School Board approves trips to Washington, Toledo Mud Hens’ game

At its April 16 meeting, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education approved an eighth-grade trip to Washington, D.C. in 2019 and trips for Kindergarten to fifth graders to the Toledo Mud Hens game on May 16.
Jason Strzalkowski of the McBride Middle School staff again will lead the trip to Washington to have students get a look at their government in action and visit national sites.
The students and chaperones will travel by five chartered buses leaving May 9, 2019 and returning May 11, 2019. Other teachers going will be Pam O’Neill, Norma Richards, Tim Miller, and Andrew Mills.
Cost to each student is $649, which is paid by parents/guardians and scholarships.
The board also approved a school bus trip by 90 Owen Intermediate School fifth graders and 110 Kindergarten through fourth-grade students from Tyler Elementary School for a Toledo Mud Hens baseball game on May 16.
The cost to Owen students is $10 each and Tyler students pay $5 each, due to a Mud Hens’ grant and PTO participation. Owen students are doing school lessons as part of the trip and Tyler students are being rewarded for rating high in the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support program.
In other business in the 25-minute meeting, the board:
• Heard School Supt. Pete Kudlak announce that he just got word that the state had forgiven the two extra days beyond the limit that Van Buren Public Schools were closed for emergencies. He said the district will have its last regular day of school, as planned, on June 14. He said even that day’s closure of Edgemont Elementary School for having no power was excused. He said the bus garage also was without power that day, which raised problems to overcome. If there are any further closures this school year, they will not be taken off this school calendar, he said;
• Approved the hiring of Kristen Slaughter as a Belleville High School Guidance Counselor as of April 10. Slaughter, who lives in Southgate, has an Educational Specialist degree from Tennessee State University, a School Counseling Certificate from TSU and Master of Education from TSU. She was a school counselor, testing coordinator, and teacher in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak say he and other district representatives visited a New Tech Elementary School south of South Bend, Indiana, and were impressed with the project-based learning for the younger students; and
• Held a special, closed-door session to consider a student reinstatement request and then in open session granted the request with stipulations.