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Hazel Park Schools has a new interim superintendent in place after the district's board of education voted during a contentious Wednesday night meeting to put its previous superintendent on leave, with some board members acknowledging that they don't know who the interim leader even is.
The board voted 4-2 during a specially called meeting to put Superintendent Amy Wilcox on leave for the second time in two years. The board then voted 4-2 to hire former Taylor School District Superintendent Griff Mills, who resigned from that district in 2023, as its new interim leader.
The board majority members said repeatedly that Wilcox would be on leave pending an investigation by the Michigan Department of Education, but didn't specify what the inquiry is. Department of Education spokesman Bob Wheaton didn't have an immediate comment on Thursday, but said he would check on whether the department is investigating any Hazel Park district issue.
Mills' nomination came from Board President Bev Hinton, who identified him only by his name and said he had "30 years of experience." She did not elaborate on that experience, despite being asked multiple times for more information, and then called for the vote.
The two board members who voted against both putting Wilcox on leave and hiring Mills as the interim called the actions of the board president and the other three who supported the votes "insane" and "literally criminal."
"What are we doing?" board member Monica Rattee asked. "We did not get voted in to look this dumb."
Rattee said by phone after the meeting that when she got home, she did something she'd never had to do before as a board member: Google her district's superintendent to find out who he is.
"We had no idea," she said.
He starts Thursday.
Hinton did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Wednesday night.
Wilcox, who spoke up several times during the meeting on her own behalf, deferred comment to her attorney.
Mills did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment after Wednesday's meeting. His LinkedIn account lists him as a salesman and assessment representative for The Lockout Company. His page also lists experience with multiple school districts, including as the former superintendent of the Taylor School District.
When Mills resigned in the summer of 2023, he took the Taylor school board by surprise. The board and Mills didn't list any reason for the superintendent's departure.
"His dedication, hard work and unwavering commitment to the success of our students and staff have made a lasting impact on the Taylor School District community." Board of Education President Kyle Wright said in a letter to the district at the time.
Agenda for Wednesday's meeting was blank, but rumors swirled
The meeting was called for Wednesday with a blank agenda, but several board members and those who spoke during public comment said rumors swirled all day that the meeting would be about another attempt to oust Wilcox, who has been the district's superintendent for over a decade.
The board voted 4-3 in March to negotiate a buyout with Wilcox, which did not come to fruition. During that meeting, board member Darrin Fox, who voted with the majority, said almost immediately after the roll call that he wanted to change his vote because Wilcox informed him he would be held personally liable.
Fox said he had confirmed to Wilcox on the phone that they had the four votes to buy her out, which Wilcox informed him after the vote shows the four members colluded to oust her, violating the Open Meetings Act.
But Fox did not change his vote, and the meeting adjourned, leaving the vote to stand. But Wilcox has remained the superintendent since.
The board had not made any additional moves publicly until Wednesday. The original purpose of the meeting as stated in the opening minutes was to discuss a "state complaint."
Over a half hour, Hinton and Board Vice President Deborah Laframboise listed two complaints and allegations against Wilcox, one to do with special education services and the other about a long-term substitute teacher who taught more days than allowed without a credential.
"The reason I filed these complaints is because staff members, several staff members, not one or two, several staff members came to me with concerns about our special education population and the services that they were or were not receiving," Laframboise said.
Wilcox said there was a known issue at the district's middle school with services that had not been provided for students that were required under their individualized education plans, a legal document that dictates what services a student must receive.
The superintendent said the district had done additional training at the school, that she had sent her director of special education there regularly to ensure compliance, and when things did not improve, she implemented discipline.
"We worked, as you're supposed to do, to try and teach and to change, and when changes did not occur, staff members were disciplined through progressive discipline as well as administration," Wilcox said.
The superintendent also said she had kept Hinton informed of the issues and that not all issues make it to the full board's docket.
"I think that if you had come to me and spoken with me about your concerns, as is your job as a board member, you would be able to sit down and hear the steps that we've done," Wilcox said. "And I had shared with Mrs. Hinton that there were concerns and we were working on them."
Wilcox said she was not aware of the issue with a substitute teaching beyond their allowed number of days based on their certification until the issue had been resolved. To hold her personally accountable for a building-level action she did not know about, she said, was "highly unlikely."
"All right," Laframboise said. "Well, then, I'm going to amend the agenda."
Behind the vote to put Wilcox on leave
Laframboise put forth a motion to put Wilcox on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave pending an investigation "into possible policy violations and legal violations." The audience erupted in jeers.
"This is not just cause to put me on leave," Wilcox responded.
Hinton called for discussion.
Rattee ripped into her colleagues.
"You really have so much time on your hands that you are going to grab and grab and grab every single day for something because you do not like her," Rattee said. "I will say that over and over and over again. This is sad and pathetic. You are doing this to our students. You're not doing it just to her."
Fox said he was voting for the leave because "I think a change would be better."
Board member April Beaton, the other dissenting vote on both votes, called out Fox for the comment.
"We cannot predict the results of an investigation that doesn't even exist yet," Beaton said. "We just walked ourselves into another lawsuit. We literally cannot afford this."
Beaton said it "could not be clearer" the intent of the meeting was to put Wilcox on leave.
"We did not learn our lesson last time, and we put a superintendent on a surprise leave," she said.
In 2025, the board put Wilcox on leave for almost six months for an investigation that showed money from a new club sport had been mingled with district dollars. Wilcox was reinstated with no discipline.
She will now again be on leave for an undetermined amount of time.
President proposes interim superintendent. 'Nobody knows who it is'
After the vote to put Wilcox on leave, Hinton said she wanted to amend the agenda again.
She motioned to name Griff Mills the interim superintendent.
"Do I have a second?" she asked.
"I don't even know who that is," Beaton said.
"Nobody knows who it is," Hinton replied. "They don't know either," she said, pointing at her fellow board members.
"At least give us a chance to Google who this person is," Beaton said.
"We can't in good conscience support an interim superintendent, someone who is going to lead us into the next school year, and we know his name?" she said. "Where did he come from? What are his qualifications? Who recommended him?"
"Any more discussion?" Hinton responded.
"I want my questions answered," Beaton said.
"Anybody else?" Hinton continued. She then added only that Mills had "30 years of experience."
When asked who recommended Mills, Hinton said, "I'm not divulging that."
"We are board members," Rattee said. "We deserve that."
Members of the crowd yelled out, "You need to lose your seat!" and "Be transparent!"
"We are board members. We deserve answers," Rattee said. "Our community deserves answers, and you're giving us nothing. You didn't even speak to us about this."
She accused the four in the majority of colluding, or at least having discussed what would happen, noting some of them had driven together to the meeting.
"You all go out and party together, so you all talk also," Hinton said, although it was unclear to whom she was referring.
In the middle of the exchange, board member Heidi Fortress asked Hinton, "Can you give us a little bit more information on him?" regarding Mills. Her request went unheeded.
Hinton called for the vote by putting her own vote forward.
"I'm voting yes," she said. "Who's next?"
'You think this is OK? Absolutely not.'
Beaton and Rattee voted no.
"This is a board of seven people," Beaton said during her vote. "We are required to be informed. We are required to have this information. You are violating board policies right now by not providing us with any information in order to arm ourselves with the ability to vote. How do you expect us to vote on a person that we don't know? Absolutely not. No."
Rattee added that no information was provided about how much Mills would be paid.
"We are voting on something. We don't know the pay, we don’t know what they’re getting, we know nothing," she said. "So how are we voting to put someone in there? We don't know anything, and you just think this is OK? So absolutely not."
Fortress voted yes, saying, "I guess we have to have a superintendent."
Fox, Hinton and Laframboise voted yes as well.
During public comment that followed the vote, resident Gail Colangell accused the four board members of bullying Wilcox.
"I know school has zero tolerance for bullying, and as I sit here tonight, I am watching it," she said. "I am watching it in living color. You all are on a witch hunt for one person."
Colangell said she is the parent of a former student in special education in the district. When they had an issue with her child's services during the pandemic, Colangell said it was resolved with one call to Wilcox.
"What are the qualifications of a new superintendent?" she asked. "Is it loyalty? Yeah. Integrity? Yeah. Honesty? Yeah. Putting the children before herself? She's sitting right there."
Sharp, Wilcox's lawyer, spoke as well, instructing the board members to keep all their internet searches, texts, phone records and emails, as they would be subject to litigation. She also called out board member Fox for appearing to text during the meeting, noting he should save those texts as well.
"Just for the record, since I was pointed out, I was not texting anybody," Fox said. "I was looking up this Griff Mills, because this was the first I'd heard his name."
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Hazel Park board sidelines superintendent, is guarded on interim's past
