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Dr. Deborah Hunter-Harvill , has filed three lawsuits, in 3 School Districts ,The Word Is Out That She Is Looking For A New Job… Today.
Monday, March 4, 2013 19:24
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Only Two School Districts With
Deficits Don’t Meet ‘Best Practices’
Incentives for public schools to
save money, reform is working
By Tom Gantert | June 18, 2012 | Twitter Follow Tom Gantert on Twitter
Two school districts that had deficits last year didn’t qualify for Gov. Rick Snyder’s “best practices” $100 per student bonus.
Buena Vista Schools in Saginaw and Global Heights Academy of Dearborn Heights were among the 48 districts that had a deficit at the start of the 2011-12 school year and were the only two of the districts in deficit to not qualify for the “best practices” money, according to a list released by the Michigan Department of Education.
There were 714 school districts in the state — including charter schools — that met four of the five requirements and got the $100 per student.
The Michigan Education Association listed the five requirements:
Charge employees at least 10 percent of health care premiums.
Become the insurance policyholder on medical benefit plans.
Produce a plan to consolidate services with cost savings.
Obtain competitive bids for non-instructional services.
Develop a “dashboard” that measures the district’s effectiveness.
Jan Ellis, MDE spokeswoman, said some districts made the June 1 deadline to qualify for the $100 per student bonus but hadn’t completed their paper work so they may not be on the list.
Buena Vista Interim Superintendent Patricia Scott didn’t return phone messages left at her office. Karey Reed, education director at Global Heights Academy, said the district paid 100 percent of health care premiums for its employees. Reed said she would check to see what the other missed requirement was but didn’t return another message.
Buena Vista had a $51,193 deficit in 2010-11. Global Heights Academy had a $23,166 deficit in 2010-11.
Kurt Weiss, spokesman for the state budget office, said the budget office, governor’s office and the Legislature put together best practices they believed were “achievable.”
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New Westwood Heights superintendent Deborah Hunter-Harvill orders hiring freeze
Roneisha D. Mullen By Roneisha D. Mullen
on June 24, 2008 at 8:05 AM, updated June 24, 2008 at 8:13 AM
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WESTWOOD HEIGHTS, Michigan — With less than 24 hours on the job, Deborah Hunter-Harvill, newly appointed superintendent for the Westwood Heights school district, has ordered a hiring freeze.
Hunter-Harvill, whose appointment began Monday, said she needs some time to check credentials and qualifications of staff members who are looking to be rehired or to have contracts renewed.
“We have some pending litigation, budget constraints and credentials issues,” Hunter-Harvill said at Monday’s Board of Education meeting. “And the board has asked me to review and look at those things.”
Monroe Murphy, junior varsity boys basketball coach, said he didn’t know about the freeze but wasn’t worried about it either.
“I’m not worried about that because we’ve been doing our jobs,” Murphy said. “We just have to make sure that we have certain people in place on time.”
At Monday’s meeting, the board was supposed to vote on renewing the contract of Margaret Green, principal at Hamady Middle/High school in the district, hiring a social worker and a new varsity football coach and rehiring Fall coaches.
Those plans were scrapped and the hiring freeze was approved.
Green, who’s contract will expire on Monday, wasn’t aware of the decision beforehand. She said she’ll wait to hear her fate.
Harold McIntyre
“I’ll go with trust,” Green said. “We’ll wait and see what Dr. Harvill has planned for our district.”
Board member Harold McIntyre said the hiring freeze is an opportunity for the superintendent to look at the budget and all the people who were to be hired or rehired.
“There are issues we need to look at prior to renewing anything and we leave it to our superintendent to make that decision,” McIntyre said.
Hunter-Harvill has the authority to put people in place to handle the duties of those affected by the hiring freeze while she conducts her reviews.
However, she said she plans to have all reviews done and decisions made by the June 30 contract expiration date.
“I’m new, but I work fast, because this is urgent,” she said. “The education of our kids is urgent.”