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NILES — The date has been set for the first of at least four bond information sessions leading up to the May bond issue election for the Brandywine school district. The first informational session will be held Wednesday, March 6, just before that night’s Brandywine girls basketball district tournament game.

Brandywine Superintendent Travis Walker announced the dates for the information sessions at Monday’s Brandywine Board of Education meeting. The other information sessions are set for March 26 at 9 a.m., April 11 at 6 p.m. and April 30 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held in the middle/high school media center.

“The girls basketball district game is 5:30 p.m. this Wednesday and we’re inviting people to come early and visit us in the media center at 4:45 p.m.,” he said.

“We are only providing the facts about the bond in the sessions,” Walker added. “The facts are that it will be a zero mill increase, the current millage is 3.9 mills, it’s extending the debt for 18 years and that no more than $22 million will be generated from the bond issue.”

He reported that he will be going over the bond issue facts as well as the projects expected to be funded if the bond issue proposal is approved by voters in the May 7 election. “The projects were identified through community and staff forums are ones that the steering committee arrive at,” he said.

Board members heard about the details of the bond issue proposal at their Jan. 8 meeting and then voted to put it on the May ballot at their Jan. 29 meeting. Projects are planned for all three district school buildings as well as for the athletic fields and parking lot at the middle/high school.

The major project at Merritt Elementary will be a gym addition which would solve the operational issue of the gym and cafeteria being in the same space. The gym addition is estimated to cost up to $1.7 million.

The bulk of the projects are scheduled to be done at the middle/high school with the Career Technical Education addition costing up to $6.75 million, the new performing arts center up to $9.5 million and the renovation of the existing CTE area up to $650,000.

Secured entries at all three school buildings would cost up to $275,000 each. Other middle/high school improvements such as a new baseball field, parking lot improvements and the track resurfacing would cost a total of up to $2.55 million.

Monday’s meeting also featured a report from Walker on the “Shadow A Student Challenge” and his recognition of district social worker and maintenance workers, high school athletic honors and National Music in Our Schools Month. This week is School Social Worker Appreciation Week and Monday was Maintenance Worker Appreciation Day.

He reported that the first day of the “Shadow A Student Challenge” took place Monday at Brandywine Elementary School. Two more days are scheduled for March 11 and March 25 at Brandywine Middle/Senior High School.

Walker said staff participating in the Shadow A Student Challenge Monday found it to be enlightening and helped them have more empathy for students after experience a school day through the student lens. “They saw great things happening and other things happening that we as staff members don’t recognize,” he said.

With athletics, Walker recognized the girls bowling team which made it to the state finals, the boys basketball team that won the district championship and the high school wrestling team that had two state champions and one fifth place finisher. “There’s been awesome success all the way around in our athletic department,” he said.

He also noted that five Brandywine teachers and staff members have been nominated for the Berrien RESA’s Special Education Parent Advisory Committee “Excellence in Education” Award.

The nominees from Brandywine are special education aides Jessica Broda and Beth Hannon, special education teachers Lynn Mickiewicz and Adam Roark and kindergarten teacher Ashlee Reed. “We have about one third of the nominees from across the county,” he said.

The Berrien RESA Special Education Parent Advisory Committee will host their 2024 Annual Excellence in Education Award Reception on Tuesday, March 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the RESA Administrative Conference Center in Berrien Springs. A total of 17 area special education teachers, administrators and volunteers have been nominated.

A group of Brandywine High School students were also on hand to report on a recent state student leadership conference they attended. They have formed a new group called BLEAD which stands for Bobcats Leadership Energy Action and Determination. They said they had gotten ideas from students from other schools for new programs and projects.

In action Monday, board members approved a resolution to participate in the Berrien Energy Rebate Services Program. It allows Berrien RESA to be the collection agency for energy savings eligible rebates. RESA will manage the collection of possible rebates and distribute funds received to eligible districts minus a 15 percent processing fee.

According to Berrien RESA, utility companies set aside funds to distribute to school districts that do projects to improve energy efficiency. Those projects include equipment upgrades and replacement or installation of new equipment. Those rebates could total as much as $100,000 a year for school districts.

The school board will have two more meetings this month. They will hold their strategic planning retreat this Saturday, March 9 at 9 a.m. at the Niles Southwestern Michigan College Niles Campus and will hold a regular meeting March 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the middle/high school media center.