Meeting Notes for June 9, 2025

Small updates on strategic plan, finances, and iWellness

Members Absent: none

Introduction Notes

These meeting notes are being written almost a month after the corresponding meeting. TPS takes an average of two weeks to post the meeting video, and the past week’s video was almost unusable given its poor quality. I stated in a previous article that I would start live-streaming the meetings myself if this continued, but due to my own work schedule, I was unable to attend the last meeting. Future meetings will be live-streamed on this channel as my work schedule allows. I will cover more of this in my final notes at the end of this article.

Finance

Much was discussed on the topic of finance, but very little was concluded as the annual budget won’t be out for another few weeks (it has come out since the time of this writing), so I will cover these topics in my next article. One significant takeaway was that the district believes they need to take out a short term loan to cover costs over the summer. This process is similar to a payday loan, as we can expect sinking fund revenue to eventually cover costs. The amount of this loan was discussed around $950k, providing a $10k “cushion”, and this would be for summer projects only.

There was an assumption of a $250 per-pupil increase in funding, though some speculated that this was not realistic. Trustee Simpson touted his fiscal conservative leanings and advised that we plan for the worst where possible (a decrease in 25 students, in this case), with someone floating a decrease in 50 students.

Kelli Glen stated that our current local revenue was as follows:

Local: $4.1m

State: $26.9m

Federal: $344k

Total: $31m

Staff reductions (including natural attrition without backfill) reduced expenditures by $600k. The new custodian contract saved money as well. We had $33m in projected expenditures, leaving us with a $3m ending fund balance. There’s likely some data I don’t have or couldn’t hear, as this math doesn’t exactly line up. Once again, the hard data will be out within days, so I’ll be able to post the exact figures.

A few of the trustees asked questions about individual line items on the budget projected on the main screen. These questions were generic, some simply asking to spell out acronyms.

Strategic Plan

Megan Way talked about their goals, laid out in the TPS strategic plan, of developing a career success model and beginning a shared vision of “portrait of a graduate”, and how to implement it. Nothing conclusive was discussed, but “empowerment” was mentioned multiple times. At one point, Megan stated, “we just felt so empowered”. On a personal note, I would challenge this administration, when accounting for their stewardship of public funds, to use quantifiable terms.

iWellness was discussed, and I will cover this in my final notes as well. For now, I’ll post an edited summary of the questions trustee brooks asked, and their responses.

To be completely transparent, this clip is edited. There was an additional response, specifically to whether the program provided any benefit. Here is a sample of the responses I had to edit it out. If you’re short on time, I’ll summarize it for you: it’s impossible to hear, even after stripping noise from the file using audio software.

Trustee Brooks asked two basic questions:

1. Is the program free?

2. Did it provide a benefit?

She is likely referencing assertions I made my in previous article, Did Our District Just Get Duped?, or this article by Anthony Alaniz: LENAWEE ISD SPENT $1.25 MILLION TO ASK YOUR KIDS THESE 7 QUESTIONS. The response from Ms. Way was that the iWellness program is free to TPS (ISD paid for it, as detailed by Alaniz), and will need to be purchased by TPS next year. The second question about its benefit was muffled by poor audio quality, but Ms. Way did repeatedly mention that administrators love having access to data.

Mattison’s Facilities Update

I’ve come to look forward to our Director of Operations Josh Mattison’s facilities update as I report on these meetings. Details are clearly laid out, ethical considerations are mentioned up front, and Mr. Mattison clearly appreciates savings, no matter how small. In this update, a demand-response rebate from Consumers landed TPS a $4k/yr (approximate) savings on energy costs. Mr. Mattison also mentioned that the new custodial contract was projected to reduce worker absences.

Superintendent Comment

Mr. Hilton suggested that paid advertising and media for the district likely had a positive ROI, especially on enrollment. He mentioned “humanizing” TPS admin, and “telling the story” of TPS, as he promised when he applied for the position. He also thanked TPS Human Resources parter Danielle Adamczak and Executive Assistant to the Superintendent Veronica Moore for “stepping up” to handle media for TPS in the absence of Vic Pratt, who “moved on”. This includes meeting recordings… more on this later.

Public Comment

None

Board Comment

None of consequence

My Thoughts

Trisha Howard

My heart was heavy this month as I got the news that our beloved TMS Principal Trisha Howard has moved on from TPS, taking a new opportunity in another district. Trisha was my inspiration to get involved with our schools. I have not spoken with her on why she made this decision, but I know there is more to the story. At the very least, I hold this district accountable for not doing more to retain her. For those interested, I wrote an article about her leadership style (along with Kris Hoag and Joe McInchek) here: Leadership Outside The Military. Holly, Stella, and I wish her the best and our family will always be eternally grateful to her.

iWellness

I have come out in the strongest of terms against the iWellness program as nothing more than a grift. I also try to keep an open mind, so I was disappointed that I was unable to hear the full update/response to the iWellness program. I would like to issue an invite to anyone who feels they can defend this program for an interview. I will post either the video, audio, or transcript unedited for the readers. This is your chance to make your case.

Until then, I stand by every word I wrote in my article about this program. It is a grift. Seven questions on a Google Doc is not worth a million dollars. It is nothing more than hiring an expensive middle-man to facilitate a process that already exists. We should be taking care of our counselors, not paying U of M business graduates to create forms that tell us what we already know. Every time I read about this program, I’m reminded of Nixon’s quote, “Where’s the outrage?”

The Hallway

I mentioned in my last article that our Director of Business Services, Kelli Glenn, happily sat down with me as a candidate to help me understand district finance. For a time, she was (mostly) willing to send me info presented in meetings so that I could present it in this blog. Evidently, that era is over. I recently emailed her asking her advice on how to represent our district finances (specifically, timelines of revenue / expenses). As of this writing, I have received no response.

I also sent Veronica Moore a very detailed email, at the time under the impression that the district had replaced Vic Pratt, on how to improve our audio/video quality. I even offered to pay out-of-pocket for all expenses toward that end. Since I never receive responses from Veronica, I CCd Mr. Hilton. The response I got was the same canned response I get from her each time.

We learned in this meeting that Veronica and Danielle (HR) who have “stepped up” to provide meeting video. This video gets consecutively worse each week, and takes two weeks to upload. We are moving further and further from initial promises of live-streamed meetings, which our city council and neighboring school boards provide and have provided for years. In TPS Facebook posts, TPS no longer responds to sincere questions from parents. Vic had a tough job in that role, but he met questions head-on and was always willing to assist when I started this blog.

I mention these incidents because they all have something in common. Deep in Tecumseh High School, there’s a hallway lined with the offices of these administrators. While I began the year enjoying good relationships with “the hallway”, it has deteriorated quickly ever since. Information is no longer shared willingly, even if the info requested is for their own benefit helping break down the difficulties they face to garner some sympathy for nuance. As I watch good people like Trisha and Vic “move on” to new opportunities, the fingerprints of that hallway cover the crime scene.

ICE Raids

Katherine brought up a good question that went unanswered on the TPS Facebook page. I know that at the beginning of these raids, Mr. Hilton attended a meeting with other superintendents for guidance (about six weeks ago, approximately). To my knowledge, this was not discussed in any board meeting. I would urge our community to ask this question at the next board meeting. Mr. Hilton has laid out a feedback format such that response to public comment will be addressed at the following meeting.

Educate Tecumseh on X

I would mention to my more liberal friends and readers that I have no particular love for Elon. I’ve preferred the Twitter format since 2012 and want this blog to have maximum reach. X also allows for a more gloves-off approach, which may be warranted at times. You can follow it here: @EducateTecumseh.

Future Articles

• The next article will contain detailed info on our fiscal projections as this is when our yearly budget is published.

• I’m receiving messages concerning TPS eliminating more AP courses. I am working to research this as my schedule allows, and will include a summary in my next article. If you have any info on this, please feel free to reach out.