On Thursday, Jan. 21, two Van Buren Public Schools officials marched four teachers to the door with a single sheet of paper in their hands announcing that each has been placed on administrative leave.
On Friday, another teacher who was absent on Thursday, was shown the door.
School Supt. Michael Van Tassel had mentioned “potential discipline” of staff in an undated letter he had posted on the district’s web site this month, but parents and staff were shocked at the sudden appearance at Savage of officials working at the direction of Van Tassel on teacher removal.
Human Resources Director Shonta Langford-Green and Curriculum Director Jeff Moore removed the teachers from their jobs on Thursday, while classes were in session.
Savage Principal Amy Gee and Moore would not allow the Independent into the building, with Gee saying that was because classes were in session. A Michigan Education Association union official advised the Independent to call the MEA Plymouth office (and we are still waiting for a return call).
Removed on Friday were Kristen Belloni, Brent Held, Shelly Komaromi, and Rebecca Tennis. Pamela Bradley was removed on Friday.
On Friday, parents passed out fliers announcing the four teacher removals the day before, not realizing one more was targeted Friday.
“First Mrs. Villa and now four more?” the flyer was headlined, referring to the resignation last summer of Principal Kelley Villa.
“Did you know that four Savage classrooms have had their teachers taken away?”
“Our beloved Mrs. Tennis, Mrs. Belloni, Mrs. Komaromi, and Mr. Held were instructed to leave the building yesterday,” the flyer announced.
“They are gone after being accused of cheating on last year’s M-Step testing. A spontaneous investigation by top administration claims that our students couldn’t have done well on their tests alone, their teachers must have cheated!
“Van Buren School’s top officials recently had our Savage children pulled from their classes and interviewed regarding last year’s test without parent knowledge or consent, and no other advocate in the room. What were the questions? How did the children answer? No one knows.
“Did you know that these four teachers will most likely be added to the list of the dozens upon dozens other Van Buren teachers who have left since our Superintendent has taken over?
“Why is top administration abusing teachers and driving them out of the district?”
The flyer encouraged parents to attend the Jan. 25 school board work/study session and to contact school board members for answers. The group of parents also has a Facebook page called #SavageStrong .
On Monday, Jan. 25, it was announced that Jason Cooper, a music teacher at Savage, had resigned.
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No one has any comments in regards to this? People wake up! 5 teachers were just kicked to the curb and were not told why, and still have not been told why they are on leave. There is a terrible cyst in this administration and people have been avoiding it for years and it has grown to gigantic proportions. It is time to have this cyst removed and expose the rotten, festering center.
Telling people to “wake up!” isn’t going to help your cause, it’s very off putting. You crazy extremists are turning people away from your cause because of the things you are posting on Facebook. It’s getting to be a lynch mob and I have not read any facts about cheating or not cheating. Everything is hear say. Until some proof comes out, I remain neutral.
Mike- the facts are out there. Have you not read the news articles? Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News. The “accusations” are there. Do I need to provide you a link to the articles?
Just in case, here they are. Make sure you read the sections of what the investigators reported kids told them.
http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/26/staffers-van-buren-schools-suspicious-tests/79337186/
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2016/01/26/van-buren-schools-mstep-test-investigation/79384962/
I agree with Mike, you are getting defensive and pushy. Most intelligent people will understand there are 2 sides to every story. It needs to be hashed out with evidence on the table. You guys are blindly leading a crusade based on what? 5 teachers on PAID leave until the investigation proves them guilty.
I consider myself an intelligent person and I also recognize that there are two sides to every story. That being said, there are two grades worth of children whose educations are being impacted by the loss of their teachers. Children deserve a stable and supportive learning environment which is not being provided to them. There is a break in the continuity of education when using long-term substitutes. If irrefutable proof of cheating was available, this would not be an issue. At this point, that proof has not been supplied.
Nothing good has ever come from Belleville.
My son was in fourth grade last year at Savage and I can say that from K-4th he has had a top-knotch education! His teacher was one of the teachers suspended. She worked very hard with the students and my son always had homework and studying to do when he came home that we did every evening. The teacher informed the parents of when the testing was going to happen and I can only speak for myself but our son was very well prepared and even passed all of the testing my husband and I put in front of him.
I can saw that now that our son is in Owen, we are seeing that the education structure isn’t the same.
Maybe you should be looking why the other schools didn’t do well on their scores and find out how to bring them up to the “bar”.