School Board selects April Crawford to fill vacant seat

At its Oct. 10 regular meeting, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education considered nine applicants to fill the vacant board seat created when vice president Martha Toth recently resigned to move out of state.
They selected April Crawford, who is scheduled to be sworn in during the special 7 p.m. meeting Oct. 17 at the administration building. She will serve until the end of the year when the newly elected board members take over.
She was not present at Monday’s meeting, nor were any of the other finalists.
The other applicants were: Joseph Baynesan, Sheila Bryant, Shekitra Green, Shauntay Hooper, David Peer, Regina Pierce, Randy Priest, and Vincent Warren.
Joseph Baynesan, an applicant, was in the audience and told the board he was disappointed in the choice because diversity is important. He pointed out the schools have many minority students and yet not a single person of minority descent is on the school board.
He said it should have been required for a minority to be appointed to the board.
Later in the meeting members of the audience suggested the candidates should have been asked to attend the meeting during which they were being considered.
During discussion on the candidates, Trustee Sherry Frazier said, “It’s kind of hard when you haven’t met them.”
School Board president Brent Mikulski had given fellow board members a list of applicants and their applications and asked them to mark their top three candidates.
After much discussion, he said that Crawford had been listed by four out of the six board members – Trustees Frazier, Kathy Kovach, and Alicia Bennett and Secretary Kevin English. The board voted unanimously for Crawford based on her credentials.
Crawford, who lives in Van Buren Township, currently serves as Clinical Case Manager for the Third Judicial Circuit of Michigan/Family Division – Juvenile Clinic for Child Study in Detroit. She holds a bachelor of arts in Social Work and a master of arts in Special Education/MAT, specializing in Emotionally Impaired.
She is married with three children and two of her children graduated from BHS in 2015 and her youngest son attends BHS.
She has 20 years of experience working with children, youth, and adults in the field of social work. She said her goal is to become a certified teacher in the state of Michigan.
Also at the Oct. 10 meeting, the board:
• Approved the district use the Michigan Association of Schools Boards evaluation tool for superintendents. The board studied three different tools and chose the MASB model. Under the Michigan School Code school districts are required to meet certain stipulations in the evaluation;
• Heard Supt. Pete Kudlak explain the district’s non-homestead tax proposal that is on Nov. 8 ballot. Under Proposal A in 1994 property was classified as homestead and non-homestead. Property that is not homestead can be assessed up to an additional 18 mills for local school operating purposes. Van Buren Public Schools voters approved a renewal of the 18 mill non-homestead operating millage on Nov. 8, 2011, which will expire with the December 2016 levy. Beginning with the 2016 tax levy, the district is only levying 17.7822 mills of the 18 mills permitted as a result of a permanent Headlee rollback. An additional 2 mills is included in the proposal which would boost the tax back to 18 after a rollback. He stressed the district is not allowed to levy more than 18 mills. Trustee Sherry Frazier said the district would lose $8.9 million in taxes if the non-homestead tax doesn’t pass. It is only a renewal, she stressed;
• After a closed-door session, voted to reinstate with conditions a student who was expelled during the 2015-16 school year and came before the board for consideration of reinstatement after the expiration of the expulsion period. The student and the parent met with the District Reinstatement Committee on Sept. 28 and a recommendation from that committee was before the board;
• Met in closed-door session to consult with attorneys on two pending law suits: 16-cv-11805 and 14-cv-13466-ACC-DRG;
• Approved the resignations of non-instructional staff members Ricky Tomlin from BHS after nine years as of Sept. 23; LaKeisa Branham from Owen after two years as of Sept. 15 (accepted other employment); Donna Wise as of Sept. 1 (moved); Paulette Cook of Food Service after four years as of Oct. 3; and Kathy Straight of Food Service as of 20 years as of Sept. 1;
• Approved the employment of Candice Testorelli as a paraprofessional at Owen as of Sept. 6;
• Approved the resignation of teacher Melissa Taub-McNabb of Owen after 10 years of service as of Sept. 30;
• Approved employment of teachers Christina Barrett, starting Sept. 6 at Owen; Thomas Purcell III, starting Sept. 26 at Owen; and Steven Szumanski, starting Oct. 4 as a social studies teacher at McBride. Szumanski was the only new teacher present at the meeting and he shook hands with all the board members;
• Approved the Sixth Grade Science Camp for Nov. 14-18 at YMCA Camp Copneconic in Fenton, with transportation of the approximate 225 Owen sixth graders and BHS 10th, 11th, and 12th grade counselors by school bus. Cost to students is $235 each. Ratio of chaperones to students is one teacher to every 30 students (counselors and sixth graders combined) and ratio of counselors to campers is one to ten;
• Approved the Symphony Band trip to perform as an invited band at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival, March 8-12 in Indianapolis, IN. Sixty-five students in grades 10-12 are expected to attend at a cost of $800 per student. They will travel by chartered bus;
• Approved the trip to Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City for more than 200 fifth graders at Owen Intermediate School May 10-11. Cost to students is $288 each. Transportation is by motor coach and ferry; and
• Heard reports from cabinet members Curriculum Director Jeff Moore, Finance Director Shareen Barker, and Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun; and
• Heard Supt. Kudlak urge board members and others to attend a School Funding Reform Town Hall Meeting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Livonia Franklin High School Performing Arts Center, 31000 Joy Road, Livonia 48150. He said the Van Buren Public Schools is sponsoring this session along with Wayne-Westland, Plymouth-Canton, and Livonia Public Schools to inform the public on the details of how schools are funded. It also will discuss the county-wise Educate Enhancement Millage.