KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — After much debate, the Kalamazoo Public School Board is approving a resolution that gives their Superintendent emergency authority to suspend any board policies that conflict with the remote learning plan.
During their first virtual meeting on Thursday, KPS Interim Superintendent Gary Start asked the board to allow him to suspend some policies for the next two months.
School District Attorney Marshall Grate recommended the action because some of the current board polices don’t apply during this new form of learning amid the coronavirus pandemic. For example, students are receiving feedback, but are not being graded on their work.
“We have put the administration in a very awkward position when they’re asked to put together a plan that is going to conflict with board policy for the next two months,” Grate explained.
Grading, graduation requirements, state assessments, attendance, and other practices are being altered to align with Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order requiring that districts come up with a “Continuity of Learning” plan.
KPS’ Continuity of Learning plan was approved by the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency and teachers have started full implementation of the plan to keep students learning. It explains how online learning will work through virtual lessons and office hours, paper packets, teacher feedback, and more.
Several Trustees objected the resolution to give the Superintendent the authority to suspend policies, saying that it cuts them out of the loop. But in the end the board voted 4 to 3 to approve the plan.
Trustees will get a chance to discuss the remote learning guidelines in detail at two committee meetings tentatively planned for early May.
The board will also retain the right to object to any facet of the plan they don’t like and change it during the next two months.
The latest KPS updates can be found on their website.
(John McNeill contributed to this report.)
