School administrator responds to allegations of wrongdoing in Swartz Creek
Board member claims key documents on proposed $40 million Morris Elementary sale were withheld from him and the public.
UPDATE:
Interim Superintendent Jim Kitchen reached out to me and said, “It is not our belief that the current or previous administration hid documents and information from Board members. There were 6 or 7 updates throughout the process that went to the whole Board.”
SWARTZ CREEK, Mich. — Tensions flared at a recent Swartz Creek School Board meeting after a board member claimed he was not given key information about a potential $40 million sale of Moorish Elementary School to a state-backed development project.
Board member Chuck Melki alleged that documents related to the proposed sale were withheld from him and the public. The school sits within a large industrial site in Mundy Township where the state of Michigan has already spent $259 million to clear land for a potential factory project. Despite the investment, several companies have declined to move in, leaving the land vacant.
“I wasn’t given all the information about the possible sale of this school,” Melki said during the meeting, adding that he recently learned documents existed as far back as May indicating the property could be sold. He accused the district’s former superintendent, who has since left for another district, of withholding the paperwork.
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Board member Carrie Germain urged caution, telling colleagues the situation was still unclear. “We need to wait,” Germain said. “We don’t know exactly what was going on.” She noted that a meeting is scheduled next week to discuss the matter further.
Melki said he has reached out to the former superintendent for comment but has not received a response.
The controversy comes as the state-backed development group seeks to purchase the school as part of efforts to attract a major employer to the site, potentially for electric vehicle or battery production.
I lived on Boynton Dr, Lansing — where Willow Elementary School was right up the road from up for years (we live in Okemos now). Willow closed and we knew (because we had some inside information) that there were solid offers for that school to be bought by other non-public schools. God forbid that happen. So that property sat empty for years-with WiFi going by the way. It took me repeatedly calling the School Board asking, why, after the school was closed for years, was the WiFi still on? -for it to FINALLY get shut down. 🙄
Ultimately, rather than have a Montessori school buy it for millions—they literally razed the school—just took it to the ground. How much did THAT cost the tax payers? How many millions to destroy that whole school and haul it away? We’ll never know the waste. What fraud, waste and abuse our Michigan schools put the taxpayer through and so little actually goes for the education of our students. It is pathetic and disgusting.
Isn't this the school the community wanted to move? Why is the state trying to do a land grab, my thoughts are that school is worth more than $40 Million to a community who wanted to save it.