School Supt. Kudlak presents his first State of the District address

Van Buren Public Schools Superintendent Pete Kudlak gave an hour-long State of the District address during the regular school board meeting on April 15. It was his first since becoming superintendent.
The address was held in the Belleville High School Auditorium in hopes the address would draw a big crowd. About 60 were in attendance.
Supt. Kudlak used the large screen in the front of the auditorium to illustrate his comments on the history of education, what’s going on now, and what the future may be in education. He told about the present status and scores in the district.
He spoke about many things, including the upcoming November ballot proposal that will ask taxpayers to continue to pay the 2.98 mills for the BHS construction bonds instead of having the tax reduced to 2.35 mills, which can be done now that the bonds have been refinanced.
He said if voters approve this “net zero increase bond,” the district would gain more than $25 million and would be able to build a new Early Childhood Center on the property recently purchased from St. Anthony Catholic Church. He noted they recently closed on the purchase of the 11 acres.
He said they need to have more students in preschool to begin their educations and could add a special education preschool and additional tuition programs for 3- and 4-year-olds. Also, infant and toddler rooms could be added.
At the end of his long presentation, Supt. Kudlak said, “I love to talk about this” and invited anyone interested in discussing any of his comments to contact him at [email protected] or call him at 697-9123.
He also offered to address any groups who want to discuss education and the Van Buren Public Schools.
In other business at the two-hour-and-16-minute meeting, the board:
• Approved contracts for the Tyler Elementary School boiler replacement. The contract for mechanical services went to Mechanical System Services, Corp. for $229,207.86 and the contract for electrical services went to Allied Building Service for $10,348, along with a contingency budget of $60,444 for a total amount of $300,000 from the sinking fund. They were the low bidders of six. The work will be done this summer by cutting through the roof as it was done last year at Savage Elementary;
• Approved a contract to replace the soffits at Tyler and Savage schools for a total cost of $383,940. Low bidder was Allied Building Service Company of Detroit, Inc. for both the architectural renovation services and the electrical renovation service for the project in the amount of $349,037 and a construction contingency of $34,903 to be paid from sinking funds. DTS Contracting withdrew its bid of $202,530 and Davenport was high bidder at $490,642. This project had not been scheduled, but last fall a large section of the soffit at Savage was found on the ground and in investigating the cause they found deficiencies in other places. They decided to replace all fascia and soffits to alleviate future problems and safety concerns;
• Approved purchase of hot well equipment for McBride from Stafford-Smith for $21,477.51, the lowest of three quotes, from the Food Service fund balance. Food Service Supervisor Karen Waller said all the equipment being replaced was purchased in the 1960s and cannot be repaired. She said four of the ten wells are not heating as required by the Health Dept. Also purchased were two new cash register stands and a stainless-steel condiment table;
• Approved the tentative union agreement with the Van Buren Education Association for about 300 teachers. The VBEA signed the contract March 21. The short-term agreement, good until the end of this calendar year, is the first increase in salaries since 2007. The representative of the VBEA said it’s a fair agreement and “neither side is completely happy, which shows it is a good agreement.” The complete agreement is detailed in the March 28 issue of the Independent;
• Approved BHS Marching Band camp for 300 students grades 9-12 for Aug. 19-23 at Tamarack Camps in Ortonville. Cost to student is $240-$270;
• Approved a trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, on June 8 for from 50 to 80 eighth-grade McBride Middle School students for the school’s annual Family Fun Day. Cost is $55 for each student for tickets and transportation;
• Honored Angela Scroggie and Ryan Franks as winners of the Human Resource office’s second-annual Wellness Challenge, with Scroggie losing 16.3% body fat and Franks losing 15.8%. The challenge ran from Jan. 14 to March 25 and each of 63 participants paid $20 to enter. The winners each earned $615 and other gifts from local businesses;
• Approved hiring Amanda Smith as a paraprofessional at Edgemont Elementary as of April 8;
• Heard Marina Gerick, a student working on a Girl Scout project called Benches for Belleville, give an update on the project. She said she has 2,047 pounds of plastic bottle caps ready to go and they will be picking up the first five benches on May 20. Two benches will be put at the Fallen Tiger Wall. They are orange and black and the cost to turn the bottle caps into benches is being paid by Waste Management. She said they also will pick up one bench each for Van Buren, Sumpter, and Belleville which will be blue. Those benches have been paid for by Girl Scout Troop 20414. She thanked all who have donated and who have helped sort the donated caps. Her mother, school board member Darlene Loyer Gerick, said they still have many caps to sort and, “I may need a second garage.”