Bezeau, Szczechowicz Selected for Principal Posts

Brad Bezeau and Michelle Szczechowicz have been selected to replace two elementary school principals leaving Saline Area Schools.

Superintendent Scot Graden made the announcement during his report at Tuesday's board of education meeting.

Bezeau, the assistant principal at Saline High School, was tapped to replace Sheila Light as principal at Pleasant Ridge Elementary School. Szczechowicz, the assistant principal at Saline Middle School, takes the top administrative post at Woodland Meadows Elementary School, where Wanda Killips is retiring.

School Board Trustee Lisa Slawson approved of the selection.

"You would have to look far to find two people more deserving of this opportunity," Slawson said. "As the parent of two students—one at the middle school and one at the high school—we will miss you both tremendously. You've done a wonderful job."

Bezeau has been with Saline Area Schools for 10 years as a high school counselor and administrator. He is a graduate of Monroe High School who earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree from Central Michigan University and a Master's Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Eastern Michigan University.  He has been involved in the coordination and implementation of initiatives including the "Jumpstart Summer Transition Program," the "Step-Up After School" tutoring program, the Michigan Merit Examination and Saline Alive! As assistant principal, he is responsible for general safety and security at Saline High School. He lives in Saline with his wife and two children.

Szczechowicz has been at Saline Middle School since 2007. She began her career in education in South Lyon after receiving her Bachelor of Science degree from Michigan State University. She completed her education specialist degree and administrator certification in 2005 and earned a Master's Degree in 2000. She lives in Hartland with her husband, Scott, and their daughters, Marlena and Karissa.

In other news from Tuesday’s meeting:

• Saline Alternative High School Principal Carol Melcher gave a presentation on the progress made by the program. She reported that the district began the year with 56 students, 40 percent of whom were involved with the courts in some way and 90 percent who were six or more credits behind. She told the board that the alternative high school adopted a program designed to teach small classes, keep marking periods short, individualized instruction, strong discipline and to focus on service learning.

Service learning requires students to identify a skill or interest and then to go out into the community and use that skill.

“The service learning requirement is a hallmark of the program,” said Melcher. “It’s not volunteer work. It’s not community service. It’s individualized instruction in areas where a student excels, and it’s practiced in a streamlined environment.”

Fore example, students interested in building and trades have helped renovate homes with Habitat for Humanity. One computer savvy student has been teaching computer lessons at the Saline Area Seniors Center. Another group of students receives photography training each week and puts it to use taking pictures of town that are being used in Saline’s Michigan Main Street application

Of the 56 students who started the program this year, three have dropped out. Melcher also reported that student behavior continues to improve.

Melcher noted that success at the alternative high school required knowing the basic ABCs: Attendance, Behavior and Curriculum.

“If you don’t have the attendance and respect, the curriculum doesn’t matter much. So we’ve worked to create within students a reason to be in school. We’ve worked on creating pride, ownership and belonging,” Melcher said. “For most of these kids, they didn’t have a reason to be in school, other than they felt they had to be there.”

That is beginning to change, Melcher said.

“Students here love being here. I know the comprehensive nature of Saline High School. It’s a terrific place. But it doesn’t fit every kid,” Melcher said.

Melcher said she would like to see the development of an alternative middle school. She said the program could also be expanded to allow students from Milan and Manchester. She said that the program has received interest from as far away as Whitmore Lake.

Many students at the alternative high school bus to the high school in the afternoons for elective classes. The alternative high school is at Liberty School.

• Middle school assistant principal Szczechowicz gave a presentation on reproductive health instruction.

• Graden and assistant superintendent Steve Laatsch both thanked the Foundation for Saline Area Schools for its fundraising efforts. Graden reported the fundraising totals came in at more than $70,000. The goal was $65,000. The money will be spent to expand the Project Lead the Way science, technology, engineering and math curriculum into eighth grade at the middle school. Laatsch said the district the money raised by the foundation is increasingly important to the district and said the district is already beginning to look at foundation fundraising as part of the curriculum budget.

“We’re already thinking ahead to the strategic grant for next year,” Laatsch said.

• Three people spoke during public comment. Dave Holden stated his disagreement with the district’s plan to draw on the fund balance to help fill a $6 million budget hole.

“Reducing the fund balance to under a million dollars as proposed by the administration is reckless and invites financial demise. We are only seven-dollar diesel fuel, a natural gas spike, or a lawsuit away from being insolvent and having an Emergency Financial Manager at our doorstep. Comparable districts maintain a fund balance of $6 million and Saline once had a $4 million balance. We are clearly on an unsustainable financial path," Holden said.

Saline has a $2.9 million fund balance but could use up to $2 million of the money to weather the latest financial storm.

Dave Zimmer and Mary Lirones both addressed Melcher's presentation on the alternative high school. Lirones said that the students from the school help move books during the Friends of Library book sales.

“The students come with the teacher and do in one hour what takes us all day,” Lirones said. “They are always respectful and they are interesting kids.”

Lirones said each student who helps is offered a book to keep, and that students usually do choose one before they leave.

Zimmer said that he thought it was interesting that Saline Area Schools has a model of inclusion with special education students but separates the students at the alternative high school. He said students he has spoken with say they like the structure they receive from the alternative high school but that they miss being part of the fabric of Saline High School. He said he wondered if there might be a way to have the alternative high school within the high school.

On another topic, Zimmer suggested going to a tuition model for Schools of Choice students.