From: Judy Gafa <gafaj@gpschools.com>
Date: May 24, 2016 at 12:56:43 AM EDT
To: School Board <SchoolBoard@gpschools.org>, <masonr62003@yahoo.com>
Cc: "Fenton, Christian" <Christian.Fenton@gpschools.org>, "Dean, Jon" <Michael.Dean@gpschools.org>, "Fannon, Rebecca" <Rebecca.Fannon@gpschools.org>, Lois Valente <valentl@gpschools.com>, "summerb@gpschools.com" <summerb@gpschools.com>, "Niehaus, Gary" <Gary.Niehaus@gpschools.org>, "roesked@gpschools.com" <roesked@gpschools.com>, "weertzm@gpschools.com" <weertzm@gpschools.com>, "ismaila@gpschools.com" <ismaila@gpschools.com>, "pangboc@gpschools.com" <pangboc@gpschools.com>
Subject: Re: FW: Proposal 5111

Good evening Mrs Sherry

I am not familiar with the email you reference and I cannot speak for other board members. But my mind was not made up a month ago.  Actually I did not support this proposal a month ago.  It was just last night when I solidified my decision.

I have heard from many teachers and community members as well who supported the proposal,  while it was close at the end of the day the board relieved more emails in support of the proposal.  

I am sorry you received some type of communication from Mr Ismail indicating where I stood as I did not have a conversation with him and I sincerely did not make up my mind until a specific email from a community member, came last night

Thank you for contacting the Board of Education. My email is gafal@schoolboard.com. My phone number is in the North directory.  Moving forward I invite you to please call me if you want to know where I stand on an issue. 

Thank you

Judy Gafa

On Tuesday, May 24, 2016, School Board <SchoolBoard@gpschools.org> wrote:

________________________________
From: Renee Mason Sherry
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 12:11:41 AM (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
To: School Board
Subject: Proposal 5111

Attention Grosse Pointe Public School Board,
I see that in a packed house of teachers tonight you have passed proposal 5111. It was interesting that Board Member Ishmail brought these teachers to the Brownell Auditorium tonight with his "jump the gun idea" of cutting teachers and support staff's salaries and in the end it backfired.   All you did Mr. Ishmail is load that audience with unionized teachers who of course are going to say they are FOR this proposal even though I have talked to tons of GP teachers, who reside in GP, that are against this proposal.  Do you really think they would stand in front of their co-workers and say they are against it?  You ignored the tax payers that are against it and voted with the teachers.  People will remember this when you come looking for another bond.... What a shame, as this district is in need of a huge bond for increased security, technology and improvements to our decrepit buildings.
It would be interesting to count the number of "for and against" emails you received regarding this proposal as the crowd was divided 50/50 tonight.  Clearly your minds were made up before you entered that auditorium just as Mr. Ishmail indicated in an email that was passed around almost a month ago.  You are elected by GP tax payers but you ignore them.
 I am not sure how this is one of your strategic objections;  It will not increase enrollment enough to make any difference and these few students will not pay the monetary difference for their outstanding education.
Enough of my rampage.  I would  like to propose to this board that you conduct a survey of families in this district that have sent some of their children to GPPS, but have left the district in favor of other public or private institutions for their "younger children".  There are more and more GP families choosing De La Salle, Regina, Liggett (which now has a waiting list) and UofD then ever before..... Why is this?  Don't you want to know?
As a tax payer, mother of 5 children ( 3 in the district and 2 that have graduated) and someone that sits on two local boards, I would like the board to hear where the problems in this district are and why good, solid tax paying, children are leaving the district.
Please advise,
Renee Mason Sherry