East Lansing board approves consent hires and policy updates unanimously

The East Lansing School District Board of Education approved several routine and business items during its Sept. 9 meeting, voting unanimously on an amended agenda, minutes, consent hires and policy updates.

The board approved the agenda as amended to add to the consent agenda the hiring of Robert Richards as a 1.0 FTE Spanish teacher at McDonald Middle School (pending a clean background check, BA step 3, effective Sept. 11, 2024). The board also approved the hiring of Allison Vinton as a 1.0 FTE school social worker at Robert L. Green Elementary (MAEP 12, effective Sept. 23, 2024). Both hires were contained in the consent agenda motion and the motion carried without opposition.

On policy matters, the board unanimously approved the July 2024 TR policy updates for Series 2000 through 4000 as presented. Trustee Chambers, who chairs the policy committee, said most of the revisions were minor (grammatical updates and limited language clarifications) but noted the committee will next address the 5000 series. The board accepted friendly amendments to change gendered pronouns in policies 4105a and 4105b ("he/she" to "they") to make the language gender-neutral.

Motions were recorded as carried "unanimously" on the record (the roll call at the start of the meeting listed seven trustees present); no roll-call vote totals beyond the recorded unanimous outcomes were entered into the transcript. The board closed business after receiving committee reports and adjourned at 7:37 p.m.

The board’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Sept. 23, 2024.