State Board Discusses Benton Harbor Area Schools

bhhighschool5-21
bhhighschool5-21

What to do about Benton Harbor Area Schools was a topic of discussion at a meeting of the State Board of Education Tuesday. The board heard from district administrators, including CEO Robert Herrera, who said progress has been made on multiple fronts this year. Herrera recently reported improved student test scores, and he told the state board partnerships will be needed to run the district as its borrowing power goes down due to declining enrollment.

“The district doesn’t have the capacity to solve its own problems, so we need strategic partners,” Herrera said. “The deficit is so great, and where we’re at with some of our buildings and programming is going to be hard to truly bring around in a short period of time.”

The district CFO said he considers Benton Harbor Area Schools to be in a state of financial crisis. Possibilities previously outlined include chartering or partnering with other districts. School board Trustee Joseph Taylor said the local board doesn’t think that’s the way to go.

“We do believe in public education, we don’t believe in chartering,” Taylor said. “We don’t believe in outsourcing our resources or joining forces with others.”

Trustee Patricia Rush said the CEO’s team has not been transparent.

“They’re either unable or unwilling to give us and give you the information we really need to do a strategic assessment and a strategic plan for the district,” Rush said.

The head of the teacher’s union told the board, above all, the teachers want stability. He said repeated replacements of the curriculum mean teachers can’t get fluent in one program before it changes. Assistant Superintendent Patricia Robinson said something similar.

“We have a lot of teachers who have been in a district for a number of years, and it’s not just fear, it’s what they’ve lived throughout the number of years that they have been in the district,” Robinson said. “So, it is firsthand experience of having a curriculum or a program put in place and then having it taken away from you just like that.”

The concern is that a new curriculum and new programs will come yet again if there is a change of leadership. The State Board of Education could make a recommendation to return local school board control to the district when its partnership agreement with the state ends June 30. CEO Herrera said he would work with the board of education as a superintendent if that happens. All agreed Benton Harbor Area Schools needs a strategic plan, something the local board wants drafted with the help of Banks and Company, a consulting firm out of Southfield. State board members will meet with the governor’s office and Michigan Treasury to discuss Benton Harbor Area Schools, although the dates of those meetings haven’t been established.