Board Votes to Expel Student at Alternative High School

The Hartland Board of Education expelled a student at the alternative high school Monday for the reminder of the 2010-11 year for what officials described after the meeting as an "aggressive act toward another student."

Officials declined to provide any additional details about the student or the incident, citing federal privacy laws, but added he or she can reapply to attend the school, called LEGACY, next year.

It is the fourth expulsion of the year in the district of about 5,500 students, a number that's slightly higher than traditional norms. LEGACY, a program founded in 1982, stands for Lets Educate, Graduate, and Care for our Youth! and is housed at the .

The vote, which came without additional comment, was 6-0. Trustee Robert Perkins was absent.

Budget issues focus on a state funding update, closed session

With the district facing as much as $4.1 million red ink from a loss in state funding and increased retirement costs next year, members heard an update on current legislative proposals and met in closed session to discuss the teacher contract.

Board President Kevin Kaszyca called on state lawmakers during the discussion to address unfunded mandates and pension costs that are set at the state level and slated to increase 3-4 percent each of the next two years. Officials estimate a $1.2 million hit next year alone and follow an early retirement incentive that lawmakers had hoped to create savings statewide.

"We've been very unhappy," he said. "They're not addressing the pension liability. It's the structural problem. While they preach that they're being responsible and they're not kicking the can down any longer, they're currently out addressing out certain areas while not addressing others. … While they've put in a lot of effort into ideas, it strikes me as being very incomplete."

His comments followed a presentation by Trustee Michelle Hutchinson, who delivered a comparison of the two bills that have each been passed by the state House and Senate that now need to be reconciled before funding is decided.

Differences include:

Hutchinson, who monitors legislative issues for the board, also said she attended a meeting Monday morning with state Reps. Bill Rogers and Cindy Denby. She said said they are looking for ideas to include in an funding incentive program that rewards past and future consolidation and cost cutting.

In addition, the Republican lawmakers, who represent the areas that include the district and voted for the house funding proposal, wanted to know what unfunded mandates should be eliminated, she said.

Parent warns about dangers of poor choices

Harley D. Keeling, who has a sixth-grader and an eighth-grader in the district, discussed the dangers of alcohol abuse, smoking, drugs and racing trains during public comment.

Keeling, a 59-year-old Brighton Township resident, recalled several personal incidents from the 1970s to the present day that included witnessing:

• A drunk man drive the wrong way down I-96 who hit another man's vehicle head-on only a couple of miles further down the road, killing them both.
• A near-death experience when he was in a car almost hit by a train his friend was trying to beat. That friend, he said, was an undercover narcotics officer who died young after he was murdered.
• Both of his younger brothers die from smoking-related illnesses even though they were both otherwise healthy. One was 44 and other was 53.

"Be very careful of if you ever think or hear anyone say 'one or two cigarettes never hurt anyone,'" he said.

Noting the philosophy of the late Peanuts comic creator Charles Schulz, Keeling said the most important people in a person's life aren't those who achieve fame in society, such Nobel or Pulitzer prize winners, but friends and family — "the ones who care the most."

Citing the importance of society's religious and legal morals, he also encouraged people to help each other to be better.

"Isn't it logical that by raising the level of others around us, we inevitably raise ourselves?" he said. "Please remember the things I told you about alcohol, drugs and tobacco and to not to do things like trying to beat trains."

Kaszyca thanked Keeling for sharing his perspective, especially because a large group of students were in attendance.