HOLT, Mich. (WLNS) – Parents of students in Holt Public Schools pushed for a change to the district’s behavior policy during a board of education meeting Monday night.
Several parents attending the meeting helped write a three page memo including a resolution calling for metrics to better understand the effectiveness of the school’s policy.
“We are not asking you to move mountain by yourself or the administration to do it for the parents. The students, the parents, the administration and hopefully, the board, will commit to making our schools a safer space for our students,” said Erin Myers, a parent who addressed the board.
She was one of several parents who pressed the officials to review the resolution that aims to change how parents are notified of safety issues when they happen in the schools. This comes after several instances this past school year, like a fight between school staff and a student and another incident that sent a student to the hospital.
While Superintendent David Hornack said he appreciated parent involvement, he said school officials have multiple projects to consider.
“We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of things in play as well. Schools have a lot of different initiatives that need to be reestablished. We need again to reteach those behavior, expectations,” he said.
In a phone interview, Board President Mark Perry said it was a “tight turn around” between the time the resolution was first presented to him and Hornak last week to Monday night’s meeting. Several board members said they needed more time to review the resolution and collect input from the other school officials.
However Hornak said he understood the call for more transparency.
“In a time when we’re dealing with lots of things, more communication is often better and we will work to do that and if that includes adding metrics to what we share, we’re in support of building compacity,” he said.
Both Hornack and Perry said they were unsure where this leaves the resolution. The board did not vote to move the issue to a later meeting. Hornack said there is another behavior and discipline summit set for August.
