HPS superintendent and department head collect salaries while on leave

HPS Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed has been on leave for over four months and is still collecting a salary. The head of the human resources department, Michelle Imbrunone, has been on leave as well and is also collecting a salary.

By Charles Sercombe
Local media outlets are starting to pay attention to what’s going on with Hamtramck Public Schools Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed.
Ahmed took a sudden medical leave last October, and said in a letter to the district that she planned to come back in January.
When January rolled around, the school board placed her on extended leave instead of welcoming her back.
A burning question, and one that the district refused to answer, was whether she was still being paid.
According to the Michigan Capitol Confidential, a news outlet that is published by the conservative think tank The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Ahmed is indeed collecting her salary. The publication received that information following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it submitted to the district.
However, the publication got her annual salary incorrect. Instead of Ahmed collecting $130,000 a year, her salary is actually $149,850, according to a FOIA request submitted by The Review.
Since Ahmed’s leave, she has been collecting $6,708 per month in salary, and additional monthly payments for insurance and retirement.
The board only recently let it leak out that Ahmed remains on leave while there is an ongoing investigation. But no one in the district is saying why Ahmed is under investigation.
Ahmed had been on the job for about two years, and just received a three-year contract extension, before she took a medical leave. In a letter to the district, Ahmed cited ongoing stress from handling the Covid crisis in the district.
But what was also roiling within the district was a mass resignation of teachers and staff members. Within one year, over 30 district employees left the district for other jobs, creating a critical teacher shortage here.
Teachers rebelled over Ahmed, and her head of human resources, Michelle Imbrunone, and their job reassignments for them. They complained that the job reassignments made no sense, and appeared to be in retaliation against those who challenged Ahmed and Imbrunone over their management style.
There is at least one lawsuit, by a former vice principal at Kosciusko Middle School, against Ahmed, Imbrunone and the district.
One thing the Michigan Capitol Confidential report did not report on was whether Imbrunone is still receiving her salary. Imbrunone also took a medical leave at the same time Ahmed did.
Imbrunone is, in fact, still on the district’s payroll, and has been collecting $4,457 a month in salary while on leave. She also receives additional payments for insurance and retirement.
Imbrunone’s annual salary is $115,900.
The district has not said why Imbrunone is still on leave, or whether she is also under investigation.
The school board appointed the head of the district’s English as a Second Language Department, Nabil Nagi, to be the interim superintendent.
When The Review contacted Nagi several weeks ago about Ahmed’s status, he replied that he does not address personnel issues.
He has since not returned emails or phone messages from The Review, nor did he to the Michigan Capitol Confidential.
In breaking news, at Wednesday’s monthly school board meeting, former superintendent Tom Niczay has been hired as Special Projects Consultant, at a rate of $75 per hour, which is not to exceed $47,000 for the year.
His position begins on March 14.
Deadline Detroit, an online news publication, has also picked up on the Ahmed story. It ran with this headline:
“Hamtramck puzzle: What sent this school district leader on a ‘temporary leave’ now in 5th month?”
Posted March 11, 2022