HAMTRAMCK, Mich. — The Hamtramck School District Board of Education on Monday approved a set of purchases and program rollouts aimed at staff support and literacy resources, including districtwide Mental Health First Aid training, a literacy decodables purchase and a staff well-being program, and it extended the district’s food-service contract through Aug. 31, 2025.

Board members voted to use Title-budgeted funds to send staff for Mental Health First Aid training and to develop in‑house trainers, approving the plan on a voice vote (6 ayes, absent noted). Heather, a district staff member who described the plan to the board, said the training "deals with a lot of the newer issues that have to do with student mental health," citing anxiety, depression and eating disorders and saying the goal is to equip every teacher and many staff with basic response skills.

The board also approved a purchase of decodable reader materials from Lucaria Education (listed in the meeting materials as the vendor) for elementary grades — an agenda description gave a total cost of $32,029.65 — and voted to buy a staff wellness program from Educators Thriving for up to 100 educators at a cost of $34,500. Literacy coaches Natasha Ronda and Karen Burrow told the board the decodables align with the district’s structured-literacy initiatives and small-group intervention work.

Why it matters: District leaders said the purchases respond to two persistent needs: students who require consistent, research‑aligned reading intervention, and staff morale and well-being, which administrators tied to retention and instructional quality. The board also completed a required emergency-plan submission and voted to renew routine district software licenses and extend its contract with the district’s food-service operator to avoid interruptions during summer operations.

Discussion and implementation details

Mental Health First Aid: Heather said the district wants to certify staff locally rather than rely on outside trainers, using instructional coaches to deliver professional development after attending trainer-of-trainers sessions. She said the one‑day Mental Health First Aid course is followed by a three‑day trainer preparation for staff who will then be authorized to train colleagues; the certification lasts two years. The board approved the purchase and training plan by voice vote; meeting audio and the minutes recorded the motion as carrying with six ayes and at least one member absent.

Reading materials (Lucaria Education): Literacy coaches said the purchase supplies full‑color decodable passages intended for Tier 2 interventions and small-group instruction and to complement the district’s UFLI (University of Florida Literacy Institute) implementation. "The decodables are going to be geared directly towards their skill level," Natasha Ronda said. The agenda packet listed a total purchase cost of $32,029.65; the motion to approve was moved and seconded on the record and carried by voice vote.

Educators Thriving staff-wellness program: The board approved up to $34,500 to contract with Educators Thriving for surveys and research-backed professional development and a voluntary five-day session planned for August. A presenter described the program as survey-based work to assess staff morale and follow-up PD intended to give educators concrete, research-backed strategies to address burnout. The district characterized the purchase as funded through available district funds and a partnership with the union.

Other routine actions: The board acknowledged that it has filed the district emergency plan as required by state authorities (agenda presenters referred to a state filing with the relevant agency) and said it will update the plan over the summer and stand up school threat-assessment teams required by Oct. 1, 2026. The board also approved annual license renewals and extended the food-service contract with the district’s current operator through Aug. 31, 2025, to ensure summer coverage while bids are solicited.

Votes at a glance

- Mental Health First Aid training and trainer rollout: approved on voice vote (6 ayes, absent noted). Motion carries.
- Purchase from Lucaria Education (decodable readers): approved; total listed in agenda materials $32,029.65. Motion carries.
- Educators Thriving staff-wellness program (up to 100 educators): approved; total $34,500. Motion carries.
- Emergency-plan filing and related work on threat-assessment teams: approved. Motion carries.
- Annual software/license renewals: approved. Motion carries.
- Extension of food-service contract to 08/31/2025 (operator listed in materials as SFE/Southwest Food Services): approved. Motion carries.

What the board said about morale and next steps

Several speakers tied the purchases to staff morale and student outcomes. A board member who addressed the meeting late in the agenda said staff morale "is the underlying issue to everything else, including test scores," and urged sustained, systematic attention beyond occasional gestures. District leaders said they expect to deliver the first phases of training and begin rolling out the literacy materials in classrooms this summer and early fall.

The board did not provide line-item purchase orders or contract attachment numbers during the meeting; the agenda packet supplied the vendor names and total amounts for the purchases listed above. The district indicated funding for the Mental Health First Aid initiative was placed in the Title budget; other funding sources for specific purchases were described in the agenda items but not fully enumerated on the record.

The board’s approvals are subject to the district’s procurement policies and any required contract documents to be finalized by staff. The board will discuss rollout timing and any required follow-up at future meetings and in staff reports to the board.