By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
No firm decision was made at a special budget meeting’Monday’to close a $1.9 million deficit to the Lake Orion Community School’s budget.
Trustees voted not to make mid-year cuts, including teaching and administrative positions that would have totaled close to $245,000, about 13 percent of their problem.
Trustees Connie Meech, Birgit McQuisten, Scott Reynolds and Jim Weidman’opposed any mid-year cuts, with Trustees Steve Drakos and Bill Holt approving them, with conditions.
After the decision, community members and parents erupted in applause.
Packed in the Orion Center conference room, hundreds of concerned residents listened to the board’s deliberations, which ultimately ended in postponing any immediate and long term action.
Parents were notified of the possible reductions in a letter that was sent throughout the district the week prior, inviting them to the meeting.
Instead, Superintendent Marion Ginopolis recommended the board to allow her and the cabinet to form a more detailed reduction plan, which would affect the 2016-17 budget.
If no further measures are taken to amend the 2015-16 budget, the district is facing about a $5 million deficit for the following year. ?
The adopted budget for the 2015-16 school year is due in June. Without amending the budget, the district would walk into the 2016-17 year with about a seven percent general fund balance of total expenditures.
‘We really need to get serious about reductions,? Meech said. ‘I’ve seen some of our previous planned reductions not materialized because I don’t think they were well thought out. It’s not a position of advocating less reductions, it may be a position of advocating more. I want this to be a very well thought out, sober decision, of how we’re going to arrive at $5 million in reductions.?
Trustees made the decision to postpone mid-year staffing reductions after listening to several recommendations from the Long Range Planning Committee.
Trustees believed these long range planning committee recommendations could better help guide the large cuts looming in the future.
The 38-person committee was selected in June to recommend a long-range-planning-guide to the board to help resize the district according to current data and trends.
Nathan Butkey, who represented the committee’Monday’night, made several general recommendations to the board.
‘We didn’t feel we were in a spot where we had enough insight to make very serious decisions, rather we wanted to collect and identify a handle of opportunities in areas we thought were every compelling and warranted further studies,? he said.
The committee broke into three groups.
The first group assessed communication strategy, the second group assessed financial impact, and the third group looked at reconfiguration of the district.
While the communications subgroup recommended the district keep the public engaged in the ongoing conversation, it also recommended branding the Dragon district according to five pillars that differentiate Lake Orion. The pillars include showcasing the innovative curriculum, award-winning educators, endless opportunities, student achievement and well-being, and recognized instructional success.
The first financial recommendation was to continue the expansion of shared-time services. As in recent years, this could mean sharing Lake Orion employees with private and/or charter schools in order to gain a fraction of those students foundation allowance, or per pupil funding.
Another idea was to seek a sinking fund, or building and site fund, which would require a vote.
‘The biggest benefit is you are not using any of your operational dollars to pay for simple technology or security upgrades, and I think that’s what you need to start looking at,? committee member and previous township supervisor JoAnn Van Tassel said. ‘I was the biggest proponent of this building and site fund. We’ve done it in the township the last three years for police and fire, and I would implore anyone to tell me that education is less important than police and fire. The people in this community care about their schools, and if you spell out the program and say what you’re going to do, then it’s a no-brainer.?
Privatizing transportation was another financial idea thrown around. However, there was no real consensus to recommend it. Instead the committee recommended looking further into it.
‘When you look at the district boundary map, you realize we are taking on a premium to support the instructional model that we have in order to transport students across the district. The question is, are there others that can do it more efficiently?? Butkey said.
Lastly Butkey presented the recommendations the committee created concerning a new configuration for the district.
‘We have more space than students, especially in our younger years,? he said. ‘We can optimize our buildings.?
Butkey said according to current population trends and demographics, the district could potentially reduce one or two elementary schools and then further evaluate the kindergarten through eighth grade configuration.?
The recommendation is to commission a study by an outside consulting firm to evaluate the building sizes.
‘In order to protect and prove what we have, we need to utilize everything fully and not have more space than we need. We need to get to the size we need and get to the right resources,? he said.
Superintendent Ginopolis confirmed the district has a disproportionate enrollment, and some elementary schools? populations were smaller than others.
The configuration committee also recommended reassessing grade arrangements per building. A couple of ideas include repurposing Oakview Middle School as a balanced calendar school, with traditional calendar students attending Scripps or Waldon for middle school.
Another concept was allotting Scripps Middle School as a ninth grade campus, and keeping Oakview or Waldon as a fifth-sixth grade schools, and seventh-eighth grade schools. Other possible configurations were also discussed.
To some who attended the meeting, the information helped dispel rumors that these changes were coming immediately to the district.
Other community members had recommendations of their own.
Parent Kevin Hall spoke last during public comment.
‘The communication so far I feel like has been very limited. One of the things we’d like to know is how to keep tabs on this going forward, knowing class sizes, how students would be affected, and how students would be shifted in schools,? he said. ‘The details for us to need to know what is happening aren’t there.?
Hall believes the reason the two bonds failed a couple of years ago was because of a lack of communication and failure to share pertinent details.
‘I think all of us are thinking we are the dark, that’s why you have rumors, that’s why you have fears. I think if we could figure out better mechanisms to share that information I think all of us would fell less worried and less scared.?