HPS contracts out administrator position

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck’s public school district finally got the financial bailout it had requested from the state, according to sources.
The district had been operating without state funding for three months before it was forced to ask the state to step in and lend a financial hand.
The holdup for the district was simple: The district had failed to complete its yearly financial audit, as required. In other words: no audit, no money from the state. That forced the district to dip into its own savings to cover costs.
The district still has not completed its auditing process, according to sources, which is normally due no later than November each year.
That state financial delay seemed to catch the Board of Education by surprise because Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler didn’t warn the board until he already needed to get an advance payment from the state.
During that discussion, Toni Coral, the president of the district’s teachers union, questioned the monthly payments made to BRC Consulting.
The Review submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the district for copies of the company’s contract, as well as invoices the company has submitted for reimbursement.
As it turns out, BRC is Bruce Coltman of New Baltimore, who provides a variety of services that include managing the maintenance of the district’s buildings, grounds, security, transportation, food services, and management of construction projects.
For all that, the district pays Coltman $80 per hour.
BRC was hired after the district’s Building and Grounds Director Richard Waszynski retired about two years ago.
BRC has been paid about $344,000 from April of 2024 to the present, according to invoices that The Review received from its FOIA request. That comes to a little over $150,000 a year.
The Review reached out to Larson-Shidler for comment, but he did not reply.
According to sources, by contracting out the service, the district saves money on a pension contribution, as well as on health insurance.
Regardless of the potential savings, Coral says the district is spending “a lot of money.”
Coral said the board of education has failed to question the BRC expense.
“The board never asked about those repeat expenses that are on the check registers every month,” Coral said.
“Their job is oversight and they dropped the ball. If they’re OK with paying somebody that, then they should make that known. My issue is that I don’t think they had any idea that that money was being spent.”
Posted March 28, 2026