Wayland Union Board of Education

The Wayland Union School Board met on Monday, February 7, 2022 at Baker Elementary for their regular meeting.

Prior to the regular meeting, a special meeting was held to select the next Board Trustee which was vacated by Jason Shane’s resignation. Three candidates were interviewed. Names were drawn to determine the order of the interviews: 1) Norman Taylor; 2) Cinnamon Mellema; and 3) Jeff Koon. In a 5-1 vote, Cinnamon Mellema was selected as the next Board Trustee serving through December 31, 2022. The remainder of the term will appear on the November ballot.

Assistant Superintendent, Pat Velie, provided the February budget vs. actual report and shared the results of our Annual Michigan State Police (MSP) Transportation Fleet Inspection. Inspections include: bus sheet metal, chassis and frame, emergency exits and aisles, engine and drive trains, fuel systems, glass, lighting and electrical, mirrors, miscellaneous equipment, paint and markings, seats and barriers, service door, special needs equipment, steering, suspension, tires, wheels and hubs. All 24 WUS buses (18 fleet plus 6 spares) in the fleet received "green tags" with 100% passing all testing standards. WUS is appreciative of our hardworking mechanics: lead mechanic, John Syers, and assistant mechanic, Ryan McKinney. Additionally, WUS thanks the AAESA mechanic counterparts Chris Kurzmann and Jim DeBoer, as the four mechanics work collaboratively to ensure buses pass for WUS and AAESA.

Food Service Director, Scott Larsen, presented a Food Service report highlighting our food distribution which includes wonderful menu choices such as in-house prepared smoked meats and the famous Chicken Bowl.

Baker Principal, Rachel Cimek, presented on academic data and a video which captured the day in the life of a kindergarten student from Mrs. Anderson’s kindergarten class. Thank you, Mrs. Cimek, for the presentation!

Student Representatives, Summer Morrison and Hayley Jasinski, gave the student report from the high school. Eco Club has put out donation bins for the “Wildcat Wear Again” fundraiser. The goal is to collect gently used Wildcat gear and then they will hold a pop-up shop where students can purchase the items. Money raised will be used to increase recycling efforts at the High School. New bins have recently been added to collect and recycle used batteries and markers to keep these items from going into a landfill. Student Council sponsored a very successful Coaches versus Cancer event last week, raising over $22,000.00 to go towards cancer research. Student Council will be attending their annual leadership conference later this month. LOC Club hosted the Snowcoming dance last week with just under 500 students in attendance. NHS students will be volunteering at Kids Food Basket and they are writing letters and assembly goodies to show their gratitude to High School staff on Valentine’s Day. Mark Musgrave was selected to participate in the Michigan Honors Choir for the 4th straight year. Both High School choirs just participated in their Festival competition and did very well. Both band and orchestra have concerts coming up as they prepare for their festival appearance. The wrestling team has had a very successful year and celebrated along with Adam Ordway on his recent milestone win. Girls varsity bowling remains undefeated in their conference.

Theresa Dobry, Athletic & Extra Curricular Board Chair & Board Secretary, provided an Athletics & Extra Curricular Committee Meeting Report. The committee started some initial conversation about drug testing for students who participate in extracurricular activities. This is in the very early stages of consideration. The committee will continue to look at policies and procedures from other districts and Mr. Valk will be reaching out to other schools in the conference to see if they have any policies in place. The committee discussed current coaching vacancies. Spring sports participation is looking good at all levels. Wayland Union Schools Athletic Department will be transitioning to online tickets for all events in the 2022-2023 school year. There was some discussion about the fees associated with online ticketing and ways to keep this affordable for families. The new wrestling mat is on order. The swimming scoreboard is installed. Wayland will be hosting some upcoming district and quarterfinal tournament games.

Teresa Fulk, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, presented a summary of data from Winter NWEA testing, including the 98B Learning Goals. Winter NWEA data shows student growth on target with years prior to the pandemic with the majority of students meeting/exceeding their growth goals. Mrs. Fulk also discussed a summary of meetings held with staff regarding changes implemented this year to Special Education programming. Mrs. Fulk also provided an update on K-12 Curriculum Committee meetings, the Curriculum and Technology Board of Education Committee, and gave a brief preview of three proposals that will be presented to the full Board of Education next month.

Dr. Hinds gave her Superintendent Report beginning with praising Mrs. Rachel Cimek for her presentation and her leadership skills. Dr. Hinds reported that two partners from Allegan County Health Department will begin working with Wayland Union Schools: Ashley Wilkins is our Health Resource Advocate (shared with Hopkins Public Schools) and Michelle Hairston is our full-time CDC School Liaison. The first goal with these positions is to improve timely communication with our family and staff who are positive and/or identified as close contacts. Dr. Hinds reported that we are still awaiting the results of the Wayland City Police Homecoming investigation. An update on the Opportunity Thrive Resilience Champions was presented noting that the individual buildings are continuing to review and develop an action plan using the data collected from the Staff Assessment Survey completed in November.

Dr. Hinds reports the telephone survey, conducted by MRA-EPIC, is showing favorable results for success in the upcoming Bond Project to be on the ballot in August 2022. Thank you to those who conducted the survey! Please join us in a Community Tour of our pool and our high school facilities on March 14, 2022 at 9:00am or 1:00pm, or on March 17, 2022, at 6:00pm. We look forward to seeing you, at the Wayland Union High School Office, for one of the tours.

Dr. Hinds also shared the results of the Casino Revenue Sharing Input Survey completed by staff, parents, and secondary students. The top three results from each group are summarized in this document. Complete survey results will be available on the district’s website by the end of the week. Here is a link to review of the Superintendent’s full report.

*Please note: This is a summary of the meeting. Official board minutes will be approved at the next regular board meeting on Monday, March 14, 2022.

Website: waylandunion.org
Location: 850 East Superior Street, Wayland, MI, USA
Phone: (269) 792-2181