Funding for schools is now secure

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck Public School officials can breathe more easily now.
They avoided a potential financial crisis, thanks to Hamtramck voters, who finally approved a major property tax renewal as well as a countrywide school tax renewal.
That election result reversed a trend of voters here saying an emphatic NO to two previous district tax renewals.
What made the outcome different this time around?
A good guess is because this 18-mill tax renewal is being paid by commercial property owners and those who own rental units – not by homeowners.
Also helping win voter approval was the fact that more volunteers and HPS teachers and staff got involved in campaigning for the renewal this time, and manning phone banks.
The end result is a continuation of the $2.7 million per year that the local tax produces, as well as the continuation of a Wayne County RESA tax millage renewal that produces about $1 million a year more for the district.
Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler had plenty to say about the success of the millage the day after the election, during the district school board meeting on Wednesday.
“I believe this millage will provide stability, and provide the opportunity to continue to build trust with the staff and with our students and parents and the community as a whole,” he said.
With both millages renewed, Shidler said that they “are very important to the district, providing us with the ability to plan and budget out into the future.”
As for building trust and goodwill with HPS staff and the community, the district has some work to do.
During the past few years, there has been plenty of strife among staff members and parents, especially parents of special needs students.
Those parents said the district had failed to meet the needs of their children, and even violated federal requirements. Those concerns were met with silence from the district.
Also, a number of senior staff members and teachers have resigned in recent years, many citing a “toxic” work environment created by Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed.
Ahmed has since become the focus of several lawsuits filed against the district by former employees. Ahmed’s current status with the district has not been explained by the district.
She is currently being paid, but is no longer in charge of daily operations. Actually, it’s unclear if she does any work for the district at all.
But she continues to collect her salary of about $225,000 a year.
Ahmed has taken two medical leaves since her short five-year tenure, and both medical leaves led to paid suspensions. The reasons for those suspensions have never been explained.
Posted Nov. 15, 2024