lake School’s website. According to information I have been given, principals will contact teachers who are being recalled at that meeting. At this time the school district is tentatively planning a Special Board of Education Meeting for August 26th at which they will have a second formal recall of teachers.

The school district seems to be handling the recall of teachers VERY conservatively this summer due to the funding limitations they are experiencing. The 20J funds have not been restored and the per pupil funding increase was only $11 per student, which is still a loss of over $150 per student from the 2008-2009 school year. For Walled Lake that is approximately $170,000. Not much. It is unclear at this time how and when the recent passage of Federal money will be distributed by the State. There are many rumors/opinions out there. When I know more, I will pass it on.

The other factor complicating the recall of teachers in Walled Lake includes a drastic drop in the registration of students. At this time, numbers are appearing that show a loss of over 400 students at the elementary level. In the Spring they were anticipating a loss of 157 students, so the newest numbers are having a dramatic effect on the number of sections of regular elementary classes being needed and the number of FAPES sections needed. Obviously, as the end of August approaches, everyone is hoping that the number of registrations increases significantly.