SPORTS

SALARY

Hornets sweep Ypsi in doubleheader See Page 1-B

Teacher base pay increased to $40,000 at YCS See Page 12-A

BIKE

Bike Ypsi sets sixth annual Spring Ride See Page 1-C

The
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VOL. 19, NO. 18 THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013 Weave the Web:
Make sure to click on www.heritage.com around the clock for the most in-depth coverage. See most popular stories....Michigan hospitals leaders in preventing urinary tract infection.

Ypsi, Willow Run teachers to nd out employment status Friday afternoon

By Kody Klein
Special Writer

Teachers at Ypsilanti Public Schools and Willow Run Community Schools will find out whether they will be employed by the new Ypsilanti Community Schools consolidated district on May 3. At the close of business that Friday, teachers will receive a sealed envelope with a letter informing them whether theyll still

have a job next fall. This is really, really difficult, said Scott Menzel, superintendent of Washtenaw Intermediate School District, which has been helping with the consolidation. I havent seen where the evaluation of teachers is. I have no idea how many are meeting the criteria. Menzel said that approximately 300 teachers, special education teachers and teacher consultants from

YCS and WRCS applied to work at the consolidated district. The evaluation of those applicants was conducted by an external group of retired educators. They scored applicants based on their application material, their references, their certifications, an interview and a classroom visit. The evaluation group also reviewed teachers personnel files, making note of excessive absences, disci-

plinary issues and poor evaluations. Its a very structured rigorous evaluation process, Menzel said. Menzel said a press conference will be held to announce the number of applicants the consolidated district will continue to employ at 4:30 p.m. May 3 at the YPS Administration Building, 1885 Packard Rd. The names of teachers, both employed and dismissed, will be withheld

from the public. We have a significantly reduced number of positions that are available due to the budget constraints and the reality of coming together to create one new district, he said. The number of teachers to keep is a tentative decision based on uncertain forecasts of student retention from the previous districts.
PLEASE SEE TEACHERS/3-A

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Police union contract narrowly approved

By Krystal Elliott
Heritage Media

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After much deliberation about unsustainable pension costs and a hybrid public safety model, city council approved a new Police Officers Association of Michigan union contract at Tuesday nights meeting. Two votes were needed to reach approval of the contract. The resolution for the contract initially failed 3-3, with Mayor Paul Schreiber, Mayor Protem Lois Richardson and Councilmember Ricky Jefferson voting yes. Councilmembers Susan Moeller, Brian Robb and Pete Murdock voted against the contract. Councilmember Daniel Vogt was not present during the meeting. According to City Manager Ralph Lange, the new contract will save the city $270,000 per 25-year career per employee due to a new defined contribution retirement benefits package for new hires. The contract also solves an overtime issue in the department. Road patrol works 104 hours of overtime each year. Existing POAM employees will receive an annual lump-sum overtime bonus of $1,500 every April under the new contract. Employees hired after July 2012 will not receive overtime adjustment bonuses until theyve reached a certain pay level. The savings will allow the
PLEASE SEE POLICE/3-A

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The Rutherford Pool has been closed since 2011 due to disrepair.

City moves forward with new Rutherford Pool construction

By Krystal Elliott
Heritage Media

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INDEX

After raising $1 million, the Friends of the Rutherford Pool are excited to see the pools reconstruction begin. The City of Ypsilanti has approved a memorandum of understanding with Baruzzini General Contractors regarding the construction project. After the Friends of the Rutherford Pool and Kadushin Associates, an Ann Arbor-based archi-

tecture and design firm working on the project, sent out specifications and design plans for the construction proposals they wanted, Baruzzini General Contractors submitted a bid with alternate proposaland a $100,000 savings from the second lowest bid. The proposal that Baruzzini submitted contained a slight modification of the filtration system that was included in the original design of the pool. In the original

design plan, the pool contained a pressure sand filtration system. Baruzzini submitted a proposal that will change the filtration to a vacuum sand filtration system. Kadushin Associates Christopher Allen said that the differences between the two filtration systems are kind of like a Cadillac versus a Ford. Allen said that both filtration systems are great, but the vacuum sand filter is slightly more efficient and will

save money. According to Allen, vacuum sand filters require less backwashing and therefore produce less waste water than pressure sand filter systems. Under the memorandum of understanding, the city approves the concept of Baruzzinis proposal before an actual contract has been written. Once the plans have been approved by all of the necessary entities, including council and the building
PLEASE SEE POOL/3-A

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