School Board Meeting Notes
March 24, 2025
I’ll start by apologizing for posting this so late after the recent meeting. I’ve been traveling quite a bit lately for work. While our persistence paid off in getting meetings live-streamed, the latest meeting lasted almost three hours. I struggled watching Return of the King in theaters, so I knew I would struggle with this meeting. Fortunately for us, there’s an AI tool that gives us a table of contents. If you want to do this on your own, here’s how to get your own summary in four easy steps:
Step 1) Navigate to TPS’s meeting archive page at: https://www.tps.k12.mi.us/page/board-members-and-information
Step 2) Find the video you’d like to summarize, and copy the YouTube link to that video.
Step 3) Download Google’s Gemini, or go to gemini.Google.com in a second tab.
Step 4) Type in the command: “Summarize this video: *paste video link here*”
Gemini should return a summary with clickable links like this:
Pledge of Allegiance: The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Vice President Davis [01:27].
Recognition of Sergeant Lampka and K9 Officer Buddy: Sergeant Lampka and K9 Officer Buddy of the Tecumseh Police Department were recognized for their service to the schools [02:09]. February 15th was National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day.
100th Day of School Celebration: The 100th day of school was celebrated with staff and students dressing up as centenarians and a 100's day fashion show [03:04].
Kindergarten Round-Up: An upcoming Kindergarten Round-Up event was announced, providing an opportunity for parents and children to meet teachers, visit classrooms, and learn about school services [09:38]. It's scheduled for March 8th at Acres [11:06].
Public Comments: There was a period for public comment on agenda items [11:29].
Critical Incident Mapping and Clocks: Updates were given on critical incident mapping and the installation of clocks in schools [46:39].
Debt Refunding: An explanation was provided regarding debt refunding, showing how it reduces debt millage [49:29].
School of Choice Plan: A discussion took place regarding the proposed School of Choice plan for the 2025-2026 school year, including the difference between unlimited and limited plans [53:39].
Support for Vulnerable Students: Concerns were raised about ensuring resources remain available for students with disabilities, especially in light of potential changes at the federal level [02:51:01].
Staff Recognition: A board member commented positively on staff recognition [02:54:12].
Motion to Adjourn: The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn [02:55:16].
Of course I, your sometimes humble but always faithful servant, have digested this behemoth and will continue to provide commentary, as promised. So let’s dive right in.
Recognizing SRO Lambka
The board celebrated Sgt. Lambka, our school resource officer, as a part of national SRO day (2min in). There are still some unanswered questions concerning Sgt Lambka’s past dealings, however. Articles written on this issue are scarce, but fortunately a local journalist kept receipts. It centers around funds from the sale of military surplus that seems to have vanished. If Sgt. Lambka could not be transparent in a matter of missing funds he oversaw, is he the proper candidate to roam the schools or handle disciplinary measures?
Financial Update
At roughly 49 minutes into the meeting, our Director of Business Services, Kelli Glenn, gave a briefing about how our debt refunding initiative will save debt millage. This was great news at a time when we could really use it. Kelli did mention that our expenditures are currently still greater than revenue, but promptly pointed out that this is an abnormal quarter where expenditures are expected to be high. Indeed, of all the budgets I’ve seen, education budgets are the hardest to nail down on a monthly basis. I will provide a financial summary at our next fiscal interval.
Unfortunately, the public has no idea what Kelli was referring to because the board still does not provide information packets to the public. Even if one were to attend the meeting, the information projected onto the screen is difficult to read (even for me). Thankfully, Kelli provided us with the information packet which I have included below. Many thanks to Kelli, who is always happy to share info with us! I would urge the board, or TPS staff, to consider making information packets available to the public before meetings are held.
Abolishing Committees
At about 1:08 (68 min) in, Trustee Brooks suggested that the board should discuss and vote on matters in the same session, rather than waiting until the following meeting to vote. Later, Trustee Simpson suggested getting rid of all committees, allowing the entire board to be informed on all matters at once. Trustee Martinez disagreed. He stated that involving more members in decision-making will slow the process down. Trustee Davis mentioned her own experience with this, both in the private sector and as a board member, and said she sees both sides. She later added that individual committee meetings made it harder for the public to attend, making it seem that she was sympathetic to the idea of returning to whole-board deliberation.
In principle, I agree with Trustee Martinez. Smaller groups are more efficient (though less transparent). In practice, I tend to agree with Trustee Davis that both have merit, but the large group in this case its still small enough to be efficient. I won’t pretend to know more than the board on this specific issue. While transparency was mentioned, there does not seem to be a desire in this community to attend committee meetings unless there is a highly controversial matter being discussed. There has been modest interest in the live-stream, however. Perhaps the board would consider live-streaming all meetings in either case.
Mattison Calls For Action On Building Restore
Anyone who is interested in restoration of our district facilities, or where our new sinking fund revenues are going, I would call attention to the segment at 1:29 (89 minutes) into the clip. Mr Mattison argues that the board needs to take action to approve the building restorations to prevent bottlenecking work toward the end of the term. There are several arguments here between whether we should use a “cost plus” model, or a “fixed price” model for building construction/restoration, and on whether we should go with a project manager for all projects versus doing project-by-project in an a-la-cart fashion.
Mr. Simpson attempted to give a simplified explanation of fixed price versus cost-plus contracting, but I will try to break it down further for my readers. In a fixed price contract, the contractor agrees to deliver the specified work or product for a predetermined, set amount, regardless of the actual costs incurred, placing the risk of cost overruns on the contractor while providing the buyer with cost certainty. Conversely, a cost-plus contract reimburses the contractor for all allowable expenses incurred during the project (such as labor, materials, and overhead) plus an additional fee, which could be a fixed amount or a percentage of the costs, shifting most of the financial risk to the buyer but offering flexibility for projects with uncertain scopes or changing requirements. Essentially, fixed price contracts prioritize predictability, while cost-plus contracts emphasize adaptability, with each suited to different project needs and risk tolerances.
Mr. Simpson, citing his own experience with construction projects, states that the district could save money by cutting out the proposed construction manager. Mr. Mattison counters Mr. Simpson by reminding him that going with one project manager insulates us from market price fluctuations, and creates savings on it’s own by being locked into one lower price for all projects. Mr. Simpson argues that we won’t have all the money we need to do several projects in conjunction, so we have no choice but to do them one by one. He then suggests that Mr. Mattison perform the job of construction manager, as he is certified in HVAC (this is called “quiet hiring”, by the way).
Finally, Trustee Martinez suggests that the board go with the recommendations of Mr. Mattison as he is the expert in these matters. I’ve spoken with Mr. Mattison myself during the election, and his resume is indeed impressive. He has more experience in these matters than the entire board combined, so I’m inclined to agree with Mr. Martinez. I am curious about the point Mr. Simpson raised about not having the funding needed to do more than one project at a time, however. In the coming weeks, I will be talking with Mr. Mattison to present a more detailed view of the dilemma.
Simpson Praises DOGE efforts
On a personal note, I’m seeing a disturbing pattern from some on the school board of praising the efforts of those in their inner circle while simultaneously stifling or mocking those same efforts from outside their circle. At 2:21:01 into the meeting, Mr. Mattison concludes his briefing. Trustee Brooks then comments that Mattison has been frugal with district funds, to which Simpson commented, “he’s our DOGE” as laughter breaks out. Multiple members of the community have offered to help the board look for cost savings only to be blown off, so the DOGE comment was laughable for those who have been paying attention.
Upcoming Articles
What I thought would be a slow spring has ended up being quite busy. I’ve received requests to cover the following topics:
MiPHY (Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth) - Why is it asking our kids sexuality?
Jasmine’s Voice - The terms of use for a free iPad are concerning.
What happened to Chad Rogers? Our beloved SRO stepped down abruptly.
The rise in therapy dogs in schools - Are drug searches being conducted?
Special education finance - Why we should have a three-tiered system based on needs.
Special Needs - The percentage of kids with IEPs and 504s on the rise.
If you have anything to contribute, feel free to get in touch!