School Supt. Kudlak says there’s no CRT in Van Buren Schools

Before Monday’s regular meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, School Supt. Pete Kudlak told the Independent that there is no Critical Race Theory being taught in the school district.
Supt. Kudlak said CRT lesson plans are only being taught at graduate-level schools and it’s not for K-12.
“It’s not here. Not anywhere,” Kudlak said of CRT in K-12 schools.
CRT teaches that white people are the oppressors and black people the oppressed and this is being taught in schoolrooms throughout the country, according to news reports.
Recently, Keystone Academy School Board President Vesta Losen and Keystone Principal Jorvonna Drain assured parents CRT was not being taught at Keystone.
Kudlak replied to a question from the Independent about hoodies and hats now being allowed to be worn in Belleville High School classrooms. He said they have a new dress code.
When asked if the students could wear ear buds and listen to things other than classroom work with their hoodies hiding their heads, Kudlak said the teachers watch that closely.
At the Oct. 25 one-hour-and-20-minute meeting, the board:
• Heard Program Director Becky Ross, Haggerty secretary Norma Richards, and teacher Cassidy Taylor report on what they are doing to get ready for their move into the newly constructed Early Childhood Development Center at the end of the year. The Haggerty students will get an extended winter break while the final items are moved and everything will be in the new building on their return on Jan. 6. The new tuition program will launch next fall;
• Heard Rawsonville Elementary Principal Tracy Bryant and teacher Lisa Stremeralk about the programs being used to teach skills and improve scores;
• Heard Plante Moran report on Series 2 construction plans for Owen Intermediate School next summer with money from the 2019 bond ($5,779,550) and sinking fund ($1,311,500), plus some federal ESSER funds ($814,672). Once the bids go out, the district will know how much the costs will actually be and may have to adjust the projects. There will be air handling work done next summer as well at Tyler and Savage schools and architectural changes the next year;
• Unanimously approved purchase of the 2022 Ford F600 Regular Cab 4×4 XLLT Chassis 169 WB-84 CA in the amount of $57,586 plus the addition of equipment not to exceed a total amount of $130,000. The details were discussed at the last board meeting. This purchase is to replace the 1984 GMC truck now in service and needing lots of maintenance;
• Approved the termination from Plant Operations of Zannon Carter as of Oct. 14 after zero years of service;
• Approved the hiring of Cristina Bugescu as a teacher at Tyler Elementary as of Oct. 18;
• Heard board vice president Susan Featheringill remind board members that the BHS football team will play Ann Arbor Huron on Friday in the playoffs. The game is at BHS and tickets are only available online; and
• Went into a brief closed-door session “to consider security planning to address existing threats or prevent potential threats to the safety of the students and staff” and then came back into public session to unanimously approve the District Emergency Operations Plan which is required for school districts to have.
Absent from Monday’s meeting were board members Kelly Owen and Calvin Hawkins.