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Board hears staffing, bond and conference updates; approves teacher hires
Summary
At its July 22 meeting the East Lansing School District board heard a superintendent report outlining administrator hires, bond design progress, and hosting plans for a national student conference; the board unanimously approved a consent agenda including three teacher hires.
The East Lansing School District Board of Education on July 22 received a superintendent report that announced new administrative hires, updates on a safety and accessibility bond project, and plans to host the Multicultural Student Achievement Network national student conference in November.
Superintendent Leo told the board that four board seats will be on the November ballot and reminded prospective candidates that filing closes tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Leo announced three new district leaders: Dr. Precious Armstrong has begun as Director of Special Education (started July 8), Justine Richards is the new principal at Glen [Elementary] and began on July 22, and Lisa Allen will succeed Rich Pew as Director of Finance, beginning overlap work with Pew in September ahead of his planned retirement in February 2025.
Board members heard an update on the district's safety, security and accessibility bond: staff held a first design meeting for high school additions on July 16 and site soil testing has started to inform architects and construction planning. The superintendent said early testing was scheduled so construction and architectural teams could access results in the design phase.
The district will host the MSAN national student conference Nov. 13-16 at Michigan State University's Kellogg Center; the superintendent said more than 250 students and chaperones from member districts are expected and the program will include guest speakers and action-planning sessions.
On the consent agenda the board approved three new teacher hires effective Aug. 26, 2024: Kathleen Fernbach, 1.0 FTE kindergarten teacher at Marble Elementary; Alison Leers, 1.0 FTE fourth-grade teacher at Marble Elementary; and Taran Tucker, 1.0 FTE second-grade teacher at Donley Elementary. New hire Taran Tucker introduced herself to the board, saying she completed an internship at Donley and is "excited to be back." Staff and trustees welcomed the hires.
Committee reports included a facilities update that Rich Pew provided on bond timelines and a facilities update from Billy noting deep summer cleaning across buildings and that a tennis storage building project is scheduled to start Aug. 1 and be completed before school starts. Athletic and events staff (Nikki) said no major facility projects were underway but the district expects to host more events in 2025. Finance and intergovernmental committees reported they have not met yet; personnel and policy committees plan meetings in August.
The board confirmed its next regular meeting is Aug. 12, 2024, and adjourned at 7:21 p.m.
