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The Metro Bureau Advantage: Bringing Resources to School and District Leaders
Last month, I received phone calls from two superintendents thanking me for connecting them with our business partners. Consistent with the Metro Bureau’s mission of helping school and district leaders in the management of resources, we know that experience and advice from our business partners can offer great value to our member school districts. It also makes good business sense for our partners as it creates trusting relationships that will grow their business. All of our Metro Bureau business partners have been vetted and can provide you with qualified references from our region who you know and trust. So whether you are thinking about a school bond or are looking for assistance with your personal retirement planning, we have the right people. Metro Bureau business partners offer services in maintenance and operations, learning and legal services, data and analytics, benefits and risk management and finance. A list of our partners and contact information appears toward the end of this newsletter
New at the Metro Bureau:
Best Practices Breakfast
Whether or not you think that virtual learning is here to stay, you can certainly recognize the impact it has had on teaching and learning. Many school districts are successfully using online programs for credit recovery and advancement. Others have started virtual schools for kids that haven’t been successful in a traditional high school setting.
Watch for more Best Practice events from the Metro Bureau at www.metrobureau.org .
Save the Date!
Metro Bureau Annual Dinner and Meeting
May 10, 2019
The dinner meeting will be held at the Detroit Athletic Club. Invitations will be going out later this month!
This year’s special guest speaker will be Carol Cain.
Carol is the 1 0 time Emmy Award Winning Senior Producer/ and Host of “Michigan Matters” — the weekly show airing 11:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS 62 focusing on politics, business, education and more. Carol also is an award-winning columnist at Detroit Free Press, writing about business, politics and education. She has carved a path spotlighting the importance of diversity and inclusion. She has written numerous articles and columns that talk about the importance of building bridges throughout the community and also to places like China.
We hope that you are able to join us to hear Carol share her thoughts on public education.
As always, additional information on Metro Bureau events and to view videos of past seminars, please visit our website at www.metrobureau.org
Wayne State University’s Teach Detroit program offers a clinical approach to teaching in an urban environment.
On a brisk autumn morning at Munger Elementary School in southwest Detroit, a first-floor kindergarten class is in full swing. As teacher Lisa Briegel runs through the day’s first lesson — a phonics exercise emphasizing words with similar-ending syllables — the 5-year-olds arrayed in front of her wriggle and bounce in their seats, some raising hands to be called on while others blurt answers in impatient outbursts.Save the Date
Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling Urban Counselors Workshop Conference on March 26, 2019
Council of Chief Negotiators
by Greg Baracy, Associate Executive Director
Michael VanCamp, CCN Chair, L'Anse Creuse Public Schools
School Cancellation Forgiveness Days
On Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil was put to the test on the national stage. This weather-predicting rodent and his meteorological methodology were hard at work determining when spring might arrive. When Ole’ Phil was let out of his den as the world watched patiently, he declared in “groundhogese” that he could not find his shadow. So, as the legend goes, this means an earlier Spring and fairer weather is on its way.
The number of school cancellation days has been a hot topic at many of our HR meetings. Districts throughout the state have exceeded their 6 forgiveness days and their 3 potential waiver days. In fact, many questions have come up regarding “forgiveness” days and when should you make application to MDE. Interim State Superintendent, Sheila Alles, spoke at the MASA mid-winter conference in February and addressed the issue with superintendents and administrators. Her recommendation was to wait until the winter months were over before requesting forgiveness days. She stated, “We will be as “accommodating” as possible to approve days as long as you have 180 days in your school calendar.” Further complicating the forgiveness day issue is the determination on the Governor’s declaration of State of Emergency days. As of this writing, no determination has been made. However, the House Education Committee is scheduled to take up HB 4206 the week of March 4. The newly introduced legislation would exclude days canceled during the state-declared emergencies. This could add five days during the January 28 through February 1 deep freeze to the forgiveness list. So, as Michigan weather goes, forgiveness day requests will probably be an April task along with the many other tasks HR professionals are faced with--including staff evaluations and potential hiring.
Job Fairs
Whether Spring comes early or not, it’s time to focus on teacher job fairs and potential hiring. Amidst the national teacher shortage and fierce competition, the earlier we get our game plan together the better our districts will be served. The days of just marketing your district for potential candidates are long over. We are in a new era of teacher recruitment and dealing with this new cohort of millennials is a real challenge. Be prepared to get innovative and even incentivize your job offers to attract the very best candidates--especially in difficult-to-find disciplines. Some districts are offering steps, signing bonuses, and other retention incentives. There really isn’t an easy answer to innovative recruiting. Whatever you do, make sure you have had meaningful conversations with your bargaining groups.
The list below is the Teacher Job Fair Schedule for the largest teacher recruitment opportunities in Michigan. Get an early start and good luck in your interviewing and hiring endeavors!
Teacher Job Fair Schedule – Spring 2019
April 5 Madonna
April 8 Michigan State University
April 9 Central Michigan University
April 10 Western Michigan University
April 11 University of Michigan
April 12 Eastern Michigan University
May 9 Wayne State University
Seminars
The Metro Bureau and CCN promise is to support our member districts with data analysis, seminars, and collegial sharing that can be put into real practice. To that end, the following seminars are being offered.
On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, Dana Abrahams and Jeremy Motz of Clark Hill, PLC. will be presenting on “Effective Management of Procurements--Purchasing, RFP’s, Construction Contracts and More: Best Practices and Strategies that Work”! The event will be held at the Schoolcraft College VisTaTech Center, Livonia, MI. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. and the event is 9:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
On Tuesday, May 14, 2019, The Metro Bureau will be offering a Seminar on the “Marijuana Law in Michigan, Drug Testing and the Opioid Crisis in the Workplace.”
Visit our website at www.metrobureau.org for additional information; and remember, don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any suggestions and/or ideas regarding future seminars.
Council of Academic Leadership
by Nancy Campbell, Associate Executive Director
Richard Klee, CAL Chair, Crestwood School District
Upcoming Presentations
Is it spring yet? I don’t think so. I am writing this on a very cold day in early March and hoping you are keeping warm in your schools. In any event, I hope that we have nice sunny weather for our March CAL Meeting on March 22, at 9:00 a.m. at the Southfield Board Office.
Second, we will discuss as a group the essential components crucial for accurate and successful implementation of MTSS: Team-Based Leadership, Tiered Delivery System, Selection and Implementation of Instruction, Interventions and Supports, Comprehensive Screening & Assessment System, and Continuous Data-Based Decision-Making. MTSS entails so many aspects that we may find we need to determine some elements to have presentations and discussions on at future scheduled CAL Meetings.
I hope you can join us on the 22nd. Refreshments will be provided. (And until then….stay warm!)
From Our Business Partners
Can Michigan Teachers Afford to Live in the County Where They Work?
“Can Michigan teachers afford to live in the county where they work?” An interesting question and the answer is yes…and no. First, some background. Following teacher walk-outs in West Virginia, (soon followed by Oklahoma and Arizona) last spring over low teacher salaries, a National Public Radio (NPR) story aired that asked a similar question, identifying Michigan as having the highest paid teacher salaries in the country. Needless to say, that claim raised a few eyebrows among those involved with teaching, school administration or providing advisory services to Michigan public school districts.
As a data aggregator with the ability to correlate data between school districts and municipalities, Munetrix was able to combine the data and analyze it based on teachers’ salaries for particular counties and the cost of living in those counties. We found some interesting anomalies and nuances, including Michigan counties where teachers’ salaries actually lag behind the county’s cost of living when considering a variety of factors such as child care and family status.
Looking at Oakland Schools, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools has the highest average teacher salaries ($81,593), but also has a high student-to-teacher ratio, at 25 to 1. South Lyon, with lower average teacher salaries, has a younger teacher population, which would help account for the decreased pay, but also a lower student-to-teacher ratio, at 21 to 1. Madison District, the lowest paid district in Oakland County, has an average teacher salary of $52,229, and the average cost of living for an Oakland County single parent family is $56,674. With the $4,445 gap, this district could easily dispute the claim of high Michigan teacher salaries. While paid and unpaid benefits may increase the value of overall teacher compensation in any district, they don’t pay the rent or childcare (a whopping average of $18,000 in affluent Washtenaw County.) The point is, the devil is in the details – and the data, when you look at it from a variety of vantage points.
Buzz Brown is Vice President and Co-Founder of Munetrix. He can be reached at 248.499.8355 or buzz@munetrix.com.
Source: 2016 – 2017 MDE Bulletin 1014 - Michigan Public Schools Ranked by Select Financial Information
District Security Safety Committee
Does your school district have a District Security- Safety Committee? This question is being asked by parents more than ever.
Establishing such a committee also provides staff, students and parents a venue to have their particular security and safety concerns addressed and questions answered, while demonstrating reasonable measures are being taken.
You are receiving this advisory as a member of the Metro Bureau to help meet your safety and security needs.
As a long standing Metro Bureau Business Partner, our firm offers complimentary phone consultation to members. Please contact Recon at 248-540-0160.
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