What's next? Petoskey school board sets new path following superintendent resignation

PETOSKEY — Following several months of upheaval, the Petoskey school board is taking steps to fix what an independent consultant labeled a “broken culture” within the district.  

The board met on Friday, May 13 for a special meeting in which they prioritized district needs and approved the contract for interim superintendent Jon Wilcox, current Petoskey Middle School principal.   

Wilcox is replacing superintendent Christopher Parker, who is officially still an employee of the school district until June 30 but only acting in a “consultative” capacity. Parker resigned at a special board meeting earlier this month.  

More:Petoskey Schools superintendent Chris Parker resigns amid district culture report and evaluation

More:Consultant: 90% of Public Schools of Petoskey staff interviewed find culture 'broken'

The tone of the latest meeting was hopeful as board members and key district staffers, including high school principal Deidre Gamble and Sheridan Elementary School Principal Mark Oberman, discussed what needed to be focused on in the short-term to get the district back on track.  

The board decided to appoint members as heads of various internal committees to focus on many of the topics identified in the meeting. Board president Mary Ling conveyed the intention of the meeting was to prioritize the topics needing immediate attention. 

Many of those in the meeting emphasized the need to create cohesive behavioral and administrative procedures throughout each school within the district. 

Oberman suggested the school district focus some efforts on sending out a positive message to the community.

“We have had enough unfavorable things out there in the news, we just want to make sure all the great things that are happening also get noticed,” he said.

Describing the importance of the administration's leadership role in bringing positive attention to the schools, he added "We should contact the Petoskey News-Review or 7&4 and say ‘Hey, we have this going on.'"   

“We have an opportunity to get these things out in front of the community and say ‘We have some damage control and repair that needs to happen but our school is OK and our kids are OK and we are doing some great things,” said Oberman.  

The board collectively felt the pandemic had changed their narrative to the school community, giving an example of the district’s newsletters becoming “informational” and leaving out many of the important positive aspects of school life.

“We haven’t been able to focus on highlighting the students,” said Ling, explaining how pre-COVID they would invite students to their meetings to acknowledge their achievements.  

The Positive Behavioral and Intervention Supports (PBIS) program — an approach the school district uses to promote safety and good behavior — was mentioned on numerous occasions in this context.  

Speaking of creating a system that proactively teaches kids what is expected of them, Gamble said the PBIS has been a missing link in the high school.  

“Research shows the best way to change behavior is not after the fact,” said Gamble. “It is in communicating expectations beforehand through conversations, relationships and respect.”  

“We don’t do a lot of work with talking to kids about expectations,” Gamble added.   

With two vacant principal positions, the board agreed to make a priority of staffing and communication with existing staff.   

It was mentioned that many of the teachers were worried about not having principals yet, and upcoming interviews for the positions were discussed along with several other vacancies. Increasing compensation and support were discussed for all staffers, including “secretarial” positions.   

Improving communication lines with teachers was identified as an area of focus, including better implementation of systems and re-establishing the chain of command.  

“Teachers are caught in a position where they don’t know how to act,” said Oberman, when discussing the need for better collaboration and information-sharing between all the schools.   

A Monday morning full school meeting that gives recognition for staff’s positive behavior and builds school connectivity was suggested as well as training of new teachers and other staff members.  

Improving communications with parents was identified as a priority and doing an additional parent night in the fall. Incorporating parents and teachers in various decision-making committees was a key point discussed.   

Unlike other recent school board meetings in which several parents voiced their concerns, last week’s meeting saw comment from only one parent, Stephanie Kimball, who voiced encouragement to the board, while asking they look into unaddressed student behavior problems within the district.   

“I trust and know that you will get more structure and look into this,” said Kimball, referring to a situation where students were not disciplined for using excessive profanity. “So much of what you are doing is great, if we can just get these behavior issues addressed.”   

The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be on Thursday, May 19.