The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Contracts OK'd by school board
Mini grants awarded to faculty
By Kathleen Conat, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: February 7, 2008
The Ypsilanti Public School Board of Education during last week's meeting approved contracts with three unions as well as a contract with the superintendent for an additional year.
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Contracts were approved between the district and the Ypsilanti Education Association, the Ypsilanti Support Staff Association and the Ypsilanti Federation of Teachers. Each of these contracts are for three years, with a one-percent increase in the first two years, and call for the reopening of wages only in the third year.
The teachers' work days will increase from seven hours and 20 minutes to seven hours and 30 minutes. First-grade class sizes were reduced from 30 maximum to 28. Other changes revolved language regarding due process and progressive discipline, as well as teacher evaluation process and format changes.
The support staff contract adds a new paid holiday, the Monday after Easter, and changes in the classification tables for maintenance and secretarial workers. Other language changes were also made to the contract.
A new contract with Superintendent James Hawkins was approved. Hawkins will remain with the district through the 2008 to 2009 school year and aid in the transition of responsibilities to his successor. A search process for that successor will be conducted during the coming school year.
In other business, the board honored Genevieve Jones, am Ypsilanti High School senior who was the Martin Luther King Essay Contest Grand Prize Winner. Jones read her essay to the board.
It was announced that Richard Weigel, the district's executive director of educational services, had received a Winners' Circle Award from the Michigan Association of School Administrators for his leadership in launching the Critical Friends Group program at YPSD. He was recognized at the annual Distinguished Administrators Luncheon held Jan. 24 in Detroit.
Ypsilanti Public Schools Foundation Director Joanne Hartmeyer and President Steve Manchester awarded 28 mini-grants to teachers for class projects. They were: Molly Joan Porter, math teacher at YHS, for Inspiring Math Through Technology; Pat DeRossett, principal of Estabrook Elementary, for Service by the Numbers; Katherine Fye and Sophia Hubbard, first, second and third grade teachers at Chapelle Community, for Home Reading Kits; Alice Boss, culinary arts teacher at the Regional Career Technical Center, for the 2008 Michigan ProStart Competition;
Beth Koryzno, fourth grade teacher at Chapelle, for Huron Lady II field trip; Mary Buckwalter, science teacher at West Middle, for beginning the West Middle Physics Club; Barbara Martin, Spanish teacher at YHS, for restocking dictionaries and films in the World Languages Department;
Jan Natelborg, kindergarten teacher at Perry Child Development Center, for Life Today and in the Past: Similarities and Differences; Mark Salzer, computer teacher at East Middle, for BrainPop Bolsters Braininess; C. J. Falsetta, YHS nurse, for First Aid/CPR/AED training;
Judy McLeod, at-risk teacher at Adams Academy, for Electro Hot Dots Flash Cards; Mary Collins, learning disabled teachers at Chapelle; for The Use of Handheld Technology to Promote Literacy; Sharon Warring, teacher consultant at Chapelle, with Mary Collins, for Therapeutic Listening; Gwen Guthrie; first grade teacher at Erickson Elementary, for Animal Magic;
Jennifer Puckett, learning disabled teacher at Chapelle, for Girls Club Power to Succeed; Jacqueline Kilburn, occupational therapist at Chapelle, Timing/Rhythm Bal-A-Vis X to Improve Academic Success; Ellen M. Chenier, sixth grade teacher at East Middle, for Julie of the Wolves Novel Project; Arlene Clark, fifth grade teacher at Erickson, for Wide Range Reading;
Carolyn L. Griffin, language arts teacher at YHS, for Palladian Creative Arts Magazine; Karen Stapleton-Bower, eighth grade teacher at East Middle, for Biographies for Advancement; Josh Tropea, eighth grade teacher at East Middle, for Team Read! Scholastic Magazine; Sue B. Smith, teacher consultant at Estabrook, for Make Way for Writing: A Family Writing Workshop;
Karla Knighton-Beatty, student support services at YHS, for Learning/Lending Library; Cory McElmeel, fifth grade teacher at Erickson, for Jeopardy; Helene Mayleben, nurse at Perry CDC, for the Perry CDC Clothes Closet; Jack Bauer, fifth grade teacher at Chapelle, for Model Rocketry; and Jason Malloy, fifth grade teacher at Chapelle, for Elementary Basketball.
The board accepted the resignation of Kelly Gould, a third-grade teacher at Estabrook Elementary, whose husband has received a job assignment out of state.
Kathleen Conat is a longtime Ypsilanti resident and freelance writer for The Courier. She can be reached through editor@ypsilanticourier.com.
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