Board of Education meetings moved back to Monday evenings

GROSSE POINTE FARMS — After switching to meeting on Tuesdays to avoid conflicts with city council meetings on Mondays in the Pointes, the Grosse Pointe Board of Education has decided to move its meetings back to Monday nights to avoid conflicts with school programs.

The board — which is required to approve its schedule of regular meetings for the calendar year at the start of each year — approved its 2025 meeting schedule during a Jan. 7 board meeting — a Tuesday — at Brownell Middle School in Grosse Pointe Farms. The board voted 5-2 in favor of the schedule, with Board members Virginia “Ginny” Jeup and Sean Cotton casting the dissenting votes.

Board of Education President Colleen Worden proposed returning to Mondays because she said Tuesdays “are the busiest days” for the district.

“I would like to go back to going on Mondays,” Worden said. “I think we have to look out for what’s best for our kids.”

However, four of the five city councils in the Grosse Pointes, as well as the Harper Woods City Council, hold their meetings on Mondays. The one exception is Grosse Pointe Shores, which has its council meetings on Tuesdays.

“I’m worried about the public that comes to these meetings,” Jeup said. “A lot of them attend the council meetings (also).”

Cotton agreed.

“I have heard from many people that they appreciate being able to watch their city council and school board meeting live,” Cotton said.

Jeup also said that the Grosse Pointe Public School System’s “peer districts” meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Board Secretary Valarie St. John argued that last year about half of their Tuesday meetings got rescheduled or canceled.

“I think (moving to Mondays) will allow us to have more consistency,” St. John said.

Worden also suggested moving the meeting start time back to 7 p.m., from 6:30 p.m. — a change approved during the meeting scheduling vote. She said 7 p.m. was better for the district’s many working parents, saying that she saw a decline in resident participation when the meetings started earlier.

Jeup countered that their peer districts schedule school board meetings at 6 p.m. and the earlier start is better for parents who need to put their children to bed — especially when the meetings run late.

“My goal is hopefully we don’t have meetings (that run) as long,” Worden said

Not all the 2025 meetings are on Mondays. Some, like a meeting scheduled Jan. 21, take place on a Tuesday because of a scheduling conflict or because of a Monday holiday.