HPS boardmember to employees: ‘Nobody’s forcing you to stay here’

The Hamtramck Public School Board has come under criticism this year by some teachers and staffmembers over the work environment in the district. School Board Vice President Salah Hadwan has invited those employees to leave if they don’t like working here.

By Charles Sercombe
At the beginning of the year, Hamtramck School Board Vice President Salah Hadwan told teachers and staff that, if they don’t like it here, they could leave.
Apparently, a number of Hamtramck Public School teachers and staffmembers took him up on that offer, and resigned at the next meeting.
And, since January, there has been a steady exodus of teachers, department heads and staff members.
The latest high-profile resignation, according to sources, is Angela Parkman, the Director of Special Education. Parkman was just hired in August.
Many have said, either in resignation letters or privately, they resigned because of what they call a “toxic” work environment created by Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed, some of her appointees, and some of the board members.
(You can read some of those letters on the website: firejaleelah.com.)
Speaking last February about board decisions, Hamtramck president of the teachers’ union, Toni Coral, said:
“When people leave because of hostile attitudes from elected officials, we will struggle to fill those vacancies. … Why would the school board president and board allies essentially tell district employees that they, you, don’t care about us?”
The resignations have left the district in a jam in filling vacant teaching positions. Earlier this year, staffmembers at Hamtramck High School said that there were over 12 teaching positions to be filled, and in the meantime, some students had four classes being taught by substitute teachers.
Also compounding the situation is that a number of paraprofessionals, who assist teachers in the classrooms, have complained about not being paid enough. Para-pros, as they are commonly called, are paid about $15 an hour.

HPS Board Vice President Salah Hadwan

Boardmembers seemed to nod in agreement that their pay has to be increased.
At an April 26 meeting, Hadwan responded to recent threats of another wave of resignations.
“Nobody’s forcing you to stay here if you do not want to be here for this district and for the students,” Hadwan said. “The door is wide open. We are not going to stand here and continue to tolerate threats of mass exodus.”
That comment is in stark contrast to what Hadwan said at a February meeting, when he welcomed input from teachers and staff about district operations.
“We want you guys’ input,” he said. “We want you to reach out if you feel like you want to reach out. Follow the chain of command, of course, but we’re always open to hear your concerns, or questions, or comments. We want to make sure out students are getting what they need and what they deserve.”
At September’s board meeting, Hadwan responded to the growing number of complaints by resigning staffmembers, saying that the reason for their leaving is not what it appears.
“People who are leaving are not leaving for the reasons we’re being told, that they’re leaving because of admin (administration) blah, blah, blah,” Hadwan said.
“We got people who are leaving for better opportunities that they found. Let’s not take this narrative that they’re leaving because of admin.”
The departures come at a time when the state is experiencing a critical shortage of teachers.
The HPS district has been struggling for over a year to fill special education positions, and it’s reached a point where some parents are complaining that their children are not getting the needed help they require (and as is required by federal guidelines).
There are also other issues facing the district.
The board’s first meeting of the year, in January, underscored a growing division among boardmembers.
What is usually a routine vote, taken in the beginning of each year, suddenly became a stumbling block. In January, Boardmember Regan Watson was once again voted as board treasurer.
But when it came to a vote on allowing the district’s finance director, Sherry Lynem, (who resigned in the summer) to make investments on her own, that then blew up Watson’s nomination.
In past years, the board has unanimously voted to allow the finance director, Lynem, to make investments on her own.
This year, however, that became an issue for some board members, including new member Abdulmalik Algahaim.
Algahaim initially brought forth a resolution, in the same language that has been approved for a number of years, to allow the director to make investments.
However, he then had a change of mind and voted against his own resolution.
The matter didn’t stop there.
Algahaim, whose term started in January, then proposed to remove Watson as treasurer and have himself take over the role, apparently because Watson voted, as she has in previous years, to support the investment resolution.
A majority agreed with him, but it turned out that vote didn’t count because the board failed to follow their own policy on removing members from board officer positions.
The policy requires the removal to be based on “cause” – in other words, for a reason.
In an April 26 meeting, the board did a do-over on removing Watson, and appointing Algahaim as treasurer. The matter passed by a 4-3 majority.
Algahaim said that the reason he called for Watson to be replaced as treasurer was because of her support of the investment resolution.
He said it “wasn’t supposed to be a one-time vote.”
It was not clear what he meant by that.
The Review reached out a few months ago to Watson (via email) for comment, but she did not respond. Watson has also not been attending the last few board meetings.

(This version has a clarification that did not appear in the printed version. Former finance director, Sherry Lynem, did not retire. She resigned from the HPS District.)
Posted Oct. 6, 2023