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January 8, 2015
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School board promotes 2 veteran employees
2 plead guilty to assault of Inkster woman
I
NKSTER
- W
AYNE
- W
ESTLAND
Two veteran employees of
the
Wayne
Westland
Community Schools were
recently promoted to new posi-
tions.
Members of the board of edu-
cation approved the promotions
of Angela Szalai and Kurt Miles
at a recentmeeting.
Szalai, a graduate of the
Wayne-Westland schools, has
been named as an assistant
principal at Stevenson Middle
School inWestland.
She has been an employee of
the district since 2008 and has
worked as a match intervention
specialist. Previously, she was
employed as a fourth-grade
teacher at the Academy of
Southfield and as a fifth grade
teacher inTaylor.
She earned her bachelor of
science degree in elementary
education in mathematics and
science from Eastern Michigan
University and two master of
arts degrees in education from
theUniversity of Phoenix.
Miles, who joined theWayne-
Westland district last year, was
promoted to supervisor of trans-
portation. He was formerly the
director of transportation in the
Plymouth-Canton Community
Schools where he had worked
since 1990. During his tenure
with Plymouth-Canton, he
worked as a mechanic, fleet
service manager, transportation
coordinator and transportation
supervisor.
Both promotions were
approved by unanimous vote of
the boardmembers.
The women accused of attack-
ing a 30-year-old Inkster resident
with a gun and a chain both
entered guilty pleas Dec. 12 to
the charges against them.
Antoinette Hope Boone, 37, of
Canton Township, and her
cousin, Alyah Chaurice Tooson-
Boone, 19, of Inkster were both
initially charged with assault
with a dangerous weapon, felony
firearmand carrying a concealed
weapon. In exchange for a guilty
plea to the assault with a danger-
ous weapon charge, the more
serious charges were dismissed
against Boone. Tooson-Boone
was charged with only a single
count of assault with a dangerous
weapon.
The two were charged after
the 30-year-old Inkster woman
called Canton Township police at
about 11 p.m. Aug. 14 to report
that the pair had followed her
car from her place of employ-
ment in Ypsilanti and continued
to swerve into her lane, throw
objects at her car and yell insults
at her. She drove into the
McDonald's parking lot on
Michigan Avenue where Boone
and Tooson-Boone followed in
the vehicle in which they were
riding with another man. The
two women allegedly left their
car and began to threaten the vic-
tim, Boone brandishing a 40 cal-
iber handgun and Tooson-Boone
threatening herwitha chain.
The victim told police she
believed themotive for the attack
was her involvement with a man
who formerly dated Boone.
Apparently, several of those
involved work at the same busi-
ness inYpsilanti.
No shots were fired and no
one was injured, according to
Canton police, who arrested
Boone and Tooson-Boone at the
scene. The man at the scene was
not arrested or charged as he did
not leave the vehicle. Officers
retrieved the handgun and chain
from the car in which the two
women had been riding. The vic-
tim told officers she was meeting
a friend at the McDonald's and
that woman corroborated her
story and told police that she, too,
felt threatened by the pair. The
victim told officers that she
retrieved a baseball bat from her
car to protect herself in the dis-
pute which ended when police
arrived at the scene.
The two women have been
free on bond since charged in the
incident and were ordered to
stay away from the victim. They
will be sentenced Jan. 15 in
Wayne County Circuit Court and
could face up to four years in
prison on the assault charges.
Members of the mayoral
administrative staff in Westland
will be sharing in the cuts made
to benefits to cityworkers.
Effective Jan. 1, Mayor
William R. Wild has reformed
the benefit package offered to
his staff to more closely match
that offered to union employees
in the city who have recently
agreed to concessions in con-
tracts.
Addressing legacy costs and
retention efforts, these changes
build upon the pension and
healthcare employee cost shar-
ing begun in 2012 and the 8 per-
cent lower starting wage tier
begun in 2014 that also included
new hires receiving a health
care savings program instead of
traditional retiree healthcare
and a 401 (K)-style retirement
program instead of the tradition-
al pension,Wild said.
Retired appointees hired
prior to 2014 will receive the
same health coverage and cost
sharing as active employees but
will be removed from the city
health insurance at age 65. At
that time, retirees will receive
an annual cash stipend used to
purchase supplemental health
coverage or to pay for other
unreimbursed medical expens-
es. These changes will positively
impact the City's unfunded lia-
bility for legacy costs such as
retiree healthcare and will
enable better financial planning,
Wild said.
“While I believe my executive
teamdoes a great job for the res-
idents of Westland, we must
always be mindful of the need to
control costs and show that man-
agement is willing to share in
the same sacrifice we ask of our
union employees,” Wild said.
“The changes proposed mirror
concessions recently negotiated
with city unions yet provide the
city the ability to attract and
retain talented professionals
who canprovide leadership over
the many services our residents
and business owners deserve
and expect of Michigan's 10th
largest city,” he concluded.
...we must always be mindful
of the need to control costs and show
that management is willing to share in the same
sacrifice we ask of our union employees.
”
Mayor implements benefit cuts for appointees