Blogging Live from the Board of Education Meeting

The regularly scheduled Board of Education meeting came to order at 6:35 p.m.

Superintendent John Savel gave his report to kick the meeting off. He spoke about a student Art Exhibit at Oakwood Southshore Medical Center form 6-8 p.m. March 16. Patch will be there to photograph the art and to speak with the artists. Look for the story later this week.

6:40 p.m.

During public participation one man spoke about the board considering keeping students as the top priority when they begin working on the budget in the near future.

6:47 p.m.

Board memeber Mike Hawkins commented on the low attendence at recent budget forums held in the first week of March. Patch will have updated budget information as it becomes available.

6:52 p.m.

The district received a bid and approved the bid for a new Public Addresss System for the gymnasium. According to a school official the system design is exactly like the football field, so the Athletic Director can operate the new system. The system has 28 speakers that are called "bookshelf" speakers and are about 2 feet long and one foot wide.

"The approach is to get a large amount of localized speakers to get the sound to wear it needs to be," said the school official.

There was only one bid received for the system because six other companies did not create bids for various reasons including cost and the companies did not have time to create the bid. The bid in "in the ballpark" of a typical bid according to board member Mike Hawkins.

A representative of Trenton Public Schools did two followup interviews with the company supplying the PA system after their proposal was received. The system provider is a company that Trenton Public Schools for 30 years. The company is not known by Patch at this time, but is based in Ann Arbor. The University of Michigan uses the company for their public adress needs including those in the football stadium.

7:12 p.m.

Superintendent John Savel spoke about the recent budget forums and provided a list of suggestions made to help balance the budget. Savel said about $3 million needs to be cut for it to be a balanced budget. He added the fund balance is projected to be about $1.4 million by this time next year.

Some of the budget cuts suggested were to cut busing, change bus routes for less turns to save on fuel costs, closing Arthurs Middle School, closing Arthurs Middle School pool and the list goes on. Look for a full list of suggested budget cuts at 6 a.m. Tuesday here at Trenton Patch.

The budget cuts are in anticipation of Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed budget cuts statewide for public schools and per student funding.

7:32 p.m.

During the second public participation a resident said "we know where the $3 million will have to be cut from." He said there was not $3 million in the discretionary budget, and thanked the board for their time.

7:48 p.m.

The board members left at 7:56 p.m. for executive session and President Dennis Bearden said there would be no more discussion after the private session. There will only be adjournment.

7:57 p.m.