A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
7
June 2, 2016
B
ELLEVILLE
- N
ORTHVILLE
Trustees interview superintendent candidates
Assistance program helps avoid shut off of water
Former interim superintendent now at Wayne County
Members of the Van Buren
Board of Education selected six
finalist candidates from 32 appli-
cants to interview for superinten-
dent of the school district.
Dr. Rodney Green from the
Michigan Association of School
Boards is assisting the board
members in the search for a new
schools chief.
The first round of interviews
took place in the cafeteria at
Belleville High School and were
open to the public.
Interviewedwere:
Peter Kudlak, assistant super-
intendent at Milan Area Schools
since 2012. Kudlak served as
director of elementary education
and as an elementary principal
with the Plymouth-Canton
Community Schools for five years.
He served as an elementary prin-
cipal in Flat Rock for five years,
and was a teacher in Ypsilanti
Public Schools for five years;
Mark Kleinhans, the superin-
tendent at Bedford Public
Schools since 2013. Kleinhans
was the superintendent at
Montrose Community Schools for
11 years and was a middle school
principal in Montrose for nine
years. He also worked as an assis-
tant principal, athletic director,
and teacher for Alma Public
Schools for seven years;
Melody Strang, the director of
Instructional Technology &
Curriculum at Fenton Public
Schools since 2011. She has been
an educator for 21 years and was
previously an elementary princi-
pal, early childhood director and
teacher inFenton;
Joshua Talison, Ed.D., who is
the current superintendent at
Beecher Community Schools, He
was previously a middle school
principal in Southfield for five
years, middle school principal in
Oak Park for one year, and assis-
tant principal in Rochester for
four years. He has also been an
adjunct professor for University
of Michigan Flint; and Terry
George, a high school turnaround
principal at Hamtramck since
2014. He was formerly the direc-
tor of pupil services in
Hamtramck for five years and
was middle school principal and
assistant principal in Southfield.
He also was a principal in private
schools and was a teacher in
Detroit andNewYork.
A sixth candidate, William
Brown, accepted a position else-
where and was not interviewed
as planned by the board mem-
bers.
Board members have previ-
ously said that they hope to have
a new superintendent in place by
July 1.
Shonta Langford-Green, the
former Van Buren Community
Schools
Interim
Superintendent, has resigned
to take a job as the director of
human resources for Wayne
County.
Langford-Green, named as a
defendant in the lawsuit filed
by four teachers at Savage
Elementary School, was previ-
ously the director of human
resources in the Van Buren
Schools, before agreeing to
accept the duties of interim
superintendent when Michael
Van Tassel was fired earlier
this year.
Van Tassel's separation was
tied to the firing of five teachers
accused of cheating on the new
Michigan state assessment
tests. The teachers have
remained on administrative
leave for several months and
last week sued the school board
members, with the exception of
member Sherry Frazier, and
the district demanding dam-
ages and a return to their jobs.
They claim in the suit that their
rights were violated when they
were physically removed from
their respective classrooms in
full viewof students.
The teachers have vigorous-
ly denied any cheating or mis-
conduct on the test on which
Savage students scored among
the top schools in the state and
higher than schools dedicated
to teaching gifted students.
According to James Canning,
a Wayne County spokesman,
Langford-Green is a “huge tal-
ent” and was offered county job
inApril.
He said she informed the
county of the pending lawsuit
prior to taking the job. Canning
said the suit did not raise any
concerns at the county and that
it is not uncommon for officials
to be named as defendants in
lawsuits aimed at organiza-
tions.
Langford- Green has 17
years of experience in human
resources. Prior to Van Buren,
she worked as the assistant
director of human resources for
Ann Arbor Public Schools from
2002-2011.
Her starting salary at the
county job is listed at $124,450.
There is some help available
for area residents unable to pay
theirwater bills.
The new Great Lakes Water
Authority, formerly the Detroit
Water
and
Sewerage
Department, offers a new pro-
gram called WRAP or Water
Residential Assistance Program
which is available to all water
customers of the agency.
Members of the Northville
City Council and the Canton
Township Board of Trustees are
among those who have approved
a memorandum of agreement to
join the assistance program.
Funding for the program comes
from a .5 percent reserve set
aside by the water authority from
users' payment to help low
income families meet their water
bills.
The program will provide
assistance up to $300 per year, or
$25 permonth for two years; help
to pay overdue water bills up to a
limit of $700 a year and offers
one-time assistance of up to
$1,000 for home plumbing
repairs, which often lead to
excessive water use. The pro-
gram was enacted March 1 and
includes several area counties.
In Canton, the program was
presented to the board of
trustees by Treasurer Melissa
McLauglin who explained that
hundreds of late notices are sent
from her office every month
regarding delinquent water bill
payments.
Eligibility requires that the
applicants be at or below150 per-
cent of the Federal Poverty Level
or $36,450 for a family of four.
The water bill must be in the
applicant's name and the appli-
cant must have some source of
income to qualify for help from
WRAP.
In Northville, more informa-
tion is available at (248) 349-1300
through the water department.
Eligible applicants will then be
referred to Wayne Metro
Community Action Alliance
which will administer the pro-
gram. Wayne Metro will send
assistance checks directly to the
City of Northville to reduce the
participant'swater bills.
McLaughlin told the board
members during their regular
meeting that there were town-
ship residents who had to choose
between buying necessary med-
ications and paying the water
bills.
“I don't want to shut anybody's
water off,” she said.
Information is available at
or by calling
Wayne Metro at (313) 386-9727
(WRAP).
