BHS partnership with Oakland County Parks sparks fears for TreeSchool, staff

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — At the Bloomfield Hills Board of Education meeting March 23, a resolution to enter into two separate interlocal agreements with the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission for Bowers Farm and the E.L. Johnson Nature Center passed unanimously.

The interlocal agreements still need to be passed by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, who meet next on April 8.

 

The motives behind the partnership
Chris Ward, Oakland County parks and recreation director, said the idea for this partnership came from research that shows the positive impact being out in nature and participating in outdoor recreation can have on health and wellbeing, particularly with youth.

He said he looked into the county’s programs and facilities that specialize in youth experiences and engagement and found that Bowers Farm and the E.L. Johnson Nature Center were among the best. Bowers Farm is a 93 acre property that has been owned by Bloomfield Hills Schools since 1967. Education of students and the community is part of the mission of this small-scale working farm at 219 E Square Lake Rd
Bloomfield Hills. The  E.L. Johnson Nature Center is located at 3325 Franklin Road Bloomfield Hills.

“Great quality programs. Those spaces are alive with people, and each location is special in its own way,” Ward said.

Through this partnership, both the county and BHS would each invest $1,500,000 into the park.

“I think the sustainability of the program is really the power of this partnership,” Superintendent Rick West said. “Absent a partnership like this, we would have to make difficult decisions based on financial reasons at both the farm and nature center. So I think this provides sustainability of the programs that are running, and we certainly expect, given Oakland County Parks’ expertise and interest, that they can build out and enhance some of the educational and recreational programming that go on there.”

West said one of the priorities of the collaboration is to maintain exclusive access for the high school agriculture and farming program.

“We’re going to maintain that, but we believe that this partnership will allow us to look at opportunities to expand and enhance that program and the educational opportunities for our students. We think at the nature center that it’s going to expand access to not only Bloomfield Hills students, but the broader community,” West said. “We are excited about that. We do believe in nature-based education, and tying experiences through nature is important, and we’re going to be able to continue to do that in a responsible way moving forward through the partnership.”

 

A transition period
Included in each legal agreement is a transition period that will end on June 30. Before this date, both parties can agree to extend the end date of the transition period up to Sept. 30.

The documents state that during the transition period, the entities would “work cooperatively to facilitate the transfer of Park planning, management, maintenance, and operations to OCPRC. Notwithstanding any other provision, either Party may terminate this Agreement, without liability, prior to the end of the Transition Period, if they are not satisfied with the plans for the transfer, planning, management, maintenance, and operations of the Park. No Capital Improvement Projects may commence during this Transition Period.”

During the transition period, a park action plan, capital improvement plan, and an operations and management plan would be developed.

After making the motion that was unanimously approved by the board, Board of Education Trustee Jason R. Abel said, “My expectation in voting in favor of this is that we have a firm commitment that the TreeSchool program will continue before the transition period ends, or before we have the park action plan. If not, my expectation is we will vote to instruct the superintendent not to proceed until it’s addressed, or we have a really good reason why it’s not. I have an expectation that Oakland County Parks will meet with and recognize our incredible staff at the farm and nature center, many of whom I’ve known and met with, and some of whom I have had programs with, and my expectation is we will see most, if not all of them, continue.”

 

Discourse at the school board meeting
The meeting was heavily attended by community members passionate about this topic, specifically in the continuation of TreeSchool and the employment of staff.

In the current legal agreement, there is no mention of the continuation of TreeSchool, the district’s nature-preschool program held at the Johnson Nature Center.

“We have some details to work through with the district in terms of how to bridge this transition period, make sure there’s no interruption to anybody and where we’re going in the future, but it’s our intention to continue to offer a TreeSchool program at Johnson in the future, and also expand to additional locations throughout the county,” Ward said.

At the March 23 meeting, West said, “I can tell you it is the intent, although not explicitly stated in the many, many pages of the legal document, to continue to run and operate the TreeSchool through our partnership. That has been a commitment ongoing.”

Another major topic of concern is what will happen with the jobs of current staff. The agreements state that “OCPRC has no obligation to hire BHS employees to work at the Park, but OCPRC shall provide information to BHS employees, who currently work at the Premises, on how BHS employees may apply for OCPRC employment.”

“It is our hope that we can work mutually through the process to evaluate the staffing models and give opportunities to our current staff as much as possible,” West said.

During the public comment section, Leigh Rowe, co-founder and lead teacher of TreeSchool, said that “the clause stating that there is no obligation to hire BHS employees is not a small detail. It is a fundamental issue. It means that the people who have built these programs, who have dedicated years of their lives to this work, and who are the reason this place is as desirable to OCP as it is, will be entirely displaced with no guarantee of continued employment.”

Ward said he and the leadership team met with the staff March 24, the day after the meeting, to name the concerns and talk through the transition process.

“There are just some issues when you try to match up two different types of systems like this — school district, county government — there are different structures and policies, procedures. We couldn’t guarantee positions, but we are going to make every effort to bring as many of them along through this transition as possible. Because, honestly, it is the people that make these places special,” Ward said.

The next step in the approval process of this partnership will take place at the  Oakland County Board of Commissioners meeting on April 8.