Supt. Kudlak: ‘It hurts all our hearts that our people don’t feel safe’

At the end of the open meeting part of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education on Monday, school superintendent Pete Kudlak said the district has had a “rough week or so.”
Supt. Kudlak said, “People in our buildings don’t feel safe. It hurts all our hearts that our people don’t feel safe.” He said they would “work to make it better.”
That was his only comment at the board meeting concerning the student who recently attacked a teacher with punches in a classroom. A cell phone recording of the assault by a student was reportedly circulated throughout the school building within five minutes of the attack and went on social media thereafter.
Board member David Shall said he was, “proud of the way kids reacted to violence,” without further explanation.
The teen who attacked the teacher in the video was put in custody of his father by police, who are seeking a warrant to prosecute him.
No parents attended the school board meeting to speak about the offense, but the student representative on the board that evening, Artrell Green, thanked the high school principal for handling “issues,” without explanation. The principal was not present at the meeting.
In other business at the 90-minute open meeting, the board:
• Met the new Rawsonville Elementary School principal Christen Hawkins, who will begin her job on Jan. 5. She said she has been a principal for four-and-a-half years in Ypsilanti and 12 years as a teacher in Michigan and in Georgia;
• Approved Stacey Buhro as a new Belleville High School counselor as of Dec. 1, Lauren Trejo as Edgemont/Savage speech pathologist as of Dec. 8, Tyler Jackson as social worker at the Early Childhood Center as of Dec. 11, and Hawkins as Rawsonville principal;
• Accepted the resignation of Owen teacher Danielle Duda-Buckshaw after less than a year of service;
• Accepted the resignation of custodian Sarah Charlton as of Oct. 1 after one-and-a-half-years of service;
• Approved employing Ronda Orr as a paraprofessional at Savage Elementary School as of Dec. 2 and Anna Lauber as a secretary at Edgemont Elementary as of Dec. 1;
• Approved 20-25 students, grades 9th-12th, to attend the KLAA Student Leadership Conference for student council officers and leaders in Grand Rapids Feb. 20-23. Cost to students is $350 each and fundraising is available to cover the fees;
• Were informed about progress in the Regional Alliance for Healthy Schools (RAHS) and were told the clinic at the school is expected to open in January. It is run throught the University of Michigan. The clinic will provide sports exams, glasses, substance abuse treatment, pregnancy testing, sexually transmitted disease testing, and mental health services. If an adolescent is between the ages of 14-17 mental health care can be private. Mature minors can have private pregnancy testing, STD testing, and family planning, but no birth control devices;
• Heard details of the renovations planned for the heating and cooling of classrooms at Rawsonville Elementary School, starting at spring break and finishing before the new school year in August at a cost of $2,751,126 from the sinking fund;
• Heard financial director Priya Nayak say the missing piece of information from the federal government has come in so the board approved the 2024-25 annual audit report previously presented;
• Approved the Schools of Choice declaration for the second semester for an unlimited number of openings. Requests are being accepted Jan. 6-20. Trustee Shall suggested limiting new Schools of Choice students to 20% of the current students and after a discussion this issue was to be placed as the only item on a board workshop session this spring. Then there could be a change for the vote concerning Schools of Choice for the first semester of the 2026-27 school year. Trustee Vic DeLiberia also questioned the finances surrounding Schools of Choice and the staff needed;
• Heard Reg Ion, a grandfather of students, say he doesn’t like Schools of Choice for various reasons. He said it leads to cheating in football and then the cheater went to a cheater university. He said when football players are recruited from other schools, students in this district don’t get to play. “You just want the money,” he said to the board. He then told of a school security guard who told his granddaughter that her father didn’t like black people. She said it twice to his granddaughter, who then told her that her father is married to a black woman who is her mother. He said his granddaughter was hurt and embarrassed and though she wrote out the incident on Nov. 7 and turned it in and tried to talk to a counselor, that didn’t happen. His son was promised a meeting with a counselor, but that hasn’t happened either. Ion said he wants to know the name of “Mama K” the security guard and he wants to know why she is working with children. “I’m not going to rest,” Ion said. “I’m looking for some answers.” Kudlak said he would call Ion;
• Heard mother Angela Mears say she would like to correct a figure she quoted at a recent meeting. She said the BHS Class of 2026 raised $396 in November at Hungry Howie’s, not $365, and raised $465 in October. She listed other upcoming fundraising Dine to Donate events for the graduation party at the end of the year;
• Approved the board’s organizational meeting to be held at 7 p.m., Jan. 12, at the BHS Commons. The meeting for the upcoming year will be set at that time; and
• Went into closed-door session to discuss the superintendent’s evaluation and to consider a funding resolution that includes opting into a grant with a recission stipulation if the state doesn’t take action. When the board came back into open session, it voted to give Kudlak the highest rating as “effective” for the period of January-December 2025. No action was taken on the funding resolution. The meeting adjourned at 9:57 p.m.