October 2026 Newsletter
October has been a busy one, both at home and for PAACT. This month I have two board meeting recaps, a lot of new data on the website, and a few things to know before the November 3 election.
At the September 15 regular meeting, the board ratified three labor agreements, all by 6 to 0 votes.
One thing I noted in the recap is the order of events that night. Both union representatives thanked the board and pointed to the November bond ballot initiatives during their comments, and the board ratified their contracts minutes later. I am not drawing a conclusion from that, I am noting it because it happened on the record and families should be able to see it.
The full September 15 recap is here: September 15 Regular Meeting Recap
The October 6 special meeting covered a lot. Dr. Roberson presented audited enrollment numbers and said the district lost about 654 students over the two pandemic years, roughly 8%, but that the count has held nearly flat since fall 2021, a total that includes Junior Kindergarten. Deputy Superintendent Heitsch also said the district is bringing back last year’s bus tracking app, BusZone, alongside Stopfinder, because Stopfinder’s GPS has been unreliable.
The main item was the bond walkthrough from Plante Moran Realpoint. The board also discussed adding up to $100,000 to the Twig Science purchase to cover materials the original order left out, with a vote possible at a future meeting. One parent spoke during public comment and asked the board to consider a compromise on the phone policy for seniors ahead of the December review.
Special meetings are not recorded, so this recap is built from my notes and the agenda packet.
The full October 6 recap is here: October 6 Special Meeting Recap
PAACT is not taking a position on the bond. What I can do is put the district’s own numbers in one place so you can decide for yourself.
The next bond update to the board is scheduled for October 20. The full presentation is in the agenda packet on the district’s Board of Education page.
There are also three open seats on the Board of Education this November. Three candidates filed, one of them an incumbent, so the race is uncontested. The people elected on November 3 will be the ones voting on how the bond is spent, what happens with the phone policy in December, and every contract and budget for the next several years. Uncontested does not mean unimportant. If you have questions for the candidates, now is the time to ask them.
Last school year was the first time BPS gave the Michigan Profile for Healthy Youth survey, which asks 7th, 9th, and 11th graders about their health, habits, and safety. I requested the district’s reports through FOIA in May. The district did not produce them by the deadline, so I appealed to Dr. Roberson, and the reports arrived on October 6.
Every question and every answer is now on the PAACT website, with the three grade levels side by side, along with the full district reports as PDFs. I chose a few featured questions by topic, but nothing is left out. The page is here: MiPHY Survey Results
BPS now asks at enrollment whether you want your child opted out of surveys. I would look at the questions on the page. Some of them are things I would want to talk through with my own kids before a survey does.
On October 9 the district produced the 2025-26 behavior and discipline records I requested in the spring: a discipline log and an export of hate and bias cases. That data is now on the Behavior and Discipline Data page, kept strictly to what the district’s files contain.
The whole website has been updated with even more information and given a facelift, so take a look around when you have a few minutes. paact-birmingham.com
I had hoped to get us together in person before the election, and it is not going to happen. So I am asking two things instead.
Before you vote
First, before you vote, spend ten minutes with the information. The new Bond page on the PAACT site lays out the district’s own numbers on how full each building is, where enrollment stands, and what the bond would spend on each school, with no opinion attached. Read it alongside what the Yes and No campaigns are saying and decide for yourself.
Tell me what you are seeing
Second, tell me what you are seeing. I put together a short form, four questions, two minutes. How the year is going in your building, how the phone policy is working, what you still want to know about the bond: Fall Check-In Form
NEWIn The Know: BPS Facebook page. This new Facebook page is run by a BPS mom who started asking questions about her children’s school and wants to share what she has found with our stakeholders. Go give it a follow if you are interested. In The Know: BPS
If there is something you think I am missing, or something happening in your building you want us to know about, reply to this email!
An independent coalition of Birmingham Public Schools families
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