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CASSOPOLIS — The Cassopolis School Board approved several student trips and received reports regarding district finances and safety at their regular monthly meeting on Monday.

Superintendent Dr. John Ritzler reported on grant funds received throughout the district. Midwest Energy & Communications awarded $1,000 for Crisis Prevention Intervention training. Special Education teacher Lisa Phillips serves as the school trainer for CPI and will use the funds in training others around the district. Several teachers and staff members also received small grants, totaling $2,365, from the Cassopolis Public Schools Foundation. The funds will be used for a variety of purposes throughout the Cassopolis Schools. Ritzler thanked both MEC and the Foundation for the awards.

School Safety And Security Officer Chris Bergen reported that over thirty new cameras had been installed around the district. He also reported that a new automated external defibrillator had been donated through Sports Image Incorporated and sponsored by Hydro Aluminum. The AED will eventually be located in a climate controlled box for outside access during student events. One AED exists currently outside of the gym and a traveling AED is available for quick access by coaches during sporting events and when student teams are traveling.

The board approved the hiring of Tagen Parks as the new Elementary Administrative Assistant.

They also approved travel for students for three trips. Ten students will attend the Future Farmers of America State Convention, with seven competing and three participating as delegates. The new Cassopolis DECA business program is sending four students to the DECA State Competition in Detroit in March. Competing students are currently working on proposals that they will present before judges at the competition. The Cassopolis RoboRangers were approved to attend the Robotics State Championship in April, pending their qualification to the event at two upcoming competitions. Members of the team were present at the meeting, speaking on the value of the program and providing a robotics demonstration to those present.

Business Manager Jame English reported that the district’s cash flow loan will likely be fully paid in the next month, five months early, saving Cassopolis Schools money on interest. He also addressed concerns those on the board and in the district had shared regarding national and state politics, noting that nothing that had occurred at the federal level was having a current impact on the district. He noted that he was actively watching changes at the state level, as Governor Whitmer’s proposed budget indicated additional funds being potentially diverted from K-12 schools.

English encouraged those in attendance to remember a focus on local plans more than national and state politics, including the upcoming no-millage bond election in May.

“We locally have put together a plan that we’re doing without increasing the millage rate that will allow us to invest in our students and our school locally,” he said. “This is the kind of community where people roll up their sleeves and say we’re not going to count on everyone else, we’re going to do what we need to do here to take care of ourselves.”

Information on the bond proposal is posted in each school building and can be found at cassopolis.k12.mi.us/district_/2025bond.

The next regular board of education meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 17th.