School Board votes not to extend superintendent’s contract

After a closed-door session on Friday, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously not to extend the contract of School Supt. Pete Kudlak for another year.
When he was hired last year, he was granted a three-year contract, so he still has two years left on his contract – through June 2019.
Generally, the school board will extend the contract by a year during the annual evaluation. If the board does not vote on the contract extension, it automatically is extended another year.
The board also unanimously labeled him “effective” for the 2016-17 school year, the second-highest designation. The proposed categories in the evaluation procedure were: ineffective, minimally effective, effective, or highly effective.
The board unanimously increased Supt. Kudlak’s base salary by 2%, from the original $130,000 to $132,600.
Supt. Kudlak replaced former School Supt. Michael Van Tassel who was making $139,000 base salary when he was pushed out of his position in February 2016.
Van Tassel was hired as superintendent in July 2012 and every spring during the annual evaluation was labeled “highly effective” by the school board.
On Monday, School Board President Keith Johnston said the board is happy with the job Supt. Kudlak has done, but the student academic growth has got to come up.
“We wanted to be fair,” Johnston said, adding over the year of his being superintendent, Kudlak has had two new principals, the Savage School law suit, and depositions for the case.
“If we’re happy next year we will extend the contract,” Johnston said. “He’s done a pretty decent job. We’re not displeased.”