Not much actual policy-making was done at Wednesday’s joint meeting of the Ypsilanti and Willow Run boards of education, but both boards signaled their intent to create a different environment for area students.

The only voting during the meeting came to approve a joint task force for collaboration and communication between the two districts and to appoint 2 representatives from each board to serve on the task force.

However, the showing of local political figures and school officials underscored the interest both districts have in moving toward consolidating services between them.

The joint task force will explore opportunities to share services and resources between the 2 school districts during the 2011-12 school year. The immediate areas the task force will look at are moving toward a common software platform and consolidation in human resources, career and technical education and business services.

“We’re not together, but we’re in the same city, so I see it as a positive thing for Ypsilanti and Willow Run to work together,” said Don Garrett, president of the Willow Run school board. “We’ve taken better steps to ensure a better education for our kids and for Ypsilanti as a whole.”

Trustees Ellen Champagne and Kira Berman will serve on the task force as the Ypsilanti school board representatives and Kristine Thomas and Gregory Myers will serve as the Willow Run school board representatives. The appointments last through the 2011-12 school year.

The meeting was the culmination of a process that began in the spring, when Ypsilanti school board President David Bates approached Garrett about having a meeting of the 2 school boards. The presidents met several times throughout the summer, along with officials from the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, to set out details for the meeting and to discuss what could be accomplished.

Ypsilanti and Willow Run find themselves in similar positions — both districts have their high schools on the list of persistently lowest achieving schools and are among the 23 school districts that have a deficit of more than $1 million in their fund balance. Having that deficit opens the possibility for both districts to be taken over by a financial manager.

Bates recognized that fact when he paraphrased a quote from Benjamin Franklin.

“Given the circumstances, either we’re going to find a way to hang together and work together or we’re going to hang separately,” he said.

The meeting took place at Eastern Michigan University’s Welch Hall in the room usually reserved for EMU Board of Regents meetings. While there were plenty of parents in attendance, many elected officials were in attendance as well to give their stamp of approval on the new task force.

Among those in attendance were Washtenaw County Commissioners Rolland Sizemore, Dan Smith and Ronnie Peterson, all of whom implored the school boards to utilize opportunities to allow students to work with the county government to gain apprenticeship experience on various projects.

State Rep. David Rutledge, D-Superior Township, played a major role in bringing the two school boards together and has worked closely with both Ypsilanti Superintendent Dedrick Martin and Willow Run Superintendent Laura Lisiscki. The new joint task force will report to Rutledge and both school boards quarterly.

Rutledge showed off a shirt he wore underneath his jacket and dress shirt that read “Exploring The Best of Both Worlds” and told the school boards, “I’m going to wear this until we get something done.”

He said he hoped "this gets us to think more regionally'' rather than thinking in terms of school districts. “I hope we pull others into that mindset,'' he said. "I think that what you do now and the steps you take now will set the tone and set the model that could be duplicated across the state.”

While the school districts do intend to work more closely together, there was no indication that school officials intend to consolidate the districts into one larger district. Both Martin and Lisiscki said they believed the time was right to start looking across district lines in a bigger way, after joining programs like the Early College Alliance, WISD busing consortium, Widening Advancements for Youth program and Washtenaw International High School in recent years.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity to work with our neighbors and I believe it is the right time to collaborate and provide the best services for eastern Washtenaw kids,” Lisiscki said. “This is the first step for both communities to enhance not only student achievement, but to serve the greater Ypsilanti area. We’re on the right track.”

Kyle Feldscher covers police and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.