News Photo by Reagan Voetberg Alpena Public Schools Board of Education President Eric Lawson and board member AJ MacArthur are pictured at Monday night’s meeting.

ALPENA — Kallman Legal Group is officially hired by Alpena Public School as an additional law firm after a parliamentary mistake was made at the APS school board’s July 28 meeting.

At their workshop meeting Monday night, Board President Eric Lawson announced that a parliamentary mistake had been made at the last meeting on July 28 regarding the motion that failed to bring in Kallman as additional legal representation.

At that meeting, the board in a split vote failed to pass the motion to hire Kallman. That vote has now been declared null and void because the board did not follow proper procedure, Lawson said.

On June 30, the board voted to “authorize the superintendent to conclude negotiations and discussions on this contract (with Kallman) and sign it,” as stated by Lawson.

Typically, contracts like that are signed at the annual organizational meeting in July, where the board renews agreements, district memberships, and approves parent/student handbooks.

On July 28, the day of the organizational meeting, the contract with Kallman was mistakenly put on the agenda to be voted on again.

“If the board wanted to change its mind and turn around on that question, there should have been a motion to rescind or to amend something previously adopted,” Lawson said. “That requires a notice that the motion will be made, in which case the vote is a majority vote, or if there is no notice, it requires a two-thirds vote or a majority of the entire membership, not just those present.”

Lawson continued, “Another way that it could have been done would have been by motion to reconsider. That can only be made by someone who voted on a prevailing side. It must be made in the same meeting … and it only requires majority vote but it must be made in the same meeting.”

A second vote on whether or not to hire Kallman Legal Group without following the proper procedure was a violation of the board’s parliamentary procedure, Lawson said.

That means that the district has hired Kallman as additional legal representation for at least the next year.

The original June 30 motion passed in a vote of five to two with board members Lawson, AJ MacArthur, Monica Dziesinski, Sarah Costain, and Eric Hansen voting in favor and board members Sarah Fritz and Anna Meinhardt voting against.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

— APS Directors of Curriculum Matt Poli and Stephanie Piper discussed online course offerings for students.

— Facilities Supervisor Simon Zolnierek discussed the copy paper bids, which will be voted on at the next regular board meeting on Aug. 25.

— The board discussed cell phone policy. They would like to see data on student outcomes from districts with stricter cell phone policies. They would also like data from Alpena High School and Thunder Bay Junior High of how effective their cell phone policies are and how often students are disciplined for breaking the policy. That data will be reviewed in October.

— The board discussed the dress code letter to the community from the board of education. The letter will be sent to let the community know that the board stands behind administrative decisions on dress code guidelines.

— The board discussed changes to the athletic handbook, with one major change being that students need to be passing four out of six of their classes to be eligible. Formerly, students needed at least a 2.0 GPA.

Reagan Voetberg can be reached at 989-358-5683 or rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.