The Oxford Community Schools Board of Education met on Oct. 25 at Clear Lake Elementary. Board members in attendance were president Dan D’Alessandrao, secretary Mary Hanser, treasurer Heather Schafer and trustees Erin Reis and Colleen Schultz. Vice president Chad Griffin and board trustee Erick Foster were absent.

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IB coordinator Nicki Barnnett and seniors from the IB class presented their 2023 field trip request. They asked the school board to finance their trip to Uvalde, TX, “to spread the love received after our tragedy” to them after their school shooting. The trip is planned for Nov 18-21. Students have made 1,200 blankets to give to students. The trip is for 18 students and six adults. The board approved up to $10,000 for the trip.

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Clear Lake Principal Stephanie Niemi presented to the board, “points of pride” for the school. One of the goals was the implementation of “What I Need Time.” This is a 30-minute block of time for the students.

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Auditor Jacob Sopczynski from YEO & YEO CPA presented district information focusing on the general fund. He said as of June, the district had about $9 million in cash assets, and a fund balance after liabilities of $14.2 million. The school district’s actual budget for the last school year was about $92,329 million, with expenditures around $89,499 million.

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The Board voted to reimburse member Hanser $1,169 for her attending the Michigan Association of School Board Leadership conference.

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Anita Qonja-Collins, Assistant superintendent of elementary instruction – made a benchmark presentation to the board. The presentation is to monitor and assess students academic goals after the pandemic. With seated K-8 students, they score for reading and math three times a year. The district hopes to improve students’ reading score by 15 points by the end of the school year; improve 6 points in math. For Oxford Virtual Academy, they have different levels — 1st grade by five levels by the end of the year.

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The board approved spending $115,025 for elementary classroom libraries. The district will make sure students in all classrooms have access to the same books, from class to class and building to building.

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Assistant Superintendent of Business and Maintenance Sam Barna presented the Summer Tax Resolution to the board. He said 80% of school taxes are collected in summer by Dec. 31, each year. The resolution will be discussed at the next board meeting.

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The board approved the purchase of computer/tech materials for staff desk tops for 28,728.70.

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The board approved the purchase of 165 new ChromeG7 computers for Oxford Virtual Computers. Total cost $66,267.

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In the unscheduled audience participation, seven people (including former board president Tom Donnelly) spoke up stating their mistrust in the school board over their handling of getting information out in regards to the Nov. 30 shooting.

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The next regular school board meeting is Nov. 15 at Oxford Middle School. The December meeting is on the 13th at Oxford High School. The first meeting of 2023 is planned for Lakeville Elementary in Jan. 11. All meetings start at 6:30 p.m.