Joseph Herd made history as the first Black member of the Grosse Pointe Public School System Board of Education when he was appointed to fill a vacant seat in January 2020. Voters approved that appointment at the ballot box Nov. 3, 2020, and on Monday, Jan. 11, the board voted unanimously to appoint Herd as president for 2021.
Herd was nominated by Margaret Weertz, who thanked the board and community for their support during her term as president in 2020 before passing the gavel — figuratively, as the meeting was held virtually due to the governor’s order — to Herd to complete the nomination process for the remaining officers.
“I’d like to thank President Weertz,” Herd said. “She’s been really helpful. As all of you know, we’ve dealt with quite a few difficult issues. It’s not been easy and she’s been a godsend to me in terms of understanding procedurally what’s been going on. I also realize, having been the deputy chief of the United States Probation Office, when you’re working with a lot of people, you’re not going to know everything. In fact, it’s best to rely on people who do know things.”
Also approved unanimously were motions to elect Weertz as vice president, Dr. Chris Lee as secretary and Colleen Worden as treasurer.
Prior to the election of officers, Herd and the other newly elected trustees Worden, David Brumbaugh, Ahmed Ismail and Lisa Papas participated in a ceremonial oath of office.
Back to school
Students in Young 5 to grade 6 returned to face-to-face hybrid instruction on Monday, Jan. 4.
Monday, Jan. 11, was the first day for seventh and eighth graders, who attend on alternate days in two cohorts, with Wednesdays held remotely.
Ninth graders return Monday, Jan. 25, with 10th through 12th graders to follow Thursday, Jan. 28. High school students attend four half days; Wednesdays are conducted online.
Sharing their impressions of the first day were Principal Sara Dirkse and English teacher Julie Lawrence from Pierce Middle School and Principal Dan Hartley and science teacher Brian Aue from Parcells Middle School.
Dirkse said she was proud of the students and staff for following procedures and expectations, in particular seventh and eighth grades who had to adapt to new rules.
Hartley said his joke for the day was it was the “eighth first day” — with previous first days held for students with special needs, fifth grade cohorts and now sixth, seventh and eighth-grade cohorts.
“Kudos to the staff who worked all along those eight first days to make them successful and special for kids,” he said.
As an English teacher, Lawrence said she leans on figurative language and used an analogy to describe the first day back in the building.
“If you’ve ever done any traveling, specifically out of the country, it’s fun, but there’s nothing like coming back home,” she said.
Aue, a new teacher at Parcells, said seeing “the kids so enthused to come in in January is not usually the norm. It was like having the first day of school with kids that you already know. There was that energy and there was that buzz about how the school year starts, but I already had developed those relationships and being able to walk in the door and already have a connection with the kid and say their name and greet them and have them greet me back. … We do what we have to do, but there is just no substitute for face-to-face instruction in working with kids.”
GPPSS Superintendent Gary Niehaus said he spoke with all the elementary principals and the transition for Young 5 to grade 4 students was equally successful.
“I look forward to getting our high school students in after the second semester begins,” he said. “I think this has been a very positive start to the new year and hopefully we can continue to move forward in making more and more of our schools available and open on a more effective basis as we see how these things are all going to turn out.”
Niehaus added he was optimistic students could return to face-to-face learning full-time by the fall if not sooner.
“I think this Board of Education with five new board members has been very, very solid in this back-to-school notion. … Many of you campaigned on reopening the schools. We know administratively we can be successful in that and we are going to do everything we can to the full extent we can and to full participation as we get to next fall.”
In an update on vaccinations, Deputy Superintendent for Educational Services Jon Dean said the latest plan to get employees vaccinated through health care systems is a positive step toward resuming full-time face-to-face instruction.
“Dr. Niehaus and I talk a lot about what is going to get us back to five days a week,” Dean said. “Vaccinations is one of those things that help us. It’s not the only thing, but it gets us closer.”
Summer 2021 programming
Dean shared preliminary plans for summer programming beyond what historically has been available.
This summer, in addition to its usual offerings of Camp O Fun, preschool, high school credit recovery through St. Clair Shores Schools, an extended school year program for students with individualized education plans and various music and theater enrichment programs, the district is providing programming for Young 5 to grade 12 designed to reconnect students to in-person learning and reinforce key concepts. Three two-week sessions will be offered in buildings across the district to provide flexibility.
“We would use the same instructional strategies we typically would use and it would be a bridge from instruction this year to instruction next year so that students would have a better transition,” Dean said.
Depending on student needs, this could mean academic exploration, support and remediation, or opportunities based on interest. The focus would be on grade-level concepts, opportunities to collaborate and flexible scheduling.
The hope is to mitigate costs with CARES funding and the emphasis will be on making the offerings accessible to all students.
“This is not about credit recovery,” Dean clarified. “This is about improving skills so students can be successful. All students can attend. Some students will be invited, but all students are invited to attend and it will be taught by our teachers and our staff.”
Director of Special Services Stefanie Hayes said students with special needs will have three avenues to summer programs: recovery services established through their individualized education plans; the extended school year program, which students qualify for based on their IEPs; and the ability to attend summer programming with resource support.
Speech pathology, occupational therapy and physical therapy are offered as part of the extended school year program only, but Hayes said she hopes to have resource staff available to provide instructional and social-emotional support for students who may not qualify for the ESY program, but require additional services.
Next steps are to meet with teachers to gain their input and send a survey to parents. Plans will be finalized in the next six weeks to allow families to make summer plans.
Superintendent search update
A search for a new superintendent for the Grosse Pointe Public School System is underway.
A subcommittee of the Board of Education met on Jan. 6 to discuss the proposals received from five educational executive leadership search firms.
Subcommittee members Herd, Ismail and Weertz agreed the three regional firms provided the broadest reach. Of those, Ray & Associates and School Exec Connect stood out at the top of each of their lists.
The school board will conduct finalist interviews at a special meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20. Each firm will give a half-hour presentation followed by 15 minutes of questions. The meeting will be held virtually and is open to the public.
Response to Capitol attack
Events that unfolded on Jan. 6 in the nation’s Capitol building delivered many teachable moments in classrooms across the district, particularly with secondary students.
A number of residents applauded teachers for these efforts during public comments at the close of the meeting.
“At this moment of national crisis, our teachers are doing what our exceptional teachers always do — educating and supporting our students,” Shannon Byrne of Grosse Pointe Farms said. “They are providing factual information about the insurrection against the United States government. They are making space to reassure concerned students and they are reiterating the importance of the fundamental tenet of our democracy: a peaceful transfer of power.”
“I applaud those teachers,” Mary Rouleau of Grosse Pointe Park said. “I am a licensed social studies teacher at the secondary level. … I firmly believe that in no small part, we find ourselves in our current predicament because of our failure to properly teach about the three branches of government, citizen engagement, current events and media literacy. We have to face that a large segment of our population does not understand how government operates, is not well versed on important issues and cannot distinguish between fact and opinion. For most Americans, the last and best opportunity to do that — vital education is in our high schools.”
Niehaus also took a moment to make a statement about the attack.
“Never in my lifetime would I have ever believed that an insurrection by American citizens in our nation’s Capitol would ever be possible,” he said. “I’m angry, I’m unsettled, I’m embarrassed, I’m disappointed and I wonder. Our Grosse Pointe Public School System teachers, staff and administration did an excellent job of dealing with the two unexpected days. The divisiveness is coming from us from every level — the local level, the state level, the national level and the world. … I must keep the faith and hope that we can find a new normal that is inclusive, civil and has justice for all. I look forward to this board setting the example on the local level of what that means and I look forward to making sure we do everything we can to make sure we hold our democracy in our hearts, in our minds and in our spirits.”
Rodger Hunwick, principal at Brownell Middle School, delivered a special video announcement to students the morning after the attack.
“The basis, the bedrock, the foundation of what our country believes in is us being able to have elections and these elections allow us to voice our opinions and choose our leadership and also to have a peaceful transition from one form of leader or leadership group to another,” Hunwick said. “And that is the basic premise behind what makes our nation great. I just wanted you to know that Brownell Middle School wants to work with you and have some dialog and address these tough issues. These have been unprecedented times since March and here we find ourselves in a circumstance for which none of us — you, me, your parents — have ever lived through and I just want you to know that here at Brownell … we care deeply about you.”