Macomb Today

At their May 22 board meeting, district members from Clintondale Community Schools discussed an inventory request from their information technology department concerning their hardware, software, and devices.

The measure sparked a debate between Board President, Michael Scott and Beverly Lewis-Moss, a trustee.

Lewis-Moss said the previous consulting work done by an IT company, and the responsibility of IT employees, should be adequate for inventory control, according to a video of the meeting published to the Clintondale Community Schools YouTube page.

Scott argued that the previous consultants only provided improvement suggestions and no inventory guidance. He also said the IT department consists of mostly new employees who lack the information required to move forward.

Interim Superintendent, Barbara VanSweden, said the proposal would provide a detailed account of what they have, along with a condition report concerning hardware and infrastructure.

“We don't have the level of detail depth that we need and is required by MDE,” VanSweden said. “Our previous IT department, this goes back a number of years, had started an inventory, but so much equipment has been added because of the one-to-one initiative at both the high school, the middle school, and the elementary. Also, we've had a transition of the entire tech department in a very short period.”

Jared Maynard, a board member, said this was “another example of something that got dropped that should have been taken care of. This one, luckily, is covered by grant money,” which is intended to help facilitate growth and improvements in individual departments.

Trustee, Barry Powers, said information has not been adequately shared and communicated because much of the board is new and likely does not know much about the day-to-day business history.

VanSweden was also thrust into the interim superintendent position in December after Rodriguez Broadnax was ousted after just a few short months, meaning there was no “training in” period for VanSweden to learn the ropes, she said.

Powers defended the district, as well as the board, and recommended they work to find a solution and move forward rather than dwelling on the past or frustrations.

“We're at a deficit of information,” Powers said. “And my concern and the reason I'm bringing it up right now is not because of this particular but it pertains to this, Mr. Chairman. But this is endemic to our entire tenure here. And we've got to get over this hump at a certain point. But the question is, you know, how do we mitigate this? Because that's what we're trying to do and that's what Ms. Van Sweden, Ms. Stefanski recommended that we mitigate the situation and that's why the committee is going forward with the recommendation.”

The board approved the inventory work to be done.