After 50 minutes of hearing the details of the amended budgets for the 2024-25 fiscal year and the proposed budgets for the 2025-26 school year, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education unanimously accepted the budgets as presented.
Finance Director Priya Nayak gave a detailed report on the budgets in a public hearing at the beginning of the June 23 regular school board meeting.
The budgets discussed were General Fund, Special Education Fund, Food Service Fund, Debt Fund, Sinking Fund, Capital Fund, and Fiduciary Activity Fund.
Parents in the audience, present to discuss other issues, questioned parts of the budget as the budget presentation continued. One mother asked if she could be reimbursed for the electric wheelchair she worked to get for her partially paralyzed son that was taken away from him at Edgemont School and given to another student in special education. He could no longer take the elevator because the wheelchair card was taken away and he had to struggle up the stairs, she said.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said that wasn’t a budget matter and she should talk to Julien Frazier, head of the special education department.
The amended general fund budget for the last school year was $74,029,608 in revenue and $78,454,192 in expenses, leaving the fund balance at $8,938,041 (11.39%).
The proposed general fund budget for the upcoming fiscal year, starting July 1, is $71,013,733 in revenue and $72,577,701 in expenses, with the fund balance at the end of June 2026 expected to be at $7,374,073 (10.16%).
In other business at the June 23 meeting, the board:
• Approved a tax document, L-4029, asking five taxing authorities to levy taxes between Wayne and Washtenaw counties on the school district’s behalf starting July 1. Non-homestead operating tax is 18 mills ($15 million) and all taxpayers are taxed 2.98 mills for debt ($7 million) and 1.7378 mills for sinking fund ($4 million);
• Approved the agreement with Chartwells as the food service management company for the next fiscal year, with the option of renewing each year for the next two years;
• Canceled the July 14 school board meeting for lack of agenda;
• Approved hiring instructional staff members: Ruby Fisher as a math teacher at McBride Middle School, Noah Borgdorff as a social studies teacher at McBride, Amanda Powers as a counselor at Belleville High School, Cammi Carnes-McWatt and Karlee Owen Porcaro as 5/6 teachers at Owen Intermediate School. Porcaro’s mother, former school board member Kelly Owen, and her father were at the meeting with her. All new teachers begin as of Aug. 27;
• Approved the retirement of Cynthia Graveldinger from food service after 29 years of service as of July 1; the resignation of Jennifer Brown, paraprofessional, after one year of service, as of June 13; the resignation of Tracey Stanley from the Early Childhood Center after two years of service, as of July 27; and the termination of Autumn Miller from buildings and grounds after eight years of service as of Sept. 18;
• Approve hiring Tanya Cofield as a BHS secretary as of June 12;
• Was informed that New Tech Director Jason Strzalkowski has left the district and they will be looking for a replacement;
• Heard Kudlak say the Ninth Grade Academy will be on the board’s next agenda for action. He said they are adding a dean of students, couselor for ninth grade only, and six counselors at BHS. He noted the July and August school board meetings will be held in the administration building;
• At the end of the business meeting heard seven parents and students get up to the microphone and complain about BHS principal Nicole Crockett and her assistant Falisadoll Green for how they handle complaints from parents with retaliation. Their complaints included sexual assaults, doing drugs on school property, and bullying. They all praised BHS counselor Jacob Sweets for helping students get through some very tough times and asked the board to let him stay at the high school instead of being moved to an elementary school as part of the recently announced Ninth Grade Academy program. Several said they have emailed school board members with no response; and
• Heard board president Amy Pearce read a lengthy response to the complaints to the board at the June 9 meeting, when she was not present. She said nine years ago when Pete Kudlak started as superintendent of schools, he had living room conversations and reached out to PTO members. She said she wasn’t a board member yet, but she told him counselors at the high school weren’t meeting students needs. She said in the 2023 and 2024 superintendent evaluations these concerns were shared with him. The decision was made to change the culture of counseling in the high school with the Ninth Grade Academy, a new dean of students and more counselors in the high school. When parents tried to ask her questions about her statement, she told them to email her.
The board went into closed-door session at 8:45 p.m. with no explanation except “to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosure by state or federal statute.” President Pearce told the crowd of about 20 that the board would not be coming back to this meeting room to adjourn. The closed-door session reportedly ended at 9:30 p.m. with no action other than adjournment.
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