After debate and discussion during the June 12 meeting, the Grosse Pointe Public School System’s Board of Education voted to continue discussion on Wednesday, June 14 about proposed budget cuts. This follows the May 22 meeting that went until 3 a.m., with over 5 hours of public comment.
At the beginning of the meeting, it was stated on the meeting’s agenda that at 10:30 pm Board Members would take a vote on whether or not to postpone the remainder of the agenda until a later date. At 10:37pm, they voted 4-3 to postpone the remaining minutes to June 14, 2023, two days later. The board brought up John Gierak to answer any questions board members have about school board meeting rules.
‘‘The Open Meetings Act expressly provides for recesses,” Gierak said. “The only provision is that if the recess is longer than 36 hours, then the notice of the next meeting needs to be reposted. ‘So if this doesn’t end at 10:30 (p.m.), then the June 14 meeting would have to be posted (on the district’s website) 18 hours before that meeting.’’
The May 22, 2023 Board meeting finished at 3:30 am in the morning, after hours of public comment and board member debate on the pending budget. The motion to postpone the meeting is a motion to prevent another 10+ hour meeting. GPPSS School Board President Ahmed Ishmail spoke at the beginning of the meeting on how the decision would be made.
‘‘My goal is that if we get to 10:30 pm—if we see that we are 20 minutes away from finishing—then I will look for a motion to extend the meeting for an hour,” Ishmail said. “If we see that there are 50 more comments, which equates to about 3 hours then we will proceed accordingly.’’
This comes at a time when the Board of Education is discussing budget cuts for the 2023-2024 school year that would cut central administration positions, teachers at every level, paraprofessionals, and other positions. A popular budget proposal the board is discussing would cut $4.6 million for the 2023-2024 school year. Board Member Colleen Worden voted not to postpone the remainder of the June 12 meeting.
‘‘Halfway through budget negotiations we decide we are going to put a hard stop on a meeting when there are obviously multiple community members who want to express their opinion,’’ Worden said. ‘‘I don’t think that it’s fair to families to not come out once, but twice, to hear their comments. Effective meetings generally last an hour and a half to two hours and we are getting to a point where we are having 9 hour meetings, clearly the public is not happy with what this board is doing. I think residents have the right to speak up and protect their schools.’’
The meeting started at 6:30pm on June 12, and ended at 10:40pm after the vote to postpone the meeting. The projected time of the remainder of the meeting is roughly 4 hours. Some board members, including Trustee David Brumbaugh, were attempting to continue the meeting.
‘‘I think if you look at the audience, I don’t think that everyone who put in a comment slip is here,” Brunbaugh said. “All of these people have been here until 10:30. I think we can power through to continue the meeting; I think it’s disrespectful to end the meeting at this point.’’
The remainder of the meeting will resume on Wednesday, June 14 at 6:30 in Brownell Middle School’s Auditorium.
