Van Buren School Board sets special session to consider Kudlak’s job

After a lengthy closed-door session at the end of Monday’s regular meeting, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education set a special meeting to go into closed-door session at 6 p.m. Friday, June 30, at the administration building, to finish the evaluation of the superintendent.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak, who has been superintendent for a year, said board members needed a “couple things from me to complete my evaluation.”
After Monday’s closed-door meeting, the board had been scheduled to vote on Kudlak’s evaluation and a recommendation for extension of contract, if any, and his 2017-18 salary.
After Friday’s closed-door session, the board is scheduled to come back into open session to take action on the evaluation, contract, and salary.
For its evaluation, the board will rate Kudlak ineffective, minimally effective, effective, or highly effective for the 2016-17 school year.
When he was hired last June, the school board approved a three-year contract, through June 2019, and a base salary of $130,000. A one-year salary extension is generally granted the superintendent at this point.
Kudlak replaced former School Supt. Michael Van Tassel who was making $139,000 base salary when he left in February 2016.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the school board:
• Held a moment of silence for the Covington family, following the death of Egypt Covington, a 2007 graduate of Belleville High School;
• Approved the proposed 2017-2022 Strategic Plan for the district, worked out over several months of meetings, including a work session on May 6 that drew 40 people who spoke freely on the district. “I want this to be a living document, and reported on quarterly,” said board president Keith Johnston who pushed for an updated Strategic Plan that would not just be put on the shelf, but followed. Leading the work to develop the Strategic Plan was Dr. Rodney Green from the Michigan Association of School Boards. He said, “The board is setting the direction and the administration is deciding how to get there”;
• Approved the district’s amended 2016-17 budgets and the 2017-18 proposed budgets as presented;
• Approved Lake Agency as the district’s agent of record and approved Liberty Mutual as its 2017-18 property and liability coverage vendor at a cost of $218,788.75. The old carrier would have charged $327,000 this year;
• Approved a 2017-18 contract agreement with the Van Buren Education Association, reinstating the advancement level on the VBEA salary schedule; an equal distribution to bargaining unit members of 60% of the increase to the fund balance comparing the July 1, 2016 balance to the balance of July 1, 2017, minus the amount of enhancement millage collected; added July and August 2018 insurance 20% co-pay to regular deductions beginning Sept. 10; added Great Start teachers to the VBEA bargaining unit; perfect attendance incentive of $500 to be paid out in the last check in June 2018; and retirement severance changes to $50 per day for unused sick days, up to a maximum of $5,000. Supt. Kudlak said the district doesn’t want to keep adding to the fund balance on teachers’ backs and the final audit will be in November;
• Approved a one-year, 2017-18, contract for the Van Buren Association of School Administrators that unfreezes the steps so all administrators who are eligible may move up one step; cash in lieu of insurance $1,500; reimbursement of up to $125 for Administrator Certification renewal; sick bank buyout upon retirement increases to $50 per day up to 100 days; and $1,000 on-schedule increase for all steps;
• Approved a new, two-year contract for the Van Buren Food Service Association that includes step increases, longevity pay, wage scale with a 2% increase the first year and 1% the second year. Longevity pay for food service workers/cook manager with 10 years of service is $300; 15 years, $400; and 20 years, $500, paid in full in June of each year. This agreement was not scheduled to be approved and was added to the agenda during the school board meeting;
• Approved offering the Engineering I and II classes as senior math electives, as well as science electives, beginning with the 2017-18 school year, as recommended by Deb Kummer of the BHS Science Department;
• Heard an annual update on the athletic department by Athletic Director Joseph Brodie, with the help of student athletes Zachary Buhro and Alexis Kilpatrick. Brodie said 744 students participated in athletics at BHS and 366 at McBride. He said the advertising banner/donation program is under way and the district will leave the Western Wayne Athletics Conference and join the KLAA (Kensington Lakes Athletics Association) effective 2018-19;
• Approved the retirement of Freddie Patterson from the transportation department after 13 years of driving a bus as of June 30;
• Approved the termination of teachers Steven Szumanski after less than one year of service at McBride, as of June 30, to accept other employment; and Paula Gentile after four years of service at Belleville High School, as of June 30, to accept other employment;
• After Treasurer Kevin English arrived an hour late for the meeting, heard board president Keith Johnston announce that English has just been hired as assistant principal at Wayne High School;
• Heard Angela Mears ask from the audience about the steps being taken to hire a new principal for Rawsonville Elementary School, since Delria Crippen had just resigned. Kudlak said the position is posted and he believes internally four to five people may apply and, with those interested outside the district, they may get applications from 40 or 50 people. He outlined the steps and said he would like the position to be filled by Aug. 1. He said a meeting for parents will be held at 7 p.m., July 5, so they can say what they would like to see in a new principal. They will also meet with the staff; and
• Heard Kudlak explain that Human Resources Director Abdul Madyun is absent because he is on vacation in Traverse City and Curriculum Director Jeff Moore is off “marrying his sister in Maine,” explaining Moore got a license so he can perform the wedding for his sister.