Martha Toth retires from school board after 25 years

The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education will be looking for a volunteer to serve out the final weeks of board vice president Martha Toth’s term.
After 25 years on the school board, Toth did not run for reelection in the Nov. 8 election and has decided to leave before her term is up in order to move to the Seattle area.
Toth said she and her sister, both widows, bought a condo together a year ago and Toth is getting her house in order in Haggerty subdivision so she can move very soon.
At Monday’s meeting, expected to be Toth’s last, school board president Brent Mikulski said Toth had not yet officially resigned, but as soon as he gets the resignation letter he will make available applications for filling her seat until Dec. 16.
He thanked Toth for 25 years of dedicated service to the Van Buren Public Schools.
In an unscripted, from-the-heart statement at the end of the meeting, Toth said, “These schools have been a huge part of my life.”
She recalled when her two daughters were small and entering school and how she volunteered in the classrooms and then lobbied the board to start the gifted and talented program and volunteered in that classroom.
In getting ready to move, she said she came across the copy of a letter she wrote to the Belleville View in 1998 during the times when there was a lot of “yelling and rancor” at the board meetings which lasted until 1 or 2 in the morning.
“It was my privilege, my honor, my joy to be part of the school district,” Toth said.
At the beginning of the meeting, former board vice president Keith Johnston got up during the public comment part of the meeting to praise Toth’s work.
“Thank you for your service to the district. You were always prepared. Always did your homework,” he said, wishing her the best in her retirement.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Approved the appointment of Trustee Sherry Frazier as the board’s official delegate to the Nov. 10 Michigan Association of School Boards 2016 Delegate Assembly, prior to the MASB Fall Conference in Detroit. Delegates will decide MASB’s positions on a wide variety of issues affecting education. “I’ll proudly represent the Van Buren Public Schools,” Frazier said;
• Approved the resignations of 11 teachers: Chantay Crowley of Edgemont, 3 years, as of Aug. 1, relocating out of state; Eric Johnson of BHS, 1 year, as of Aug. 11, accepted other employment; Bonnie Lopez of McBride, 9 months, as of Aug. 23, accepted other employment; Michael Kedroske of McBride, 2 years, Aug. 11, resignation; Kristen Nedroscik of Edgemont, 6 years, Aug. 16, accepted other employment; Keith Kelsey of Owen, 1 years, Aug. 19, accepted other employment; Asha Williams of Edgemont, 4 years, Sept. 9, accepted other employment; Alyssa Gipson of BHS, 2 years, Aug. 26, accepted other employment; Lori Bartold of Owen, 2 years, accepted other employment; Tanya White of Tyler, 1 year, Sept. 6, resignation; and Lindsay Pawlowski of BHS, 11 years, Sept. 6, accepted other employment;
• Approved hiring teachers as of Aug. 30: Kayla Hale, BHS; Jennifer Kitchen, Tyler; Jaime Elgas, Savage; Morgan Nagy, Tyler; Samantha Kole, Edgemont; Yolanda Curtis, Haggerty; Cassidy Taylor, Tyler; Walter Boykin, Owen; Mark Frasen, BHS; and Elizabeth Wathen, Owen. Also, as of Sept. 6, Julie Komaromi, Haggerty, was hired;
• Approved the resignations of non-instructional staff: Kristina Malave, Buildings and Grounds, 2 years, Aug. 19; Bryanna Brandon, Transportation, 5 months, Aug. 18; Angelina Brown, BHS, 2 years, Aug. 25; and Donna Wise, Food Service, 16 years, Sept. 6. Also approved retirements of Kathy Straight, Food Service, after 21 years, Sept. 6; and Virginia McCoy, Administration, 28 years, Sept. 23;
• Approved employment of parapros Jene Walker, Edgemont; Carol Scipione, Owen; Julie Eaton, Edgemont; Sparkle Fowler, McBride; and for Accounts Payable at the Administration Building, Nicole Beckham;
• Heard Trustee Frazier point out again there were no invoices from the district’s attorneys, Collins & Blaha. She said last month the board had an executive session with them and they were going to go here and there, but there is no invoice. “We need a serious conversation with them,” she said. “Having invoices pile up could have an effect on our budget”;
• Heard Trustee Frazier comment on the loss of 11 teachers, with eight of them for other employment. She said it would be wise to discuss what other districts have to draw them away. She said it doesn’t make sense that a tenured teacher would leave to start at the beginning at another district. She said she has heard some districts are paying for experience. Frazier said for them to leave the week before school starts is strange; they could have resigned a lot earlier. She said now Van Buren had to hurry around to hire people. She said the district needs to build consistency. “We want people to stay in place”;
• Heard Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun say that when he gets resignations, he asks for a reason. “Some are complimentary and some are not,” he said, noting some were blatantly honest. He said he was at a meeting at Wayne RESA and found everyone was expressing the same problem: “Someone offers more money and they jump ship.” Also, he said, if you put in the resignation early, you lose insurance for the summer. That’s why they wait until the end of summer. He said he worked on the contract and “this problem should be alleviated”;
• Heard Trustee Alison Bennett say the board is getting in the bad habit of not separating a motion from discussion. She said comments roll into motions instead of having the motions first and then discussion in an orderly way;
• Heard former Tyler Elementary School Music Teacher Jason Cooper comment on why teachers don’t get up to talk at school board meetings. He said the feeling of fear was prevalent and he’s not sure the school board understand it exists. He said his very first day at work at VBPS, he got advice from a teacher: “Leave.” He said it has been 6 or 7 months since he left and he didn’t get a chance to tell the reason he left. He said if you ask teachers why they are leaving they could tell you a lie because they are not comfortable telling the truth. He said he knew the five teachers at Savage and he supports them. He said Pam Bradley was his mentor. He said the new MSTEP numbers look interesting, but it’s not the whole story and he continues to support the five because they are awesome teachers. “I love my new students, but I miss this district so much,” he said. He urged the board to find out the real reasons these teachers are going by talking to them;
• Heard Financial Director Shareen Barker give a report on three years of legal fees that total $480,929. She gave figures for the last five years, with 2012-13 being some $77,000 and 2015-16 being $283,123. There were so many figures in her oral report that the board asked her to email the figures to them to study;
• Heard Madyun say they have delayed naming the new assistant principal at the high school. There were 180 applicants, which was whittled down to 15. Five of the applicants are internal;
• Heard School Supt. Pete Kudlak report that building relationships with employees with help with some of the grievances and by handling negotiations themselves they will reduce lawyers’ fees. Also, he is gathering information on a suggestion to put advertisements on the athletic fields. Also, he discussed the 18-mill, 8-year non-homestead millage on the Nov. 8 ballot, along with the Wayne RESA 2 mills for 6 years that would bring $1.8 million to Van Buren Public Schools if the whole county approved it. He said he would like to have a public forum to discuss the proposals. Also, he said the budget is based on losing 300 more students this fall and as of the end of the first week there are only 220 fewer students, which is a good sign; and
• Heard Mikulski report $22,000 worth of school supplies will be split between the VBPS and Plymouth Canton following the Salvation Army drive. Frazier said the Salvation Army will donate 2,000 calculators to the VBPS. She said the standardized tests call for students to use calculators and this is a way to have the students become familiar with them.