Meeting Notes for May 12, 2025
Updates on finances, capital projects, and PLTW
Members Absent: Jacob Martinez
Note: Trustee Martinez’s absence in recent meetings has been noted by local media. There is no attendance requirement for school board meetings as far as I am aware. We all wish him the best.
Budget Update (Simpson)
A company wants to lease part of the land near the high school for $800/mo (behind the ball field). Will cover this later.
We received $45,000 in rebates for replacing the boiler ($35,000 anticipated).
Solar grants have been applied for. Roof replacement could happen this summer, all depending on when grants get approved.
Elevator repairs needed at middle school, $98,000. Requires half of the cost as down payment.
Enrollment: will address later.
Staff: three teachers retired, one leave of absence, one resignation.
State budget insight: potentially $300 increase per student, probably won’t know until September.
School aid note that was borrowed has now been paid back. Might need to “do it again this year”, might be cheaper to do tax anticipation loan. Sinking fund money doesn’t get collected until September.
School aid fund does not include universities or community colleges. In 2010, they shifted $10b to community colleges and universities. Based on current enrollment, we would have $7k more per student if that decision had not been made. Simpson suggests folks contact their state rep.
Curriculum
Since we started PLTW, we’re seeing a big difference in how we utilize the program. Seeing some reductions in enrollment, working through some ideas on how to increase / continue enrollment.
Discussed AI, what’s acceptable, how to use it, etc.
Davis suggests students that meet merit requirements be able to walk in graduation, or that had significant improvement
Student Report
Tucker Cole presented in place of Rita, who was competing at a game.
Students not happy with the library. Only option is to sit in Mr. Dan’s office.
Only allowed to wear certain cords for graduation, but they are members of other clubs can’t wear the cords. Says students can buy random cords online and wear them as a joke, and this makes a mockery of the tradition.
Appreciated this year’s drunk driving awareness.
Appreciate the potholes being fixed.
Appreciates the new water fountain.
Appreciate the senior SAT opt-out.
Appreciates the ability to retake SAT here in Tecumseh.
Various Updates
Lisa Shirk - Working on improving math efficiency. Troubleshoots problems individual schools are having. MTSS, multi-tiered support system, interconnects health and human services curriculums to improve learning.
District Capacity Assessment - grade ourselves on if we’re effective and implementing goals we set for ourselves and our district.
PBIS - schoolwide framework from young 5s to high school. Promotes social learning and behavior. Posters giving expectations of behavior for students. Works in tiers depending on how much support is needed. Gives students a sense of responsibility and “connects them to a staff member”.
Tucker Cole affirmed his appreciation for these programs.
Miller: Heard good things about the program from his kids. Asked how we know we’re improving? Response: “Attendance, report surveys from parents and students, academic scores, total number of students graduating from program”
Miller: How do you assure that everyone is following the same plan?
Davis: What’s our next plan?
TPS Capital Needs Update
Mattison: Michigan put together plan for common standard health safety and wellness, and what would that cost? Michigan does not provide capital improvement funds. We pay for capital improvements is through local taxation (bonds or sinking funds), or we can use general fund dollars which cuts into day-to-day operation funds. Capital funds can only be used for capital projects. The state analyzed the cost to repair over 9 years vs the cost to replace over 3 years (projecting anything over 10 years isn’t accurate) and found that repairing is more cost effective, but will cost $22.6b across the state.
$11.1m in critical needs is what we concluded, excluding pool over 5 years. Does include some contingency money and inflation. Essentially, the state came to the same conclusion (they estimated $10.3m) as TPS in what funds are needed for capital improvements, validating our assessment.
Would have been $250m if we replaced buildings.
We are on track for getting things implemented, including pool.
Received several checks (one was $45k, much more than expected) for replacements (reimbursements from Consumer’s Energy).
TeleCAD is the company that offered to lease land near the high school. They want to install a 5G cell phone tower bringing reception to that area and providing $800/mo to the district.
LCASB Update
Brooks: short meeting, made more sense to go to quarterly meetings
LISD
Biannual election
Hilton: There are four candidates for LISD board, which are elected by local school boards.
*four candidates were displayed on screen, but of course this info is still not provided to the public. Two names that were mentioned were Kevin Fry and “Mr. Porter”*
Will vote next week.
Davis: Has met Mr. Porter before, finds him to be an acceptable candidate.
LISD Proposed budget
Simpson: Have they (LISD) moved any more money to CTE classes?
Hilton: Just one
Megan Way: We only fund one class, but there was discussion of cutting funding to that one class, but they decided against it.
Simpson: I’m sticking to my guns
Lewis: They have plenty of budget, is not equitable.
Simpson: Agrees with Lewis. Wants more CTE money.
Miller: What are they doing to cut their own costs?
Brooks: This is the message we’ve been conveying.
Davis: interesting the revenue they’re taking in for special needs funding versus their expenditures. Special needs has increased, might not be utilizing all revenue. They’re not taking in as much revenue but they’re spending more, so where is the money going? If they’re at least expanding CTE into other areas, might be acceptable.
Action Items
Language updates to policy around commitment and homeschool credit verification procedure.
Way: We want TVA students to be able to talk. Did not have a procedure to accept credits homeschool credits. Also have kids that want to graduate early, and those students would affect FTE amount on count day.
Lewis: Doesn’t want to diminish what kids who did extra accomplished. Suggests he’s the only one on the board that cares about this issue. Thinks they should walk, but not be acknowledged like the rest.
Simpson: Our graduation honors are higher than anyone else’s… suggests a cord to denote those who go above and beyond.
Lewis: High schoolers support letting those kids walk. They are part of the fabric of the high school. This is a seminal moment for kids and for all students to do it together.
Brooks: Thanked Way for making us aware of getting those kids recognized, glad to see Tim has a change of heart as he supposedly voted no “the first time”.
Miller: Motivation is important, they should walk, how they’re recognized is something that can be discussed.
Hilton: THS vs Michigan Merit is the debate, agrees that recognition is something that can be discussed.
Motion Approved
Superintendent’s Report
Hilton: We’re down about 120 students over the last 3 years.
Funding doesn’t keep up with inflation.
Closing buildings has caused space constraints.
High school is under capacity.
Hedrick park: capital needs $1.5m over next few years, likely more.
Patterson also needs $1.5m, likely more.
Talked about Patterson being turned into early learning center, but would bring additional considerations, like additional operational costs.
School of choice is improving, we’re starting to receive more students, and slight reduction in Tecumseh choosing to go outside.
K-5: 167 average students
6-12: 197 average students
Stanford Associates hired for enrollment research, intention was to predict future enrollment.
Analyzed birthrates, economic trends, demographic shifts, etc. 25-30% decline in Lenawee since 2006.
Data shows downward trend for enrollment.
We’re doing what we can to bring folks into the district.
Recommends entertaining offers for the two properties.
Simpson: We don’t have the funds to reopen anyway
Davis: High school is newest building, but parental response could be an issue (adding middle schoolers). Agrees with Simpson that this is the only option (closing Patterson / Herrick Park). Would like more info on the plan for filling high school. Irish did great job coming up with potential solutions.
Hilton: Still waiting to see what happens, depends on trends. We’re buying Facebook ads to attract students.
Miller: I’ve never seen a plan for combining middle school and high school.
Brooks (responding to Miller): Patterson or Herrick cannot be a backup plan
Miller: We need to see all the numbers together
Brooks / Simpson (again responding to Miller): It’s not an option, but maybe we can share those numbers with the new board members
Davis: We need to show the numbers to the community to show that we’re being fiscally responsible. The “albatross” we are not talking about is that middle school is the oldest building in the district and needs to be discussed.
Brooks: When do we start the 5 year plan discussion?
Hilton: As early as this summer or fall
Brooks: We’re in such a better place now
Public Comment
None
Board Comment
Lynn Davis - Personal statement on special olympics
Greg Lewis - Personal statement on STEM at TPS
Final Thoughts
Consistency
I’ve noticed that Trustee Miller often asks questions related to consistency in implementation and verification of information. “How do we measure this?” he asked in this meeting. This is music to my ears. Pouring through data to measure progress and predict trends is what I do in my day job. In my world, asking “how do you know that?” is routine and no-one bats an eye. I’ve noticed that in this town, an “outsider” asking “how do you measure that?” offends people. Folks at these board meetings use words like “better” and “improve” and even “wellness” without quantifying these terms. It’s why I took issue with the recent pitch for the iWellness program (Did We Just Get Duped?) and why I continually push for data to be made public. I noticed that those responding to Miller’s questions seemed to be caught off guard. I don’t blame them, as no one asks these questions. I’m glad Darin does.
Board Comment
I want to express my complete agreement with Trustee Lewis and Davis’s comments, respectively. I was subbing at the middle school during the “clap off”, sending our special needs students off to special olympics. It was a special moment for me as I’ve watched these kids flourish at TMS. I got to see Lynn’s precious daughter Molly high-five the entire 8th grade, smiling ear to ear. Michelle sent me photos of my son competing later that day. Mr. Hilton said he was lost for words after experiencing it, and that’s how I feel each time. To Trustee Lewis’s comments about our math competition, it really is an insane accomplishment for a TPS student to have placed top in the state. Incidentally, one of my biggest takeaways after six years studying psychology is that math is the building block for everything. Well done!
Enrollment Trends
I used to have satellite radio in my car. I cancelled my service because I couldn’t listen on my phone. For months, they kept calling me asking me to come back. I’d remind them that their app is broken, and they wouldn’t even acknowledge that fact. They just kept calling, each time offering to lower my bill. I didn’t want a lower bill, I wanted the functionality they advertised. Mr. Hilton mentioned taking out Facebook ads to increase enrollment. I see this as the same situation. We offer a great service, but some of our functionality is broken.
We love TPS. We love the teachers. We moved here because of TPS. TPS is a quality product, and a truly quality product should advertise itself. Unfortunately, THS Has A Culture Problem. Scandal after scandal occurs with no changes in administration or policy. THS now poisons the TPS brand, diminishing the functionality of the service we offer. We can take out all the ads in the world with smiling teenagers, but parents talk. Teachers talk. When the same concerns are shared between parents, with no acknowledgement or response from the administration, it negates advertisement.
Public Data
I have not heard back from Veronica Moore about plans to make board presentations public. I typically do not get responses from her unless I CC: Mr. Hilton, but I will follow-up with her this week. For what it’s worth, the audio/video quality of the latest video had improved from last week, even if it did take 10 days to post to the TPS site.