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Metro Bureau Councils and Seminars:
The best way to learn.
As educators, we talk a great deal about how kids learn. Making sure that our kids get the best in teaching and learning requires that we as district leaders take our own professional learning seriously. Whether your job requires hiring the best teachers and administrators; planning teacher professional development; implementing the new GASB 84 accounting standards or making sure that your school campuses are as safe as possible; you will be more effective at your job by learning from experts and by collaborating with others who do what you do and face challenges similar to those in your school district.
Metro Bureau Councils and seminars provide timely, low cost and convenient learning opportunities for you and your staff. Council participants include both new and veteran district administrators and each meeting provides you with a great opportunity to network with your peers. Councils meet monthly and include lively discussion about issues that matter to school and district leaders.
- For curriculum and instruction leaders, there is the Council of Academic Leadership (CAL). Facilitated by Associate Director Nancy Campbell. This group meets monthly, beginning on Friday, September 27th at the Southfield Public Schools Administration Building located at 24661 Lahser Road behind the high school. The meeting begins at 9:00 am and usually ends around 11:00. Click here for the schedule
- For administrators who work in human resources and bargaining, there is the Council of Chief Negotiators (CCN).Facilitated by Metro Bureau Associate Director Greg Baracy. The CCN group meets at the Lamphere Schools Administration Building located at 31201 Dorchester Avenue in Madison Heights. Their first meeting will be at 9:00 am on Friday, September 20th. Click here for the schedule
Both CCN and CAL meetings are well attended and open to all Metro Bureau members. If you would like to attend and are not on the mailing list, please contact Deborah Berger at (313) 577-1713 or daberger@wayne.edu
When the topic calls for outside expertise, we bring in experts to inform our members. Each month the Metro Bureau offers seminars on a wide range of topics. Details on upcoming seminars are included with this newsletter. You can also access all Metro Bureau events as well as meeting schedules for the Council of Chief Negotiators (CCN) and Council of Academic Leadership (CAL) via our website at www.metrobureau.org . New seminars are posted monthly, so be sure to visit the website regularly. If you missed a seminar you can view the podcast from our website and you can apply for the SCECHs.
Metro Bureau Website: The Law Corner
Now located near the bottom right of our homepage at www.metrobureau.org; The Law Corner includes useful compliance guidance from Metro Bureau legal advisors at Dickinson Wright and Collins & Blaha law firms. The most recent post comes from Attorney William Blaha (Collins & Blaha) and includes information about the October 1, 2019 deadline for districts to have an abortion referral policy including the required elements of the policy.
Metro Bureau Business Partners
Metro Bureau Business Partners are a valuable asset to members of the Metro Bureau. Our Business Partners provide expertise in six critical areas; learning services, operations, legal services, analytics and data, benefits and risk management and financial services. Each Metro Bureau Business Partner:
- Has expertise within their field that school district leaders need and want.
- Enjoys a superior reputation in providing high quality service to school districts in our region.
- Is willing to consult with any Metro Bureau member at no cost.
- Supports public education in Michigan.
For 2019-20, we welcome two new Business Partners: Barton Malow (Construction) and Eidex (Data and Analytics). Within each of our newsletters you will find information and updates from the Metro Bureau Business Partners. We hope that whenever you have questions or need a consultation in one of the six areas, you contact one of our business partners.
Metro Bureau Group Services Energy Consortium Partners with Siemens Energy Procurement
The main objective of MBGS is to save school districts and other educational institutions money by improving their bargaining power. I’m proud to announce that we have joined forces with Siemens Industries to increase our competitive edge for our energy customers. This partnership not only increases our purchasing power in negotiating the lowest possible natural gas and electricity prices for school districts, it also provides our customers with access to Siemens’ world class purchasing and consumption analysis software so that school districts can more closely monitor their energy costs.
Metro Bureau Group Services Guiding Principles:
- Facilitate the low cost purchase of secure energy supplies for consortium members on the most favorable contract terms.
- Reduce the amount you spend for natural gas and electricity.
- To avoid energy price spikes through carefully drafted contracts.
- Monitor all Metro Bureau Group Services utility invoices to check for billing errors and insure the rates are correct.
- Respond promptly to market changes by advising you when we believe it is in your best interest to extend your contract term to achieve even lower prices.
- To address and resolve supplier issues promptly.
Please contact us if you would like to know more about Metro Bureau Group Services or obtain a quote.
Council of Chief Negotiators
by Greg Baracy, Associate Executive Director
Brian Sumner, CCN Chair, Garden City Public Schools
The Council of Chief Negotiators (CCN) provides and supports human resource professionals in the southeast Michigan area with information relative to the collective bargaining process and related personnel matters. The Council's monthly meetings promote collegial support and provide a forum for members to meet and share trends and issues affecting all aspects of human resources and negotiations. This includes, but not limited to, current contract settlements, legal updates, insurance and benefit updates, and other relevant data supporting member districts.
On behalf of the Council of Chief Negotiators, welcome back to the start of another exciting and challenging school year! We hope 2019-2020 will be highly successful for your students and your community. Hopefully by now your employee handbooks are updated and distributed, enrollments have stabilized, staffing is complete, your classroom counts are “almost” balanced, and you have sufficient substitutes to cover temporary vacancies. I would like to include contract settlements, but without a State School Aid Budget as of this writing, many contracts in the region are on hold.
As in too many past years, we began the 2019-2020 school year not knowing what our State Aid per-pupil funding will be due to the Legislature and the Governor bickering over her 45-cents-a-gallon tax hike to “Fix the Darn Roads.” Failing to come up with a viable School Aid Budget means we start the school year with essentially a flat budget. This puts many districts in limbo when it comes to hiring new staff. Will the priority be school funding or road funding? Will the student growth factor be 40% or 25%? It’s likely to stay at 40%. As of this writing, Governor Whitmer agreed to set budget targets with the GOP-Legislature and finish the budget before October 1 to avoid a government shutdown. Interesting enough, there is agreement to address the road issue at a later date. We are still faced with the two grading system sagas until the MDE figures it out. Unfortunately, I guess we will just have to punt for now!
This year our Metro Bureau seminar series started with a certification update on August 16 with an excellent presentation from Dr. Victor Bugni, Office of Educator Excellence from the MDE. Victor covered recent changes impacting Teacher and Administrator Certification and the effective use of permits. His presentation was well received and can be found on the Metro Bureau web site.
On August 20, the Collins & Blaha Team presented, “Superintendent, Central Office and Building Administrator Evaluations and Qualifications.” They also covered the “Office of Retirement Services (ORS) Appeal Process and Normal Salary Increase (NSI).” The presentation included a panel of HR experts that spoke about their experience implementing the evaluation process and the ORS appeal process. It was not only interesting but very enlightening.
On Wednesday, September 25, 2019, Kari Shay and Roy Henley from the Thrun Law Firm will be presenting on “GASB 84 and Parent Organizations - Practical and Legal Considerations and The Impact on Booster Clubs, PTO’s and other Parent Support Groups.” This event will be held at VisTaTech the Center on the Schoolcraft Campus, 18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia, MI.
On October 23, 2019, the Collins & Blaha team will be presenting “Navigating Tenure, Employee Discipline and Disturbed Individuals In A School Environment of Potential Violence.” Additionally, a panel of school administrators will share their real life experiences dealing with disturbed and/or violent employees. The event will be held at the Wayne State University satellite campus (Jeffress Center Building) just north of the Schoolcraft Campus on the corner of Seven Mile and Haggerty. (Stay tuned to our web site at www.metrobureau.org for updates and additional information)
On November 12, 2019, Kevin Sutton from the Lusk & Albertson team will be presenting “Big Brother Is Watching….But Should He Be?” This seminar will focus on aspects of school safety, technology, and the law as it pertains to video surveillance, facial recognition, cyber security, engaging with ICE and much more! This event will be held at the VisTaTech Center on the Schoolcraft Campus, 18600 Haggerty Rd., Livonia, MI.
As always, the Metro Bureau stands ready to assist you in your HR needs, and we strive to schedule seminars that are meaningful and address your current interests and challenges. The strength of our organization is our membership. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your suggestions and ideas regarding future seminars.
Council of Academic Leadership
by Nancy Campbell, Associate Executive Director
Beatrice Benjamin, CAL Chair, Redford Union Schools
We are really looking forward to a great year of learning at our 2019-2020 monthly CAL Meetings. For those of you who are new to your positions, CAL is your resource for sharing with folks who have similar responsibilities to yours in curriculum, assessment, teaching and learning. The draw to attending our meetings is that we are diverse in that we come from up to 75 districts in the greater tri-county area. You will hear valuable information from a professional on the topic of the day and then we will have a Round Robin to listen to each other’s experience with the topic in their home district. Believe me, in a span of two hours or a bit more, you will gain information that you can take back, adjust to your district, and implement something useful for your staff and students.
Our meeting is September 27 at the Southfield Public Schools Board Office, 24661 Lahser Road, Southfield, MI. You will get an email from The Metro Bureau asking you to RSVP so we have a count for refreshments. We start at 9:00 a.m. Our Chair, Bea Benjamin of Redford Union Schools, is unable to attend this meeting but John Tafelski, Assistant Superintendent of Allen Park, has agreed to lead us that day. We look forward to seeing familiar faces and welcoming new ones! Please mark your calendars now!
From Our Business Partners
Planning is the Key to Success
From master planning, security assessments, technology consulting to bond campaign strategy and support, we do our homework! The beginning stages of planning an educational construction project lay the groundwork for success. Tailoring those plans to meet your school construction, safety and budgetary needs is our mission. Barton Malow works with your staff and other professionals to assure the scope, schedule and budgets for your projects are accurate and achievable.
Unsurpassed Campaign Support and Success
We can help put you in the winner’s circle on Election Day. In the last 10 years when our clients followed our proven processes and procedures, they have enjoyed a 100% bond passage rate. Our team is prepared to assist you with community advocacy, campaign strategy development, financial campaign design / management, surveys, communication materials, presentations, issue management and printing / mailing. To assist with the costs associated with an election we provide several attractive options up to deferring all costs until your program passes.
Delivering Value through Collaboration
Barton Malow meets new challenges head-on and develops innovative solutions through the design and construction of flexible, sustainable, energy efficient facilities – finding new ways to deliver value with a collaborative team approach. With client needs so varied, Barton Malow offers a choice of project services and a full complement of in-house services. From facility evaluations to virtual design and project close-out, our innovative solutions can benefit your next project.
When selecting your next construction partner consider the Barton Malow Difference:
- Cost Effective Delivery Model – there is no need to hire and manage multiple professionals when you utilize our “Single Point of Contact” delivery model. We are able utilize our in-house management expertise combine with our many professional relationships to coordinate all aspects of your program. Utilizing our “Single Point of Contact” delivery model means you receive all the services you desire and reduce professional fees, keeping valuable construction dollars in your projects.
- Facility Evaluations – The first step in the process is to understanding your facility needs and any building changes required to support curriculum delivery.
- Security Assessments – You receive a detail 360° safety review and improvement roadmap for all your facilities.
- Planning – The scope, schedule and budget for each project is clearly defined.
- Bond Campaign – 100% success over the past 10 years.
- Preconstruction & Estimating – You have assurance your projects will be built as planned.
- Virtual Design & Construction – We utilize the latest in 3D mapping and clash detection to reduce change orders and costly schedule delays.
- Bidder Participation – Our systems and bid strategies eliminate rebids or project delays common in the industry.
- Construction – We delivery more! Our proven process and procedures save our client’s 2%-3% of the total construction costs, which they use to enhance the scope of their projects.
- Financial Support Services – Utilizing our streamlined check system, proprietary technologies and experienced staff we provide customized reporting, cash flow management and audit support to reduce the strain on your business department.
- Inspection Assurance – Pat Tutak a recently retired State Inspector serves as a liaison to the State to assure all inspections go smoothly.
- Technology Design & Implementation – Expertise in infrastructure, security, card access and AV design bundled with our construction services will save you money on professional fees.
Barton Malow has been in business for 95 years and we are privileged to serve many repeat educational clients. As your single source of contact for all your program related needs we provide outstanding service and go the extra mile to develop long-term partnerships with all of our clients. Please give us a call to find out how we can help your District.
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