Board approves purchases, gifts, superintendent review and support-staff contract

At its July 21 meeting the Midland Public Schools board approved several procurement actions, accepted donor gifts, completed the superintendent's midyear review and ratified a support-staff contract.

Finance and procurement votes approved issuing a purchase order to Den of Auburn Hills for custodial supplies ($42,004.20), a purchase order to Douglas Equipment of Ionia for food-service equipment ($345,942.91) to be paid from food-service funds, and a $36,738 purchase order to Superior Ground Cover Inc. for playground surfacing at Adams School. "This will do all of Adams," the procurement presenter said when asked whether the mulch purchase covered the whole playground.

The board accepted gifts totaling $28,074.38: an anonymous donation of $23,074.38 to Midland High hockey and a $5,000 donation from Colin Buell to support at-risk students, and noted informational gifts totaling $5,447.31 for programs such as National Honor Society and robotics.

Human-resources items included notice of retirement for Dawn Smith (paraprofessional, Woodcrest Elementary) effective Aug. 28, 2025, and board expressions of sympathy for recently deceased former staff members.

After a closed session to conduct the superintendent's midyear review and to discuss collective-bargaining strategy, the board returned to open session and approved the superintendent's midyear review and authorized full payout for several 2024–25 goals (the board approved payout for goals noted as 2a, 2b and 3a–c) while reserving merit decisions tied to embargoed student-achievement data until that data is released.

The board also ratified the Midland City Educational Support Personnel (MSEFSA) contract following a collaborative negotiation process; the board described the agreement as intended to ensure the district retains skilled trades and grounds staff.

All motions recorded in the agenda were adopted by voice vote unless otherwise noted.