ZEELAND, Mich. — Nearly 100 neighbors attended a Zeeland Public Schools board meeting Monday night to voice concerns about proposed changes to the district's specialty programming, including the elimination of its gifted and talented program and Z-Quest school.
WATCH: ZPS neighbors share thoughts on specialty programming realignment
The district is facing a $7 million budget deficit, which ZPS Director of Communications and Marketing Brandy Navetta said is tied to declining enrollment trends across Michigan.
"Big reason is actually because we are facing a deficit. It's actually something that is a result of watching enrollment trends statewide, and so that has impacted Zeeland as well," Navetta said.
As part of its response to the deficit, the district plans to eliminate Z-Quest and the Venture Academy as standalone schools.
WATCH: Prior coverage on ZPS specialty programming realignment
"Z-Quest ran as its own school code, so it had its own administrative costs and other support costs, as well as Venture. That is much more costly than continuing those programs but having them run as a program within an existing school," Navetta said.
Superintendent Rodney Hetherton presented the four new specialty programs planned for the next school year: Spanish Immersion, Project Based Learning with an outdoor component called "Farm School," Zeeland Virtual — described as an expanded version of Venture Academy — and an extension class program for fourth and fifth graders. The specialty realignment is estimated to save the district $1.1 million per year.
Navetta said the restructuring has been under consideration for several years.
"We have a strategic plan that we launched in 2023 and part of that was to evaluate all of our specialty programs to better meet the needs of our students and families here in Zeeland Public Schools," Navetta said.
She added that the goal is to expand access to programming across the district.
"We want to increase access and balance the track from the East side and the West side with our dual PATH system, so that all ZPS students have equal access to amazing opportunities," Navetta said.
Despite those assurances, many residents who spoke during public comment said they felt left out of the decision-making process. Transparency was among the most frequently raised concerns.
"I'm disappointed in all of these big decisions being made without real collaboration from teachers and families. A single survey is not enough," one ZPS parent said during public comment.
"What concerns us most about recent decisions is the noticeable lack of transparency," said another.
Students also spoke in support of Z-Quest, Venture Academy, and the gifted and talented program.
"GT has given me a love of presenting, and we all learned valuable life skills, not only about presenting, but also being about being pushed outside of our comfort zones," said Sarah Roebuck, a Woodbridge Elementary fifth-grader. "GT has made school more than a place. It has become a community, a home, a place where everyone is welcome."
One Venture Academy student said "Supportive environments can literally help rewire how young people think, react, and cope. Consistent mentorship, positive peer groups, instructor programs have been shown to reduce stress responses and strengthen areas of the brain connected to decision making and emotional regulation. That is what Venture does."
Kevin McCleery, a father of six with four children in the gifted and talented program, spoke with FOX17 last week and again Monday night. He said Hetherton's presentation did not address his questions.
"There's a lot of questions that I had along the way that I was hoping was going to be answered in some capacity in what Dr. Hetherton put out, essentially none of them were released," McCleery said. "The biggest question I have is, for a program like GT that has no additional costs to the district, why it has to end in order to do any of these other programs that they would like to push forward?"
Navetta said the district remains committed to maintaining the quality of education families have come to expect.
"[Families have] had a lot of great experiences with phenomenal educators at Zeeland Public Schools. What we're committed to is making sure none of that changes," Navetta said. "We're committed to improving it but also creating a framework that is sustainable for the long term, so that generations of students for Zeeland Public Schools can have access to these opportunities."
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