When Saginaw High School parents aired grievances at the Oct. 11 meeting, Board of Education members thanked them for attending and stated they wouldn’t know about some of their various concerns unless the community lets them know.
At a clear-the-air meeting Oct. 16 in the school library, however, Superintendent Ramont Roberts directed complainants to speak first with Principal Eric Gordon, and then if not satisfied to appeal to Assistant Superintendent Mit Foley, and only then to approach the school board.
About 40 people attended Monday’s session, but it lasted only 40 minutes because few attendees spoke up.
Regarding the issues:
- One bathroom was out of order at the start of the school year, and another malfunctioned at the beginning of the year. Full operations are being restored.
- An unexpected kitchen problem caused a situation with only cold lunches for one specific day at the start of the school year, but the situation quickly has been resolved with hot meals transported from the SASA kitchen until Saginaw High’s is brought up to code.
- Gordon reported that in his six years at the Saginaw High helm, this was the first time for gripes about not enough decorations for the homecoming dance. If parents and students wish to do more, he said, SHS staff always is available to assist.
Administrators reported that a major problem is delays in finding and gaining shipment of needed materials, the same reason for the price tag of the 2020 bond issue for the merged Saginaw United High and other projects has risen to $140 million, up from $100 million.
Gordon asserted that the girls bathrooms are especially a problem when female pupils hang out inside and near the laboratories. Facilities Director Tim Furtaw added that all students of all ages, not only at Saginaw High, are prone to hanging on the stall doors and breaking them from their hinges, and he estimated at least 100 cases per year.
The city district enrolls 5,700 students. For each loss of a pupil because of negative publicity and images, a loss of $9,000 in state aid is a result.
The board’s next regular meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, at district headquarters on the corner of Warren and Millard.
