Small Town News

Five Hillman School Board members to face recall effort

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Petitions to recall five Hillman School Board members have been filed with the County Clerk's office. Board members named on the petitions are: Tom Banks, Ernie Barnes, Jim Zavislak, Julia White, and Debra Greene. The petitions were filed by John Noffze, of Hillman. Noffze served on the school board from the late 1970's to 1996, including seven years as board president.

The Hillman School Board has seven members. Not named in the petitions are board members Brad McLaren, and Matt Noffze.

A hearing was held in Atlanta on Tuesday morning to check the clarity of the petition language.

The county election commission ruled in favor of the existing petition language. According to commission member Judge John F. Fitzgerald, the clarity, not truthfulness, of the petition language is the only thing they can rule on. The board members have 10 days to appeal this decision in circuit court.

The petition language will give two reasons for the recall request:

"For the inability to follow established board policies when hiring a coach recommended by the athletic director and then dismissing that coach." and for "Prematurely establishing Michigan Merit Curriculum classes two years prior to being required by the state of Michigan."

The first claim on the petition stems from the recent decision to terminate the employment of a Josh Robinson as the junior high basketball coach. The board took this action after being informed that Robinson, who was a senior last year, was dating a current senior. This violates school policy regarding interaction between coaches and students.

According to John Noffze, the board should have looked into the issue when the coach was hired.

"It should have been looked into," said Noffze. "All the board members should have known what the policy is, along with the athletic director, who is also the principal and superintendent. The coach should have never been hired in the first place-- not that he is a bad person. When you don't know policy, you shouldn't be there."

In a letter to the Tribune, the board members facing recall note that the administration at the school is not required to inquire on the social lives of coaches.

"In all our efforts we cannot find anywhere where it states it is the duty and responsibility of the superintend/principal/athletic director/technology coordinator to keep tabs on the social lives of adults in the community and students," the letter states. "Mr. Richards' time is much better spent making the educational processes at Hillman Community Schools more efficient."

The board members also note that the entire board was given a copy of the policy in question before the vote to terminate, along with the school attorney's opinion on the matter. "Mr. [Matt] Noffze and Mr. McLaren voted to ignore board policy and advice of counsel by not voting to remove Mr. Robinson as the coach," the letter states.

"Contrary to the rumors being spread there was never any question as to the character or integrity of Mr. Robinson," the letter continues. "The unanimous vote of all board members present to hire him should have indicated this."

The board members also address the cost issues involved with having an administrator with more than one title. "Mr. Richards does have a lot of responsibilities; however, it would cost the district about $100,000 to hire another person to carry out some of these duties. This would then take funds away from students at a time when the state is already taking away about $87,000."

Noffze's second claim in the petitions stems from the board's early adoption of the Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), which sets up new graduation requirements for high school students in Michigan.

"It was adopted before Granholm signed it into law, which was not supposed to take effect until class of 2011," saidNoffze. "They forced the class of 2009 to abide by that. They were not properly prepared."

In response the five board members state that early adoption of the MMC was a first step.

"The curriculum was explored, and along with staff, it was determined that we could begin the implementation of this state mandate," states the letter. "This also gave the board guidance as to how they needed to budget their money because as board members, we knew it would be necessary to hire new staff members to fully implement the MMC by the beginning of the 2011 school year."

The board members also justify their decision to set a high bar for the students. "We believe that this is a charge of over educating our students. Since the beginning of the implementation of the MMC the overall gauges used to make such a determination have gone up. For example: graduation rate, sports participation, and overall progress of the majority of our students have increased."

Noffze will have 90 days to circulate the petitions. If enough signatures are collected, a ballot measure to recall the board members will appear on a ballot sometime next year. Each board member is named on a separate petition, so it is possible for some of the petitions to fail to make it to a vote of the public, while others do.

A full response from the school board members named in the recall petitions appears as a letter to the editor on page 2 this week.



Copyright 2009 The Montmorency County Tribune, Atlanta, Michigan. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Montmorency County Tribune Atlanta, Michigan. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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