School Board to consider millage renewal; silent on superintendent

The Hamtramck Public School Board will spend this month talking about the district’s budget and millage renewal proposals. Its regular meeting for July has been cancelled. File photo

By Charles Sercombe
The Hamtramck Board of Education has changed up its meeting schedule for this month.
Instead of holding their regular monthly board meeting on the first Wednesday of the month, the board, without explanation, has pushed it back to the last Thursday of this month, on June 27.
The purpose of this meeting, according to the district, is to discuss the district’s upcoming budget year and a renewal of a major millage.
However, the board did meet this past Wednesday, June 12, in what they call a committee of the whole meeting. At the June 27 meeting, board is expected to review the wording of a millage renewal proposal that the voters will likely decide on in the upcoming Nov. 5 general election.
The district has not said why it skipped getting the ballot question on the August primary election.
If the past millage renewal votes are any indication, chances are slim voters will support this upcoming millage renewal. Voters twice overwhelmingly rejected a millage renewal that produced about $1 million a year for the district.
The upcoming millage renewal request produces about $2 million a year. A rejection of this millage would be a major blow to the district’s finances, and would likely cause the district to go into deficit spending.
In other school matters, the district is still silent on the status of Superintendent Jaleelah Ahmed who has been on paid leave since February.
Interim Superintendent James Larson-Shidler told The Review that Ahmed has not been suspended, is still superintendent and will return to her job. However, he declined to explain why Ahmed is not actually on the job while still being paid.
“We do not discuss confidential personnel matters with the press,” Shidler said.
Shidler has said on social media that he will be transparent with the public.
This isn’t the first time Ahmed has taken a leave. She spent most of 2022 on paid leave, first for medical reasons and when that leave expired she was placed on paid suspension pending an investigation.
No explanation was given for the investigation, and Ahmed returned to work in January of 2023.
She then went on paid leave last February after getting a poor work performance evaluation by the school board.
Ahmed is paid over $200,000 a year. She has a pending lawsuit against the district and the teachers’ union.
Posted June 14, 2024