Crowd questions School Board on teacher morale

A standing-room-only crowd filled the meeting room at the administration building on June 22 to ask pressing questions of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education.
Parents in the audience wanted to say how sad they were that Kelly Villa resigned as principal of Savage Elementary School after 19 years with the district, when she loved the school and the children, and they loved her back.
Some pressed for exit interviews to find out why Villa left and why eight first- and second-year teachers recently resigned.
Richard Rytman offered to personally pay for a survey of teachers, done anonymously, by a professional survey firm to gauge the morale of the teachers. This firm recently conducted a survey at the company where he works and they are very good, Rytman said.
Then, he said, based on the results he could sit down with School Supt. Michael Van Tassel and discuss what the firm recommends.
“It’s not going to be good,” Rytman predicted, “but I may be wrong.”
Rytman said he had concerns on the course this district is heading and the discrepancy between what the board and Van Tassel are telling the people and what the numbers show.
He said Van Tassel got a high rating on his evaluation and if it would have been based just on the budget, he might agree.
But there is low morale from good teachers and principals which cause them to leave the district.
Rytman said when Board Secretary Kevin English put into writing the evaluation of Van Tassel he cited “above-average growth” and while there have been significant improvements, that isn’t hard when the district is almost at the bottom.
He cited a 2014 Report Card that showed VBPS was in the bottom 27 percentile in the state. He ticked off the numerical ratings that showed in a ranking from 1 (the bottom) to 10 (the top), the district ranked 4, which was below average. BHS had a 5 ranking, which was average, and the highest school in the district was Savage Elementary at 7, whose principal just resigned.
“What does this do for my home value?” Rytman asked of the poor ratings.
He said there have been extraordinary efforts by parents to help the students, but the low morale of teachers is “destroying the joy of learning.”
He said he doesn’t believe the situation is caused intentionally by the superintendent, but an inordinate number of teachers are leaving. He said in the school district 20% of administration deals with numbers and 80% is dealing with people.
Barbara Miller, an attorney and former school board member, asked the board what the procedure was with law suits and settlements. She said she was concerned with what the board sees and if Van Tassel is making all the decisions.
“Do you know of all law suits?” she asked and Board President Brent Mikulski said he thinks so. He said if one was filed that day, he might not know.
“Board policy is that we see all those lawsuits,” Mikulski said, adding he did not know specifically what the board policy says. Miller asked for a copy of the board policies.
Miller asked if all the settlements came before the board to be voted on and Mikulski said some come before the board and some are decided by the insurance company.
Miller said the board has to agree and then the insurance company pays. The insurance company can’t decide, she stressed.
“I’m not sure that I’m aware of lawsuits filed,” Frazier said, adding, “There’s no such thing as free.” She explained the district pays for insurance coverage.
Mikulski said this could be brought up at the next work/study session since there is no information in front of the board now.
Zoltan, a Canton resident in the VBPS district, said he agreed with comments of Rytman and Miller. He asked if the district is doing exit interviews for these teachers and principals leaving the district.
Mikulski said the district does keep information on why they are leaving.
Frazier said there have been no recent exit interviews on those leaving the district. She said she has been asking for such information.
“We can’t keep pushing it under the rug,” Frazier said, adding although she goes to every meeting and reads all the information in the packet, she has seen no information on why these people are leaving.
Jane Champagne said her 7-year-old daughter is a student at Savage and she praised the education the girl was getting. She said people in a company do not leave because of the work. They leave because of the management. No families left because of Mrs. Villa, but they may leave because of the way she was treated.
She read a letter from parents in the Gifted and Talented program at Savage asking the board to fully examine why teachers are leaving. She endorsed the anonymous survey suggested.
She said with the increased testing, there is test anxiety for the teachers and the students and some students have been unable to eat or sleep for all their worry.
“The educational process needs to stay flexible,” she said, referring to specific timetables for things in the school day.
Another mother asked about why Advanced Placement Spanish isn’t available at BHS. It is the only language started in middle school and students can’t continue it for AP class.
Stacy Buhro of BHS said students can study for the AP Spanish test and take the test, but they don’t have a class.
The mother said her son is in the ninth grade and last fall there were 47 students in his Spanish class. Then the teacher left and there was a substitute. Then a teacher came and that teacher left in early June.
She said the district should improve the retention of teachers.
Human Resources Director Shonta Langford-Green said the district has a terrible time keeping Spanish teachers since they are in high demand. She said the two new teachers they hired for this fall should be good.
Andrea, who came from a family of teachers, said it is disingenuous to say the district deserves praise for not laying off teachers, when they are leaving. She said she started running information past officials in other districts and learned Van Buren’s situation is not the norm.
“Last year at Owen a teacher left to be a Realtor,” she said, adding that was a strange career path. “I really hope exit interviews are being done.”
Mikulski said there is a lot of time to gather information between that meeting and the next work study session to see if there is an issue. There is no work/study scheduled for July, so the next session would be in August.
Rytman said he would like back-up information when the report is given, not just that there’s nothing wrong.
“It’s minimizing what’s going on,” Trustee Frazier said of the proposed study. She said she asked her daughter-in-law, who is on a school board, and the daughter-in-law’s father, who is also on a school board, if eight new teachers resigning in one fell swoop is normal, and it’s not.
“We’ve got to stop minimizing staff morale,” Frazier said. “It is crucial to have it acted on at our July meeting.”
Miller suggested the board call a special meeting and Mikulski said that was possible.
“How many people do we have to lose?” Frazier asked. “She’s a courageous lady who wanted to bring the focus to the point,” she said referring to Villa.
Frazier asked that the subject of staff morale be on the July meeting, along with Rytman’s proposal for a survey to show staff morale.
Frazier said, “If you love to come to your job, you’ll do better at your job.”
At the end of the meeting, Frazier asked anybody in the packed audience to raise their hand if she called them and asked them to come and complain. Nobody raised a hand.
Frazier said that should satisfy board member Toth who, she said, in the past accused Frazier of doing that.
In other business at the June 22 meeting, the board:
• Learned a search outside the district to fill Principal Villa’s position has been launched and there will be three rounds, starting July 7. The first round will include three to five each of administrators, principals, teachers, and PTO members, who will make recommendations. Then the next round will take the candidates down to three or so and the final round will be by central office. Trustee Frazier asked that board members be involved in the initial round and Board Vice President Toth said that’s not in the procedure. Frazier pointed out there is not a procedure for hiring an administrator and in the previous history at VBPS there have been board members on such committees. President Mikulski said he will give it some thought and “if we decide to do that, I’ll ask board members who is interested”;
• Approved amendments to the financial budget for the 2014-15 school year;
• Approved the financial budgets for the 2015-16 school year. The general fund budget has $51,692,418 to use, including most of a projected $5,625,473 fund balance at the end of the year on June 30, 2016;
• Approved the 2015 tax rates, the same as last year: 6 mills for Homestead property, sinking fund 1.13 mills, and 2.98 mills for debt retirement. Non-homestead property pays 18 mills;
• Approved the resignations of Savage Principal Kelleen Villa, after 19 years of service as of June 30; James Benton, teacher at Belleville High School 2 years, is leaving education, as of June 30; and the layoff of Mark Gregor at McBride as of June 30;
• Approved hiring, as of Sept. 1, Anthony Teldadi as a BHS chemistry teacher; Eric Johnson as a BHS counselor; and Peter Fashho as a BHS counselor;
• Ratified an agreement with the Van Buren Education Association for the 2015-16 school year that has no increase in salary and a one-half Step increase. Board member Kevin English abstained from the vote because his fiancée is a teacher. Cost to the district for this economic reopener to the contract is $283,000. Both sides agreed to establish a committee to investigate alternative compensations plans, including performance-based models. Committee members and tentative meeting dates need to be identified by June 30. Also, both sides agree to review the collective bargaining agreement and make agreed-to changes to department chairperson compensation and responsibilities no later than Sept. 1;
• Approved adding an African American literature course for Belleville High School to capture the interest of students as an option for 11th grade English. The course was listed on the 11th grade registration sheet and it was found there are three sections worth of student interest. The “rigorous” units are based on the Common Core State Standards;
• Approved an Advanced Placement Calculus BC Course for BHS;
• Approved the purchase of a Toro Groundmaster 5910 batwing mower from Spartan Distributors in the amount of $93,950.26. The district’s batwing lawn mower was destroyed in the bus garage fire of November 2014 and insurance reimbursement for the replacement is 100%. The purchase price is a State of Michigan contract price;
• Approved purchase of a Ford F350 truck from Atchinson Ford in the amount of $27,839.24 from the general budget. The district’s service truck for the Transportation Department was destroyed in the November 2014 fire. The purchase price is a State of Michigan contract price; and
• Went into a brief closed-door session at the beginning of the meeting to discuss union negotiations before voting on the VBEA contract.