Our Nov. 8 election coverage continues with candidates running for positions on the Columbia school board. There are three candidates on the ballot running for two positions for six-year terms. There is also a registered write-in candidate, Tiffany Flinn, who has responded to our questionnaire as well.
Compiled by John Hummer
Editor
Crystal Buter
Explain your reasons for running for trustee of the Columbia school board.
-To make a change in our schools
-To be a voice for our staff, students, and parents.
-To make our schools safe so that we as parents do not need to worry about sending our children to school.
-To make sure our students are getting the best education possible.
What is one or more challenges/problems in the schools you would like to have the board and staff address? What would be potential outcomes?
-Columbia Central school district has one liaison officer that patrols four separate buildings (Upper and lower elementary, high school, and Columbia Central Options). I would like to see the board and district come together and hire another officer to help keep our students safe.
-Columbia Central has a great staff and I want our staff to feel like they are supported. I would like to see the district hire an independent human resource agency to listen to staff and to help eliminate the amount of staff turnover we have experienced within the district in the past year.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member?
I frequently attend Columbia school board meetings, I am also on the zoning and planning board for the Village of Brooklyn, and I also have two daughters that currently attend Columbia Central Schools. I feel as though my experience on the zoning and planning board along with the relationships I have made with the staff and parents have prepared me to serve as a board member.
Tell us about your family.
My husband Josh and I have been married for 13 years and have lived in Brooklyn for the past 15 years. Together we have three beautiful daughters – Annabelle, 12; Amelia, 7; and Addison, 5 and a dog, Ozzy.
What are your hobbies and/or interests in your spare time?
I love spending time with my family, and attending church services, and I also enjoy being involved in my community.
Roger Downey
Explain your reasons for running for trustee of the Columbia school board.
At the start of the past school year, some actions of our student population concerned me, so I decided to attend the school board meetings. After attending meetings, from September through December, I decided to run for office because I did not like the direction our school district was headed.
What is one or more challenges/problems in the schools you would like to have the board and staff address? What would be potential outcomes?
I would like to see an increase of staff at the lower elementary grades for a lower-class size and scrapping parts of the last Strategic Plan so as to do away with Restorative Justice and have the social, emotional, and behavioral Learning for ‘at-risk’ students only. Plus, there seems to be a lot more data collecting than there needs to be.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member?
My experiences, in an education setting, have varied since 1987 – from short- and long-term substitute teacher to junior high school and alternative high school teacher, to adult education instructor and coordinator at Columbia School District. As coordinator of the adult education program, we became fiscally independent from Columbia School District by incorporating other school districts’ student count within our program, i.e., Jackson Public Schools and Western School District.
Tell us about your family.
My wife and I have celebrated 21 years of marriage. I have two grown sons and three grandchildren who live on the west side of Metro Detroit and two grown stepchildren, one who has two children of his own living in the greater Lansing area, and a stepdaughter who currently resides in Florida.
What are your hobbies and/or interests in your spare time?
I am retired and am seeking to serve our community.
Garrick Zuver
Explain your reasons for running for trustee of the Columbia school board.
To continue to provide a faith-based perspective, which looks at the challenges the school, superintendent, administration and staff face, through critical thinking, while serving to provide guidance and oversight for the school district.
What is one or more challenges/problems in the schools you would like to have the board and staff address? What would be potential outcomes?
In my opinion, one of the biggest challenges that CSD faces is a lack of community and unity. The superintendent, administration and staff have to focus too much attention on non-academic issues. We need help from parents and families, now more than ever, to talk to their children. Teach them how to behave in classrooms, in society, and towards others in general. The school district is there to teach, not raise children. Our students face an overwhelming amount of media. Some of it is good, but unfortunately, a significant amount of it is anger, self-doubt and confusion. We all need to work together to help our students to become productive adults in society. I believe if we can do this, it will help reduce social issues in the school, heal our community and allow the administration, teachers, and staff to focus on what was originally intended, to educate.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member?
In addition to being an elder at my church, I also serve as the treasurer. I am a mechanical engineer and engineering director at my place of employment. I have served as a board member for the past four years at Columbia School District as well as coached various sports in the community for over a decade. These roles provide a great deal of experience that allows me to listen and assess and provide input to the board as a servant leader.
Tell us about your family.
I am married and have three children.
What are your hobbies and/or interests in your spare time?
(Opted not to answer this question.)
Tiffany Flinn (write-in candidate)
Explain your reasons for running for trustee of the Columbia school board.
I am running as a write-in for the Columbia School District school board because I have been attending the school board meetings for a year. During this time, I have realized that the concerns of parents, staff and the community are not addressed as a priority. A board member openly stated, after reviewing surveys, that he did not take into consideration the public’s responses.
After interviewing for the vacant seat for the Columbia school board of education, I found out that they chose to re-appoint Trustee Steele days after she resigned her seat that was up for re-election this fall, thus avoiding the voters.
I am running because it is time for a change. It is time for accountability, transparency, and creating a board that considers the students, faculty and the community that is directly affected by the choices the board of education is making.
What is one or more challenges/problems in the schools you would like to have the board and staff address? What would be potential outcomes?
Safety, fostering relationships and demonstrated improvement.
Teacher/staff relationships – The board and the superintendent do not seem to listen to the very team that spends their days with our children. The teachers/staff show up because they value the children and their education. What needs to be addressed is how the board is going to support the staff in a meaningful way.
Safety and protocols need to be addressed. We have taken steps to implement door boots (barriers) on the majority of the doors in each building. However, not all rooms/doors have those boots, and many doors have large glass windows that would allow a perpetrator to SEE into the room and carry out a violent act if wanted. Teachers sent those concerns to the board last year. They have not remedied this among other safety protocols.
Parents have stated that they do not bring concerns to the board because they have seen or experienced retribution after coming forward. Parents need to be valued in order to create strong teacher-parent and parent-school district relationships.
Demonstrated improvements in literacy rates, data-driven decision-making, and leadership are all areas that need more transparency. In addition, those improvements, or lack thereof, should be communicated in an effective manner.
I hope and think the outcome of strengthening each area will allow for constructive feedback and modification, safer learning environments and the ability to strengthen our school district and community.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member?
I am a Brooklyn resident. I am a Columbia Schools graduate. I am a parent of four. I am an educator. I am a person who wants to cheer on the successes of our district, our educators, our children and their families. In order to create a strong district, we have to be willing to hear the concerns of those who are invested in it and affected by it. I recognize the importance of hearing and learning from other people who are a part of our district and community; even if we have different opinions, solutions can be created that could benefit multiple people and/or a variety of scenarios.
Tell us about your family. (Opted not to answer this question.)
What are your hobbies and/or interests in your spare time?
My hobbies as of late are researching school board laws, guidelines and policies. I am also taking graduate courses in educational leadership and CTE (career and technical education) studies at Western Michigan University.
Editor’s note: In addition to the candidates above, voters in the Columbia School District will have the opportunity to vote on an operating millage for the district. The text of the proposal that will be on the ballot is below:
Columbia School District Operating Millage Proposal
This proposal will allow the school district to levy the statutory rate of not to exceed 18 mills on all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, required for the school district to receive its revenue per pupil foundation allowance.
Shall the limitation on the amount of taxes which may be assessed against all property, except principal residence and other property exempted by law, in Columbia School District, Jackson, Lenawee, Washtenaw and Hillsdale Counties, Michigan, be increased by .9921 mill ($0.9921 on each $1,000 of taxable valuation) for a period of 2 years, 2023 and 2024, to provide funds for operating purposes; the estimate of the revenue the school district will collect if the millage is approved and levied in 2023 is approximately $47,781 (this millage is to restore millage lost as a result of the reduction required by the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and will be levied only to the extent necessary to restore that reduction)?
