Hazel Park school board votes to buy out superintendent's contract

Things got heated at Monday night's school board meeting in Hazel Park.

The board of education voted to buy out the superintendent's contract before one of the members flip-flopped his answer.

If the buyout moves forward, it will likely cost the district more than $1 million, but whether that's going to happen now is in limbo.

More than a dozen people take to the podium to express their opposition to the buyout of the Hazel Park Schools Superintendent Amy Wilcox's contract.

"This is not responsible stewardship of public funds. This is not putting students first. This is not putting your staff first. This is not putting our district first," said Jen Hall, a Hazel Park Schools staff member.

Parents confronted the school board head-on Monday night. 

"You need to get your heads out of wherever they are and focus on the needs of students instead of this petty nonsense we have endured at the incompetent hands of this board. Your pointless power struggle is a public stain on Hazel Park," said Joshua Culpa, a parent in the district. 

As a parent of children in the school district, school board member April Beaton sympathizes with public concerns. Beaton is one of three board members who voted against the buyout.

"My children have missed school this year because of buildings that were in disrepair. Things like that happen in our district," Beaton said. "As a parent, it is really difficult to reconcile the fact that this is will likely become a massive sum of money that would have otherwise translated to opportunities for the children in our community."

The school board was forced to take the vote in public after it failed to acquire the five votes needed for a closed session.

"This is extremely pathetic. And after all of these people came up here and spoke from their hearts, who work here and are here every day, that you guys are still willing to do this and still willing to ruin our district because you don't like her," said Monica Ratte, a Hazel Park school board trustee, during the meeting.

Initially, the motion passed 4-3, and the crowd of spectators was furious with the decision.

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

"President, I have to go back to the vote, and my vote will change to 'No,' because I was just told by Amy Wilcox that I am in violation of the open meetings act, because I told her on the phone that there was four votes and that I will be personally liable at this point," Fox said.

After more yelling and a lot of confusion, the meeting abruptly ended.

Whether Fox can or will move to amend his vote at the next school board meeting is still unclear at this point.

CBS News Detroit reached out to him for comment, but did not hear back.

Wilcox's attorney, Hedi Sharpe, says the board of education's lawyer has not reached out to her to begin buyout negotiations yet.

The next Hazel Park school board meeting is a workshop scheduled for April 6.