MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — The dust had begun to settle in Muskegon Heights Tuesday following yet another contentious school board meeting.
The district's charter board said Monday it would require more time to come up with a plan to fix its issues, including staffing shortages, problems with its curriculum and more.
“You said you were a full-service management company and we’re not getting the services,” a member said, addressing Charter Management Company New Paradigm for Education during a Monday board meeting.
Another member of the district’s charter board at one point called for its contract with New Paradigm to be scrapped entirely.
“I would like to make a motion to add an action item to the agenda. One is to stop payments to New Paradigm… terminate this contract for breach of contract.”
That motion was later rescinded.
Board members also requested an extension of the three-week deadline they were given to draft a corrective plan addressing numerous concerns.
“A delay in any kind of action is just not appropriate,” Randy Lindquist, superintendent of the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District said. “I'm very concerned about that.”
Lindquist signaled he would be willing to assist the embattled district in determining a path forward.
“It has a definite impact on what's being delivered to those students,” he noted. “That's a big concern for us is that they don't have certified staff in front of kids on a daily basis.”
“What we saw last night was a very, very concerned community,” Donald Weatherspoon, PhD explained via phone Tuesday. “In our opinion, they're right, they have a right to be concerned. The situation in the Heights is serious.”
Weatherspoon is a consultant with the Michigan-based National Charter Institute, which was recently hired to advise the district.
“The board is saying, wait a minute, you need to come and talk to us about what you're doing,” he said of tension between the board and its contracted management firm. “That's a reasonable request—give us an account of where the money's going.”
Among other insights Weatherspoon shared with 13 ON YOUR SIDE, to his knowledge, there have been no financial reports weighing the adopted budget against actual or realized expenses, critical with regard to future planning efforts.
“We don't have a cash flow analysis and without cash, you can't operate,” he explained. “You’ve got to get down in the weeds and start asking these kinds of technical questions. But they lead to the larger question of what do we have to do.”
It's familiar territory for Weatherspoon, who also served as emergency manager when Muskegon Heights Schools were under state oversight.
He said his present role would be to compile resources and expertise to guide the board’s hand.
“We're there as a team, bringing in different people,” Weatherspoon said. “Hopefully, we'll be able to sit down and invite the intermediate school district in to the table and maybe some people from MDE so that there is one set of questions, one set of answers…. Then proceed to move forward with a plan to make sure the district survives.”
The next board meeting is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 21.
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