The Ypsilanti Courier
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Meet the Candidates
PUBLISHED: May 1, 2008
Running for Lincoln Schools
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Name: Jane Ellen Innes
Age: 53
Occupation: Faculty Chair, Communications, and Director of University Libraries for Cleary University
How did you become involved with the school board?
I ran as a candidate for school board after a several years of active service as a school volunteer. When my oldest son began elementary school, I started volunteering in the classroom and that led to involvement with the PTO. I served in a variety of roles including PTO President, and PTO Fundraising chair (in different years). I represented the group at board meetings and on school hiring committees. To stay better informed, I began attending board of education meetings regularly.
What is your role on the school board?
I was elected to the Board of Education in 2004; I have been Vice President since 2006. During my current term, I have served on several committees, including curriculum and policy. The board reorganized its committees in 2008 and now I am the chair of the Planning Committee, and a member of the Executive Committee. I was instrumental in the development of the Lincoln Education Achievement Foundation. I have achieved Level 1 and 2 Board Member Certification, awarded by the Michigan Association of School Boards.
Why are you running for this position?
I believe that I am and will continue to be an effective and productive member of this Board of Education. All educational systems must excel at providing the core curriculum.
Proficient math and reading skills are essential in today's world. A school district should help children learn to "love to learn" in a safe and welcoming environment where children have the opportunities to interact with and learn from teachers, administration, and peers if they are to develop into proactive, creative thinkers and problem solvers. These beliefs are what guide me as a board member.
The research and information skills that I use on a daily basis help me to stay current on important education issues. I believe that one of my strengths is being able to assimilate information quickly in order to make timely decisions.
I intend to continue working diligently to understand all aspects of issues, maintain an open mind, and approach each issue without bias placing the best interests of the children first.
Running for Lincoln Schools
Age: 45
Occupation: Consulting engineer specializing in plastics engineering and new materials applications primarily in the area of building/construction products.
How did you become involved with the school board?
I have been a board trustee for the past four years. My original involvement was based on a desire to help contribute to the local community, and most directly to help the district move towards preparing kids for a future that may not involve working in an auto plant or farming in the area around Lincoln.
What is your role on the school board?
I have been the board treasurer for the past two years, currently chair the Performance Committee, and serve as liaison to the WASB.
Why are you running for this position?
The Lincoln community, from the kids to parents, teachers and administration are making significant improvements in areas such as curriculum, learning environment, and willingness to work together towards common goals.
It has been very rewarding being a part of this over the past four years, and I'm looking forward to helping lead and support the district in the many new initiatives we're currently pursuing.
What changes would you like to see made in the next four years?
In the broadest sense, I'm looking forward to seeing the positive results from changes being implemented now or planned for the near future, in curriculum and preparation for post-secondary learning opportunities.
Our Early College Alliance (ECA) and Project Lead the Way programs are very exciting recent additions that will allow students to better prepare for college, earn credit for college courses, and gain experience in health, engineering, and technical fields.
Additionally, and more specifically, I am also hoping to see the district reach the point of operating on a balanced budget without dipping into fund reserves to pay normal operating costs, and to reach the point where all buildings and the district are consistently making AYP.
We've made great strides in both of these areas, and I'm very confident we can reach this point in the near future.
Additional information: We moved to the Lincoln district because we wanted our eldest daughter to begin kindergarten here. Since then, she has gone on to a successful college career working towards a B.S. in Nursing. Our two younger children have also been in Lincoln throughout, and currently attend Lincoln High School.
Why do you want to become involved with the school board?As a previous member of the Willow Run board, and because I actually still have a child in the district my involvement has not gone away, but my concerns have strengthened.
I have two children who have already graduated from Willow Run and both are currently working ongetting degrees (one at U of M Dearborn, the other at EMU.)
One of the things that everyone says is that Parental involvement is very important, I feel that the ultimate of involvement is to be on the Board and helping to steer the Superintendent in an overall direction that can and will benefit all the children in the district.
After all the education of the children is what being a member of the board issupposed to be about.What changes would you like to see made in the next four years?
Of the many things that we need to do ... reversing enrollment decline, is probably at the top of the list. Willow Run has demonstrated over the years that we have what it takes vision-wise to implement some very forward thinking strategies that really do benefit the students, andthen unfortunately, we under-support them after they get started.
Another major issue involves our residents perception that everything isbetter in the surrounding, then when after take their children away, and find out that things in that district are not really better, they go to a third or even fourth district, this activity in the end hurts the districts that are involved because depending on when the moves are made State tests and State funding are affected. As a cut the state fundingforces the schools losing children to react, it causes programs to be cut which causes some more students to leave, and the vicious circle continues.
And speaking of State funding one thing that must get finished is the promise from the State that ALL districts in the state will get equalfunding per student.
Name:Dorothy A. Stewart
Age:63
Occupation: Retired from the University of Michigan where I was Director of Administrative Computing Operations for 10 years, Manager of Systems Security and Internal Control for 12 years, System Security Coordinator for two years and Senior Systems Analysis for Internal Audit for two years.
How did you become involved with the school board?
Several friends asked me to run because of the financial problems in the district that had developed over the previous three years.
These friends knew that I was very supportive of the Willow Run Community Schools, that I believed strongly in maintaining an excellent public education system and that I had some background in managing finances.
I agreed to run for a two-year term because I was not sure if I would have the time to make a longer commitment. Also, I wanted to give voters the opportunity to decide if I was doing the job they wanted to have done.
After being on the job for one and a half years, I determined that the position was so important that I had to make the time to work with the staff, students, community and other board members to improve our school district.
Now I am asking the voters to let me know if they approve the job I have done to date.
What is your role on the school board?
Currently, I am the treasurer of the school board. In this position, I have encouraged the re-structuring of the administrative staff, the restructuring of the middle school and high school into the Secondary Complex and improved management of grants.
All aimed to improve the quality of our educational environment while reducing costs. Our new superintendent, Dr. Doris Hope-Jackson, has made great strides in these areas and has reduced our administrative costs by more than $800,000.
I worked with the other school board trustees to select and hire our new superintendent. This was one of my campaign platforms two years ago. Another campaign platform was to improve the finances of the school district. This past fiscal year we only added $77,000 to our deficit, down from over $1.8 million the year before.
With the changes made by the board and Dr. Hope-Jackson this current year and the new contract approved by the teachers, the school district will have eliminated its structural deficit and should be able to begin to reduce its deficit. We have started to put Willow Run back on a sound financial footing.
Why are you running for this position?
I want to continue to support the fiscal turn around of Willow Run. We are close to resolving our financial problems but we need to continue to focus on this problem until it is fully resolved and we once again have a reserve fund.
I want to support our new superintendent who has some great ideas on how to improve the educational environment in our school district.
I want to continue to encourage closer ties with our communities, including our home school community, as well as closer ties with Washtenaw Community College and Eastern Michigan University.
The children in the communities served by Willow Run deserve the very best education possible. I believe if we all work together we can make this a reality.
What changes would you like to see in the next four years?
I want to see stronger and more varied offerings in the secondary complex. If there are courses we are not able to offer but are needed by the students, we should be willing to find a means of serving these needs either by encouraging the students to take the courses at Washtenaw or by finding online courses which can be facilitated by the school staff.
I want to see higher graduation rates. Our students need to be mentored on an ongoing basis and need to be involved in extracurricular activities that keep them motivated to attend school each and every day.
I want to see more of our students going to college. If we provide the right academic environment, encourage our students to stay in school, and provide more mentoring, advising and counseling, this will happen.
I want to see improved access to and utilization of our facilities by the communities served by Willow Run. Increased community involvement will increase community awareness of the positive attributes of the school system and will encourage increased enrollment.
I want to see Willow Run back on solid financial ground. Willow Run had always been very fiscally responsible until the past few years. We need to be very fiscally responsible once again.
Name: Joi Jenson
Age: 30
Profession: Parent Advocate and former Substitute Teacher for WRCS
Why do you want to be a part of the Willow Run School Board?
The Board of Education is responsible for the success of every student in our district and I am passionate about making sure that the district "Educates, Motivates and Graduates Every Student."
What changes would you like to see in the next 4 years?
Adequate learning ools, student achievement, accountability, adequate yearly progress, community partnerships, challenging curriculums, competitive wages and benefits, more parent and community involvement, healthy snacks and meals at lunchtime, increased extra-curricular activities, stronger relationships, creative marketing, effective professional development, improved athletic programs and college prep programs
Registered voters need to know that they have the power to change our schools by changing their vote this election.
I believe that if you do the same thing you will get the same results but if you do something different you will get a different result. Write-In Joi Jenson for Willow Run Community Schools Board of Education. Together we can make sure that WRCS Educate, Motivate and Graduate Every Student."
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