The Commission also scrapped a controversial proposal to change its bylaws.
Kalamazoo County has taken a stand against the possible closing of two Kalamazoo public schools. On Tuesday the commission said the Washington Writers’ Academy and the Woodward School for Technology and Research deserved the county’s support.
Both schools have spent several years on the state’s list of worst-performing schools, and the state’s School Reform Office recently announced that it might close them. The district says that would only set students back further. Commissioner Mike Seals says losing the schools would rip at the fabric of neighborhoods.
“And I’m really upset that Washington was put on this list when we just finished building it. I mean, the taxpayers have a 30 year bond on that school and now they want to close it?” he said at the board’s meeting Tuesday.
The state argues that when it closes schools it’s acting to protect the quality of education for all students. But Commissioner John Gisler says the state doesn’t measure school performance accurately. He says the ranking doesn’t consider how poverty affects student performance.
“To have two KPS schools threatened with shutdown based just on the raw data seems unconscionable,” he said.
The county’s opposition is symbolic but board members say they hope it will make a difference to the state. The School Reform Office says it will announce its plans within the next couple of months.
Motion to Amend the Board’s Bylaws is No More
A Kalamazoo County commissioner has dropped a proposal to change the board’s bylaws. Commissioners said dozens of citizens had written them to protest the idea.
The rule concerned those cases where the board wants to vote on a proposal the same day it’s made. Right now those items can pass with a simple majority. But Commissioner Scott McGraw wanted to require a two-thirds vote for same-day decisions. Items that failed the two-thirds test would have to wait for the board’s next meeting.
McGraw says he was not trying to undercut the Democrats’ slim majority. He says everyone should think carefully about voting on an item the same day it comes up.
“My concern with that is that we’ve just blocked citizens from giving us input. As a commissioner I can’t go to constituents and ask them about that issue,” he said on Tuesday.
But other members of the board said they saw no need to change the board’s rules, including Commissioner Mike Quinn.
“I see this proposal as limiting our flexibility,” he said.
The board already has an informal rule that it waits two weeks to vote on most proposals. McGraw said he wanted consensus on the bylaw change. That didn’t happen and he withdrew it.
