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School Closing Information

Four-person Ypsilanti School Board race contains one incumbent and three newcomers

Ypsilanti Community High School
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Ypsilanti Community High School

Tomorrow’s election will bring changes to the Ypsilanti Community School Board. There is only one incumbent in the race with four candidates seeking three seats.

Ypsilanti Community School Board president Dr. Celeste Hawkins has been on the board since 2012. She says she's very happy with what the district has been able to accomplish in recent years.

One of the things she's most proud of is acquiring the state funding that allowed the district to pay off the massive debt it incurred after merging with the Willow Run District in 2013. Hawkins says, with that debt out of the way, it frees up dollars for many other things the district can now do.

Ypsilanti School Board President Dr. Celeste Hawkins.
Dr. Celeste Hawkins
Ypsilanti School Board President Dr. Celeste Hawkins.
"Not having the debt means that we can certainly pay our teachers a more competitive wage. To me, the center of what makes this work so important is making sure that every single student in our district has every support available to them to be successful while they're in our district and once they graduate from our district."

Dawn Espy is a nonprofit and educational consultant. She says she has always had a passion for education, as both her parents and her grandmother were teachers. Espy says she makes a good candidate for the school board, thanks to her experience working in nearly every system that touches young people.

Dawn Espy
Dawn Espy
Dawn Espy
"Over the last 15 years, I've had an opportunity to live in the Washtenaw County area, where I went to graduate school at University of Michigan, and I studied psychology and learned more about adolescent identity development, particularly encountering experiences of discrimination."

Talisha Sutton-Kennedy works for an education based nonprofit and as a part-time educator and tutor. She says, "An education is a foundational right of every student and a major need of community success. Therefore, all of us should be doing what we can to help the schools in the Ypsilanti area."

Talisha Sutton-Kennedy
Talisha Sutton-Kennedy
Talisha Sutton-Kennedy
"It takes a community to raise a child, to educate a child, and the school systems play a large part in that education piece. And so, I'm really wanting to advocate for equitable funding for our schools and improve the quality of education within our district."

Allie Suffety is a retired teacher with over 40 years of public education experience, mostly in the Plymouth-Canton Community District. He says he decided to run for the Ypsilanti board after seeing how well the members worked together when he brought them a gun safety resolution a few years ago.

Allie Suffety
Allie Suffety
Allie Suffety
"They honored me by allowing me to be part of it and to present it. And then, they actually adopted the resolution, which was good. But in that experience, I saw how the board worked. And I'm very complimentary of the work that they do."

Test scores have long been a concern in the Ypsilanti Community Schools. But Celeste Hawkins says there is a good reason to be optimistic. She says the numbers are on the upswing, and she expects they will get better, particularly since they're now clear of that debt that was stifling growth.

"Our data bears out that our students are doing much better for something that could go up in Ypsilanti Community schools. And I think the way that we continue to improve on that is to make sure that we are aligning curriculum with support and making sure our students are centered in terms of equity."

Dawn Espy wants to address the disproportionate number of suspensions of students of color and invest more in restorative practices. There are many factors outside of schools that affects how students do in the classroom. Espy has worked with the district and the plight of homeless students. She says it hits home to address their needs.

"Every day I was talking to parents, and I was talking to school counselors about what students needed to feel like they could be successful in school, and my role was to help provide that--to supplement, to provide things for families who were living in unstable housing situations and help kids get to school. Because what we know is that when students can stay in their schools and they can stay on the same track, they are more likely to graduate."

Sutton-Kennedy says a student achievement continues to be a major concern in the district. The achievement gap has been an issue for generations and continues to be a difficult task to address. She wants to see a focus on literacy, numeracy and social emotional learning.

"There are far too many students in our district that are below proficiency levels in English language arts and math. And so, that's definitely an area where improvement is needed--is sorely needed. And also attracting and retaining students."

Allie Suffety considers himself to be an anti-racism educator. He says he did a lot of work on equity in the classroom and with the administration while he was at Plymouth-Canton. Suffety says he has a lot of concerns regarding the future of African American males in the Ypsilanti Community Schools.

"I think that, for a long time, we've done them an injustice, and a big part of that is having an understanding of the school-to-prison pipeline that has been established. And so, I would like to see really all students to have the ability to learn."

There is one other name on the ballot for the Ypsilanti Community School Board. That's Alex Pontois. However, he decided to drop out of the race and has thrown his support behind the trio of Hawkins, Espy and Sutton-Kennedy.

The polls are open tomorrow from 7 AM to 8 PM.

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News Reporter and Host Kevin Meerschaert was a student reporter at WEMU in the early 90s. After another 30 years in the public radio business and stops in Indiana, Maryland, Florida, and New Mexico, Kevin is back to where it all began.
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