The scenario for the future of the Saginaw High School building was revived only because a public official has come back from medical leave.
City Councilman Michael Balls, returning in good health after a medical procedure last winter, asked what happened to a tentative plan last year for the council and the County Board to contribute $750,000 apiece in federal ARPA funds for a multi-purpose unified agency service center in one of the wings beginning in 2024-25, when Saginaw United High is scheduled to open in the five-story structure where Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy now is located.
Balls spoke May 18 to a joint meeting of representatives from the council, the county and the school board, unaware that the plan had fallen apart during his absence for undisclosed reasons that had not been discussed.
School Superintendent Ramont Roberts was the only participant to attempt to update Councilman Balls. He told the group that city and county officials apparently backed out because of concerns over “sustainability,” which has become ARPA jargon for whether any project would need to be sustained with annual funds.
Roberts added that the concept will remain on the table, in case city and county leaders may consider changing their outlooks. No immediate response was received. The City Council meets at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Half of Saginaw High is slated to convert to a middle school in 2024. Funds for the changeover will come from the $100 million property tax bond issue that voters approved in 2020, along with paying for Saginaw United, a SASA move to Arthur Hill and a new Handley School on the AHHS backlot along Passolt Street. This will combine K-12 for gifted and talented at a single site for the first time.
The issue in question extends beyond the millage and because Saginaw High still will have a vacant wing. An intended solution had been to create a central place for agencies, government and nonprofit, to reduce a need for residents to “bounce around” going from one office to another.
The school district’s equivalent $750,000 would have come from their ARPA equivalent, ESSER. Spelled out, these are the American Rescue Plan Act and Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief, both intended to help local communities cope with hardship that has resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. The combined $150 million represent Greater Saginaw’s largest-ever infusion of federal aid, even adjusted to inflation.
Superintendent Roberts informed the city/school/county liaison group that the district still will use millage funds for HVAC in the vacant wing, with continued hopes of finding tenants who would offer services to residents.
