The Benton Harbor School Board voted last night to create an advisory board that would make plans to turn the district around.
The board voted unanimously to create the committee. The Michigan Department of Treasury presented the idea at a meeting on August 16th. This is the plan proposed by the state after its initial plan to close the district’s high school met with staunch opposition in the community.
The committee will be made up of representatives from the district, state and community. Board Vice President Joseph Taylor says who exactly will be on the committee hasn’t been decided.
“In two weeks we’ll come right back out in probably a special meeting and we’ll have a list of, there might not be names on it but it’ll be a list of positions for the advisory board.”
The committee is tasked with making plans to eliminate the district’s more than 18 million dollars in debt and improve academics at the schools. It is set to start work by October 8th.
The plans the committee comes up with will be presented in a report by March 31st.
