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AVRON TOWNSHIP—The Board of Education of the Upper Peninsula's Arvon Township School District has announced that it is implementing a School Excellence Plan designed to make the small kindergarten through sixth grade school the best in the state. The one-school district has 13 students enrolled for the upcoming school year.
In order to ensure ample financial resources to meet its high academic standards, the district is looking to privatize its school lunch program, busing, and janitorial functions. "The Board shares the concern of many local parents and taxpayers that our noninstructional costs are high. For example, without changes we would be paying over $11.00 per school lunch," said board treasurer James Harden. "We could send the kids to Tony's Steak House every day for that amount."
The district has issued "requests for proposals" to private businesses to handle these functions and bid openings were scheduled for August 11.
Privatization may help "students [get] a level of individual attention and encouragement that other schools only dream about," said Mary Rogala, school board president and a former L'Anse business owner. Why? Because contracting out allows teacher-administrators to concentrate on education, not ancillary functions of school operations. "Our teacher can get to know each unique child and his or her parents, assess the student's abilities and needs, and tailor a learning program that will help that child excel," said Rogala.
The School Excellence Plan will create new benefits for both parents and children in the District. Instead of costing parents $1.00 per day, nutritious lunches will be provided free of charge. An expert teacher will provide specialized instruction in computers, foreign language, music, and art, among other subjects. Careful use of precious district resources may allow Arvon to pay the highest salary in the Baraga-Houghton-Keweenaw County area in order to recruit top talent. "We want Arvon Township School graduates to be the valedictorians at L'Anse and Baraga high schools," said Rogala. "And we want every child to have the opportunity for a genuine world-class education."
Another major change for the district is having a teacher be principal or chief executive officer as well. "To date, the 5-member school board has been too involved in day-to-day operations," said Rogala. "We need our administrator/teacher to exercise dynamic leadership and management ability that drives the entire operation to excellence." The Arvon plan calls upon the teacher/administrator to go beyond academic excellence to engage parents, community volunteers, and local organizations in support of the school.
The plan has drawn fire from the local union representing current district employees. At one school board meeting a local union representative argued that contracting out does not work and may cost the district more money. Board president Rogala was quick to respond that the Michigan Education Association, the state's largest union for bus drivers, cooks, janitors, and school teachers, has and continues to contract out at its own headquarters. While that argument ended the debate abruptly, it did not end the opposition to Arvon's School Excellence Plan.
On August 3, the district's teacher, bus drivers, cook, and custodian issued a letter detailing their concerns. The staff believe that education will suffer, the safety of children will be at risk, food service may not be as good, and that the high standards of cleanliness provided by the district will be affected negatively.
