Rural Education Matters

Four members of REM sat before the House Education Committee, surrounding by opposing organizations and groups, ans organization president Jennifer Jarosz laid out our story. It was a moment in history, an honor to be asked, and a privilege to share in our communities desires regarding the education of our children.

LISTEN TO TESTIMONY HERE

Curriculum and Instruction Committee Chair:   REM Secretary  Veronica Bridson

Purpose: Participates in review and evaluation of educational programs- curricular and extra-curricular; works with school officials and staff to guide development and review of curricular goals as outlined in the school’s School Improvement Plan, informs and directs the Board’s annual approval of learning goals, in support of the school’s educational mission; and guides the Board in periodic assessment of progress toward achievement of these goals.

Student Assessment, Data Management and Reporting Committee Chair:   REM President  Jennifer Jarosz

Purpose: to develop recommendations about district-wide assessment tools, benchmarks and timelines, to develop recommendations for data warehouse and student information system content, user support and reports, to monitor and make recommendations about the gathering and coordination of data reporting needs, and to make recommendations for building school and district capacity to gather, analyze and report data.

Policy and Legal Committee Chair:  REM Treasurer:  Pam Cobly

Purpose: Develop, adopt and review policies, which guide the operations and educational mission of the school. Review and ensure compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements, and address specific legal issues as they arise.

Finance and Operations Committee  Chair : REM Trustee John Brownfield

Purpose: Assist with development and adoption of annual budget; periodically review financial management reports; provide strategic direction for funding decisions; collaborate with district officials and staff to guide the budget process, including presentation of information to the community; review facilities’ and equipment condition and adequacy; address other financial issues as needed

Human Resources Committee  Chair:  REM Trustee  Richard Wood
Purpose: guide hiring processes for Superintendent; oversee the negotiation of contracts with management company and school personnel; establish evaluation systems for school department staff and the Board itself; periodically review and update job descriptions.

Communications Committee Chair:  REM Trustee  Scott Marshall
Purpose: identify current formats, methods and types of communication, identify and document current communication methods of the board with various stakeholders, identify current methods for stakeholder communication to the board, review recommended industry practices and identify improvements and supports needed, and recommend a communication plan to be adopted by the Board.

Duration: All committees shall meet as needed and all meetings will be noted on the school web site.

Structure and Composition: The committees shall be comprised of members appointed by the board with volunteers solicited. The composition of the committee shall include:

• Board Members
• Administrators
• Teachers
• Staff Members
• Community Members
• Parents (currently have students at CCS)

Limitations:

There is no authority vested in the committees. The committees shall not make interim decisions nor direct employees, faculty or staff of the school without the approval of the Board.

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Committee Criteria

The Board will consider the following criteria in selecting committee members:

• Big picture thinker with the ability to work out details
• Ability to successfully work on a team
• Effective communicator
• Professional experience

Ability to deal with complex systems and issues

Rural Education Matters Receives Notice of Acceptance by Grand Valley State University for Elevation to Phase II of the Application Process .

Grand Valley State University has Awarded Rural Education Matters Phase II Application Status to Open the Charlton Heston Academy in St. Helen, Michigan.

• St. Helen, MI, June 9, 2010:  The Michigan, Non-Profit Corporation named Rural Education Matters (REM) received notice today from Grand Valley State University that its charter school application to open a new K-8 public school in St. Helen, Michigan has been accepted and elevated to Phase II status.  While movement to Phase II status does not guarantee that REM will ultimately receive a charter authorization, their board president, Jennifer Jarosz feels confident that their application are worthy of consideration.  According to a letter from Grand Valley received earlier today, REM was one of eight applications of 57 that were considered in the last review cycle.   Jarosz said she thought this notice was a reaffirmation of the efforts of local community members that comprise the majority of the Charlton Heston Academy development team.

• Members of the Charlton Heston Academy development team have been working with a number of local community members, MidWest Management Group, Incorporated from Commerce Township, Michigan, and Essayons Consulting Services from Lansing, since November 2009 to create a new K-8 charter school in St. Helen, Michigan.  This initiative was spawned when the Roscommon Area Public School District decided to close the St. Helen Elementary School at the end of this school year, thereby leaving the St. Helen without a public school.  If successful with GVSU, the new Charlton Heston Academy will open in September 2011.

MINUTES of Rural Education Matters

Meeting date: May 6, 2010

Call to order: A meeting of the Rural Education Matters was held in St. Helen, Michigan on May 6, 2010.  The meeting was called to order at 7:13 p.m., President Jennifer Jarosz.

Members in attendance: Jennifer Jarosz, John Brownfield, Richard Wood, Scott Marshall, Jan Waltz, Pam Colby and Veronica Bridson.

Minutes: Motion was made by Richard Wood seconded by Jan Waltz to accept the minutes of the April 1, 2010 regular meeting as presented.  Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report: Motion was made by John Brownfield and seconded by Richard Wood to accept the Treasurer’s Report as presented.  Motion carried.

Adjournment: Motion was made by Richard Wood and seconded by Jennifer Jarosz to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

This e-mail was sent from Michigan Association of Public School Academies

Congratulations to Brenda Milner and Kim Morley on their 2010 School Board Election victory!

Rural Education Matters – Public Announcement

This e-mail was sent from Michigan Association of Public School Academies (mapsa@charterschools.org) and forwarded to REM Newsletter Subscribers.

Thank you to everyone that has been with us through this venture. It is an exciting time for St. Helen.

Be sure to visit Rural Education Matters Online.

Meet the new School Board Candidates April 29, 2010 7 pm at the Richfield Township Building

Next Board Meeting is on 5-6-2010 at 7pm at the Richfield Township Hall

Don’t forget to get out and vote for School Board Trustees and Millage Renewals on May 4th. Absentee ballots are available at the township hall.

Due to a system glitch our newsletter was bombarded by a bunch of unnecessary coding. My sincerest apologies. Here is the newsletter.

Rural Education Matters – Newsletter #2
April 23, 2010

Topic: RAPS Committee Meeting regarding sale/lease of St. Helen Elementary

On April 21st at 11 am the committee appointed by the RAPS school board discussed the sale of St. Helen Elementary to Rural Education Matters. Mrs. Jernigan appeared to be very open minded regarding the situation and was eager to weigh all options whereas the other two members, Mr. Scott and Ms. Lake seemed vehemently opposed. There biggest argument of course had nothing to do with children but with financial impacts. Unfortunately they had not done any research regarding the proposition therefore they stated the need for more information.

In light of the lack of information the following information is being provided to the committee in order to present a factual basis from where they can begin the decision making process. Mr. Scott did make it clear that he was not interested in supporting any other school in the district by any means but did end with his slight interest in the figures and how a sale of this magnitude could reflect postively on RAPS.

The RAPSD must consider the pros and cons of permitting the charter school to have access to the facility currently housing the St. Helen Elementary School. In making such a decision they must consider three primary issues including the financial considerations, the future needs for a school building in St. Helen, and potential loss of support from the St. Helen community in general.

The financial considerations include the loss of revenue (both federal and state) from students transitioning to the charter school, the potential loss of millage revenues due to a lack of support from the St. Helen community, and the potential financial gain from the sale or lease of the school building.

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o If the charter school were to open and draw approximately 200 students from the RAPSD, the net decrease in state revenues would exceed $1.7 million, including state aid, state at-risk, and special education funds. RAPSD would then reduce expenditures for a significant number of staff people including at least 9 teachers, at least one secretary, and at least one administrator. Based upon estimates, these personnel reductions would result in a savings of over $1 million in compensation-related costs.
o Regardless of whether the charter school opens or not, the St. Helen community is not likely to support any millage renewals or increases unless the St. Helen community is shown some good faith by RAPSD. The pending millage renewal is valued as slightly less than $8 million over two years and it has been previously noted publically by school officials that the support of St. Helen voters is required for a successful millage renewal.
o The present school building is sufficient to house the Charlton Heston Academy (CHA) for its first three years. The CHA could be in a position to purchase (for fair market value) or lease the facility from RAPSD at a rate that provides them with a reasonable rate of return on the previous investment. For example, CHA could enter into a triple-net lease in the amount of $10,000 per month for three years which would provide RAPSD with $360,000 over that period.
o If RAPSD were to sell the facility, CHA would be willing to pay the fair market value which is estimated to be less than $400,000.
o RAPSD could even lease the property for a period of time and then sell it which would result in lease revenues in the amount of $120,000 per year and another less than $400,000 when sold.
o If RAPSD were to consider authorizing the CHA charter, RAPSD could receive 3% of CHA’s state aid, lease fees for the property, and then charges for other services provided including business management, special education, and other mutually agreed upon fee for service programs. The statutory limit of 3% would amount to revenues to RAPSD of about $42,000 per year. Business management and special education services could amount to amount to about $200,000 per year. If RAPSD were to provide the charter authorization, they could also control the rate of growth, both in terms of enrollment and grades offered along with anything else that could place the RAPSD at further risk.

The future needs of a school facility in St. Helen were addressed by RAPSD when they decided to close St. Helen Elementary School. This may be a self-fulfilling prophecy as closing the elementary school, without a local alternative, would eventually cause the school-aged population in St. Helen to dwindle and thereby reducing the need for a school building in that community.

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o So, unless RAPSD is able to find a buyer for the building in the near term, the building will have to be shuttered. This will leave RAPSD with no other choice than to abandon the building valued at somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000. The value of the building will decrease over time, so the building will be worth its maximum value before being shuttered.
o Once abandoned, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) must decide to take some action regarding the property. It can ignore or otherwise moot the lease codicil requiring a school presence on the property, thereby permitting the building to physically deteriorate and increasing the risk of damage, vandalism, and reduced property value.
o Or, the DNR can move to enforce the codicil thereby requiring RAPSD to turn the property over to the DNR, sell it to someone else, or raze the building and remove the structure from the property. In the first case the facility might then be available for lease, rent or purchase from the DNR. In the second case RAPSD could sell the building to someone else hoping to open a school. In the last instance they could knock the building down and restore the property to its former status before the school was built. At a very conservative rate of $40/foot for demolishing the building and then the removal of sidewalks, parking lots and other ancillary structures, RAPSD would incur costs in excess of $150,000.

The loss of support from the St. Helen community for all things associated with RAPSD could result in the loss of a significant amount of millage funds. While millage elections can not be predicted with any level certainty, it has been stated numerous times that millage renewals within RAPSD are largely dependent upon the voters of St. Helen to be successful. An uncooperative St. Helen community may not be supportive of millage renewals which could result in a significant loss of revenue to RAPSD. The failure to pass an 18-mil renewal could result in the loss of $8 million a year.

Conclusion.

The worst case situation would result in the loss of a millage ($8M) and the loss of 200 students ($1.7M) to a charter school could mean a net loss of $9.7M. If the charter school is not afforded an opportunity to use the current St. Helen school facility and is forced to reside elsewhere, the loss of the $8M per year could be substantial if extended for a period of time.

The best case is the passing of a millage and the opening of a charter school which could result in a net gain of more than $6.0M. The gain of $6 million could be increased with the layoff of excess teachers and clerical staff, bus drivers, food service staff, and administrators. It could further be increased if RAPSD were to lease or sell the school facility to the charter school.

Thank you to everyone that has been with us through this venture. It is an exciting time for St. Helen.

Be sure to visit Rural Education Matters Online.

Next Board Meeting is on 5-6-2010 at 7pm at the Richfield Township Hall

Don’t forget to get out and vote for School Board Trustees and Millage Renewals on May 4th. Absentee ballots are available at the township hall.