School Board honors senior killed in crash

The Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education held a moment of silence at the beginning of its May 26 meeting in memory of a Belleville High School senior who died May 23 just days before he was to graduate.
Aiden Dombos, 18, was in the back seat of a vehicle driven by school board secretary Darlene Loyer Gerick, the mother of Marina Gerick, who was dating Aiden. Marina and her mother were both in the front seats and injured in the crash in Kawkawlin Township near Bay City.
Bay County sheriff’s deputies determined a white 2020 Chevrolet Equinox had been heading north when it crossed the center line and collided head-on with the southbound blue 2018 Chrysler Pacifica, driven by Gerick.
Secretary Gerick attended the May 26 school board meeting in a wheelchair with her leg elevated and did not sit at the board table. She was wheeled out after the BHS top-ten seniors were honored at the beginning of the meeting.
She privately told those at the meeting that she and Marina were in the process of determining what rehabilitation they would need for their injuries.
Aiden was commanding officer of the BHS NJROTC and was due to be in a Navy nuclear program after graduation, which was set for May 28.
BHS student Arturo Green said a lot of students went to see the counselors provided for them earlier that school day.
School Supt. Pete Kudlak said it was incomprehensible that this happened on the week of graduation.
It was explained that school board president Amy Pearce was not present at the school board meeting because of a family emergency. She had to go overseas and would also miss commencement ceremonies. Vice president Dionne Falconer presided at the meeting.
In other business at the May 26 meeting, the board:
• Honored the top-ten Belleville High School graduates of 2026, although only three were present to be honored: valedictorian Cooper Mears, sixth-place Aiden Tulik, and ninth-place Collin Glimpse;
• Presented a special engraved wooden and metal plaque to parent Angela Mears for her years of promoting education in the district. Supt. Kudlak said this is the first such award for the district, but they may continue the award for others in the future;
• Approved the 5th-8th grade social studies curriculum that had been discussed at the last meeting. The Teachers Curriclum Institute Social Studies program will cost about $147,709 over five years;
• Approved spending $143,961 on a BHS Band Tower for the football field which was discussed in detail at the last meeting;
• Approved the Wayne RESA budget proposal that was discussed at the last meeting;
• Approved the list of 50 non-affiliated salaries, as required by the state. Supt. Kudlak said he had to do some corrections since they were presented at the last meeting. He said the three highlighted in red were $4,000, which is higher than normal raises, two in yellow were corrected because the military pays for the JROTC teachers, and five others were pushed to slightly more than the $2,000 general raise to comply with the layout of the state chart;
• Heard reports from the principals of Rawsonville, Savage, and Edgemont elementary schools. Tyler school was on the list of those to present, but was removed and Tyler will present at the next meeting;
• Approved the retirement of Kathy Yates, a paraprofessional at Owen, after 30 years of serving the district, as of June 30. The board also approved the hiring of paraprofessional Meghan Harple to serve Edgemont school as of May 20;
• Approved the resignations of Tyler teachers Courtney Schweer, with no years of service, as of May 11; Michelle Kirkwood, with less than one year of services, as of May 19; and instructional tech coach Nichole Consiglio, after five years of service, as of June 12;
• Approved the employment of Sara Smith as a CI-teacher at Rawsonville as of May 22;
• Heard director of building and grounds James Williams report on Rawsonville and McBride upgrades which will be done during the summer. He also said they are finalizing the design of the Operations Facility on the Haggerty Elementary site and will get it to the board in the next month or so;
• Heard human resources director John Leroy say they are negotiating with VBEST and secretary unions. He said they set a retirement planning meeting on April 19 and 80 people showed up in two sessions. He said he hopes that doesn’t mean a whole lot of people plan on retiring at once;
• Heard instruction/curriclum director Jill Malvaso say two semi trucks showed up earlier that day with items from the $35 million grant for materials for kids to take home this summer. She said there were 225 phonics kits for K-2 students in two elementary schools. The rest of elementary schools will get theirs in the next few days. She said the kits hopefully will make it so the students don’t see that “summer slide”;
• Heard Kudlak say Jonathan Richards, a teacher at Owen Intermediate School and in charge of the media center, earned a state award for the school library’s 21st century scoring system. This is the second time Owen has received the award, Kudlak said. It was to be officially presented at 9 a.m., June 1, at the media center by State Rep. Reggie Miller and State Senator Darin Camilleri;
• Learned the Techno Music Group that performed last week at Diamondback was to give 10% of ticket sales to the district’s Robotics program. A robotics demonstration was presented at the event;
• Was informed the state track meet was coming up that week and BHS student Peyton Trammer is the top sprinter in the state and is expected to do well; and
• Heard parent Jessica Radcliff, who also teaches at McBride, explain her problems with the Gifted and Talented program that she said has no real policy and those involved are making it up as they go along. This involved her seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old daughter, who are both in the program. She said the testing seems to show how well students take an exam, not how much they know. She asked the school board to review the district’s GT policy. Later board member David Shall said he supports the GT program.