The Van Buren County School Board discussed concerns Wednesday night about future funding for the Communities In Schools Program.
The nationwide program works directly with students to ensure they have the resources and support they need to succeed. Van Buren County’s program continues to have trouble coverings its cost. Board Member Barry Austin said while he wants to help the program, the school system provides similar support.
“My only problem with that is everything you pretty much named, we pay somebody to do,” Austin said. “We have an attendance person, we got Mrs. Kelly, we got Mrs. Jill for clothes. Everything you said, we are paying people to do.”
Austin said he is concerned the school system will end up paying for the program’s entire operating cost. The school board approved to give $2,500 to the program.
Director of Schools Katina Simmons said the program has helped improve student attendance since the program started five years ago.
The Communities In Schools discussion led to a broader discussion of grant funding across the school system Wednesday night. Austin said several positions in the school system were originally grant-funded but are now being fully funded by the school system. Austin said as enrollment and funding continue to decline, the school system will have to let some of the grant-funded positions go.
“Nobody wants to do it,” Austin said. “It’s terrible, but it’s a fact of life when you take a job that’s on a grant, when the grant goes, you gotta go, cause we can’t, we can’t just keep that up.”
Board Member Glenece Cole asked what happens if a grant-funded employee reaches tenure. Chairman Tim Hodges said the school system cannot let the employee go.
“The law actually states that if they take a position and are still holding their tenure and the position changes, you have to find them another job,” Hodges said. “Not pertaining to that, but it has to be in the system.”
Austin said the school system has eight grant-funded positions, and should the grants go away, it would cost the school system an estimated $400,000.
In other business, the board approved the 2025-2026 board meting schedule.
The board approved to pay nonteaching positions for the 13 inclement weather days that were used during the previous school year.
