Meeting Minutes: Spring Lake Public Schools Board of Education

What is the body?

The Spring Lake Public School Board is the seven-member board whose members are elected to govern the Spring Lake Public Schools district.

• When: 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 19, 2026
• Where: The Media Center at the Spring Lake Intermediate School, 345 Hammond St., Spring Lake
• Duration of meeting: 50 minutes.
• Members present: President Jennifer Nicles, Vice President Kelly VanderHoek, Secretary Curt Theune, Treasurer Christopher Beck and Trustees Dustin Brown and Paul Aldridge. Trustee Courtney Holmes was absent.
• Agenda: The agenda can be found online here.
• Packet: No supporting materials for the agenda were available to the public.
• Agenda amendments: No amendments were made to the agenda.

Consent agenda

• The regular meeting minutes and closed session minutes were approved from Sept. 21.
• The following items were approved in the financial reports:
• Accounts Payable:
  • Food Service, SLCFAC, General Fund, Student Activity, etc.: $763,872.
  • Payroll: $2,807,228

Action items

1. Motion to approve, with regrets, the resignation of Megan Perrin, HS Math/Chemistry teacher, as presented:
   1. Approved unanimously.
2. Annual Summer Tax Resolution:
   1. Vote: Approved unanimously.
3. Motion to approve the 31aa Funding Resolution as presented:
   1. Vote: Approved unanimously.
4. Motion to approve the purchase of a 2026 Chevrolet Express 4500 food service delivery truck from Hoekstra Transportation for a cost not to exceed $67,873 as presented:
   1. Vote: Approved unanimously.

Presentation

The meeting opened with a presentation of the 2025-2026 Financial Audit Report.

Discussion

Superintendent Dennis Furton offered board members some background information related to the discussion item on the meeting agenda regarding making board packets available to the public.

What does the Open Meetings Act say?

• Agendas and packets: Michigan's Open Meetings Act mandates public notice of meetings (dates, times, locations and website postings), but it does not require public bodies to publish or hand out an agenda, staff reports, or complete meeting packets.
• Meeting minutes: While packets are not required, public bodies are required to keep official minutes of their meetings, make proposed minutes available for public inspection within eight business days, and post approved minutes within five business days of the meeting where they are approved.
• Public inspection via FOIA: Materials distributed to board members may sometimes be accessible, though records requests or availability depend on whether specific documents are exempt under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (such as attorney-client privileged communications or preliminary draft memos). Many local governments choose to post meeting packets online as a best practice for transparency, even though it is not mandated by the OMA. Learn more about FOIA here.

— Submitted by Karen Obits