Tenured teacher agrees to separation agreement with VBPs

After a closed-door session with its attorney on Monday, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously to enter into a separation agreement with tenured teacher Linda Janack, the teacher who performs on a pornographic web site.
The motion was: “Tenured teacher Linda Janack has agreed to resign her position subject to a separation agreement. The Board has reviewed the agreement and believes that its terms are in the District’s best interests. The Board authorizes the Superintendent to execute the agreement as presented.”
School Board President Keith Johnston said the board believes her actions broke areas of her contract and the State’s Code of Conduct and that the reason for the agreement – as opposed to a tenure hearing – was solely a financial decision.
At the end of the hour-long regular meeting, the full board went into the closed-door meeting to consider attorney-client privilege. Then the board was scheduled to come back into regular session and go into a second closed-door session on a Periodic Personnel Evaluation of Janack’s work. The second executive session was not necessary.
On Aug. 27, the school board put Janack on a paid, non-disciplinary leave of absence until further notice from the superintendent or the board.
During her leave of absence she could not be present on school property or have contact with students without authorization from the administration.
An agenda item for that night, Potential Action on Teacher Tenure, was deferred until the Sept. 10 meeting.
In late August, Detroit and Ann Arbor media released stories on Janack, a highly respected and liked tenured reading teacher at Edgemont Elementary School, who with her husband, a teacher in Dearborn Heights, owned and had sex on a porn site, “Hot for Teachers,” on their own time since January.
Reportedly, Janack is eligible for retirement in January.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, the board:
• Approved minutes of a special, four-minute meeting on Aug. 30, held to approve the six-month union agreement with the Van Buren Educational Association, with Simone Pinter and Susan Featheringill abstaining. The item was on the agenda of the Aug. 27 meeting, but no vote could be taken because there were not enough board members present to vote who did not have to abstain. The agreement runs through December 2018;
• Hired three new teachers: Cameron Wheeler to teach world history at Belleville High School as of Aug. 29, Rebecca Simon a special education teacher at Owen Intermediate as of Sept. 4, and LaToya Tingle a GSRP teacher at Haggerty ECDC as of Sept. 4;
• Hired four non-instructional employees: April Turnbull, paraprofessional at Owen Intermediate School as of Sept. 4; Anna Porter, custodian for Buildings and Grounds, as of Aug. 28; and Amber Knowlton and Angela Ledford, lunch supervisors at Rawsonville Elementary as of Sept. 4;
• Heard Jeff Moore, Director of Instruction, give a report on the M-Step scores that recently were released to the public. Board Secretary Kevin English noted if the state uses the Van Buren scores on M-Step to rate the third-grade readers, 75% of the third graders would have to be retained for not being proficient in reading. “What are we going to do with those kids?” English asked. Moore replied, “No one really knows.” Supt. Pete Kudlak said they are talking about that right now on the state level and how that’s going to be addressed. The Van Buren math scores are across the board 10% below state level and English Language scores about 15% below state average. “We’re underperforming when we look at the state average,” said Moore. “We’re under performing. … It’s a challenge”;
• Heard parent Kevin Farr ask the board to give the transportation department more funding because a lot of students are on the bus more than an hour each way. He also was concerned that middle school and high school students a mile and a half away from the school have to walk to school. He said they have to walk in the dark in rain, snow, and sleet and this isn’t safe. Board president Johnston said Van Buren spends more than anyone else in Wayne County on transportation. He said someone would get with him to discuss the issue;
• Heard reports from the new student representatives on the school board, Olivia Sylvestre, sophomore class president, and Nia Smith, senior class president.