School Briefs: District Adds Facebook Page; Invites Governor to Hartland; Gets Winterfest Review

The Hartland School District has entered the world of Facebook.

The district created a page that was put online this past Friday, Superintendent Janet Sifferman announced at the meeting Monday.

With the district looking to convey information about the upcoming election and facts about the governor's budget plans for Michigan schools, Sifferman hopes a presence on the social medial platform "will get the information out in a timely fashion."

The May 3 ballot has one open board position and the nonhomestead millage renewal for 18 mils, which is worth approximately $4 million to the general fund operating budget. In addition, the district faces a $4 million budget hit from proposed state cuts and increases from retirement costs.

"In my seven years as superintendent I can honestly say that this is the most critical juncture that we have been in," Sifferman said.

Snyder invited to Hartland

Sifferman also shared with the board a letter she wrote to Gov. Rick Snyder inviting him to come and visit the Hartland district. Sifferman attended a community forum last week and was bothered by a comment Snyder made about "school districts not being fiscally responsible."

"I hope, seriously, that he does at least answer me," said Sifferman, who has previously noted that the district has made about $7 million in reductions  over the past 10 years. "I am very concerned about the proposal that that he is presenting for his budget. I am concerned about painting a one-size-fits-all brush for school districts across the state.

"Should this budget come to fruition it will be dire for Hartland Consolidated Schools as well as probably all of the other school districts in the state of Michigan."

Behavior better than expected at dance, board vice president says

Board vice president Charlie Aberasturi said students behaved better than he expected during Saturday's Winterfest dance at , which he attended because the district receives many comments from parents who have concerns with happenings at the dances.

"I was expecting, from what I have heard, that it was going to be terrible," he said. "I found that the students there didn't act any differently than the kids did when Bob Seger was playing.

"Yes, there were some kids that if it would have been my child I would have asked them to act a little differently."

But Aberasturi said that administrators were quick to reprimand students who were acting inappropriately and that with 450 students to 30 adults administrators and the 15:1 ratio was better than in a classroom.

It was the first time Aberasturi attended a dance at the school in seven years since his children no longer attend the high school. Hartland has a policy in which parents who aren't chaperones are restricted to certain areas.

Aberasturi said that the last time he really attended a high school dance was "about 40 years ago when a guy by the name of Bob Seger was playing the dances and I paid about 50 cents to go see him. I think that guy's done more than that since then."

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the policy on parents attending dances.