Ypsilanti High School principal resigns after 2 months on administrative leave
Previous report: Ypsilanti High School principal placed on administrative leave pending investigation
Robert Belous, principal at Ypsilanti High School, recently resigned from the school district after more than two months on administrative leave.
The school board approved his resignation at Monday’s regular meeting.
Robert Belous
From Facebook
Director of Human Resources Sharon Irvine said in October that Belous’ leave was to allow the district time to look into various ongoing concerns.
She said the concerns were “not egregious” but rather involved a series of cumulative complaints, not a singular incident.
On Friday, AnnArbor.com asked Irvine about Belous’ employment with the district and for school officials to provide an update on the status of their investigation. Irvine replied she could not speak to personnel matters but confirmed Belous was still on administrative leave.
Following Monday’s Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Dedrick Martin also declined to comment on the personnel aspect of Belous’ resignation but said he believes Belous’ decision was both “personal and professional.”
Ypsilanti hired Belous to spearhead the high school’s redesign, which was mandated by the state after YHS was placed on the state’s Persistently Lowest Achieving list for back-to-back years in 2010 and 2011.
Belous was hired in at a salary of $99,412.33, a Step 6 on the Ypsilanti Principals and Administrators Association’s salary scale for high school principals. He was just months into his second school year at Ypsilanti High when he was placed on leave.
Ypsilanti New Tech Principal Cory McElmeel and YHS Assistant Principal Aaron Rose were charged with carrying out the high school principal duties in Belous’ absence. This arrangement will continue through the remainder of the school year, officials said.
Danielle Arndt covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. Follow her on Twitter @DanielleArndt or email her at daniellearndt@annarbor.com.
Comments
Danielle Arndt
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 6:34 p.m.
Just to jump in here, we share readers' frustrations about the lack of information. The district does not comment on personnel matters. We have formally requested Robert Belous' personnel file and other information pertaining to the district's investigation of Belous. One of the restrictions we often run into when trying to obtain information about personnel matters in school districts is per FOIA law, districts can deny information that is being used in an active investigation. So if an investigation is open or ongoing, our requests are often denied. Just wanted to provide a little insight about our process. But I also want to assure readers we are going to continue to look into the reasons for Belous' administrative leave and resignation. Thanks for reading!
MGoYpsi
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 6:17 p.m.
And the principal merry go round continues. This is ridiculous. What are these concerns after only one month? Shouldn't the people(YPS) hiring the staff do a better job up front? My "ongoing concerns" are with the YPS Administrators making the decisions.
Stephanie
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 4:49 p.m.
It'd be nice to have a bit more information here.
David Cahill
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 2:43 p.m.
AnnArbor.com, I hope you file a FOIA request for Belous's personnel file.
CountyKate
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 7:45 p.m.
You can get quite a bit of information from a FOIA request on a personnel file. I know because I've done it. I hope someone does that in this case.
treetowncartel
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 6:04 p.m.
I don't think you are entitled to that much of what is in it, but then again, I'm no Ed Vielmetti.
witchdoctor
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 1:45 p.m.
I am a bit disappointed in the lack of content in this article and prior links. I thought that perhaps, if there was nothing substantive in this article, that I could click on the prior links and get that information. I found two links. The previous was close to a mirror image of this one with no content. Prior to that, an article of rave reviews of Mr. Belous. Turning a school around is going to raise some flags which obviously he did. School Boards kowtowing to some unspoken complaints chose to stop the progress. Really disappointed. Reading this article was almost as much a waste of time and my typing this comment. I wish aacom would have spent just a little bit of time looking into this. If Mr. Belous was being set up, then I would have expected you to let folks know and perhaps a Ypsi School could have kept what appeared (in your articles) to be a worthwhile employee. This is getting so typical of aacom
AdmiralMoose
Tue, Dec 18, 2012 : 12:17 p.m.
I am sorry to see Mr. Belous go. I wish him well.