Schools

Hartland Schools, Former Principal May Agree to $525K Settlement

Tracey Sahouri and the Hartland Consolidated Schools district have until the end of the month to agree to the deal.

Tracey Sahouri, former principal of Creekside Elementary School and former vice principal of Hartland High School, is suing the Hartland Consolidated Schools district over circumstances involving her reassignment as a study-skills and special-education teacher.

She could receive $525,000 in a proposed settlement of her lawsuit against the district, according to an article in the Livingston Daily

The nonbinding settlement was proposed after a pretrial alternative dispute-resolution hearing April 3 in Genesee County, the article said. Sahouri and the district have until the end of the month to agree to the deal.

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"Our administrators are held to the highest standard. Leadership, trust, honesty, you cannot be an administrator in this district if you do not have those qualities. This board has never shied away from tough decisions," said school board president Kevin Kaszyca when the school board voted last year not to renew her contract as an assistant principal at Hartland High School.

The Hartland school board voted 6-0 for the non-renewal of Sahouri’s administrative contract in March last year. Sahouri, who was then a vice-principal at Hartland High School, was transferred there in November 2011 after allegations that she mishandled the MEAP test during her time at Creekside. 

Find out what's happening in Hartlandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In the lawsuit, which was filed in April 2012, Sahouri sued the school district for slander and libel, invasion of privacy and gross negligence and claiming the district "spoon-fed" information to the press with a "reckless disregard of the truth,” according to the Press & Argus. The lawsuit also alleges that the school system violated the Whistleblower Protection Act by not renewing her administrative contract.

School officials will discuss the settlement proposal April 22 in a closed session during the next school board meeting, Superintendent Janet Sifferman told the Livingston Daily.

Sahouri also filed a lawsuit last year, for which she won the settlement, against Argentine Township and Officer Arch Ravert of the Argentine Police Department. Read more about that here.

Read what Hartland Patch readers had to say about Sahouri and her lawsuit. What do think about the $525,000 proposed settlement? Tell us in the comments.


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