Four Hazel Park school board members skip meeting after vote over superintendent's contract

The controversy continues in Hazel Park, Michigan, after a special school board meeting was scheduled for Monday, with four members not showing up.

This comes a week after a contentious vote to buy out Superintendent Amy Wilcox's contract, a move that would cost the district more than $1 million. 

Parents of students in the Hazel Park School District, like Jacqueline Drew, say they love the district.

"I am out of district and school of choice, and I would not take my kids out of Hazel Park for nothing. I'm willing to make the drive," Drew said.

What they didn't love was last week's school board meeting, when four members voted in favor of buying out Wilcox's contract.

"I was really surprised, because the district is not in the best financial state, and a million dollars can buy a lot of glue sticks and a lot of crayons and do a lot of things that need to get done in the district and in the buildings for the kids," said parent Jonathan Satterfield.

The school board was forced to take the vote in public after it failed to acquire the five votes needed for a closed session. Initially, the motion passed 4-3, and the crowd of spectators was furious with the decision. 

Then, school board member Darrin Fox tried to change his vote only after he was told about the Open Meetings Act.

"It was very irresponsible, because I don't see any need for it. I think it would do way more harm than anything. I don't see a reason at all, or I think it's a very foolish decision," Drew said.

A special meeting was scheduled for Monday, March 23, to address agenda items that the board didn't get to last week, but they couldn't vote because four members were not present.

Now, funding for things like the summer school lunch program is at risk.

"They decided to be cowards and not face the people that they let down," said mother Rebecca Ellis.

Ellis is part of a group of parents who recently raised more than $14,000 for seniors to have a banquet and attend prom.

"Last year, they paid like $500,000 to do an investigation that went nowhere. You know, they were investigating our superintendent. Everyone was outraged, because, you know, here we're being told we do not have money," Ellis said.

Ellis just filed petitions in Oakland County to recall two of the school board members who voted for the buyout: Darrin Fox and Heidi Fortress. The other two members, board president Beverly Hinton and Deborah Laframboise, have terms ending in November.

"We need people that we can trust on the board, and right now we can't trust these people to do what's right," Ellis said. "I'm not saying we want yes people, people who are just going to say yes to everything that's requested. I want good people who know the community, who have children, who have children's lives at stake inside the district, so they know what's going on."

Ellis has a hearing scheduled with a judge on April 2. They will determine if the petition language is clear enough to move forward. She needs 2,200 signatures for the recall to happen.

According to Wilcox's attorney, Heidi Sharpe, as far as buyout negotiations are concerned, none are happening at this point.