No. 05
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
February 4 – 10, 2016
w w w . a s s o c i a t e d n e w s p a p e r s . n e t
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
For the fourth year, Soup
Swap returns to Plymouth to
benefit the Salvation Army.
This year, the Central PARC Art
Studio is hosting the community
art project. Soups prepared by
local groups will be served up
for the “swap” onFeb. 27.
The art portion of the festivi-
ties will begin today when all
aspiring or experienced artists
are invited to go to the Central
PARC Art Studios located in
room #116 at the Plymouth
PARC, 650 Church St., to deco-
rate a handmade soup bowl.
Participants will use colored
clays to paint their favorite
design on a bowl they've chosen
from a large selection of shapes
and sizes. There are many ses-
sions available beginning from
4:30-6 p.m. or 6-7:30 today, Feb.
4. Painting sessions continue
from 7-8:30 tomorrow, Feb 5,
and from2-3:30 or 3:30-5 p.m. on
Saturday, Feb. 6 and Sunday,
Feb. 7. Sessions are available
from 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 12,
and from 2-3:30 p.m. Monday,
Feb. 15 andWednesday, Feb. 17
The bowlswill then be glazed
and fired for the SoupSwap.
The cost of the painting ses-
sion is $15 per person. To get
families involved, the cost is $15
each for the first two members
of the family and $10 for each
additional family member. If
one person would like to deco-
rate more than one bowl, the
cost is $10 for each additional
bowl.
On Soup Swap day, several
groups will be serving fresh
soups when participants come
Voters in Canton Township
will have no lack of choices dur-
ing the upcoming township
electionNov. 8.
While incumbent Supervisor
Phil LaJoy and Clerk Terry
Bennett have announced their
decisions not to seek reelection
to the posts, hopefuls have
already declared their respec-
tive candidacies for various
elected offices in the township.
To date, seven candidates, all
declared Democrats including
incumbent Steven Sneideman,
have said they will be on the
November ballot.
Sneideman will seek his sec-
ond four-year term on the board
of trustees. He was the only
Democratic candidate on the
ballot in 2012 and was the top
voter getter in that election. He
is president of the Canton
Democratic Club and formerly
served as president and treasur-
er of the Plymouth-Canton
school board.
Also vying for a position as
board trustee is Sommer Foster.
Foster currently serves as the
vice-chairperson of the Canton
Public Library and is the direc-
tor of policy and outreach for
Equality Michigan and worked
to bring a human rights ordi-
nance to the township. She is
also a founding member of the
Beloved Community group that
supports diversity efforts in the
community. She also helped
organize the Not In Our Town
program and the Canton
Response to Hate Crimes
Coalition.
Anne Marie Graham-Hudak,
a founding member of the
Northwest Wayne County
League of Women Voters and
current coordinator for the
Plymouth-Canton Interfaith
Community Outreach group,
will also seek election to the
board as a trustee. She chaired
the Plymouth-Canton Citizens
for Diversity and Inclusion and
has worked 21 years in the auto
engineering sector.
Dhaval Vaishnav, president
of the board of directors of the
Hindu Temple of Canton, has
also said he will campaign for a
term as a township trustee.
Prior to opening his own com-
pany, Vaishnav Enterprises,
which specializes in retail and
See
Benefit,
page 6
Democrats announce candidate slate in Canton
Test scores from students at
Savage Road Elementary School
in the Van Buren Public School
District have been thrown out by
state officials who have deter-
mined that teachers violated test-
ing rules by coaching students
during the exams.
Student at Savage scored sixth
in the state on the math portion
of the Michigan Student Test of
Educational Progress (M-STEP)
test administered last spring. In
addition, students at Savage
scored higher than a number of
schools that educate only gifted
and talented students. Officials
said that the overall performance
on the M-STEP was far better
than the school overall has per-
formed on state exams in the
past.
State education officials claim
that teachers at the school alert-
ed students who may have incor-
rectly answered a question and
in other cases helped the stu-
dents deduce the correct answer.
The findings were part of a
state-ordered investigation at
Savage and the results were
released last week.
According to Jan Ellis, a
spokesperson for the Michigan
Department of Education, this is
only the third time in 12 years the
state has invalidated test scores.
The district notified the state
of the high test scores last
October and, under state orders,
undertook an investigation of the
conduct of teachers during the
testing
Van
Buren
Superintendent of Schools
Michael Van Tassel said in a let-
ter to the community posted on
the district website that the law
firm of Collins and Blaha con-
ducted the investigation, inter-
viewing the test coordinators,
students and teachers. That
investigation concluded that at
least two teachers admitted to
“some level of assistance” while
others denied coaching the stu-
dents.
“The conclusion of the investi-
gation was there were testing
improprieties,” Van Tassel said
inhis letter.
Various news media have
reported that five teachers have
been placed on paid administra-
tive leave as a result of the test-
ing irregularities.
The investigation also report-
ed that students told interview-
ers that their teacher did the
math problem when the student
did not know how; the teacher
read the question to the student
and gave the definition; that
before submitting the test on the
computer, a teacher went back
and helped a student with ques-
tions he did not know and that
the teacher checked answers on
the test and told the student if
they were right or wrong, before
submitting the examination for
scoring.
“This has been an unfortunate
incident which has serious rami-
fications for not only the stu-
dents, but the district aswell with
regard to state required testing
that is tied to millions of dollars
in state and federal at-risk
funds,” Van Tassel said in his
posted letter.
...this is only the third time
in 12 years the state
has invalidated test scores.
”
State alleges cheating on school tests
Top teen
Wayne student wins
state scholarship
Riana Hardyniec fromWayne has been
named as theDistinguishedYoungWoman
of Michigan 2016. Hardyniec, who attends
Wayne High School, received $1,250 in
cash scholarships alongwithher title.
Hardyniec was chosen for the honor
during the 58th Annual Distinguished
Young Women of Michigan Scholarship
Program at Saline High School Jan. 23.
New this year, two winners were
announced. The Distinguished Young
Woman of Michigan 2017 is Alexus
Warchock from Napoleon. Alexus
received $1,550 and was named as a top
Self Expression, Physical Fitness, Talent,
Scholastics and Interview winner. She
attendsNapoleonHighSchool.
Hardyniec and Warchock will repre-
sent Michigan at the Distinguished Young
Woman of America Scholarship Program
in Mobile, ALA. They are also eligible for
several full-ride scholarships at various
colleges around the country through the
national program.
“This was an incredibly smart and tal-
ented group of young women and we are
so excited to have two new Distinguished
Young Woman of Michigan winners. Both
will be excellent representatives at
statewide functions throughout the year
and also at the nationals in Mobile,” said
StateDirector AngelaBobo.
Twenty contestants from around the
state competed and were awarded a total
of $7,000 in college scholarships. Other
scholarship winners from the senior class
of 2016 were First Runner Up - Diana
Davis from Oakland County, Second
Runner Up - Emma Seidel from West
Bloomfield and Third Runner Up - Kelsie
Wysong from Wayne. Scholarship winners
from the junior class of 2017 were First
Runner Up - Claire Burton from Oakland
County and Second Runner-Up Adaeze
Ogbuaku fromInkster.
See
Slate,
page 2
Alexus Warchock, left, of Napoleon was named Distinguished Young Woman of 2017
and Riana Hardyniec of Wayne was chosen from a field of 20 contestants as the
Distinguished Young Woman of 2016.
Annual Soup Swap benefit begins in Plymouth
Last week, The Eagle
erroneously reported a
story regarding a 13-year-
old high school freshman
who brought a gun to
school.
The incident took place
at Belleville High School,
not at Romulus High
School as was incorrectly
reported in the story. The
incident was first reported
on WDIV-TV and quoted
Belleville High School
principal Abdul Madyn
regarding the incident dur-
ing which the student was
confronted about the
weapon after administra-
tors at the school were noti-
fied late in the day about a
potential gun in the school.
Two administrators went to
the student's classroom and
removed the child, accord-
ing to Superintendent of
Van Buren Public Schools
Michael L. VanTassel.
An unloaded handgun
was recovered from the
teen's backpack and bullets
were found in another sec-
tion of the backpack, Van
Tassel confirmed.
Van Tassel recently post-
ed an account of the inci-
dent on the Van Buren
Public Schools website and
explained that the student
was removed from the
school by the police and
that the gun was given to
the responding officers. He
added that "an explusion
packet was filed, a hearing
was held and the student
was expelled from the dis-
trict."
Van Tassel said that the
administrators at Belleville
High School followed cor-
rect protocols and dealt
with a dangerous situation
well.
"Unfortunately, this was
not the first time a gun was
found on a student, nor will
it probably be the last.
Pellet and BB guns have
also been finding their way
into our elementary
schools, including as
recently as a few weeks
ago," Van Tassel's letter stat-
ed.
The Eagle mis-identified
the principal involved in
the incident as the princi-
pal at Romulus High
School in error.
Van Tassel went on to
say in his letter that while
he felt the administrators
in the building hadhandled
the situation correctly, he
felt that the communication
with parents in the incident
was not appropriate and
apologized for the "poor
job." He said that new pro-
cedures were being
devised to keep parents
and staff members notified
either through an email
blast, a letter sent home
with students or the district
website should such an
incident occur in the
future.
No gun incident took
place at Romulus High
School and The Eagle sin-
cerely apologizes for the
error and any confusion the
mistake in identifying the
schoolmay have caused.
SusanWillett,
Publisher
From the
publisher
