School Board close to hiring new principal for Belleville High School

Abdul Madyun, former Belleville High School principal and now Human Resources Director at the Van Buren Public Schools, said they were getting close to hiring a new principal for BHS.
At Monday’s regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, Madyun said he hopes to have a selection to recommend at next Monday’s school board meeting.
He said phone interviews with applicants were done last week while he was on vacation and the field was whittled down to four. By Tuesday, [Aug. 9] he expected the field to be down to three, he said.
Madyun said it is very important for him to get someone in the principal’s position as soon as possible.
The board approved the hiring of Sean Garland as Network/IT Administrator as of Aug. 22 and Madyun said Garland passed all the interviews with flying colors. He said Garland, who graduated from BHS, has been in the IT field for 23 years, the last 15 years with IBM. His daughter attends the Van Buren Schools and his son is on the way to being ready for school.
In other business at Monday’s 35-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved the resignation of Rosemary Pagareski from the Transportation Department after one year of service as of Aug. 2;
• Approved the rehiring of Shareen Barker as Director of Finance as of Aug. 8. Barker has tendered her resignation which the board accepted and then said she would like to rescind her resignation. She was asked to reapply for the position and she was chosen to succeed herself;
• Approved extending the milk bid from last year to the upcoming school year for Sun Valley/Berkshire Dairy and extending the bid of Great Lakes Bakery for another year for bread. Both bids are through the Southwest Wayne County Buying Cooperative Group, which is made up of eight school districts;
• Approved the $6.65 low bid for fresh-made pizzas to Marco’s Pizza over Domino’s at $7.50. Neither bidder agreed to provide the whole grain crust and the Van Buren Schools will seek a waiver on this from the state to allow enriched crusts instead. She has learned, many other districts have received the waiver. Barker said she is sure the students will like the taste of this crust better. School Supt. Pete Kudlak said Marco furnishes the pizzas at Milan, his previous school district, and they used to have field trips to Marco’s and each kids would make a small pizza;
• Heard Madyun report a big chunk of his time has been spent working on benefit changes accepted by the teachers, but in five days they were able to turn it around, although there were a few bumps along the way. He said he has posted positions for elementary teacher, high school Spanish teacher, and a health position;
• Barker said the auditors came out and had planned to be at Van Buren Schools for three days and only needed two days. She said it helped that the district has had a preliminary audit. She also reported that the total legal fees for the 2015-16 school year were $293,900.42. She said she will present a five-year trend of legal fees. Board President Brent Mikulski told Barker to make sure she tells what type of legal service is being presented, because they need lawyers for different issues. Trustee Sherry Frazier asked her to “break out the lawsuits, please”;
• Heard Curriculum Director Jeff Moore say RESA will be presenting an Educator Evaluation Training for administrators and will give the district $3 per pupil to help pay the cost;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak encourage board members to attend the Nov. 11-12 Michigan Association of School Boards conference at Ren Cen right after the election. He said there is a new procedure where he and the board president (usually the president but since he is running for office maybe another board member) will meet with board candidates to tell them what it’s like to be a board member and to give them a packet of information. He also said he would like two regular board meetings a month, instead of one regular meeting and one work/study, as in the past. He said it helps with transparency and better flow;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak say that all the teachers have their assignments, including the Savage teachers who are no longer suspended. He said lawyers are talking to lawyers on the law suit and the court has not issued a scheduling order;
• Learned the MASB will set up three hours of training for the board on Jan. 23 to learn superintendent evaluation;
• Heard Trustee Frazier suggest having permanent substitutes in each building, “so at least you know you have somebody you can count on.” She said if there is no job in that school, the sub could be loaned to another school or tutor a student. Trustee Kathy Kovach said the schools used to have them. Madyun said they do have them at BHS;
• Was reminded that Rod Green of MASB will work with the board for about an hour and a half at its meeting on Aug. 15; and
• Went into closed door session to consult with attorneys on litigation: 16-CZ-11805 (the lawsuit by Savage school teachers against the school district).