Aya Miller

1 week ago | mlive.com | Aya Miller

KALAMAZOO, MI -- For years, the Kalamazoo Regional Education Service Agency has offered career classes to students across Kalamazoo County. But those classes were scattered in various buildings across the county. Some students would have to travel up to an hour. Next year, those challenges will be a thing of the past. Construction has finished on KRESA’s new Career Connect facility at 3500 Vanrick Drive, just off I-94 near Sprinkle Road.

2 weeks ago | mlive.com | Aya Miller

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Two Kalamazoo schools are losing their librarian and parents aren’t happy about it. More than 700 community members have signed a petition asking administrators at Kalamazoo Public Schools to reconsider terminating the assistant librarian position shared by Parkwood-Upjohn Elementary School and Winchell Elementary School. Several KPS parents spoke at a Thursday, May 22, school board meeting asking the district to retain the position.

2 weeks ago | mlive.com | Aya Miller

KALAMAZOO, MI -- There will be no busy hallways in Kalamazoo Public Schools while students are taking state tests. That’s because KPS students will learn at home on days when state testing is held, again next year. The practice has been in place since the pandemic, but the KPS school board made it an official policy at a Thursday, May 22 school board meeting. The policy passed unanimously.

2 weeks ago | mlive.com | Aya Miller

KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo County students will have a new building to take career-focused classes in next year. The Kalamazoo Regional Education Service Agency (KRESA) cut the ribbon on a brand new 162,000-square-foot career connect building at 3500 Vanrick Drive on Thursday, May 22. The building will serve as a centralized location where students from Kalamazoo County’s nine school districts can take classes to prepare them for careers in fields like construction, plumbing or culinary arts.

2 weeks ago | mlive.com | Aya Miller

KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Trustees approved a salary increase for Superintendent Darrin Slade after he asked for a lower rate when hired in 2023. The new $278,436 salary, starting July 1, will match Slade’s salary to the district’s base rate for a superintendent, according to a pay scale approved at a Thursday, May 22 school board meeting. The raise increases Slade’s salary by $48,436. Slade and three-year contract when he was hired in 2023.