The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Teachers honored at meeting
By Kathleen Conat, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: May 24, 2007
Twenty-five teachers, who gained tenure this year, were recognized at last week's meeting of the Ypsilanti School District's Board of Education.
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District Human Resources Director John Fulton presented honorary certificates of achievement to the teachers who gained tenure.
Teachers remain on a probationary basis for four years before reaching this goal. Prior to tenure, a teacher may be dismissed for any reason. Tenure offers protection against arbitrary firing.
The 25 newly tenured faculty members include: At Chapelle Community, Katherine Fye and April Polaski; at East Middle, Tybe Mills; at Erickson/Forest Avenue, Jonathan Zajac; at Erickson Elementary, Tania Arras and Cory McElmeel; at Estabrook Elementary Diane Burchett; at Perry Child Development Center Lindsey Doutt, Michelle Foerster, Vincent LeVigne and Heidi Shelton; at the Regional Career Technical Center, Sandra Balewski; at West Middle, Mary Buckwalter, Barbara Karalash, Stephen Kotre, Carli Pacheco and Amelia Skwiers; at Ypsilanti High School, Lawrence Alsobrooks, Nina Davis, Elizabeth Eisenberg, George Lancaster, Shrecee Lewis, Maureen Mason, Matthew Perry and Allison Schreiber.
In other business, the vote on a new mascot for the high school was tabled for consideration at a later date.
Board Vice President Tom Reiber requested the vote on the high school mascot be tabled until the second meeting in June. He explained that he thought the new board trustees, Sarah Devaney and Eric Temple, should have time to review background material on the issue and other board members would be back from vacation by then.
The mascot issue was reviewed, however, during the "information and inquiry" portion of the agenda. High school teacher Nina Davis, who served as advisor for the selection committee, explained the procedure.
Of the 542 votes that were cast, 243 favored the name of Royals for the team. The Falcons garnered 89 votes, while the Jaguars came in third with 76 votes. The Generals inspired 67 voters, while the Yellowjackets collected 27 votes. Forty ballots were declared invalid or void.
Davis was questioned as to why slightly less than half of the high school students for a mascot.
"Those who voted truly care about what our mascot is," Davis replied. She also stated some students had not voted as a protest against losing the former mascot.
The board recognized Ypsilanti High School senior Richai Burgens, recipient of a Mill and Melissa gates Millennium Scholarship. They also recognized the efforts of seniors Djeneba Cherif and Andrew Bates, who served as student liaisons to the board this past school year.
The board also acknowledged donations to the Regional Career Technical Center. Shari and Michael Diepenhorst gave the program a computer system and Carol Cramer donated a digital camera.
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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