Van Buren Public Schools get ready for new school year

At the Aug. 26 brief meeting of the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education, the board heard reports on the final preparations for the new school year to get the teachers ready for the incoming students.
While students don’t start school until the day after Labor Day, teachers are in the midst of events to get them started.
Director of Human Resources Abdul Madyun said as of Monday there were three teaching slots yet to be filled: fifth- and six-grade classes at Owen Intermediate and a third-grade classroom at Rawsonville Elementary. He said offers had been made to teachers for those positions and by Tuesday morning he should know if they accepted the offers. If they have, all positions would be filled.
Director of Special Services Karen Johnston said all staff was to return on Tuesday and on Wednesday a breakfast was planned with a motivational speaker.
Director of Curriculum Jeff Moore said last Friday they held new teacher day for 11 new teachers.
In other business at Monday’s 26-minute meeting, the school board:
• Approved the resignations of two teachers, Jatona Chester of Owen Intermediate School after four years as of Aug. 8 and Vincenza Zaia of Belleville High School as of Aug. 15, after one year. Rachel Huhta and Lauren Halapi, who had been hired to begin as new teachers at BHS, accepted other jobs and rescinded their acceptances of employment at BHS;
• Approved the employment of the following BHS teachers as of Aug. 27: Rebecca Clarke, Shanna Johnson, Lauren Kinnamon (English teacher), and Lauren Vasquez; also, Ashley Niedert to teach at Edgemont Elementary; Sarah Igonin (CI teacher) and Tanya Owen (Spanish teacher) to teach at McBride Middle School; and Mark Scarbrough to teach music at Owen;
• Approved the resignations of transportation department employees Amanda Ellis, after two years; Deseree Laginess after three years; and Grady Coleman, as of seven and a half years; and the resignation of Lauren Vandierendonck after two years of non-instruction staff work at Owens Intermediate School;
• Discussed the call for delegates to the Michigan Association of School Boards Leadership Conference and Delegate Assembly taking place Nov. 8 and 9 in Traverse City. Because of the distance and cost for this event, no board member volunteered to attend the event;
• Heard Director Moore say he and School Supt. Pete Kudlak went to band camp on the first day of camp and found “a well-oiled machine” in the way it was run. Board member Amy Pearce, who attended the camp as a chaperone, said there are 287 members this year;
• Heard Financial Director Sara Cortese report the financial audit was held last week and auditors were here for two days. She said she went to the Transportation Department last Friday and watched the route-bid process that went really smoothly. She also attended the performance given by the marching band upon their return from band camp and it made her feel really proud;
• Heard Supt. Kudlak report that the media center upgrades are being completed, but the doors at Owen have to be reordered and they may have to put in some temporary doors until the right ones arrive. Also, there is a problem with having the right lights at McBride, so they will put up temporary lights until the right ones arrive. He thanked Madyun, Moore, Johnston and his assistant Debbie McWilliams for working so hard to kick off the school year;
• Heard Board Member Simone Pinter remind board members that the annual Sunset Celebration for the Van Buren Education Foundation will be Sept. 21. Tickets are available online and at the door;
• Heard board vice president Susan Featheringill say she received the latest copy of Van Buren Today and there was a lot on the school, which she liked. Kudlak said McWilliams did a lot of work on the copy for that magazine and the bond information had to be sent to the attorney first before it could be approved for publication; and
• Went into closed-door session at the end of the meeting to discuss potential reinstatement of Student 17-18-027 for the 2019-10 school year. The student was expelled during the 2017-18 school year and came before the Reinstatement Committee for consideration after the expiration of the expulsion period. The student and parent met with the committee on Aug. 23 and a recommendation from that meeting was considered by the board. The board came back into open session and voted to reinstate the student with conditions.