A district parent told trustees during public comment on Jan. 13 that proposed amendments to Policy 906, the district’s public-complaint policy, would remove due-process protections and that the district’s legal spending has grown markedly in recent years.

Chad Williams of Birmingham Township said he has been denied protections under Policy 906 for three years and accused the district’s approach to disputes of relying on outside law firms and “deny, delay, and defend,” a practice he said is costly to taxpayers. He cited what he said were increases in legal spending: an average of about $87,000 per year between 2017 and 2019, compared with an average of roughly $230,000 per year between 2022 and 2024, and specific line items such as more than $30,000 spent on private investigators over three years.

Williams asked who proposed the November amendments to Policy 906, whether the board monitors its solicitor’s conduct or manages conflicts of interest, and why legal fees have grown. He also referenced ongoing state and federal inquiries into the district’s compliance with existing policy language.

Board members replied that Policy 906 will go through the board’s standard three-month cycle—first reading, second reading and approval—so the public will have multiple opportunities to comment. Trustees said they would review the policy carefully; one board member noted the district updates policies on roughly a five-year cycle and that the most recent proposal had been revised after community feedback.

The board did not take a vote on Policy 906 at the work session. Trustees reiterated that they will consider the policy during the normal public-review process and that a corrected typographical error identified in another policy would be fixed before the formal vote.