School board clashes over agenda

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck’s school board meeting a few weeks ago was full of fireworks.
A clash has apparently erupted between Board President Jihan Aiyash and Vice President Salah Hadwan.
The two had been in what appeared to be an alliance for the past year, but that relationship took an unexpected turn for the worse.
Hadwan came out swinging at the beginning of the meeting, trying to get two resolutions added to the meeting’s agenda. One of the resolutions was to reverse the 700-percent pay raise the board previously approved, including for Hadwan.
Aiyash only allowed his resolution to accept his resignation as vice president to be included in the board’s agenda for the meeting.
It’s the board’s policy to have the superintendent create the board’s meeting agenda, and it’s up to the board president to allow items to be added to the agenda.
Hadwan also had issues over agenda proposals to hire various attorneys to take over legal matters.
He repeatedly asked who made the decision to select which attorneys to hire that were already on the agenda.
Aiyash said it’s within her authority as president to create the agenda.
“That’s your opinion,” Hadwan shot back, to which Aiyash replied: “No, that’s my role.”
Hadwan then accused Aiyash of violating the state’s Open Meetings Act multiple times.
Later, Hadwan asked who decided, for the board, to vote on Boardmember Abdulmalik Algahaim taking on his old role of vice president.
He said nominations for board officers, such as president and vice president, usually come from boardmembers during an open meeting.
“There was no nomination from the board,” Hadwan said. “You (Aiyash) can’t admit it. Did you violate the Open Meetings Act?”
The agenda had originally called for the removal of Hadwan as vice president, but the only reason given was for “cause.”
The “cause” was never explained, but the rupture in Hadwan’s relationship with Aiyash and the board was evident in January’s meeting when the board gave Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed a poor work evaluation for the past year.
Hadwan was apparently opposed to that assessment and left the board meeting after a three-hour closed session to discuss Ahmed’s yearly evaluation.
Shortly after that evaluation, Ahmed took a leave of absence, citing unspecified medical reasons. According to district sources, Ahmed plans to return on March 8, although there is wide speculation that she may resign.
An interim superintendent was appointed at the February meeting.
The board also, except for Hadwan, passed a resolution to censure Boardmember Regan Watson for not attending any meetings since last March, and without explanation.
Watson was stripped of her title as board treasurer in 2023 after being re-appointed to that position. She has not attended a board meeting since that action. She has also not returned emails from The Review asking why she stopped attending.
Hadwan once again pounced on that resolution, accusing Aiyash of having a “personal vendetta to get her off the board.”
Aiyash spent most of 2022 absent from the board. She said she told the board president at that time, who was Hadwan, that she would be absent, which is the first time that became public.
During her absence, Aiyash did not return emails from The Review to explain her absence.
In a curious coincidence, Aiyash returned to board meetings in 2023 at the same time Superintendent Ahmed also returned from taking an initial medical leave and then being put on a paid suspension by a former board, for reasons that were never explained.
The board had a rocky school year in 2023, failing to meet at least once per month, as required by state law, on three different months.
Posted Feb. 23, 2024