Shonta Langford-Green, former interim superintendent of the Van Buren Public Schools, began her new job with Wayne County just three days after she was named in a Civil Rights law suit filed by four Savage Elementary teachers.
Green started her job May 23 as Wayne County’s new Director of Personnel / Human Resources at a salary of $124,450. Green replaces Tisuha King who had been paid $123,500.
Green had been employed by the school district as Human Resources Director since July 2011, and resigned as of May 11 just weeks before her contract was due to expire. She had taken on the extra position of interim superintendent after Michael Van Tassel was terminated in February.
The Van Buren Schools had paid her a base salary of $111,890, and added $100 a day for her extra role as interim superintendent.
Her leaving sooner than expected required the school board to name a second interim superintendent, Diane Kullis, to serve until a new superintendent is hired and on the job.
Green came to Van Buren from the Ann Arbor Public Schools where she worked from 2002 to 2011, and was assistant director of Human Resources when she left. She holds a master’s degree in Human Resources Administration.
Both Green and Van Tassel are named in the federal law suit, along with six of the seven members of the school board.
According to a published report, Wayne County’s administration said it is not concerned about the federal law suit that names Green and believes it has found a “huge talent” in Green who has 17 years of experience in human resources.
The law suit claims the teachers’ constitutional rights were violated when they were removed from their classrooms five months ago. They never were informed of the reason they were put on paid administrative leave, the law suit said.
Green was among those at Savage Elementary school that pulled the teachers from their classrooms on Jan. 21.
Van Tassel had reported to the state Department of Education that there was something wrong with the M-STEP testing at Savage because the scores were too high. The state asked Van Tassel to study the situation and charges of cheating, which the teachers deny, were discussed in local and Detroit media.
After the community strongly supported the teachers, Van Tassel was fired.
James Canning, spokesperson for Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, said Green was offered the job in April and she brought up the cheating controversy during the interview. “It did not raise any concerns for us,” Canning said.