Ypsilanti-Willow Run Consolidation Begins With 18 Candidates for 7 School Board Spots

And the Ypsilanti-Willow Run Consolidation starts off with a bang.

Monday and Tuesday, yes--this Monday and Tuesday, November 12th and 13th, there will be interviews of 18 candidates for 7 slots. Yes, that's 18 candidates for 7 slots. The Washtenaw Intermediate School District Board of Education gets to do the choosing, but they are asking for the public's input. Read more about who is on the WISD Board of Education here.

The interviews start at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12 in Willow Run High School's forum room.
The interviews continue at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13 in Room 138 of Ypsilanti High School.

The Ypsilanti Courier has links to all of the applicants' applications. (I will put the links below, attached to each person's name.)

Applicants include current Ypsilanti school board members:

David Bates
Ellen Champagne
Andy Fanta
Linda Snedacar-Horne

Applicants include current Willow Run school board members:

Don Garrett, Jr.
Greg Myers
Kristine Thomas
Mark Wilde

Applicants also include two Ypsilanti school board candidates who ran uncontested this week but can't be seated because the consolidation passed:

D’Real Graham
Dan Raglin

Applicants also include several members of the public who have not previously been school board members (at least, if they have been, it wasn't recently):

Maria Sheler-Edwards
Scott Elliot
Celeste Hawkins
Greg Johnson
Robert Oliver
Venus Strong-Smith
Anthony VanDerworp
Althea Wilson

We have an interesting group of candidates. It is a nice thing that so many people want to serve--and of course it raises for me the question--if it was an election, would all of these people be running?

Some of them present much better in an academic/literacy/resume sense. Does that mean those people would make the best board members? How much weight should we place on the letters of reference that each applicant included? I encourage you to read the individual letters, resumes, and statements and put your comments/questions about them in the comments section. Many thanks to heritage.com and the Ypsilanti Courier for posting the links to these documents.

One question I would like to see asked of each of these candidates: if you have children who are school age or older, have they gone to the Ypsilanti or Willow Run school districts? If so, what have you liked about it? If not, why not?

If you live or teach (or otherwise work) in the Ypsilanti/Willow Run area, I really encourage you to go to hear these candidates be interviewed. I believe there will be a way to submit your input/feedback. This is a really important decision as it sets the stage for so many others!