By Crystal Hayduk
During Superintendent Julie Helber’s report to the Chelsea School District (CSD) Board of Education at their meeting on Dec. 13, she thanked district staff for “creating really stable and loving environments for our kids.”
It was the first school board meeting since Nov. 30 when a sophomore student at Oxford High School shot 11 people, killing four students. Helber said the event continues to be difficult for local students and staff. “…Thinking about this horrible tragedy is certainly something that causes us to pause and think about our own safety as a school district,” she said.
Helber said she is proud of the district’s students for behaving responsibly and respectfully; she is also appreciative of those who have reached out about any concerns.
Prior to the Oxford incident, CSD already had an emergency operations plan in place and it was being reviewed and updated. Both central and building administrators have been looking at security and processes through a safety lens. The Washtenaw Intermediate School District (WISD) has forwarded tools to assess threats.
Additionally, the district met with and continues to work collaboratively with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office and the Chelsea Police Department to review areas for improvement.
Helber said the district continues its work with social/emotional learning with the goal of all students feeling safe and loved at school.
With Keri Poulter absent, the board approved the updates to the Emergency Operating Plan.
During the opportunity for public input, two community members urged the board to approve the DBEI (Diversity, Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion) Initiative.
The DBEI advisory committee’s recommendations and overall structure and goals for the DBEI Initiative came before the board for approval a second time after it was moved to information and discussion at the Nov. 8 meeting. (Related story here.)
Trustee Tammy Lehman said she didn’t see anything in the revised document about the oversight or review process.
Trustee Jason Eyster, who leads the board’s DBEI advisory subcommittee, said the oversight is through the DBEI committee, made up of administrators, faculty, and staff. Later in the discussion, Helber said the committee includes herself, Marcus Kaemming, Lisa Nickel, building administrators, school counselors and psychologists, and some teachers.
Lehman questioned why the documents were being voted on, noting that some of the specific items parents had concerns about were not addressed, including books and a social media policy.
Eyster said the items of concern were being dealt with separately by district administration, and were not specifically related to DBEI. The documents on the agenda for board approval are to endorse the concept of DBEI.
Trustee Shawn Quilter said he had reached out to two community members who addressed the board during public comment in past meetings about changing the policy on controversial topics. He said the board’s policy committee examined the issue further.
Quilter said, “Some controversial issues arise in classrooms organically. They’re not planned for. … Teachers, regardless of what they’re teaching, are faced with those controversial topics. … In a charged environment like this they have to be prepared for dealing with something and being able to handle it in a very balanced way in a very polarized political environment, and I think they do the best that they can.”
When Quilter asked the people who desired a written policy change to define “controversial,” nobody suggested language that would work. “I can’t think of language that will work that will define controversial topics to the point that it would drive our policy in one direction or another,” he said.
Due to the difficulty inherent in delineating hundreds upon hundreds of potentially controversial topics, the committee determined the current policy works well.
“We trust our professional educators to be fair, balanced, and professional; and if they’re not, then … administrators have to deal with that.”
Helber clarified that the vote is requested to make sure the board supports the work of the DBEI Initiative as part of the priority of having a healthy and safe school environment. Updates on the work will continue to be presented to the board.
The board approved the DBEI advisory committee’s recommendations and overall structure and goals for the DBEI Initiative in a vote of 5-0, with Lehman abstaining.
Helber, along with Michelle Cowhy, assistant superintendent of finance and administrative services, and Heather Conklin, director of curriculum and instruction, presented a succinct version of a presentation originally scheduled for the Nov. 22 work session that was canceled due to lack of a quorum.
The presentation was a review of types of ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding, which are emergency relief grants to address the impact of COVID-19 on schools. The slideshow of the presentation is available for viewing, both as an attachment to the agenda and as part of the entire board meeting, for one month at https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/911?meeting=485762.
Helber said board members will have time to consider ideas for the use of the funds, with more discussion at the Jan. 10 board meeting. The district is also surveying staff, students, and families for their ideas, which is one of the requirements to receive a portion of the funding. The survey link, “K-12 Insights Survey,” was previously emailed and is due on Dec. 17.
