Van Buren School Board gets details of union negotiations

At Monday’s meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun gave a presentation on what is being offered to the VBEST and Secretaries unions in negotiations.
Director Madyun reportedly invited leaders of the unions to the board meeting to hear his presentation.
“The associations are concerned with what happened at the board meeting,” said Dennis Kubas of the Michigan Education Association. He said after he reviews a tape of the meeting, he will have more comments.
At the meeting, Madyun spoke under what was called “Negotiation Presentation” on the agenda and supplied a nine-page document comparing the costs to the employees of the current insurance plan and a new plan being introduced by the district.
He said if the employees want to keep the same health insurance, they keep the same salary. If they sign up for the new insurance, their salary will go up.
He said they will continue to negotiate. Members of the school board said they couldn’t comment on this agenda item since it was still in negotiations.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said that since the new insurance program is a cost savings for the district, the district will put it back into salaries.
At the last meeting, the board voted on the contract for the VBASA administrative union, which got members a one-time $1,000 off-schedule bonus for joining the new health insurance group.
On Monday, the board voted unanimously to also give one-time $1,000 off-schedule bonuses to the 28 employees that are not affiliated with a union, since this group did the same insurance move to the new plan.
Board vice president Susan Featheringill abstained from the vote since her daughter Sara Cortese is the district’s finance director and is one of the 28 on the list.
In other business at the one-hour-35-minute meeting, the board:
• Honored seven employees who are retiring: George Buhro, Mary Lou Bell, Toby Fowler, Jeff Stillwagon, Kathi Patton, Shirley Scott, and Dave Bargardi;
• Honored teams and individuals for athletic accomplishment in spring sports, including the softball team which earned a district title and a state award for team academics, since the team has a 3.3 GPA. Also honored was Tatiana, who qualified for state shotput competition three years in a row, and the track team;
• Approved a contract for next school year with the Michigan High School Athletic Association for athletic participation;
• Approved spending a total of $857,652 for bus purchases in the 2019-20 budget. This includes two new 71-passenger conventional buses with air from the MSBO/MAPT Bus Purchasing program at a cost of $209,352 and ten 2017 prior-leased buses from Hoekstra Transportation at a cost of $60,425 each, totaling $604,250, as well as a trade-in for $44,050. A recommended lifespan for a bus is eight years for the type of territory the Van Buren buses transport within. This purchase will replace the remaining 2008 buses in the fleet;
• Heard the first reading of a series of board policies as recommended by NEOLA, which includes closed sessions, controlled substances and administrators, curriculum development, leave of absence, and pulling the MDE guideline on sex education which is no longer of guideline. The second reading and adoption is expected at the next meeting on June 24;
• Heard the second reading and adopted a series of board polices to be updated that were discussed in detail at the last meeting. They include use of medications, anti harassment, criminal conduct, sexual violations, cooperation with law enforcement, and calendar;
• Heard building presentations from Belleville High School, Owen Intermediate School, and McBride Middle School. Supt. Kudlak had asked officials from each building to present to the board a recap of how their plan worked this year and then give a glimpse into next year’s School Improvement Plan;
• Heard Curriculum Director Jeff Moore announce that Van Buren has been awarded one of 10 Marshall Plans in the state from the Department of Talent and Economic Development. The innovation grants are competitive funds managed by a Talent Consortium. He said he will work on a press release, he said. He also said he is looking into the district joining a virtual academy at Flat Rock;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak announce the July 15 school board meeting is cancelled; and
• Heard Kudlak announce they will have a table in downtown Belleville to promote the district during Strawberry Festival. He said they will have the new Tiger logo on the table and will give out logo stickers.